William Henry Giles Kingston (1814–1880)

Arctic Adventures was written in 1882 and is very much a novel of its time. It follows the journey of a handful of sailors on the Hardy Norseman, a whaling ship that sets off to the Arctic, specifically the Spitsbergen region in search of whales, seals & their missing brother who sailed the year prior.

The main thing I took away from this novel was how much waste was common place, in the first part of the book they kill three whales yet only make use of part of one, casting the rest loose as they run out of time before a storm comes. Throughout the book numerous walruses are killed, there's a bit seal clubbing and numerous bears are shot. All in the spirit of adventure.

It's certainly an interesting look into Arctic travel in the period of the late 1800s even if fictionalised and it's a pretty quick read at 192 pages for the 1885 edition published by George Routledge, London that I read.… (més)

Australian Adventures, also known as Adventures in Australia is set in the early colonial period of Australia, approximately 1825-1880, we know this as referenced within the story are 'Morrison's Pills' which were invented in 1825, and the upper limit of 1880 being the year of Mr Kingston's death.

It's the story of 2 young men who come out to Australia to meet their uncle on his cattle station, the location of the station is not mentioned although one can assume it is set in Northern New South Wales due to the mention of an aboriginal climbing a palm tree to catch a possum. The illustration for such appears to depict an Alexandra Palm which is found in sub-tropical & tropical New South Wales (Queensland did not exist until 1859 - it was just New South Wales prior).

During the journey inland to the uncle's cattle station the men come across a man who has been robbed & tied up by bushrangers, assist him in reaching his squatter's station, almost get robbed by bushrangers themselves, befriend some aboriginals, kill & fight some other aboriginals, get attacked by bushrangers & also attack said bushrangers back to steal back their horses & guns.

It's not a bad book, certainly paints a vivid picture of colonial Australia, although those easily offended by past viewpoints may find the books reference to Aboriginal Australian's as blacks, natives, savages & poor wretches to be distasteful.

It's also interesting that there is an error in the book - one part mentions the need to bury dead bodies with haste lest the dingoes & vultures find them, however Australia is one of two continents in the world that do not have vultures (the other being Antarctica). This book was, I believe, original published in 1885, 5 years after the passing of Mr Kingston so I find myself wondering if this was a mistake on his part, or a mistake inserted posthumously by an editor cleaning up unpublished stories for publication (he was a prolific writer having written 130 stories in his 36 year writing career).

Part of the George Routledge Every Boy's Library along with Adventures in Africa, Adventures in the Far West, Adventures in India, Arctic Adventures.… (més)

This is an adapted and shortened version of Richard Johnson's 1597 original. Kingston wrote adventure stories for boys, and this swashbuckler fits right in. Originally published in 1861 (according to google books. I had trouble finding a publication date), it is full of battles, monsters, and adventures. It also has a good dose of tongue in cheek humor. The seven champions, Saint George, Saint Patrick, and others, are knights out adventuring, rushing from one fight to the next. Their lives are far from saintly. Christianity is casually mentioned a few times, but mostly as a way to differentiate them from their foes, who are all pagans to be defeated.

I especially liked the scene in which Saint Andrew (I think; they tend to blur together) rescues six princesses, who follow fairy tale rules by falling in love with their rescuer. But he doesn't want to marry any of them, so runs away while they argue over who gets him.

It contains the casual racism and assumption of English superiority typical of Victorian literature. But if you can look past that, this is a fun read.… (més)