This book is a collection of three stories: The Beach of Falesa, The Bottle Imp, and Isle of Voices. All of them are fairly short and didn't take me long to read. I got this through Gutenberg.org. This is also the first thing I've read by Robert Louis Stevenson.
The Beach of Falesa is the story of a man who comes to the island and is betrayed by the man who introduces him around. He isn't going to back down and begins to plot his revenge.
The Bottle Imp is about a bottle that will grant all your wishes. They come at a cost, though. You have to sell the bottle for less than you bought it for, and the imp seems to work in strange ways. Eventually, the price gets low. The person stuck with the bottle at their death is automatically damned.
Isle of Voices is magical. There's an island of shells that turn into dollars, and warlocks use their powers to visit and get money. A lazy son-in-law is brought one day and decides to try and blackmail the warlock. It's not the best idea and backfires, and so does just about everything else that happens after that.
The stories are interesting, but my favorite was The Bottle Imp. I liked the story more than the characters, but it was tense enough I wanted to find out what happened. And it didn't disappoint. The first story was my second favorite. It was different, and I liked the imagination involved. The third one wasn't something I was drawn to. I don't know why, but it was somewhat forgettable.
The writing was engaging, but some of the language has not aged well, specifically the terminology used for the island natives. If you can ignore those, the stories might be worth your time. They are all public domain, so you're not risking any money. Overall, even though I didn't enjoy the third, it wasn't terrible either. I'm comfortable giving this collection a Good Book! review.
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