What Was Lost?

Another slow-moving Doc Savage novel by Kenneth Robeson, The Lost Oasis does not deliver. He and his five companions come to the aid of Lady Nelia Sealing, a wealthy British woman who is captured by two slavers Yuttal and Hadi-Mot. The language learned is Egyptian. Lady Nelia seeks help from Doc Savage to free people who have been enslaved by the villains to mine diamonds in a deadly oasis, populated by vampire bats and carnivorous plants. Once again, Savage finds a wealth of treasure which is used in his institutions to rehabilitate criminals and as funds for hospitals. The travel is in an airship, the Aeromunde, which is a large dirigible. Poison, gas, stealth, and special weapons are again used. The length of time the novel took to accomplish this seemed slow and plodding. It will not stop me from reading more novels.

I always enjoy learning bits and pieces of a new language from these novels.  However, the Egyptian seemed more like jargon and curse words that they cannot be interspersed in regular use with English.

The cover depicts Doc Savage battling a horde of vampire bats with a machine gun.  The bats are at first considered to be a mysterious black cloud of death until he figures they are just poisonous versions of their cousins under the control of the villains.  The title is also misleading at the oasis turns out to be inhabited by vultures, poisonous snakes, and giant carnivorous plants (yes, they have vines that kill people).  All for some diamonds.

The interesting part was the travel and use of a dirigible, giving it a hint of steampunk flavor, without all the mechanical gadgets.  I am sure at the time, these great airships were a thing of awe.  Now we look on them as bloating banners or viewers of football games.  I was sure the Aeromunde would explode at one point, but it was required for the freed slaves to escape.  Thank goodness the Hindenburg exploded, or this might have been a regular means of transportation in the world.

A woman also was enamored of Doc Savage, only to figure out that he cannot have females in his line of duty and resigned that she would get nowhere with the bronze man.  I would like to figure out what makes his skin bronze and his eyes swirl.