The Lost World begins with a love interest: Malone must go on a quest in order to win favor with Gladys. Malone is the novel's point-of-view character, and as a young man who is coming of age he serves as the young reader's representative. His eyes see everything as new and wonderful. His love story quickly changes into an adventure. Challenger shows Malone a drawing of a strange animal: "The head was like that of a bloated lizard, the trailing tail was furnished with upward-turned spikes, and the curved back was edged with a high serrated fringe." Challenger tells him that "it is actually sketched from the life."

From that moment on, the narrative focuses on finding, exploring, and revealing the Lost World. Conan Doyle uses humor to lighten the narrative, but keeps his characters and themes orderly and clear. They appear when needed in this...