This edition includes the complete Caspak trilogy: The Land that Time Forgot, The People that Time Forgot and Out of Time's Abyss

Full review and analysis: http://www.blackgate.com/2009/02/10/c... ( )

This is another early 20th century classic adventure yarn, and I do mean yarn. I would suggest putting off reading the introduction, by science fiction author Brian Aldiss, until after one has finished the book, in order to get the full flavor of Burroughs' plot.

Reading Burroughs, once again, is like stepping into Dr. Who's Tardis -- one is transported back in time to a world where manly men fight for the right; German followers of Kaiser Wilhelm are cowardly and dishonorable; and modern women faintly cheer their men on, appropriately and demurely, from the sidelines. All that was to be expected -- but what was unexpected were the interestingly drawn characters of the "savage" women that a few of Burroughs' luckier adventurers encounter. These bronzed, lithe, warrior queens are no shrinking flowers of femininity. And though one stout-hearted explorer fights his own physical attraction to the sweet little "savage" who's attached herself to him, in the end he comes to realize that beneath the bronzed skin of his little jungle queen there beats a heart as delicate and as feminine as that of any modern, whiter woman.

It was a fun read, made even more enjoyable by reading Aldiss' forward after I had finished the book. Aldiss is clearly a Burroughs fan, and though he dutifully points out the utter ridiculousness of Burrough's theories of evolutionary ascent, as depicted in the novel, he urges readers to set aside this outdated and invalid basic premise and to enjoy the book for what it is -- a swashbuckling adventure tale set in the mists of a lost world, where time and nature have taken a very different course from the outside world.

The book is not as good as TARZAN OF THE APES, and doesn't hold a candle to Conan Doyle's THE LOST WORLD, but it was a fun and exciting trip into an alternate reality. ( )

One of the best novels written by ERB, the Amercian protagonist (whose name is finally given us in the last few pages) and his lofe-love go through many adventures before becoming Adam and Eve on an unknown continent completely cut off by high, almost impassable cliffs. Well, they ARE impassable. They must reach the interior of the continent by sailing UNDER the cliffs in a commandeered German U2 sub, which the American's family made for Germany, yet. ( )

We begin with a bit of wartime sea action. Us versus the Germans sort of thing, as a desperate group of men take over a German submarine.

It is just the thing they need to get to a Lost Island via an underwater passage and establish a base called Fort Dinosaur! Those left are forced to work together, whether German or not.

The whole island appears to almost be an evolutionary experiment, so there are clashes with beast men, and other sorts of clashes with some of the more advanced local girls.

http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/551

http://superprose.blogspot.com/2006/1... ( )