The Master of Ballantrae: Week 5

[Rosemarie, Moderator]

Chapters 11 and 12: The Journey in the Wilderness

Chapter 11 begins in an inn at Albany with beautiful autumn weather, but it is apparent that winter is not that far away. Henry keeps Mackellar occupied with unimportant paperwork while he is off negotiating with the trader, Mr. Mountain. Henry is also drinking too much and his personality is rapidly deteriorating. Mackellar has to remind him to write to his wife and family back in New York.
Sir William Johnson is organizing an expedition to the wilderness after reports of problems with the native people there. Henry asks to join the expedition, since the buried treasure is somewhere out there in the woods.
While they're encamped in the woods, Mountain arrives asking if they've seen Secundra Dass.
His journal is a tale of treachery, deception and violence-including the death of the Master.

Henry's reaction is surprising and turns out to be true, as he asks, "What did he pretend he died of?"

There is a suitably dramatic conclusion to the tale!

[Rosemarie, Moderator]

Stevenson has set this novel in very many varied places.
Does it help maintain interest in the story? Or does he try to do too much?

Any comments on the various characters and their development throughout the book?

What about the dramatic ending?

Please share any of your comments or opinions about this book.

How does it compare to other books that you've read by this author?

[Rosemarie, Moderator]

I've read a number of books by Stevenson and my favourite is Kidnapped.

[Robin P, Moderator]

The ending veers into horror. I actually got tired of how the author threw in so many different elements of adventure.

[Rosemarie, Moderator]

I would have enjoyed a more focussed book as well. There are too many extraneous characters that ruin the flow of the book.

[Neil]

I was somewhat disappointed towards the end of the novel. As previously alluded to, I thought it started to get disjointed towards the end. Whilst I would not of wanted a Jane Austen happy ending, There was no mention of what happened to the wife and the heir to the estate. Maybe the book needed an epilogue.

[Rosemarie, Moderator]

Somewhere Mackellar stated that he was back in Scotland and Alexander was the current lord, so they all went back to Scotland after the death of the two brothers.

[Lori, Moderator]

To be honest I had a lot of trouble following the story near the end, and by that point I didn't care too much who anyone was and why they were there. I don't even know why Henry went there. Some of the characters were interesting, but the book turned out to not be for me.

[Rosemarie, Moderator]

I found it a big disappointment after reading many of his other novels and short stories.

[Lori, Moderator]

Rosemarie wrote: "I found it a big disappointment after reading many of his other novels and short stories."

I remember the Black Arrow being a bit hard to follow in some parts, but it was a lot of fun.

[Rosemarie, Moderator]

I forgot about that one! One of his lesser known books, Weir of Hermiston was more enjoyable than this one.
The only character that was engaging was the narrator, Mr. Mackellar. Henry started out fine but deteriorated once he became obsessed with the search in the wilderness.

[Rosemarie, Moderator]

I have fun reading various lists of books on goodreads and elsewhere.
Of all the Stevenson books out there, The Master of Ballantrae was on the Boxall 1000 list!
I started a couple of books that were mentioned there and couldn't finish them. The only books from the list that I enjoyed were books I would have read anyway.

Are you influenced by lists?

[Neil]

For me, McKellar was the star of the show, I would even give him the title of honorary protagonist.

[Rosemarie, Moderator]

Neil wrote: "For me, McKellar was the star of the show, I would even give him the title of honorary protagonist."

I agree!

[Nancy]

I liked the book, but I agree that the ending was confusing, mainly by being crowded with unfamiliar characters who only showed up in time to be slaughtered. Were the scalpings actually the work of Secundra? Maybe I missed that explanation.

[Rosemarie, Moderator]

The scalpings were never explained, but who else could it have been but Dass?

I'm glad you liked the book, Nancy.

My favourite chapter was the ship crossing with Mackellar and the Master.

[Abigail]

I finally got around to reading the last section; have to admit I wasn’t eager. I agree that the chapter on the ship was the best, and that the book feels very scattered and diffuse. The mutual hatred and vengefulness between the two brothers seemed way out of proportion to their sources of conflict.

For me, Treasure Island was much better written and cohered better. The Black Arrow was one of my favorite books as a child but on reading it as an adult I was horrified by the senseless violence. About ready to give up on reading Stevenson’s books.

[Rosemarie, Moderator]

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a much more cohesive work.

[Robin P, Moderator]

Kidnapped was pretty good as an adventure book.

[Rosemarie, Moderator]

Robin P wrote: "Kidnapped was pretty good as an adventure book."

I agree. I enjoyed it much more than The Master of Ballantrae.