The introduction was more interesting than the novel itself -- in the first paragraph, Alessio hopefully describes it as "technological sophistication combined with a relatively not-too-turgid prose style", but given how dreadful nineteenth century SF could be, this is faint praise. Still, it is mildly interesting to think of this New Zealand novel as boosterism for New Zealand and therefore a peaceful-exploration novel, an optimists' view of the future because the present was turning out so well. (Is there 19th c. SF from Africa? Algiers? Afghanistan?) It might even have been historically effective as a precursor to , although there's only (lots of) indirect evidence.
Find in a Library: The Great Romance
So wrote clew in SF&F.