Audiobook · read by volunteers
Master of the World
Jules Verne (1828–1905)
Read by Mark F. Smith · 18 chapters · 4 h 54
About the book
Chief Inspector Strock of the federal police in Washington has been given a puzzle that makes no sense. A volcano seems to be erupting in the Blue Ridge Mountains, where no volcano should exist. A strange vehicle of unbelievable speed disrupts an automobile race in Wisconsin. An odd-shaped craft is reported racing across the waters off New England at impossible speed. Strock begins to suspect that one machine, and one man, lie behind it all, and an anonymous warning only makes him more determined. Jules Verne, writing near the end of his life, sets this story in an age when cars were rare and flying machines were still a dream. It is a swift, inventive tale of mystery and pursuit, narrated by a detective who cannot resist a challenge. A brisk listen for a free afternoon.
Introduction
Jules Verne, born in Nantes in 1828 and died in 1905, was a French novelist who helped create the genre of science fiction. His Voyages Extraordinaires, a long series of adventure novels, include Journey to the Centre of the Earth, Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Seas and Around the World in Eighty Days. Few authors have been translated more widely.
Master of the World appeared in 1904, one of his last books, and it continues the story of Robur, the inventor who featured in an earlier novel about a flying ship. Where that book was an exuberant adventure, this one is darker and more suspenseful. It is told in the first person by a policeman, which gives it the feel of a detective story, and the mysterious machine at its centre is a vehicle that moves on land, on water and through the air. Verne was fascinated by the possibilities of technology, but in his later work he often wondered about the people who would control it.
This LibriVox recording has eighteen chapters and lasts about five hours. It is read by one volunteer. The story moves quickly, and its short chapters make it easy to enjoy in several sittings. If you like early science fiction, mystery and the pleasure of seeing how a nineteenth-century imagination pictured the future, this is an excellent choice.
As the story unfolds, small details gradually fall into place, and the narrator’s growing sense of unease is easy to share. The short chapters keep up the momentum, and each one ends with just enough tension to invite another. It is an ideal book for a journey, or for a few evenings when you want an adventure with a puzzle at its centre.
Public domain
Jules Verne died in 1905: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text