A Daughter of the Snows. By Jack London. (Isbister and
Co. 6s.) —The Klondike is, as usual, the scene of the greater part of Mr. London's new story. Although the book contains a good deal of the poetry of the North, Mr. London's books are never such pleasant reading when he writes of people as when he writes of animals. He is distinctly weak in character-drawing, and his persons are apt to be pegs on which their numerous adventures are hung. Perhaps the feeling which this book will give most strongly to its readers is of the extreme insecurity of life under these Northern skies. It is not that certain specific dangers have to be faced, but that at every moment a mortal peril may be encountered which may end in unexpected death in less time than it takes to say so. If Mr. London intended to give this idea, he has unquestionably succeeded; and hair's-breadth escapes seem quite everyday occur- rences before the last page is reached. Frona, the " Daughter of the Snows," is not drawn with sufficient elaboration to be quite credible, but as a sort of Arctic Di. Vernon she is to a certain extent attractive. The language used by the characters is Elizabethan in its broadness, but so much is the effect of language dependent on intention, that Mr. London contrives to be inoffensive, if coarse. The book has many good points, but does not approach the standard of " The Call of the Wild."
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