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Robert Grandon #2
Prince of Peril
When the man who was Harry Thorne on Earth offered to swap bodies with a native of Venus, it was because he was bored with comfort and security, and craved excitement.
174 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1930
About the author
Otis Adelbert Kline
228 books23 followersA popular pulp era writer who served on the original Weird Tales editorial staff & appeared frequently in the magazine's early issues, Kline is perhaps best known for his novelistic feud with Edgar Rice Burroughs. He wrote "Planet of Peril" (1929) and two other novels set on the planet Venus and written in the storytelling form of the John Carter of Mars novels, prompting Burroughs to write his own stories set on Venus. In return, Kline wrote two novels set on Mars, as well as several jungle adventurers quite reminiscent of Burroughs's Tarzan.
In the mid-1930s Kline largely abandoned writing to concentrate on his career as a literary agent (most famously for fellow Weird Tales author Robert E. Howard, pioneer sword and sorcery writer and creator of Conan the Barbarian). Kline represented Howard from the Spring of 1933 until Howard's death in June 1936, and continued to act as literary agent for Howard's estate thereafter.
In the mid-1930s Kline largely abandoned writing to concentrate on his career as a literary agent (most famously for fellow Weird Tales author Robert E. Howard, pioneer sword and sorcery writer and creator of Conan the Barbarian). Kline represented Howard from the Spring of 1933 until Howard's death in June 1936, and continued to act as literary agent for Howard's estate thereafter.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
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June 24, 2020When the man who was Harry Thorne on Earth offered to swap bodies with a native of Venus, it was because he was bored with comfort and security, and craved excitement.
In "The Prince of Peril" -Using his secret method Dr. Morgan projects a young Martian's astral body into a certain Harry Thorne on Earth, who then gets transported to an ancient Venus. He arrives there in the body of Prince Zinlo of Olba, and he is soon forced to escape assassination, since an ambitious noble is killing off the Royals in a bid to seize the throne. With the help of the fellow interplanetary traveler Vorn Vangal he gets to know the planet and the rules of it.
The Robert Grandon series:
1. Planet of Peril (1929)
2. Prince of Peril (1930)
3. The Port of Peril (1932)
In "The Prince of Peril" -Using his secret method Dr. Morgan projects a young Martian's astral body into a certain Harry Thorne on Earth, who then gets transported to an ancient Venus. He arrives there in the body of Prince Zinlo of Olba, and he is soon forced to escape assassination, since an ambitious noble is killing off the Royals in a bid to seize the throne. With the help of the fellow interplanetary traveler Vorn Vangal he gets to know the planet and the rules of it.
The Robert Grandon series:
1. Planet of Peril (1929)
2. Prince of Peril (1930)
3. The Port of Peril (1932)
February 19, 2026
Great fast paced action and Adventure. Recommended
February 15, 2009
I'm in this for the weird science. Part of my problem with the previous book, Planet of Peril, is first that the science wasn't weird enough and second that the story takes a page-consuming detour into a primitive valley. He redeems himself somewhat here with the audacious premise that the technology--elevators, flying machines, android bodies for long-dead personality-swapping royalty--rely on mechanically-assisted telekinesis. There's something elegant in doubling down on your balderdash by powering your ridiculous technological artifacts with paranormal pseudoscience.
Unfortunately, like Planet, the story takes the characters out of their environment of technology and intrigue and throws them into a hidden primitive valley, this time of man-eating cave apes, where many pages burn before they escape. But then they stumble into an equally hidden country of telepathic robots, and all is well again. These asides generally conclude with no lasting effect or later re-emergence. It is though the author had left a bookmark at that point, promising to get back to that problem, and then completed the book without doing so. In the case of the telepathic robots, it is a shame. Many books would be improved by adding more telepathic robots.
Kline's books do seem to fall into the Sword-and-Planet trap of using the foreign words for certain objects (weapons, of course) and for military and inherited titles. So an elevator is an elevator, but the reader needs to remember that a sword is a 'scabro' and a king is a 'torringo', or something. This is a habit of the genre that continues to baffle and annoy me.
The writing occasionally spasms with awkward language. "We have not been unsuccessful in other ways" forced me to stop and work out the double negative.
Unfortunately, like Planet, the story takes the characters out of their environment of technology and intrigue and throws them into a hidden primitive valley, this time of man-eating cave apes, where many pages burn before they escape. But then they stumble into an equally hidden country of telepathic robots, and all is well again. These asides generally conclude with no lasting effect or later re-emergence. It is though the author had left a bookmark at that point, promising to get back to that problem, and then completed the book without doing so. In the case of the telepathic robots, it is a shame. Many books would be improved by adding more telepathic robots.
Kline's books do seem to fall into the Sword-and-Planet trap of using the foreign words for certain objects (weapons, of course) and for military and inherited titles. So an elevator is an elevator, but the reader needs to remember that a sword is a 'scabro' and a king is a 'torringo', or something. This is a habit of the genre that continues to baffle and annoy me.
The writing occasionally spasms with awkward language. "We have not been unsuccessful in other ways" forced me to stop and work out the double negative.
August 8, 2008
The second in the Venus series by Kline. A great Krenkel cover and an enjoyable story. Not quite as good as Burroughs, but I found him much later so who knows how I would have felt if I read his series first.
October 14, 2026
Otis Adelbert Kline’s 1930 sci-fi follow-up, The Prince of Peril, is a double-barreled blast of planetary romance that makes a regular old game of musical chairs look simpler than a three-piece puzzle. If you thought the mind-swapping in the first book was a lot to chew on, this second slice of the Venus Trilogy raises the stakes with a three-way celestial body-swap that'll have you scratching your head like a hound dog with fleas. Hold onto your suspenders for this piece of math. The story relies on that eccentric old scientist, Dr. Morgan, and his high-falutin thought-amplifying machine. This time around, a young fella from Mars has his mind shot across space into the body of a bored Earthman named Harry Thorne. But Thorne don't stay put for long; his mind gets thrown straight into the dangerous, misty jungles of Venus (or Zarovia, as the locals call it). When Harry Thorne finally wakes up on the morning star, he finds himself sitting pretty in the royal boots of Prince Zinlo of the mighty empire of Olba. But being a prince on Venus ain't all sweet tea and porch-sitting. Thorne instantly inherits a hornet's nest of trouble, starting with a treacherous, backstabbing noble named Taliboz, who has been systematically killing off the royal family to steal the crown for himself. Before Harry can even figure out which fork to use at a royal banquet, Taliboz tries to kidnap him. Harry hops into an Olban airship, flies like a bat out of torment, and ends up crashing headfirst into the rival empire of Adonijar. While wandering the new territory, our hero falls head-over-heels for the gorgeous Princess Loralie of Tyrhana. The trouble is, another tough-talking royal named Prince Gadrimel already has his eyes on her. Just as the two fellas are about to lay into each other in a grand old fistfight, that rascal Taliboz shows up out of nowhere and snatches the princess right up! Realizing they've both been hoodwinked, the two rival princes have to bury the hatchet and team up, chasing the villains across the wild landscape to rescue the girl. Just like the first book, this yarn is pure, unadulterated pulp adventure. Kline packs the pages with roaring native monsters, prehistoric reptiles that are ninety-percent teeth, and fast-paced swordplay that moves quicker than a cat on a hot tin roof. If there's any fly in the buttermilk, it's that the plot outline feels a mighty bit familiar. It copies the ending of Planet of Peril almost note-for-note: a bad guy usurps a throne, threatens to force the hero's gal into marriage, and the hero has to pull off a last-second rescue. There is a hilarious, baffling moment where Harry and the princess adopt a cute little newly hatched reptile that follows them around like a puppy. You’d reckon the beast would save the day later, but instead, the characters just hop into a cable car and completely abandon the poor thing on a cliffside! If you’re looking for deep, modern science logic, you’re barking up the wrong tree. But if you want a fun, lighthearted slice of 1930s "Sword and Planet" escapism that moves like lightning, The Prince of Peril is a grand old time.
April 26, 2026
Well, I can't say that this book lacks action, or that the words sit on the page. An endless series of dangers confront the Venusian Prince Zinlo of Olba who is really Harry Thorne of Earth (who is really Borgen Takkor of Mars) as he repeatedly rescues Princess Loralie and fights his way across the savage lands of Venus to his usurped kingdom. Giant apes, machine men, predatory slugs, terrifying sea monsters, and a great many dinosaur-like carnivores offer frequent opportunities for Zinlo/Thorne/Takkor to demonstrate his grit. The whole thing would have made one of the best cinematic serials ever if they'd had the budget for it in the the 1930s; as a book, it's a lot of conflict packed into a few overstuffed pages, and the characters are all stock types indistinguishable from other space-opera melodramas of the era, but Kline pretty much got there first (with the very notable exception of Edgar Rice Burroughs), so he gets some credit for helping to lay the foundations for the sci-fi stories that followed.
October 29, 2020
A dramatic improvement over OAK’s first Venus novel. I think its better than his 2 Mars books as well.
As far as Sword and Planet goes this is one of the better Burroughs knock offs. The story is at a rip roaring pace with fun cartoonish action. There is some decent imagination here. The part with ‘the immortals’ clearly influenced much of sci fi that was to come.
Also switching to first person dramatically improves Kline’s writing style.
Though it’s one of the better ERB clones it fails to live up to Burroughs in a couple areas. His characters lack the charm and romanticism of Burroughs. There are a bit too many convenient twists even for the genre.
Also just writing out the poor babe Kroger like that....
As far as Sword and Planet goes this is one of the better Burroughs knock offs. The story is at a rip roaring pace with fun cartoonish action. There is some decent imagination here. The part with ‘the immortals’ clearly influenced much of sci fi that was to come.
Also switching to first person dramatically improves Kline’s writing style.
Though it’s one of the better ERB clones it fails to live up to Burroughs in a couple areas. His characters lack the charm and romanticism of Burroughs. There are a bit too many convenient twists even for the genre.
Also just writing out the poor babe Kroger like that....
November 26, 2025
In a cheap copy of "John Carter" by Edgar Rice Burroughs, this book sends its protagonist to Venus a million years in the past to fight endless menaces. It gets dull very quickly. And there's no explanation why every living thing on Venus is some kind of weird monster - except that human beings are absolutely human... Stick to Burroughs.
October 6, 2017
Read back in the 70s
December 29, 2013
Following hot on the heels of Grandon, who was sent off to Venus in 'Planet of Peril', we find Harry Thorne (not in fact Harry Thorne at all but a Martian) who is transported to ancient Venus by the secret method of Professor Morgan. Harry arrives in the body of the Prince of Olba and is very soon brought up speed with the help of Vern Vangal (another interplanetary traveller). Soon however the prince is in trouble, since an ambitious noble is killing off the Royals in a bid to seize the throne.
Narrowly escaping assassination the prince finds himself in a forest where he intercedes in an argument between an attractive woman and a lisping fop. As is unsurprising, she turns out to be a princess. She is engaged to the idiot and while the men are arguing the Princess is kidnapped. It is the same old entertaining tosh. Harry has to deal with giant reptiles, talking man-eating apes and the immortals of a hidden valley who have learned to transfer their consciousness to machines. Again one gets the impression that Kline wrote randomly, or serially at least... possibly having a goal in sight, but not quite sure how he was going to get there.
At one point Harry and the Princess defeat a reptile which appears to be mostly mouth and a couple of legs. They take over its cave, only to find an egg in there. The egg hatches and the princess feeds the tiny beast, who then follows them. 'Ah.' one thinks. 'the pet is going to prove useful at some point.' In fact, no. The pair bump into some of the machine-men, get into a cable-car and then just whizz off, leaving the poor beast abandoned on top of a cliff.
The denouement plot structure is almost identical to the last volume. Usurper takes over throne and threatens to marry hero's girlfriend. Hero has to do something. All ends well.
One can't really fault Kline for the laziness of his delivery. One imagines that there were far worse things coming out of the publishing houses of the day. Although Kline repeats plot devices in various ways he is at least imaginative. The concept of consciousness transference into a mechanical device, if not original, is certainly well thought through.
In the 21st century it is now a standard theme, particularly from writers such as Richard Morgan and Peter F Hamilton who have widely explored the idea of immortality via digital 'backup's of one's consciousness and memories. It's interesting to see the idea mooted in 1930.
Narrowly escaping assassination the prince finds himself in a forest where he intercedes in an argument between an attractive woman and a lisping fop. As is unsurprising, she turns out to be a princess. She is engaged to the idiot and while the men are arguing the Princess is kidnapped. It is the same old entertaining tosh. Harry has to deal with giant reptiles, talking man-eating apes and the immortals of a hidden valley who have learned to transfer their consciousness to machines. Again one gets the impression that Kline wrote randomly, or serially at least... possibly having a goal in sight, but not quite sure how he was going to get there.
At one point Harry and the Princess defeat a reptile which appears to be mostly mouth and a couple of legs. They take over its cave, only to find an egg in there. The egg hatches and the princess feeds the tiny beast, who then follows them. 'Ah.' one thinks. 'the pet is going to prove useful at some point.' In fact, no. The pair bump into some of the machine-men, get into a cable-car and then just whizz off, leaving the poor beast abandoned on top of a cliff.
The denouement plot structure is almost identical to the last volume. Usurper takes over throne and threatens to marry hero's girlfriend. Hero has to do something. All ends well.
One can't really fault Kline for the laziness of his delivery. One imagines that there were far worse things coming out of the publishing houses of the day. Although Kline repeats plot devices in various ways he is at least imaginative. The concept of consciousness transference into a mechanical device, if not original, is certainly well thought through.
In the 21st century it is now a standard theme, particularly from writers such as Richard Morgan and Peter F Hamilton who have widely explored the idea of immortality via digital 'backup's of one's consciousness and memories. It's interesting to see the idea mooted in 1930.
July 3, 2013
I'm giving it 3 stars out of affection. So far my favourite Kline book is The Swordsman of Mars. I'll give him credit, this one moves, but it's pretty much a pastiche. Some of his Venus is inventive and I enjoyed that, but as I flipped ahead I knew everything that was going to happen. Oh well. I will check out other books by Kline because I have enjoyed some of his , and I'm such a Sword and Planet addict.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews