Master of the World

Jules Verne

I refuse absolutely and definitely the sums offered for my invention, for with it I control the world. There is no force within the reach of humanity able to resist me. Whatever injury anyone attempts, I will return a hundredfold. Realize this: You can accomplish nothing against me; I can accomplish anything against you.

This novel, one of the last Verne wrote, unfortunately does not live up to his normal standard. Perhaps because the Hollywood shrunken pupil of today simply is too flooded with light to catch the nuances of a work from the early 20th century. It was difficult to find Verne's invention (a machine which was submarine, airplane and car, and could attain the whopping speed of 150 miles per hour) as frightening. Even given the state of technology near 1900, his premise that such a machine could control the world was simply preposterous.
Another aspect of this story which made me sad was its similarities to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. You have once nice but now disillusioned inventor rampaging about with a powerful machine powered by electricity. You have a detective or researcher of sorts searching to discover the mysteries of this machine, eventually being brought on board said machine by mere chance, and of course an ending which leaves everything unexplained. There are more similarities, but continuing on along these lines would merely make me sad.
Master of the World did have its moments, but unfortunately these were sparse. Among the more notable parts of the book are Verne's numerous quips about America. I could never quite tell if he had misunderstood this country and its people or was providing witty and scathing sarcastic commentary on them. But, if in the 1900s America was considered an exotic location and Lake Eerie the perfect setting for a wild adventure, things in this land must surely have changed. 5/10