“Five Weeks in a Balloon” is, in a measure, a satire on modern books of
African travel. So far as the geography, the inhabitants, the animals,
and the features of the countries the travellers pass over are
described, it is entirely accurate. It gives, in some particulars, a
survey of nearly the whole field of African discovery, and in this way
will often serve to refresh the memory of the reader. The mode of
locomotion is, of course, purely imaginary, and the incidents and
adventures fictitious. The latter are abundantly amusing, and, in view
of the wonderful “travellers’ tales” with which we have been
entertained by African explorers, they can scarcely be considered
extravagant; while the ingenuity and invention of the author will be
sure to excite the surprise and the admiration of the reader, who will
find M. VERNE as much at home in voyaging through the air as in
journeying “Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Seas.”