Not being familiar with the comparative criticism between Verne and Wells, can only offer that I while I enjoyed Nemo's narrative and the compelling saga presented, I felt it would've benefited from some of Wells' philosophy.

Cool book, too much talk of zoophytes.

I acknowledge that I should knock a star off for the endless catalogues of fish, I really do. but I adore this book so much that I just can’t. the captain as a character, his relationship with the professor, Conseil & Ned’s weird unexpected nerd-humor-fueled friendship, Conseil and the professor and their intense bond, and just...the adventures! the descriptions and the tension and the wonder of it all...it’s so good. so no. catalogues of fish or no catalogues of fish, this will always be one of my very faves.

Should've read it ten years ago and saved myself the time now. Jolly good fun though. Nemo's a great character.

This is unusual because I am reading this book for the second time after close to 40 years (first read when I was 10 or 12 probably). Some notes...
*I am impressed with how much actual oceanographic knowledge went into the book (currents, formation of new land, temperature profile of water, etc.) given the age of the book. I also think I picked up some knowledge/trivia about the oceans from reading this as a kid (like the Sargasso Sea, or the (mythical) maelstrom).
*This is a pioneering science fiction work because of the technology of the Nautilus. However most of the events that happen in the book are pretty plausible. There is some speculative geography that is kind of neat.
*There is a mystery about Captain Nemo's motives that I had forgotten all about. But the other characters have very little character development at all. There are a bunch of unnamed crewman that never interact with the narrator (Professor Arronax). His assistant Conseil, is slavishly devoted to him and seems to have almost no desires of his own.
*There are a lot of encyclopedic listings of different kinds of fish and marine life they saw.
*The plot sort of goes from adventure to adventure, but it's pretty entertaining. This could easily be a big budget film nowadays (if you fleshed out the characters more).
*The 19th century viewpoint is most evident when they come upon an endangered dugong and decide to kill and eat it.

This was a very entertaining read! I look forward to reading more Jules Verne.

A fun little story with some interesting tangential themes about colonialism. Made me want to revisit more old pulpy sci-fi or even just rewatch Disney's Atlantis.

Boring and at times a brutal read. I respect the research by Verne done for this book and can understand the spectacle this was originally when deep sea exploration wasn’t even a thing during its time, but the book itself is quite tedious for 95% of the time up until say the final 50 pages or so.

2.5 stars for readability today and my personal enjoyment, 5 stars for cultural influence and how exciting it no doubt was for its original audience.

I never read Verne before this year, and I have now read three of his novels. I enjoyed Around the World in 80 Days, but didn't much care for Journey to the Center of the Earth or 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

I found 20,000 Leagues wordy and boring, with an occasional (very occasional) passage of interest. I also did not enjoy the excessive hunting and killing.

Still, Verne deserves credit for being far ahead of his time and for influencing culture with Captain Nemo and the Nautilus. He must have done tremendous research about the seas, and I'm sure his original readers looked forward to the next installment with as much excitement as today's viewers look forward to the next episode of their favorite TV show.