Most helpful customer reviews
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3.0 out of 5 stars
Pellucidar Begins Here, Aug 5 2009
After starting his Barsoom and Tarzan series of adventures, Edgar Rice Burroughs (September 1st, 1875 - March 19, 1950), wrote "At the Earth's Core" which was published in 1914. This kicked off his Pellucidar series, which is based on the idea that the Earth is hollow and there are creatures from our prehistoric times still alive and active, as well as more than a few horrific creatures, both intelligent and non-intelligent. As with many of Burrough's ideas, that of a hollow Earth would inspire many other writers to write stories on a similar theme.
There are many similarities between this and Burrough's Barsoom series, and as such it is fairly predictable, but there are some differences as well. Once again there is an introduction which makes the case that this is a real story. Instead of an unexplained transportation to Mars, the journey to Pellucidar is done via an invention, a "subterranean prospector" which works far better and also far worse than intended. The hero, David Innes and his friend Perry who invented the "subterranean prospector" find themselves in a hostile world; they are captured and captured again finding themselves enslaved by the dominant species of the planet, the Mahars. The hero also finds a beautiful woman who he is destined to be with.
This novel isn't nearly as good as the start to the Pellucidar series as "A Princess of Mars" was for the Barsoom series. There are some rather racist descriptions, and the language difficulties are overcome too easily, though one has to also give credit for the Mahars as a unique and horrible species, though there again they have an Achilles heel which is rather absurd. Another weakness is the flow of time, which sometimes results in contradictions in the plot. It is never quite clear just how Burrough's saw this working, so while one can appreciate the attempt, the execution of the idea isn't very well done.
As one has come to expect from Burrough's, the adventure is entertaining, the characters are a bit two-dimensional, and the plot is fairly predictable. Thus, if one is looking for an entertaining mindless escape, this may work to fill that goal, but then again one would be better served by reading the Barsoom series which is much better done. There are crossovers between the Barsoom series and this one, as well as between the Tarzan series and this one, which makes it of interest as well.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
New Series New Hero But Still Enjoyable, Jun 14 2003
For Edgar Rice Burroughs, life was relatively simple. Men fell into one of three categories: muscular heroes, ordinary types, and evil, greasy villains. Women existed primarily to act as universal lighting rods that attracted either the first or third category. Regardless of the universe that ERB wrote of, these constants held with predictable regularity. With the publication of AT THE EARTH'S CORE, he began yet another series that put the hero at odds with nature, evil doers, and beautiful, virtuous women. David Innes, the handsome hero, drills down to the center of the earth in a manner that brings to mind Jules Verne's tale, both of which posit a habitable, temperate core that supports a variety of lush, prehistoric life. Despite knowing that the earth's core was held to be molten, ERB did not hesitate to bend science for the sake of a good tale. ATEC possesses both the plusses of ERB at his best and the negatives at his worst. Like Tarzan, Innes is a likable, manly sort who feels at home regardless of whether home is a jungle or a tea room. The logic of how ERB gets his hero placed in an exotic locale is irrelevant and often purely unscientific. For his Martian (Barsoom) series, he merely had his hero, John Carter, gaze at the Red Planet to effect his transport there. For his inner world series (Pellucidar), Innes used a drill machine, a device that at least tries to be scientific. Once there, Innes has the necessary adventures with beasts, villains, and beautiful women, in this case Dian the Beautiful. The workings of the plot about how he finds her, loses her, and then finds her again are almost not to the point. Where ERB excels in his ability to place the reader, who is usually a 15 year old boy, in a realm that allows imagination to run riot. Events flow so smoothly that the youthful reader will probably overlook the negatives of ERB's prose style. In the world of ERB's muscular heroes, both hero and villain speak in the artificial, courtly dialogue that rings true only to the ears of the young. Coincidence runs rife to the point of ridicule. Beautiful women are haughty at first, but lusty later, and then only to the clean-limbed hero. His plots are often mirror images of one another. You can substitute the center of the earth for Mars, Venus, Africa, or wherever, and hero, villain, and lovely lady are interchangeable. Yet, despite all this, AT THE EARTH'S CORE is the kind of read that ought to be part of any kid's early mental universe. Reading Burroughs as a thirty year old requires a strong ability to suspend one's disbelief, but once having done so, the ride is usually worth the effort.
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3.0 out of 5 stars
Much better than the movie..., Jun 28 2000
Although far less plausible and possessing characters of much less depth than Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth, Burrough's At the Earth's Core, despite some embarrassingly preposterous elements, is an entertaining read due to its well-rendered, imaginative fantasy setting and fast-paced swashbuckling adventure. The story is never dull, and the hideous and hypnotic bat-winged Mayars make for memorable villains. The depiction of a human sacrifice to these monsters halfway through the novel is particularly unforgettable. There is also a multifarious array of attacking prehistoric monsters, without the claustrophobic feel of the 1970's film.Also recommended is Basil Copper's treatment of the descent-into-the-earth theme in his creepy novel The Great White Space, now unfortunately out of print.
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