Land of Terror

Pellucidar #6

by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Roy G. Krenkel (Illustrator), Anne Harris (Introduction)

If you have ever wondered what a civilized man of the twentieth century would do if catapulted into an Old Stone Age where huge cave bears, saber-toothed tigers, monstrous carnivorous dinosaurs, mammoths, and mastodons roamed the savage terrain, you need look no further than Land of Terror , the sixth installment of Edgar Rice Burroughs's Pellucidar series.

 

Years ago David Innes and Abner Perry bored straight down through five hundred miles of the earth's crust and landed in Pellucidar, the savage, primeval world that lies at the center of the earth. This is the story of their continuing adventures in the timeless land of perpetual noon and their encounters with the hideous creatures and savage men who pursue them. Although they encounter enemies at every turn, David and Abner find a few loyal friends as they embark on exhilarating adventures.

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Adventure, Fiction, Classics, Pulp, Speculative Fiction

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1944

About the author

Edgar Rice Burroughs was an American author, best known for his creation of the jungle hero Tarzan and the heroic John Carter, although he produced works in many genres.

Reviews

[Phillip Fuller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Edgar Rice Burroughs must have been on a tight writing deadline since he created a good novel with the same quality as the other Pellucidar books. David Innes adventures in this book are exciting but they reuse the same tropes of being captured by a vicious enemy, betrayal by someone saved from being dinner for a beast, and the hero getting the girl in the end. Feminist readers would not like the beautiful but passive women of these novels but his audience was predominately men. Many editions of this novel have Frank Frazetta covers and he was the most macho of fantasy artists. This is the book for male readers but one they all like. You must accept many of the outdated stereotypes since this is a novel of the early years of the last century.

[Little Timmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

excellent action story. But then I expect no less from and ERB novel. great fun read. Very recommended

[Chris Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Land of Terror was the first Edgar Rice Burroughs novel I ever read as a kid that wasn't a Tarzan novel. All I can say about that is, man, was that confusing because it happens to be Book 6 of 7 in the Pellucidar series. So, a lot had already happened since David Innes entered the world at the earth's core and, I'll just say it, much is repeated in this novel that has already happened throughout the series, often more than once.

The novel is formulaic as many point out, and Ed obviously mined his own material for ideas including rescuing a mammoth (see Back to the Stone Age), a cave girl fending off unwanted attention (see almost every Pellucidar novel), women who are the stronger sex while the village men are pantywaists of the First Order (see Tarzan and the Ant Men and Carson of Venus), stiff-haired lunatics (see Tarzan the Untamed,) & Etc.

Another theme that ERB frequently employed, and he does not pass on the opportunity to do so many times, frequently and often in Land of Terror is having his characters become captured and then obviously having to escape. But, at least the people who capture them are typically interesting if not downright fascinating. I've always felt that ERB employed this method of sprawling exploration to flesh out his worlds (he does this same thing in Escape on Venus, which is---ahem---quite aptly named.)

But, Land of Terror also has moments where the creativity of old that had at one time filled this master storyteller to repletion and to the envy of his peers still shines through even at this possibly jaded point in his long writing career. I refer to the very creative "floating islands of Ruva" which drift about upon the Bandar Az, the humungous ants, and the man-eating giants of Azar. There is cute little Kleeto, and b-holes galore, such as U-Val who befriends Innes only to beat him and enslave him. Yes, U-Val is very fun to dislike.

It's a fun romp, but I won't kid myself that it's one of ERB's best, not even close. Still, I guess I'm sentimental about it, it being my first Pellucidar and all, and after many years of not having read it, I certainly enjoyed revisiting The 1944 Burroughs Novel (which, btw, ERB had to publish himself--none of his usual publishers would touch it).

For a chapter summary, visit the Land of Terror page at ERB-List.

For extra info on the novel, visit ERBzine: Land of Terror

[hotsake (André Troesch) · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was similar in tone and structure to the previous book but just lesser in every way.

[Neil · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not one of ERB's best. By this time in Burroughs career (late 1930's to early 1940's) he had largely run out of original ideas and had largely begun to parody his earlier work. The first half or so of the book is particularly poor, it's only when he gets to the giant ants and floating islands that the book finally arises from a one star rating. There is some fairly good satire throughout including a surprisingly good opening chapter, before it descends into bathos
The last chapter has to be the worst however being very rushed and bringing things far to quickly to the obligatory happy ending.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Pelliucidar series is my favorite series written by Edgar Rice Burroughs. I used to walk to Grand Central and gather bottles along the side of the road. I would be able to collect enough bottles and turn them in for the deposit for the next book in this (and all of his series)series of books!

[KDS · Rating 3 out of 5]

As much as I love Edgar Rice Burroughs' books and the Pellucidar series in general, it's clear he was coasting by this point. Whilst Innes stumbling from one bizarre situation to another was fun at times, even taking into account the hand-wavy logic set up in the previous books, things didn't really add up. We have a random tribe of gender swaps and a random tribe of the insane; none of which are handled with anything more than his usual sledgehammer sensitivity (which was to be expected to be honest, especially given his jarring sexism was as apparent as ever), before moving on and forgetting about them. The dialogue is worse than ever and the world just seems less interesting than it once did. Too often it felt like a bad roleplaying adventure or those dodgy episodes from the third season of Lexx.

Having said that, there were enjoyable moments of high adventure. Battling prehistoric and weird monsters can never get boring and there was a touching set of scenes with some Mammoths he befriends. I also enjoyed the giant ant tribe, which is a lost world trope I'm becoming rather fond of. All this was interspersed with his attempts at social commentary on our civilisation ranging from barely insightful to tongue in cheek.

Overall it was the usual formula, but looking more tired and vacuous than the previous stories. I'm frankly impressed it took until book six before the shine wore off for me.

[Skjam! · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Pellucidar books were Edgar Rice Burrough’s third big book series after Tarzan and Barsoom. They use the Hollow Earth premise that our home planet is not solid inside, but has another land upside-down to the surface which can be accessed by holes at the poles or certain other locations, or simply drilled to. Mining heir David Innes and his inventor friend Abner Perry use an “Iron Mole” to go 500 miles into the core of the Earth to discover Pellucidar and have many adventures there.

This is the sixth book in the series, and the last published during ERB’s lifetime. It follows directly on from the end of the previous novel Back to the Stone Age. Having successfully located a lost explorer (only to have him decide to stay with the woman he loves), David Innes and his men head back to their home base of Sari. The natives of Pellucidar have a homing instinct that points infallibly to the place of their birth, so instead of retracing the winding route they took to get there, they head straight across country to the desired spot, through lands none of them have ever encountered before.

David gets separated from his party when they’re attacked crossing a river, and is taken captive by the bearded women of Oog. For unknown reasons, the Amazonian women of this tribe are bigger and stronger than their men. Deemed too “feminine-looking” for snu-snu, David is enslaved and put to work in the fields. Here he befriends another captive, Zor of Zoram. Zoram is not too distant from Sari, so Zor can point them in the right direction, once David figures out how to escape.

However, the way home lies through the land of the Jukans, a populous tribe with the hat of all being “crazy”. Despite their seeming insanity, the Jukan villages are quite advanced for the Stone Age, and the pair find themselves trapped as “guests” in the king’s palace. Not prisoners, exactly, but not allowed to leave. David and Zor befriend serving girl Kleeto, who turns out to be a captive from Suvi, another village in the direction of Sari. Zor and Kleeto start having feelings for each other.

David eventually manages to fall afoul of the king, and is tossed into a holding area. Which is actually a corridor. While exploring, he hears the prince trying to “seduce” a captive woman. She’s not having any of it, and the prince lets slip that the secret passage David is in leads to outside the city. David decides to rescue the woman, a good thing as she is in fact his wife, Dian the Beautiful, who got captured by the Jukans when she came looking for him. David stabs the prince (non-fatally as it turns out) and the two flee down the tunnel.

Outside the city, the happy couple rest up in a handy cave, but David decides he has to go back to rescue Zor and Kleeto. Wearing a simple disguise, David re-enters the palace and manages to get Zor out, but he then has to let Zor go in through the escape tunnel to get Kleeto out. While waiting, David checks in on Dian, only to discover that she’s disappeared, apparently abducted by another man!

He eventually loses the trail, and himself, not having the Pellucidarian homing sense. After wandering some more, David spots what looks like a man and woman traveling together. Has he caught up to Dian and her captor? Nope, it’s Zor and Kleeto. The three start heading back towards their homelands. Along the way, David impulsively saves a young mammoth from a bog, earning the friendship of his mighty family.

During a storm, our travelers get separated from the mammoths, and are captured by the Azarites, seven foot tall tusked cannibals, who fatten them up for the inevitable feast. David manages to use his bond with the mammoths to get them to attack the Azarite village and drag him to safety, but he loses track of Zor and Kleeto and where he is. The mammoths then wander off never to be seen again.

Next, David wanders a little too close to some giant anthills and is taken prisoner by the giant ants and stuffed in their larder. There he meets fellow soon to be snack U-Val, who is from the floating island of Ruval. Thanks to a fortuitous attack by a giant ant bear, David and U-Val are able to escape.

U-Val, sadly, is not a good person. As soon as he’s built a boat to take him back to Ruval and David thinks they’re parting as friends, U-Val ties our hero up while he’s asleep. It turns out that Ruval is a slaver society and U-Val needs at least one slave to be able to get married to the woman he has the hots for.

David, ever the quick thinker, bides his time until they reach Ruval, then cleverly makes himself useful enough to the Ruvalians that U-Val can’t claim him as a slave. This eventually ends in U-Val’s death at David’s hands, but the other Ruvalians accept that he had it coming. David finds that one of the slaves on a rival island is from Suvi, and escapes with her as his guide.

All ends happily for David and Dian as they are reunited.

Whew! Now that’s an adventure novel!

Good: Lots of action, interesting twists and turns and the amazing setting of Pellucidar. David is very much the action hero, but Burroughs doesn’t overdo the competence and we often see him struggle and even be outmatched from time to time.

Less good: This was the only Pellucidar novel not to be serialized in a magazine, as all Burroughs’ regular publishers rejected it. And yeah, I can see why. It’s basically David ping-ponging from one wacky wayside tribe to another, hopelessly lost and just dealing with whatever problem is right in front of him.

And there are aspects of the story that haven’t aged well. The Oog sequence is a classic “persecution flip” (oppressed group in real life gets to be the oppressors instead) with the message that it sure would be awful if women were in charge because they’d treat us men even worse than we treat them when we’re in charge. It doesn’t occur to David for even a moment that maybe equality of the sexes is a better option. (In fairness, he lost contact with modern civilization in 1914.)

The Jukan section is ableist and “look at the funny but dangerous crazy people.” Their society, though, is surprisingly functional as it works on a mutual “humor the lunatic” culture that with a little more thought put into it could have been sharp satire.

And the floating island sequence is another persecution flip as the black Ruvalians enslave white mainlanders. In this case, though, David notes they���re no worse than any other slavers he’s met in Pellucidar.

There’s copious use of Burroughs’ trademark contrived coincidences and the novel just zooms to an ending when he reaches the desired page count. Thus a guy who’s been built up as a potential final boss villain is unceremoniously killed off-page by Dian once she no longer needs him to protect her from worse threats, and David never even meets the man.

On the other hand, it’s nice to know Dian is fully capable of handling her own problems when she has to.

And it’s still a very entertaining story.

I’d recommend either starting with the first book, At the Earth’s Core, or the crossover novel Tarzan at the Earth’s Core, but if you happen to find this one at a garage sale or a Little Free Library, and you can handle the dated portions, it’s worth a read.

[Frank · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this and the rest of the Pellucidar series in the 70s. Enjoyable!

[Jacob Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

At this point in the series, Burroughs' writing is extremely (!!) formulaic. It's a good thing the formula he created for this world is fairly fun.

[Rafeeq O. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Edgar Rice Burroughs' 1944 Land of Terror, sixth in the hollow-Earth "Pellucidar" series, returns to David Innes, the early twentieth-century man who, along with Abner Perry, inventor of the "iron mole," in the first book chewed through the planet's crust to discover a Stone Age world inside, lit by a central, never-setting minor sun. Innes's first-person narrative tells us now that he was "rather floored" to hear from Jason Gridley via Gridley Wave that "it [is] The Year of Our Lord Nineteen Hundred and Thirty-nine on the outer crust," meaning that they "have been down here...for thirty-six years" (Early 1960s Ace paperback, page 5). We already are accustomed to Burroughs' slippery assertion of time in Pellucidar not simply seeming different due to lack of diurnal cycle but actually being different, and here Innes tells us right off that "neither Perry nor [he] show any physical evidence of the passage of time" (page 5); this is handy both for reader wish-fulfillment and also so that an author can keep using his original character as cave man swashbuckler, no matter how many years have passed since the first installment in the series.

In any event, as with every tale before it, crucial to the novel's plot is a dame, namely an abducted one in need of rescue. Now, often the creature needing--though definitely not requesting, and rarely even deigning to notice--the rescuing efforts of some devoted admirer is, to my estimation, a true pain in the ass. The first time one o' them-thar haughty cave girl princess-types, shapely and topless though she may be, told me off the way Burroughs has them do to his heroes, I'd be like "Alright, seeya, dingus--rest in pieces!" and away I'd go without a backward glance, and the book would be done. Plenty of fish in the sea, after all.

However, in the spirit of cultural relativism--regarding both the tens-of-thousands-of-years-removed societies of Pellucidar and also that of an author writing from the different milieu of 80 or 100 years in the past--I always swallow the too-damned-special-female schtick with only minor inner grumbling. Yet here, for once the abductee is not one of those horrible brats but instead Innes's own wife, Dian the Beautiful, whose days of hard-to-get cutesyism were all the way back in At the Earth's Core, first in the series.

Mind you, Innes's original quest in this book was to find Lieutenant Von Horst, he who was separated from his dirigible-borne fellows and unfortunately left behind at the end of Tarzan at the Earth's Core and who then starred in the next book, Back to the Stone Age. Still, after David fails to return, Dian mounts and expedition to search for her mate. It is a while before he learns of this, though, for first he has his own struggles, captures, and escapes to go through.

As always for Burroughs, there are these struggles, captures, and escapes, along with treachery and friendship--and occasional wild coincidences--punctuated by cliffhangers. Now and then there are some surprisingly ironic observations of the state of our own modern world as well...or at least the "modern" world still several years short of the middle of the twentieth century, which is far closer to us than would be the stone age of the inner world. Land of Terror is pulp fiction rather than subtle high literature, but taken in the context of its genre and its era, it is a pleasant 5-star read.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5-3 stars. I remember reading one/some of the Pellucidar books when I was a teen; Burroughs was one of my dad's favorite authors so we had some of them. I found them exciting reading. Well, I've grown up a lot since then. FWIW I still find them very imaginative; the different peoples/cultures and animals of Pellucidar are fantastically varied. But and it's a big BUT: these books have not aged well especially for this SJW. Pellucidar's humans are Stone Age (or less in some cases) peoples. The protagonist David Innes is a man born to the 20th century and, not only is he modern, but he knows all about The White Man's Burden. Of course the Suvi and Sari peoples are the most heroic (after Innes himself), others fair less well. All groups seem to keep slaves; notably the Ruvans who are black/colored and have some white slaves (from the mainland) will not mate with them (ew, ick) - which fits the time period of Burroughs' writing. There are some good parts: the rescue of the mastodon calf and friendship with its family, the description of the giant ants, and the description of the Floating Islands. What I can take away from the writing style: Burroughs is a storyteller and he tells stories well, but they may be stories that make you uncomfortable. I read this for my 2020 Reading Challenge (Lit Life "guilty pleasure") and the 2020 Hugo nominations (Retro Best Novel 1944).

[Norman Cook · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not the best example of Burroughs, but it's still a fast-paced romp full of improbable escapades and adventures. David Innes travels through Pellucidar encountering hairy warrior women, a village filled with imbeciles, giant ants, and floating islands. I think even Burroughs would admit that he was perhaps running out of credible ideas, but he never gives in to the temptation to make it campy.

The book does have some cringe worthy sentiments, particularly early on, when Burroughs writes how Innes and his partner Abner Perry have enlightened the natives of Pellucidar: "... we have taught them how to make gunpowder and rifles and cannon, and they are commencing to realize the advantages of civilization." Perhaps tongue-in-cheek, perhaps not.

Later, Burroughs opines on the equality of the sexes: "One of the sexes must rule; and man seems temperamentally better fitted for the job than woman. Certainly if full power over man has resulted in debauching and brutalizing women to such an extent, then we should see that they remain always subservient to man, whose overlordship is, more often than not, tempered by gentleness and sympathy."

There is also some not so subtle bigotry towards the mentally ill and towards people of color. Despite these flaws in attitude that have not aged well, the book provides some exciting, colorful adventure.

[Theresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is 1939 on the surface world, but time has hardly moved down below. David and Perry look and feel like when they first arrived thirty-six years ago.

Dave’s ‘rescue’ expedition traveled a convoluted path searching for von Horst through Pellucidar, but he wished to stay with the beautiful native he’s taken as a mate. So David Innis and his band of Sarians head back home to Sari on as straight a path as they are able. But of course things are never as easy as planned, especially in a land where every living thing is out to kill you. This is the story of that journey from Dave’s POV.

The various groups of lifeforms that Dave and the others find across Pellucidar are getting really ridiculously unbelievable. As if Burroughs was straining to find something different to amaze us with, but it just comes off silly. Such as, the female/male dynamic of the Oog doesn’t make any sense at all: physically, mentally or emotionally. I mean, really, if the women have beards and hairy bodies, what makes them different from the men??

Fave scenes: Dave fighting Gluck, the ant hill, the fishing pool and Dave & U-Val’s fight.

[William Mallory · Rating 2 out of 5]

The sixth tale in Edgar Rice Burroughs Pellucidar series was not the best of the bunch. A plot synopsis for this book would be: David travels from his home village, meets a series of new races and creatures, all of whom try to kill or eat him. That's it. nothing else. Yes, David comes across as a heroic figure because he takes all of his knowledge gained in the surface world and uses it to better the lives of the other tribes. I can't help but think that at some point in the future when all of the various tribes have traded innovations until they have caught up to surface-world technology then characters like David will have no further advantage over the natives. Enjoyable but really only for the hardcore fans.

[Fraser Sherman · Rating 3 out of 5]

For the first time since Pellucidar (book 2) David Innes gets to be the center of the story. First he's captured by a tribe of Amazons (happens in several Burroughs series, expressing Burroughs' thoughs on gender roles, not recommended), then by a tribe of lunatics who by complete coincidence have also captured David's empress, Dian. She escapes, then David follows her into the clutches of cannibals, then a civilization on a floating island. The ending wraps up with absurd suddenness.
This is still fun, but it isn't great fun. IIRC the final book in the series, Savage Pellucidar is more of a hoot (I'll find out in a month or so).

[Nicholas Whyte · Rating 2 out of 5]

https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3424586.html

One of Burroughs’ Pellucidar novels, published in 1944. Our hero goes on an Odyssey-style voyage in the world hidden beneath our own where he has already resided for many years. He escapes from strange cultures where women and non-white men are in charge, because he is smarter. He is gallant towards his own womenfolk, even though they are indistinguishable as characters. In the end, he returns to the safe haven of white male supremacy and order is restored. It's a racist mess.

[Douglas Boren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perhaps the best Pellicidar book of all!

David Innes, discoverer of the inner world of Pellucidar, had carved out his own empire among the pavement there. When David disappears while exploring new territories, his followers set out to search for him under the leadership of his cavewoman queen, Dian the Beautiful.

The story of Davis and Dian's strange adventures among unknown peoples and incredible beasts is another in Edgar Rice Burroughs thrilling novels of the Stone Age land that lies at the Earth's core.

[Nickolai · Rating 3 out of 5]

Сюжет, в принципе, интересный, но у меня постоянно было deja vu. Случайная встреча с любимой женщиной вдали от дома, потом она пропадает и герой пытается ее найти. Приключения в городе сумасшедших и поселке людоедов. Спасение слона, после чего его семейство спасает главного героя. Предательство со стороны товарища по несчастью. И многое-многое другое. Всё это уже было в других романах и повестях Берроуза. Так что данная книга - это что-то вроде плагиата из других своих произведений.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Land of Terror by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

David Innes and his cave woman wife Dian the Beautiful are captured and taken far from their home in the savage land of Pellucidar. This is the story of their escape and many adventures facing prehistoric beasts, man-eating giants and floating islands while trying to get home.
A good good, I enjoyed it very much. I especially liked the floating islands that roamed the seas.

[Joanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

glad i did this one last, out of order, a great one to end the series on, didn't enjoy as much as Tarazan and Barsoom,2 of my favorite series. but enjoyable trip to the center of the earth and its people.

[Kenneth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Further adventures of David Innes and his love, Dian, in Pellucidar, the inner world inside the hollow earth.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is just simply a fun littke book.

[Phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun little read

[AndrewP · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has been out of print for quite a long time. After reading it I can see why.

The story follow David Innes on another adventure. He sets out on a expedition, gets captured by a tribe of hostile natives, escapes, only to get captured by another group of indigenous people. Repeat this story line 4 or 5 times and that's all there is to this book.

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

As I continue to read the Pellucidar series I am less and less impressed by the story telling in them, but they are enjoyable in an Indiana Jonesy way. The characters are likable if a bit shallow, and the action is interesting even if the resolution relies a bit too much on happenstance.

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have the Ace edition.

[Alex]

False

[Bill]

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/12669105

[Ronald · Rating 4 out of 5]

read some time in 1994