A book review on Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson

Written by the Classical Foundations Literary Society

“David,” says he, “this is no’ the kind of death I fancy.”

What, Alan!” I cried.  “You’re not afraid?”

This exiting tale of heroism and suspense features young David Balfour, whose greedy uncle arranges David’s kidnapping so he can steal David’s inheritance. However, David is rescued by Alan Breck Stewart, who is a Highland Jacobite and an English army deserter, always on the run.  Alan is delivering money to his clan chief, Ardishiel, who is exiled in France.  They are shipwrecked in the dangerous Sound of Mull and David and Alan are separated.  Will they ever find each other again?  Will David be able to find his way back to Shaws so he can get revenge on his uncle?  Will Alan be captured and hanged as a deserter?  To find out read Robert Louis Stevenson’s Kidnapped.

In this book we believe the author desires to tell us about the importance of a good friendship.  When David and Alan argue with each other, they are blind to the needs of the other and only want to have their way.  It doesn’t really help that David and Alan differ a lot on politics.  The story is set in 1751 in the country of Scotland, which is in turmoil after the recent defeat of Prince Charles at Culloden.  David supports King George, however Alan believes Prince Charles is the rightful ruler of Scotland. 

In our opinion, the plot was thrilling, aside from the fact that some of us found it hard to read because some of the wording was difficult to understand. The reason is that Kidnapped was written in the 1860’s and some of the terms used are no longer spoken today in America.  We liked how it had lots of action and suspense.

Overall, our rating would be about four stars.  We would definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys historical fiction and wouldn’t mind reading old-fashioned language.  It was a wonderfully well written work of fiction.  We immensely enjoyed this book and we hope you do too.

Katie Znamenacek

Alexandria Adair

Sophia Larson

The members of the Classical Foundations Literary Society.