It was a beautiful sunlit Christmas Day, the sun glittering off the snow that was only there in my imagination. The family friends were arriving for dinner and there was much rejoicing. One particular friend arrive on time as usual and swearing this time she had actually gotten me a good present. Now, she was famous in my family for giving bad Christmas presents; strange books, very strange books. Yet this time she surprised me with a stack of books, used mostly and many of them I would never want to read. Still, I was happy. A week later I picked up an old, falling apart, copy of Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson.

The main character of the story is seventeen-year old David Balfour, a newly made orphan. His mother had died a long time ago, but with the recent death of his father he must go to stay with the uncle he never knew he had. Thus, the journey begins. Upon arriving at his uncle's house(which is old and falling apart of course) he tries to become friendly with his uncle. His uncle, a man of poor health and strange habits, does not at all warm up to his young nephew, locking him in an old rotting bedroom and not allowing David to strike a light. The unpleasantries continue the next day all day and then, in the dark of the night, David's uncle tries to kill him for the inheritance money. The day after that, he gets David kidnapped by a ship captain and sailed away.

That all happens in the first few pages and, at this point, the real story begins. Quite a few events occur as David makes his way up the boat hierarchy and soon is working as a waiter. Then comes the arrival of Alan Breck, who the crew promptly tries to kill for his possessions. David and Alan hold out together and succeed in fighting off the crew. They then become an adventurous pair and great friends.

The "adventures" continue along all the way until the end of the book. A shipwreck, a murder...I personally found it rather slow moving and even though only a few 200 pages long a rather long read. I expected to have it finished within the afternoon I started it, that was not the case. The plot line itself I found rather repetitive; in danger! Safe. In danger! Safe. In danger... And so on. It also, while supposedly filled with adventure, bored me half to death and didn't make me want to keep reading. I really had to push through it. Therefore I give it (drum roll)2 stars!

I did know before reading it that it was considered Stevenson's best book and, if this is at all true, I do not want to read any more. The writing style was fine and it was fun to learn a few new words (ken=know, unco= uncommonly and many others)but the plot really didn't cut it for me.

On a side note, did you know Stevenson only lived forty years? And the whole time living with lung trouble. He actually, because of his sickness, lived a sheltered childhood and had irregular schooling and still managed to write a lot! I am impressed.

*Note*: This is my January challenge classic.