New Height Books

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Inspired Ayn Rand, and it's No Surprise

Posted by cappy on November 9th, 2007

Heroic, exciting and very well translated, The Mysterious Valley is the story of Englishmen in India whose comrades are one by one plucked away on hunting expeditions by tigers, leaving no signs of capture or death. Setting out to ascertain the final fate of their friends, two men discover a lost city hidden away in the wilds of India, and learn that tigers are not their enemy, but men clinging to the visage of a savage culture, bent on their destruction.

The novel is filled with intrigue, deception, secret doors and beasts trained to kill. But within this are the constants of bravery, moral imperatives and above all the necessity to use reason and judgment to guide your choices. Through the actions of his protagonists Maurice Champagne takes every opportunity to comment on the attentiveness, values and explicit morality that go into the decisions they make and, in some cases, the errors bad judgment leads to.

The book is adventurous and well planned, and surprisingly thought provoking for an action story. The wonderful illustrations go a long way in aiding a story so shrouded in mystery, and kudos to Bill Bucko for his excellent translation.