This book is full of great information about the nature of elephants and humans, as well as life in 18th century England. Details about the care of elephants and horses in that era add to the interest of the story. The writing is as gentle as the souls of the two main characters, and the author subtly has the reader become a part of the connection between the two. The communication between elephant and boy is so natural and easy that I stopped in mid-book once, said to myself, "Wait, I'm not even questioning this?" and then continued reading with no doubt about it. I don't even think it was suspension of disbelief. By writing this book, Mr. Nicholson has done a great service to both elephants and readers.

This is a great book for people who like to read about extremes. I do – I’d never do what Ms McClure did, or climb Mt. Everest, but I enjoy the vicarious pleasure. This is an adventure story, not a great literary piece. If you can keep yourself from asking questions like, could anyone possibly be this self-deprecating and, could anyone possibly be this obtuse, you’ll like this story as much as I did. I tolerated the moral spoon feeding because I figured she had earned the right. While I’m shaking my head in disbelief, I admire her for what she did, and I got a kick out of reading about it.

I was fascinated, horrified and entertained by this book. The level of detail on many fronts, especially about technology, intrigued me, and the plot is packed with twists and surprises. One of many questions raised by the book concerns morality. There are different levels of its presence and absence. I found myself excusing what, in the US at least, is considered immoral behavior (spoiler alert) such as incest, adultery, and theft, in light of some horrendously repugnant, misogynistic conduct. Stieg Larsson, who died right before this book was first published, was dedicated to exposing and combating neofascism and right wing extremism in Europe, and that could explain some of the moral relativity issues in his story. Oh, yes, and the title character…she is a curious and compelling individual, not totally fleshed out, who begins to develop at the end of the story. I regret that there won’t be a sequel.

[Note from BookBrowse: In fact ,there will be a sequel - two of them. Just before he died the author delivered all three books in the Millenium sequence to his publisher. The books are already published in some parts of Northern Europe, and will be available in the USA over the next year or so.]

White Mary was surprisingly compelling, after my initial sense that the author was trying too hard and that the tale was contrived. If the writing doesn't carry the reader away, then the story had better be darn good, and in this case, I found it good enough to finish the book eagerly. Marika's emotional journey was predictable, albeit extreme. Her physical voyage was fascinating, however, through jungles and into a remoteness and total absence of creature comforts that was enthralling in an "I'm SO glad I'm not there" kind of way. Ms Salak has clearly experienced some of the horrors of which she writes, because her writing rings true and the book soars in these passages. I will search out her nonfiction account of travelling in Papua New Guinea, Four Corners, as I think I'd like her writing more if she didn't feel obliged to insert a manufactured plot.