The review from afar – No. 10Re-revised forward to these overseas reviews:As I emulate a yo-yo, I continue to rely on an old-style Kindle 3G for any non-technical reading. I tip my hat to the fine folks at Project Gutenberg: virtually every title I have or will be reading in the near future comes from them.The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu (UK title, The Devil Doctor) continues the battle between Good and Evil as embodied by (for Good) Colonial Police Commissioner (with a Royal Roving License) Denis Nayland Smith and his friend and associate (and narrator), Dr. Petrie and (as Evil as can be) Doctor Fu Manchu and his various henchmen, dacoits, creatures, and, of course, the alluring, enchanting, and bewitching beauty Karamaneh.I think that the prolific and imaginative Sax Rohmer (nee’ Arthur Henry Ward) has been judged too harshly especially by those who may not have read the source material, but only know his characters (probably only Fu Manchu himself) from derivative material. (I can imagine that the Warner Oland films were even more racist in some ways than the novels.) Rohmer was a talented man who transitioned from writing comedy and songs for music hall entertainment to weird, occult fiction (pulp, if you will) often with an Oriental twist. There are decent author profiles here in Goodreads and elsewhere. Go ahead, I’ll wait.In this novel, Fu Manchu has reappeared in England (surviving his almost-certain death in the previous novel) and is moving against our two heroes. While his agents appear again and again, Fu Manchu is used with more restraint and this, I think, shows the author’s strength and skill. Rather than dilute the franchise (even inexhaustible malevolence can be tiring) he arranges it like accents in a symphony. Yes, the Doctor is there when he needs to be, but then he retreats into the shadows while events move one way or another. He now bears a personal grudge against Nayland Smith for disrupting his plans, but he still feels obligated to deal with him and Smith in an honorable way. There is mutual respect of ability, if not respect of ideals, here and it goes both ways – even when it tears at Smith or Petrie to hold to a bargain they have made. But he makes mistakes: he trusts Karamaneh to execute his instructions even though she has (surreptitiously) rescue the Englishmen numerous times and has grown fond of Petrie. He even thinks that Dr. Petrie is more of an intellectual and scientific equal than could ever possibly be true – despite all direct evidence to the contrary. (Think Watson a’ la` the Jeremy Brett series, but still Watson.)The story was written for serial publication, so it is broken up into a series of smaller tales that one imagines were included in one or two issues. This has a way of making the story seem choppy, but it also gives an impression of speed that might not have been there if written as a single, long manuscript. Inevitably, there is some similarity (dare I say repetition) as the attacks and plot twists come at predictable intervals (must have excitement in every installment). But the story redeems itself with regularity, also.In my review of The Insidious Doctor Fu Manchu, I touched on the “Yellow Peril” racism and the reality that Rohmer’s audience wanted to read what he wrote. So I will skip most of that here. Fu Manchu wasn’t popular because of or in spite of the anti-Orientalism, it was popular because the characters (Good and Bad) appealed to his readers. Yes, he built on the previous buddy relationship of Holmes and Watson (even to the point of aping their chosen professions: crime fighting and medicine), but he took that concept and made it something different. While Holmes would become judge and jury when the mood took him, Nayland Smith has a royal Roving Commission that empowers him to seek succor or coerce assistant from any and all.By our enlightened standards, we consider Fu Manchu to be decidedly un-politically correct. But he is more than that. He is the archetype for brilliant, evil, fiends bent on world domination. And I, for one, would mourn a world that did not have him and his sinister spawn. Since I have been reading a lot of older material, I accept that the styles, beliefs, and prejudices of the authors in their day reflect more their world than anything innate. That may be more or less true depending on the individual, but I am reading for enjoyment and diversion and I can tolerate a lot in pursuit of a good story. And, despite the rough edges (part of their appeal originally), these are good stories and Doctor Fu Manchu is a most wonderful adversary!Three (3.0) Solid Stars for the actual writing, but Four (4.0) Stars awarded for creating one of the Baddest of the Bad Guys of All Time.You can get this story for free from the Gutenberg Project site.
Доктор Фу Манчу возвращается к берегам Туманного Альбиона. Его новая задача – ликвидация работающих на Востоке агентов британского империализма. Для этого доктору нужно совсем немного. Выкрасть и допросить с пристрастием единственного человека, который знает этих агентов лично – пастора Элтема. К сожалению, на пути Доктора снова оказываются Нейланд Смит и доктор Петри. Они спасают Элтема, а потом начинают уничтожать новую агентурную сеть самого Фу.Но только теперь в их поединке появляются два неожиданных фактора, которые заметно влияют на отношения между врагами. Первый – это вернувшаяся вместе с доктором Карамани, которую Петри снова пытается спасти от его влияния. Второй же фактор – орден Золотого Павлина, которым Фу Манчи был награжден своими хозяевами и который он случайно проебал. Теперь чтобы вернуть собственную репутацию и избежать наказания доктору нужно срочно либо вернуть орден, либо сделать для своих хозяев нечто ну совершенно мегаужасное. Можно догадаться, что в интересах Петри и Смита найти этот треклятый орден любой ценой…Второй роман про Фу Манчу заметно слабее предыдущего, в нем почти начисто отсутствует атмосфера первой книги. Столь прискорбный недостаток возникает в романе по нескольким причинам. Во-первых, из-за бесконечного экшена, который с первых страниц становится для автора самоцелью. Во-вторых, из-за откровенной приземленности многих девайсов главного злодея. Одна идиотская история с “огненной рукой”, едва не доведшей Петри до инфаркта, уже показывает несерьезное отношение писателя к собственному материалу. В третьих, из-за утраченного шовинизма. Герои со времен первого романа порядком притерлись, поэтому уже не вызывает ярость у антифы и феминисток. В-четвертых, откровенная сиквельность повести. “Ой, друзья, как же мы долго не встречались!!!” Но, в целом, перед нами хорошее старомодное чтиво. Хорошее и приятное. (2006.12.15)
Do You like book The Return Of Dr. Fu-Manchu (2012)?
A good, but not great sequel to the first in the series. I have to say that having the Dr simply focused on removing Smith and Peitre was a bit disappointing. There was no global domination plot, etc... So far, without read #3, these seems to have been a between book and not one that really stands on its own. With that said, the characters improved and the visuals that were conjured of the times and places was well written. I did find it interesting that in the versions of the books that I read, Mr. Rohmer seems to have 'modernized' his writing style a little. For example, he changed from the old world spelling of 'clew' to the more modern version that we use exclusively now of 'clue'. I really am glad to see that our language and writing styles evolve and that we retain the old books as they are as a way to record that history. Overall an enjoyable, short, easy read to pass the time.
—Steve Newman
Words almost fail me to describe the sheer lyrical delight of reading Sax Rohmer’s wonderful Fu Manchu series. Were I banished to a desert island for life, with only a lantern to read by, and told I would be limited to the Fu Manchu Mysteries, gladly I would go (until I wore the pages loose from constant rereading). Mr. Rohmer had an inimitable, unsurpassable literary style; he never needed courses to teach him how to bait and maintain the reader’s hook. His characters, his settings, his plotting, are incomparable. Even in the multicultural diversity of present-day society, in which the 1913 European view of “the white race” as the only worthy ethnicity is scoffed at and maligned, literate readers can recognize that Author Rohmer was, after all, a product of his time, and in fact beyond his time-for his choice of an Asian, Dr. Fu Manchu, as the Villain of All Time is in itself an acknowledgement that not all of the non-white races are beyond consideration. Fu Manchu is intelligent, evil, convoluted, cunning, clever, and appealing in his own way-yet he is, after all, from the Third World (although it was not termed that in the heyday of the British Empire, “over which the sun never set,” as the British often boasted).Since Author Rohmer has two unforgettable and astonishing characters in his Protagonist and Antagonist-Sir Denis Nayland Smith, and Dr. Fu Manchu-he was able to reprise the two again and again, to a total of 13 novels. Every one is a gem, because this illustrious and prolific British author “knows his stuff” and appeals to his reading audience in the most intense ways. The nature and personality of Dr. Fu Manchu awakens the unconscious xenophobia that survives in all of us, and arises at times in mass hysteria (such as McCarthyism in the 50’s). Yet Rohmer holds us in his grasp by his lyrical prose, his descriptive settings, the globe-trotting travels of Nayland Smith and his nemesis, and the characters who so appeal-Smith, Dr. Petrie, the evil Dr. Fu Manchu himself. In “The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu,” Sax Rohmer puts us to shame with his ability to describe character in a few short sentences of dialogue, and with his predilection for “showing, not telling” readers what they need to know about characters, setting, plot, and backstory. I think aspiring authors could do well to examine Mr. Rohmer’s novels for clues to hooking the reader and keeping intrigue maintained; for clear, lyrical, well-paced writing; for descriptive imagery; and for accurately constructing the plotting of any mystery.
—Mallory Heart
As one would expect there are racial slurs throughout a novel like this, but not nearly as many as its reputation would suggest. Rohmer's descriptive abilities far outweigh the discomfort those slurs will create. Sir Dennis Nayland Smith and Dr. Petrie remind me a lot of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, but the focus is more on action/adventure than mystery. Smith's Moriarty, Fu Manchu is the ultimate diabolical, scientific genius. We see his lackeys more often than we see him, but their horrific variety and his absence only serve to make him that much more fearsome. If you're into pulp fiction, the Fu Manchu books are a good choice because they're interesting period pieces giving us a window into the time of the "yellow menace" when our ignorance of the ways of other peoples ruled the day. Come to think of it, despite our more PC vocabulary, not much has changed in that respect. Definitely worth a look. I was thinking more along the lines of 3 1/2 stars for this one.
—David Merrill
