The Kingdom of Slender Swords. By Hallie Ermine Rives. (Everett
and Co. 6s.)—The Japanese part of this novel is far more attractive and original than the doings of the English persons round whom the story revolves. The aeroplane flight in the last chapters, with the villain of the piece "lying flat along the ribs of the glider's body clutching the steel guys of the planes," is hardly credible, and the reader will feel sure that the hero, who is the aviator, would never have reached his goal in time. The machine also, which disintegrates matter, is difficult to believe in. Apart from this pseudo-scientific European side of the book, the pictures of Japanese life are delightful reading, and the character of the girl Harn, who sacrifices herself for patriotic reasons, is well realized. The elusive charm of Japan is there, and the English reader who has never visited the country will be made to feel it.
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