Review of "At the Earth's Core by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Science Fiction, Literary" on 'Storygraph'
2 stars
I love ERB's Mars books (including the ones he wrote after this), and I remember enjoying Tarzan and The Land That Time Forgot when I was young, but it feels like he just churned this one out in a weekend. The world isn't nearly as interesting as Barsoom, the characters are flat, the action is dull, and the plot lurches from silliness to silliness throughout (for example the heroes dress in dead monster skins to walk past the live monsters unnoticed, and at one point the hero doesnt notice the love of his life has been replaced with a monster).
There is a moment of weird horror in the middle (when a hypnotised character is slowly eaten limb by limb without reacting). The ending sticks closely to the Princess of Mars set-up-a-sequel formula. The whole thing is rushed, dull and daft and peppered with occasional bizarre moments. Oh, and plenty …
I love ERB's Mars books (including the ones he wrote after this), and I remember enjoying Tarzan and The Land That Time Forgot when I was young, but it feels like he just churned this one out in a weekend. The world isn't nearly as interesting as Barsoom, the characters are flat, the action is dull, and the plot lurches from silliness to silliness throughout (for example the heroes dress in dead monster skins to walk past the live monsters unnoticed, and at one point the hero doesnt notice the love of his life has been replaced with a monster).
There is a moment of weird horror in the middle (when a hypnotised character is slowly eaten limb by limb without reacting). The ending sticks closely to the Princess of Mars set-up-a-sequel formula. The whole thing is rushed, dull and daft and peppered with occasional bizarre moments. Oh, and plenty of casual misogyny and a dollop of racism for good measure.