Journey to the Centre of the Earth
Author: Jules Verne
Published: 1864
on Goodreads
My Rating: 
6/25
What is darkness to you is light to me.
Go on a journey to the center of the earth where the crystals formed are beyond beauty’s imagination and the creatures there were thought to be extinct thousands of years ago. Professor Liedenbroek, his nephew, Axel, and their guide and hunter, Hans journey down a dormant volcano tube and find adventure, danger and wondrous things that you could only believe it you saw it for yourself.
This book marks 6 out of 25 authors, from my New Year’s resolution, that I’ve never read from before. I was glad to put this one on the list. I’ve been meaning to read more books that change my point of view.
At the beginning of science fiction there was Jules Verne. And this is sheer science fiction, down to the very measurements. Reading this book gave me a look at how the genre truly began. It wasn’t’ about flying spaceships and mega-aliens and mutating.
It was about true science and the magical places it could take me. And while reading this, I felt like all of this was possible.
The imagery and specifics were on point! There wasn’t an unanswered moment. Every part of this journey was so well-informed. Well-informed is the only word I can think of because this is mostly fact-based. Nothing matters but the intense adventure. It was all incredibly vivid and truly a wonder.
So many dangers! If it’s not the scary creatures that are pretty cool to see because they don’t exist on the surface, then it’s the possibility of starving to death. There’s no harrowing adventure without the life-threatening parts, right? It makes for a great story.
And this was a great story. I enjoyed it immensely. It’s nothing like the movie. NOTHING. There’s not a single woman on this trip, though Axel tried. And the book really put me on edge here and there.
But both of them are pretty great. I will say this; the writing isn’t your typical. There’s a lot of facts. It’s basically how book the is written and it’s why I struggled a little. I alos looked up a lot of the terms Verne used so that I could better understand the characters. It’s straight up a journey. There’s no romance or drama mixed into it. So, you’ll be there for the adventure and nothing else. And you know what? We all deserve a little adventure.
Quotables:
“I spent the whole night in one nightmare; in the heart of a volcano, and from the deepest depths of the earth I saw myself tossed up amongst the interplanetary spaces under the form of an eruptive rock.” (Liedenbroek to Axel, p. 63)
“The farther I go the more confidence I feel…” (Liedenbroek,, p. 74)
“Will there be an end? Is the atmospheric condition, having once reached this density, to become final?” (Axel, p. 142)
More to come soon…
-K.
P.S. Song today? Monsoon by Tokio Hotel.
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The Scarlet Reader 
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