What would you do if you were trapped in a submarine that never wished to contact humanity ever again? Would you try to escape back to land or would you be content to live comfortably under the waves and never see land again?

This book is about exploration of the sea which was a very difficult task at the time of the writing of this book and much of the sea remains unexplored today. The main characters are Professor Aronnax, Ned Land, Conseil, and Captain Nemo. The Professor who is a marine biologist and his servant Conseil were invited to travel on a voyage with Ned Land who was hired to kill a large sea monster that had been causing many unexplained collisions with ships. The monster was determined to be a submarine after Professor Aronnax, Conseil, and Ned Land were thrown overboard and they were taken captive. The submarine was operated by Captain Nemo who swore off humanity and never wished to see land again.

The theme of this book is freedom and that everybody has a price on their freedom. The theme is displayed through the conflict between Professor Aronnax and Ned Land who have different lifestyles and are suited differently to their confinement with the professor not worrying too much about trying to get his freedom back because he is content to to live under the waves and study the ocean but Ned Land grows more homesick every day and will do whatever it takes to get his freedom back and return home. This conflict also involves Captain Nemo who wants to keep them captive to keep his submarine a secret but he knows that keeping them captive goes against his morals.

I recommend this novel because the scenery of the ocean is very well described in good detail and the plot has a very important message about freedom and what that can mean to individuals and how high or low it is valued, but at times the text can get a little too scientific for those who don’t care about that so much, however, the classification of the different species of fish and other animals adds to the central conflict of the story to show why the professor wants to stay, so this book would be very good for people who like the sea, sciences, a little bit of mystery and some action. ( )

The Charakters are relatively uninteresting, the descriptions of an Alien underworld have their charm but get boring after a while. Without much Else going for this book and IT having 600 Pages, I am giving IT only two stars ( )

This rating is a childhood rating. Hooked me on Science Fiction when I read it. ( )

Veinte mil leguas de viaje submarino
Jules Verne
Publicado: 1869
Novela Aventuras Infantil Juvenil

Cuando Verne ideó la construcción del Nautilus, escribió a Hetzel, su editor y amigo: «Le aseguro que su arca estará mejor equipada que la de Noé». Verne, que había visitado ya los centros de la Tierra y del aire, quiso bajar a los abismos del mar. Imaginó un personaje épico, el atormentado capitán Nemo, un sabio desengañado de la raza humana, que se mueve por una de esas obsesivas reivindicaciones tan típicas de la novela de aventuras: la justicia implacable, no exenta de venganza, y la humillación del adversario. El texto que presentamos aquí no es la obra completa. Hemos reducido su contenido, hemos resumido acontecimientos y hemos eliminado narraciones, datos y, sobre todo, descripciones. El lector puede encontrar aquí una especie de «aperitivo» que le invite a leer más adelante la obra entera y a conocer todas las maravillas del mundo submarino que nos cuentan en ella. Eso es, sin duda, lo que pretendía Julio Verne y eso es lo que hemos pretendido nosotros.

A really good sea adventure book. It especially drew me in with the scuba diving parts, to which I can now happily relate! This particular version has a chronology of historical events, giving readers some context for the scientific/technological aspects of the book. For example, to us a fully electric submarine is a fact, but this was written twenty years before the first modern submarine - putting it firmly in the realm of fantasy for its time.

What I didn't like about this book was the over-detailed descriptions of sea animals and plants. Whole pages were devoted to simply listing off the types of creatures seen by the narrator, and sometimes it was upwards of five pages before the writing returned to the plot. Another complaint is that the narrator conveniently lost consciousness during tricky plot twists, so that "unavoidable" disasters were actually avoided but with no description of exactly how.

Verdict? Still a good read. ( )