The Master of Ballantrae: a laborious tale of revenge

The Master of Ballantrae (1889)- Robert Louis Stevenson (303 pages)

The Master of Ballantrae put simply is a story of revenge. Stevenson’s work surrounds a family feud of sorts, that pits two brothers against each other and spans many decades. The two brothers come from a family of means one known as the Master of Ballantrae, or Master, while the other is known as Henry, or later Lord Durisdeer. This tale of revenge consumes both brothers and ravages their lives and the family as told by Ephraim Mackellar, the steward of the estate. One brother is brilliant, cunning, and ruthless while the other is simpler but pure.

Much like the rest of Stevenson’s work that I have reviewed, the readability is strong. The narrator is a learned man so he sometimes uses intricate or archaic diction but this does not happen too often. Additionally, the narrative is largely driven by action and not too many highly reflective passages. It’s a relatively simple read as will be shown in my readability score.

There are two main themes throughout this work: revenge and accountability, or the lack thereof. Revenge much like the Count of Monte Cristo is the lifeblood of the narrative. Two brothers set against each other, one filled with hate, the other filled with guilt both allowing revenge and the sorrows that come with it to consume their nature. I won’t expand too much on this theme, but suffice it to say revenge is seen throughout. The second theme is accountability. Both brothers despite their differences both struggle with a lack of accountability. They each subscribe to the “woe is me” psychology, put simply they believe that the misfortunes of their lives are due to bad luck and no action of their own. This creates a very dangerous future, each brother despite their faults has countless opportunities to reconcile or move past this argument but instead, they choose to spurn each other at every opportunity. Allowing the hate and thirst for revenge to grow while blaming the other for their misfortunes.

Now for enjoyment, again I try to be transparent in my book reviews. I did not enjoy this book but I’m having trouble really pinpointing why. I would say I don’t like the overall theme of revenge at the core of the novel but I loved The Count of Monte Cristo so I don’t believe that is true. I could say that I didn't like knowing the fate of these brothers within the first 10 pages as the narrative starts 100 years in the future with two men coming across Mackeller’s narrative but that isn’t true because Moby Dick is one of my favorite books ever. I knew the outcome of that adventure before I started. I could say that I don’t like Stevenson’s writing style but I loved Kidnapped and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. It’s likely some combination of all these factors. Additionally, I found the tale of the two brothers ruining their family, name, and existence maybe a little too close to home. I’ve heard of many families driven apart by greed, take a look at any news source and you can probably find a story immediately. I also felt that the conclusion, especially for all the pent-up hate and revenge throughout the story, was underwhelming. The Count of Monte Cristo has a triumphant and fantastic conclusion worth the 1,000 pages. This conclusion felt like it was hasty and lacking.

Overall, I’m disappointed. For a little background, Stevenson in his time was known as mostly an author for children given his success from Kidnapped and Treasure Island. I don’t believe this is fair because Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is hardly for children and fantastic but nonetheless that was his label. The Master of Ballantrae was supposed to be the work that showed he could be an author of revenge-filled epics for adults. When I came across this book on my shelf, I had never heard of it before and I hoped that I would come across an underrepresented and relatively unknown epic. While I believe every book has value, this is not the epic or unknown masterpiece that I thought it might be.

As always, my scoring breakdown is below. Thanks for reading!

Score: 6.0- One of my lowest scores yet, a tough read that I struggled through.

Readability: 7- A relatively easy read on par with Stevenson’s other works.

Thematic Questions: 7- A good amount of material on the trials and consuming nature of revenge, but a novel that left me troubled.

Enjoyment: 4- Again one of my lowest scores in this section. I simply was not captivated by this book.