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Caspak #1-3
The Caspak Trilogy
The Caspak Trilogy By Edgar Rice Burroughs Contents The Land That Time Forgot The People That Time Forgot Out of Time’s Abyss Caprona (also known as Caspak) is a fictitious island in the literary universe of Edgar Rice Burroughs's Caspak trilogy, including The Land That Time Forgot, The People That Time Forgot, and Out of Time's Abyss.
188 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1918
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4910 people want to read
About the author
Edgar Rice Burroughs
2,914 books2,739 followersEdgar 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.
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July 13, 2021
I enjoyed this more at age eighteen than at age fifty eight. I’m afraid forty years have made me more analytical, more critical, more rational, and more cynical.
When Burroughs published this in 1918 Piltdown Man had not yet been exposed as a hoax and terms like “negroid” and “Jap” were not yet intuitively racist and offensive. While, taken in the context of their time, such perceived transgressions are perfectly understandable, they nevertheless indelibly stamp the material as dated and the science, albeit fictional, as flawed.
I guess there are some touchstones of my youth that are best left to the fog of memory.
When Burroughs published this in 1918 Piltdown Man had not yet been exposed as a hoax and terms like “negroid” and “Jap” were not yet intuitively racist and offensive. While, taken in the context of their time, such perceived transgressions are perfectly understandable, they nevertheless indelibly stamp the material as dated and the science, albeit fictional, as flawed.
I guess there are some touchstones of my youth that are best left to the fog of memory.
December 9, 2024
Томчето съдържа трите произведения, оформящи цикъла Каспак:
1. Земя, забравена от времето
2. Хора, забравени от времето
3. От бездната на времето
Бащицата на пълп литературата се представя със задъхан приключенско-фантастичен сюжет, развиващ се на тайнствен, изпълнен с опасности остров в Пасифика, където едновременно съжителстват твари от най-различни геоложки епохи, а във всяка част събитията текат през очите на различен герой. Екшънът е от първата до последната страница; персонажите, според изискванията на ония времена, са силно контрастни – добрите обладават безпримерна храброст и набързо печелят сърцата на хубавите жени, докато осуетяват коварните планове на лошите; има и една усмихваща с наивитета си еволюционна постановка. Накратко – прелест! Ясно е защо хлапетата преди сто години са били луди по Бъроуз.
1. Земя, забравена от времето
2. Хора, забравени от времето
3. От бездната на времето
Бащицата на пълп литературата се представя със задъхан приключенско-фантастичен сюжет, развиващ се на тайнствен, изпълнен с опасности остров в Пасифика, където едновременно съжителстват твари от най-различни геоложки епохи, а във всяка част събитията текат през очите на различен герой. Екшънът е от първата до последната страница; персонажите, според изискванията на ония времена, са силно контрастни – добрите обладават безпримерна храброст и набързо печелят сърцата на хубавите жени, докато осуетяват коварните планове на лошите; има и една усмихваща с наивитета си еволюционна постановка. Накратко – прелест! Ясно е защо хлапетата преди сто години са били луди по Бъроуз.
November 1, 2012
This is the Omnibus Version of Edgar Rice Burrough's (ERB) Caspakian Novels. Included here are:
The Land That Time Forgot
The People That Time Forgot
Out of Time's Abyss
These are three novels of adventure told in a classic style similar to that of Jack London, Arthur Conan Doyle and H.G. Wells. This is a style of early in the last century and more like the century before it. It's a story that is narrated to us, rather than painted so that we can experience it. And it's full of adventure, love, courage, wickendess, danger, and...dinosaurs!
The tale:
Set in the early stages of World War One, The Great War, where German U-boats terrorize the seas our hero Bowen Tyler, who happens to be a ship-builder's son and an expert in avionics, gets his transport torpedoed out from under him while on his way to join the war effort as part of an Ambulance Corps. With him is his trusty Airdale, trained in search and rescue, Hobbs (and Hobbs is so COOL! too...but I digress...parenthetically). After plunging into the frigid North Atlantic, Bowen manages to pull himself onto a boat and in a very, reverse Titanic (the movie) moment, snatches the slight, rich and very pretty Lysse from the jaws of death. The pair is rescued by a British Flagged Ocean Going Tugboat which is then set upon by the same dastardly German Submarine.
From there, we are treated to fun plot that involves espionage deciet, combat, as Tyler and the Tug's crew battle the submarine, take it over then thanks to some trickery, find themselves hopelessly lost in the southern most reaches of the globe. In a desparate attempt to find food, water and oil (for the desiels) they traverse a trick half submerged cavern and find themselves in a lost world of wonder, where the normal rules of evolution, birth, rebirth and life no longer seem to hold sway. A land where dinosaurs and other beasts roam thick jungles and native tribes of pre-historic and bronze age humans struggle to stay alive long enough to advance to the next level of human hiearchy. Treachery, danger, love it's all in the air.
The Second book takes up where the first leaves off with Tom Billings, Bowen's long time friend who gets his hands on Tyler's Journal in a bottle and sets out to find him. He's just like Bowen and sets off to find his long lost buddy...yes, this is what Bromance can do to you. Along the way he meets a beautiful Native girl, a savage and a barbarian and romance ensues. Billings has to overcome his own predjudice and misguided beliefs while battling the savage tribesmen and, he's still looking for Tyler.
The Third book, my favorite, features a roughneck British Seaman from Book one, who set out on an exploratory mission from the fort that Tyler and sub/tug crew built. Along the way he was set upon by winged demons...well that's what some of them thought,anyway...and even when just hoping to find some fish and chips and petrol to get the sub back to a neutral port had an adventure find him and sweep him away... again, there's love in the air.
All three stories are linked by Caspak and take us on three different adventures in this marvelous, creative fantasy world dreamed up by Burroughs. In the narrative tradition that books of the era had been written in, the focus is on the three major characters, Bowen, Bradley, and Tom, with a strong supporting role for their lady loves.
It could be argued that Burroughts likely took those parts of pulp fiction books that he liked and re-invented them in his own vision for this. There are parts of "The Lost World" By Doyle, similar "love stories" as found in Jack London's "Star Rover" and, even simalarities to his first Novel-series Barsoom (Mars). Yet, as told here it's all remarkably new and different.
ERB likely had no intention of writing a Socially conscious tale like the Green-story in Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, nor is it likely he tried to write a phlisophically conscious story like Jack London's "To Build a Fire" and "Star Rover". In fact, he probably just wrote it as he "felt it" with what he believed was a practical mind applying practical thinking to a fantastic situation (full of wonderful adventure). Yet, planned or not, within the folds is a story of hope for tolerance and a lesson that what makes us different as Human-beings is only flesh and bone, and skin, while what makes us Human's the same is far more spiritual in nature and more important. It's the story of the white man and the Native American Indian where two of his brawny new-worlders forget fall in love with Caspakian Princesses... savages. It's a story of class vs. class a barroness and a simple american cowboy (if a rich one). And through it, the fantastic river where evolution is disected before our eyes and, at the heart of it we find that all Human's are the same inside, even if we were hatched from an egg.
Yet, a man who had as practical an outlook on life, who lived as a cowboy, and an Indian fighter, struggled with Eastern Schools and notions of propper behavior and a love of the outdoors likley did not think of all those things. He just day dreamed then wrote the dreams down... and what wonderfully fun dreams they were.
These stories are full of adventure, and excitement, love and treachery, courage and cowardice. There is some violence but anyone age could enjoy these stories. Certainly Young Adults and old curmudeons who still have a little boy hiding somewhere in their hearts.
The Land That Time Forgot
The People That Time Forgot
Out of Time's Abyss
These are three novels of adventure told in a classic style similar to that of Jack London, Arthur Conan Doyle and H.G. Wells. This is a style of early in the last century and more like the century before it. It's a story that is narrated to us, rather than painted so that we can experience it. And it's full of adventure, love, courage, wickendess, danger, and...dinosaurs!
The tale:
Set in the early stages of World War One, The Great War, where German U-boats terrorize the seas our hero Bowen Tyler, who happens to be a ship-builder's son and an expert in avionics, gets his transport torpedoed out from under him while on his way to join the war effort as part of an Ambulance Corps. With him is his trusty Airdale, trained in search and rescue, Hobbs (and Hobbs is so COOL! too...but I digress...parenthetically). After plunging into the frigid North Atlantic, Bowen manages to pull himself onto a boat and in a very, reverse Titanic (the movie) moment, snatches the slight, rich and very pretty Lysse from the jaws of death. The pair is rescued by a British Flagged Ocean Going Tugboat which is then set upon by the same dastardly German Submarine.
From there, we are treated to fun plot that involves espionage deciet, combat, as Tyler and the Tug's crew battle the submarine, take it over then thanks to some trickery, find themselves hopelessly lost in the southern most reaches of the globe. In a desparate attempt to find food, water and oil (for the desiels) they traverse a trick half submerged cavern and find themselves in a lost world of wonder, where the normal rules of evolution, birth, rebirth and life no longer seem to hold sway. A land where dinosaurs and other beasts roam thick jungles and native tribes of pre-historic and bronze age humans struggle to stay alive long enough to advance to the next level of human hiearchy. Treachery, danger, love it's all in the air.
The Second book takes up where the first leaves off with Tom Billings, Bowen's long time friend who gets his hands on Tyler's Journal in a bottle and sets out to find him. He's just like Bowen and sets off to find his long lost buddy...yes, this is what Bromance can do to you. Along the way he meets a beautiful Native girl, a savage and a barbarian and romance ensues. Billings has to overcome his own predjudice and misguided beliefs while battling the savage tribesmen and, he's still looking for Tyler.
The Third book, my favorite, features a roughneck British Seaman from Book one, who set out on an exploratory mission from the fort that Tyler and sub/tug crew built. Along the way he was set upon by winged demons...well that's what some of them thought,anyway...and even when just hoping to find some fish and chips and petrol to get the sub back to a neutral port had an adventure find him and sweep him away... again, there's love in the air.
All three stories are linked by Caspak and take us on three different adventures in this marvelous, creative fantasy world dreamed up by Burroughs. In the narrative tradition that books of the era had been written in, the focus is on the three major characters, Bowen, Bradley, and Tom, with a strong supporting role for their lady loves.
It could be argued that Burroughts likely took those parts of pulp fiction books that he liked and re-invented them in his own vision for this. There are parts of "The Lost World" By Doyle, similar "love stories" as found in Jack London's "Star Rover" and, even simalarities to his first Novel-series Barsoom (Mars). Yet, as told here it's all remarkably new and different.
ERB likely had no intention of writing a Socially conscious tale like the Green-story in Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, nor is it likely he tried to write a phlisophically conscious story like Jack London's "To Build a Fire" and "Star Rover". In fact, he probably just wrote it as he "felt it" with what he believed was a practical mind applying practical thinking to a fantastic situation (full of wonderful adventure). Yet, planned or not, within the folds is a story of hope for tolerance and a lesson that what makes us different as Human-beings is only flesh and bone, and skin, while what makes us Human's the same is far more spiritual in nature and more important. It's the story of the white man and the Native American Indian where two of his brawny new-worlders forget fall in love with Caspakian Princesses... savages. It's a story of class vs. class a barroness and a simple american cowboy (if a rich one). And through it, the fantastic river where evolution is disected before our eyes and, at the heart of it we find that all Human's are the same inside, even if we were hatched from an egg.
Yet, a man who had as practical an outlook on life, who lived as a cowboy, and an Indian fighter, struggled with Eastern Schools and notions of propper behavior and a love of the outdoors likley did not think of all those things. He just day dreamed then wrote the dreams down... and what wonderfully fun dreams they were.
These stories are full of adventure, and excitement, love and treachery, courage and cowardice. There is some violence but anyone age could enjoy these stories. Certainly Young Adults and old curmudeons who still have a little boy hiding somewhere in their hearts.
August 24, 2012
Originally posted at Fantasy Literature.
You gotta love Edgar Rice Burroughs. He underperformed in life until, as a pencil sharpener salesman who spent his free time reading pulp magazines, he figured he could be paid to write “rot” at least as good as the “rot” he read in the pulps. And thus started the illustrious career of the man who brought us Tarzan, John Carter, and David Innes… And who inspired a generation of fantasy and science fiction writers.
The Land that Time Forgot, a lost world story set during World War I, is the first in Burroughs’ CASPAK trilogy. It was originally serialized in Blue Book Magazine in the fall of 1918 and then published as a novel in 1924.
Bowen Tyler is on a boat that’s torpedoed and sunk by the Germans. He saves a beautiful drowning young woman who he immediately falls in love with (that’s always how it happens in these stories) and they end up on a submarine with several other Englishmen and several Germans. Eventually (half way through the novel) the story picks up when they land on a lost volcanic island that is inhabited by dinosaur-like animals and a few subhuman races that seem to be at different evolutionary stages.
Like many lost world stories, The Land that Time Forgot has beautiful scenery, scary animals, primitive humans, and lots of adventure. Also like many of these stories, the action is the focus of the story and the characters are only shallowly drawn. For example, the beautiful young woman who the protagonist falls in love with has almost no personality, yet Bowen knows immediately that he loves her and, as expected, he is called on to bravely save her life more than once (while her previously modest clothing is now in tatters). There are the usual issues with sexism, racism, and classism, but these are the things that fans of old lost world stories know to expect — I have never read one that didn’t contain these annoying elements. For readers who know what to expect, The Land that Time Forgot is fun pulpy adventure that’s sure to please.
I listened to the audio version of The Land that Time Forgot which was produced by Blackstone Audio and narrated by Raymond Todd. Todd’s voice is a bit mechanical sounding and he had a couple of mispronunciations (such as “gunwale” pronounced like it looks), but I sped him up a bit and was satisfied, though certainly not thrilled. I wouldn’t hesitate to suggest this title to audio readers, but I wouldn’t be recommending it for the performance.
You gotta love Edgar Rice Burroughs. He underperformed in life until, as a pencil sharpener salesman who spent his free time reading pulp magazines, he figured he could be paid to write “rot” at least as good as the “rot” he read in the pulps. And thus started the illustrious career of the man who brought us Tarzan, John Carter, and David Innes… And who inspired a generation of fantasy and science fiction writers.
The Land that Time Forgot, a lost world story set during World War I, is the first in Burroughs’ CASPAK trilogy. It was originally serialized in Blue Book Magazine in the fall of 1918 and then published as a novel in 1924.
Bowen Tyler is on a boat that’s torpedoed and sunk by the Germans. He saves a beautiful drowning young woman who he immediately falls in love with (that’s always how it happens in these stories) and they end up on a submarine with several other Englishmen and several Germans. Eventually (half way through the novel) the story picks up when they land on a lost volcanic island that is inhabited by dinosaur-like animals and a few subhuman races that seem to be at different evolutionary stages.
Like many lost world stories, The Land that Time Forgot has beautiful scenery, scary animals, primitive humans, and lots of adventure. Also like many of these stories, the action is the focus of the story and the characters are only shallowly drawn. For example, the beautiful young woman who the protagonist falls in love with has almost no personality, yet Bowen knows immediately that he loves her and, as expected, he is called on to bravely save her life more than once (while her previously modest clothing is now in tatters). There are the usual issues with sexism, racism, and classism, but these are the things that fans of old lost world stories know to expect — I have never read one that didn’t contain these annoying elements. For readers who know what to expect, The Land that Time Forgot is fun pulpy adventure that’s sure to please.
I listened to the audio version of The Land that Time Forgot which was produced by Blackstone Audio and narrated by Raymond Todd. Todd’s voice is a bit mechanical sounding and he had a couple of mispronunciations (such as “gunwale” pronounced like it looks), but I sped him up a bit and was satisfied, though certainly not thrilled. I wouldn’t hesitate to suggest this title to audio readers, but I wouldn’t be recommending it for the performance.
December 18, 2017
Timeless!
August 6, 2022
Издателство „Изток-Запад“ ни зарадва много с последната книга, включена в Колекция „Magica“! „Земя, забравена от времето“ е една от незабравимите класики на майстора на приключенския роман Едгар Райс Бъроуз. Бащата на Тарзан, създателят на Джон Картър, вдъхновител за поколения писатели, кинаджии, илюстратори и художници на комикси, Бъроуз си остава един от титаните на pulp ерата, един от най-обичаните и най-адаптираните автори на фантастична и приключенска литература. Феновете знаят, че „Земя, забравена от времето“ е началото на трилогията за остров Каспак, обитаван от праисторически зверове и пещерни хора. Но за да е радостта ни пълна… Настоящото издание е сборно и включва и двете продължения на романа – „Хора, забравени от времето“ и „От бездната на времето“. Прочетете ревюто на „Книжни Криле“: https://knijnikrile.wordpress.com/202...
July 21, 2016
Normally I wouldn't count this as 'read' seeing as I listened to it via Librivox's audio recordings, but I thought I'd do a review of this nonetheless. Though this rating is low compared to what I normally like to read or listen to, The Land That Time Forgot and its two sister novels are part of a dying genre of books that largely fascinate me to no end, and honestly to me mimics the sad truth of a dying interest in the mysteries of our planet and nearby solar system. It's part of the American heritage; that desire to explore the unknown, to colonize those vast wildernesses, to meet new peoples and learn of new cultures, and to survive against the various monsters that lurk there, and it's something that we shouldn't forget; lest we lull ourselves to complacency and wind up just as boring or just as frustrated as Europe, Asia, and those other cultures that our ancestors left behind.
The Land That Time Forgot is not for everybody. In this liberal world where anyone and everyone expects even our ancestors to conform to their ridiculous standards of 'equality' Burroughs work will likely offend, as it focuses on a train of thought and science largely considered obsolete today and was the same train of thought that made Nazi Germany the hated monster that history makes of it today. However if you push past that and mature up, realize that the standards back then do not apply to today, you'll find that it's a generally enjoyable read. It's got all the bells and whistles of a traditional American adventure novel; the rich, lost cowboy, the attractive damsel in distress, the evil would-be German Officer husband, and, of course, the weird and wacky landscape that they must explore.
Caspak, that strange lost continent far towards the ice cap in the Southern Pacific, is honestly a neat focus on the idea of what would happen if Christian Fundamentalists were right and the antediluvian nature of the past revealed that every fossil and every creature found in stone lived side by side with one another along with man, though still approaches the subject with an, albeit primitive, aspect of evolution thrown into the mix. The concepts are fairly interesting and easy to grasp, though the only turn-off I had at all was the really ancient depiction of dinosaurs as dumb lizards rather than the varied creatures we know that they are today. In any case, Caspak's strange world and unique biology combined with the primitive societies that live there make it an interesting subject to read on, and makes me wish that we had more Caspaks out there in modern literature to read about.
The Land That Time Forgot is not for everybody. In this liberal world where anyone and everyone expects even our ancestors to conform to their ridiculous standards of 'equality' Burroughs work will likely offend, as it focuses on a train of thought and science largely considered obsolete today and was the same train of thought that made Nazi Germany the hated monster that history makes of it today. However if you push past that and mature up, realize that the standards back then do not apply to today, you'll find that it's a generally enjoyable read. It's got all the bells and whistles of a traditional American adventure novel; the rich, lost cowboy, the attractive damsel in distress, the evil would-be German Officer husband, and, of course, the weird and wacky landscape that they must explore.
Caspak, that strange lost continent far towards the ice cap in the Southern Pacific, is honestly a neat focus on the idea of what would happen if Christian Fundamentalists were right and the antediluvian nature of the past revealed that every fossil and every creature found in stone lived side by side with one another along with man, though still approaches the subject with an, albeit primitive, aspect of evolution thrown into the mix. The concepts are fairly interesting and easy to grasp, though the only turn-off I had at all was the really ancient depiction of dinosaurs as dumb lizards rather than the varied creatures we know that they are today. In any case, Caspak's strange world and unique biology combined with the primitive societies that live there make it an interesting subject to read on, and makes me wish that we had more Caspaks out there in modern literature to read about.
March 24, 2012
Edgar Rice Burroughs is quickly becoming a part of my Authors-I-Regularly-Take-Promenades-With club. His creations are the stuff dreams are made of--if you're lucky and have awesome dreams. This is the first book in the Caspak series, which made its appearance in three installments in the Blue Book Magazine in 1918. I seem to particularly enjoy novels that are stories within stories. For instance, in "Land", a man tells us about how he found a message in a bottle. He proceeds to show us the manuscript that he'd found inside, and this makes up the whole of the novel. Burroughs is fantastic at giving his readers a complete contrast in genres within the same story. In "Land", the discovered manuscript immediately throws the reader into the middle of a WWI sea skirmish between an American passenger cruise and a German U-Boat. It's action packed and thrilling. The narrator holds nothing back in modesty, quickly taking to becoming the commander of the German U-Boat (he and his father were shipbuilders and had constructed the very same U-33 upon which the castaways found themselves) and describing his fighting prowess as easily as if it had been another's. If you've read the Barsoom series, E.R.B.'s narrator John Carter is also quite the fighter. It seems Tyler's only failings seem to be in wooing the fair maiden he first rescues upon the sinking of the passenger craft. But Burroughs loves giving us heroines that never quite fit the picture of the fainting damsel, Lys La Rue instead holding her own in the numerous skirmishes in the novel. Quickly, we're thrust into a hidden world that exists on a large island in the middle of the ocean, where dinosaurs and other terrifying beasts roam alongside human-like beings that show an array of evolution from ape to man. The more north the castaways journey, the less ape-like the tribes appear. It's a fascinating, and sometimes slightly dated, picture of a world lost in modern society. The novel is action packed, entertaining, and a quick read. As always, Burroughs likes a good love story. His hero needs a woman to stay alive for, it seems, in everything I've read of his so far. And I've yet to find fault in it. There are interesting twists and every so often I'd find myself grinning at the wit infused in Burroughs' words. I highly recommend this one if you have a long, rainy afternoon.
October 25, 2011
The Caspak trilogy, comprising The Land that Time Forgot, The People that Time Forgot, and Out of Time's Abyss, is classic Edgar Rice Burroughs adventure. The three stories trace the adventures of three typical Burroughs heroes (two Americans and an Englishman, all three wondrously brave man's men who get tongue-tied around pretty women) in the land of Caspak, a Lost World teeming with primordial life.
It is Burroughs, so you do have to turn off your 21st-century sensibilities to some extent. That accomplished, however, you can proceed to enjoy a rollicking good set of adventure yarns done in typical Burroughs style, with a series of cliffhangers and narrow escapes. I recommend the books to those who are fond of this style of adventure novel.
It is Burroughs, so you do have to turn off your 21st-century sensibilities to some extent. That accomplished, however, you can proceed to enjoy a rollicking good set of adventure yarns done in typical Burroughs style, with a series of cliffhangers and narrow escapes. I recommend the books to those who are fond of this style of adventure novel.
February 20, 2015
Fun adventure from Edgar Rice Burroughs fairly early in his career (1918). It's really 3 adventures in one, and when Ace reprinted it/them in the 60s, it was as three books: The Land That Time Forgot, The People That Time Forgot and Out of Time's Abyss.
I'm sure I read these sometime in the 70s; I remember buying up almost any ERB books I could find and at that time Ace seemed like it was trying to get everything Burroughs wrote into print. It was a good time to be a fan.
The story is pretty typical Burroughs fare. A modern man (or three modern men, in this case) end up in a primitive environment having to fight off strange creatures (dinosaurs and prehistoric mammals, mostly, in this case) and strange almost human people. And is usually the case, some of the almost human people are human enough to fall in love with; although their strange evolutionary way of aging makes one wonder how it will work out in the end. I suppose we don't really need to worry though, IIRC the people of Barsoom lay eggs and still Dejah Thoris and John Carter managed to have children.
As is usually the case for a Burroughs tale, the clueless guys take forever to realize that they've fallen in love, but it all works out in the end. Burroughs knew a winning formula for an adventure story, and he used it frequently. Fortunately the action is pretty much non-stop so one hardly notices or when one does, one hardly cares.
I'm sure I read these sometime in the 70s; I remember buying up almost any ERB books I could find and at that time Ace seemed like it was trying to get everything Burroughs wrote into print. It was a good time to be a fan.
The story is pretty typical Burroughs fare. A modern man (or three modern men, in this case) end up in a primitive environment having to fight off strange creatures (dinosaurs and prehistoric mammals, mostly, in this case) and strange almost human people. And is usually the case, some of the almost human people are human enough to fall in love with; although their strange evolutionary way of aging makes one wonder how it will work out in the end. I suppose we don't really need to worry though, IIRC the people of Barsoom lay eggs and still Dejah Thoris and John Carter managed to have children.
As is usually the case for a Burroughs tale, the clueless guys take forever to realize that they've fallen in love, but it all works out in the end. Burroughs knew a winning formula for an adventure story, and he used it frequently. Fortunately the action is pretty much non-stop so one hardly notices or when one does, one hardly cares.
October 9, 2014
Oh man, I love Burroughs. Some terms and musings of Bowen are, regrettably, outdated, but I looked past those to enjoy this awesome adventure. I love the concept of seeing man evolve from tribe to tribe.
Can't wait to read the second one!
Also this. Major LOL. “Californians, as a rule, are familiar with ju-jutsu, and I especially had made a study of it for several years, both at school and in the gym of the Los Angeles Athletic Club, while recently I had had, in my employ, a Jap who was a wonder at the art.”
Note to self: this review is only for The Land that Time Forgot. Unfortunately there is not a separate listing for the book.
Can't wait to read the second one!
Also this. Major LOL. “Californians, as a rule, are familiar with ju-jutsu, and I especially had made a study of it for several years, both at school and in the gym of the Los Angeles Athletic Club, while recently I had had, in my employ, a Jap who was a wonder at the art.”
Note to self: this review is only for The Land that Time Forgot. Unfortunately there is not a separate listing for the book.
September 25, 2014
3 1/2
The People that Time Forgot was the best of them, and the last page of Out Of Time's Abyss was also great. But the entire time I read the book I kept seeing Plastic Dinosaurs. Maybe because my copy has pictures from the movie that look super fake?
Anyway, in this case I can definitely say nostalgia didn't prove true and the cover was better that the book it's self. The only one I'd reread it the middle one. On a whole not bad, but not Tarzan great either.
PG Some killing of beasts and people, the violence was on a whole mild. The last book had more than the others. (It also had nastier creatures)
The People that Time Forgot was the best of them, and the last page of Out Of Time's Abyss was also great. But the entire time I read the book I kept seeing Plastic Dinosaurs. Maybe because my copy has pictures from the movie that look super fake?
Anyway, in this case I can definitely say nostalgia didn't prove true and the cover was better that the book it's self. The only one I'd reread it the middle one. On a whole not bad, but not Tarzan great either.
PG Some killing of beasts and people, the violence was on a whole mild. The last book had more than the others. (It also had nastier creatures)
October 14, 2010
This is actually the narrative of Bowen J. Tyler and his adventures and mis-adventures in the strange land of Caprona.
It starts with Tyler, an American being a passenger on a ship in the English Channel, this is during World War I and unfortunately the ship is torpedoed by a German submarine called U-33. After the ship is sunk Tyler and one other passenger Lys La Rue are rescued by a British tug boat..... alot occurs here, the tug boat is sunk, the crew captures the sub, the sub is overcome by a strange current, and then they come upon Caprona.....
It starts with Tyler, an American being a passenger on a ship in the English Channel, this is during World War I and unfortunately the ship is torpedoed by a German submarine called U-33. After the ship is sunk Tyler and one other passenger Lys La Rue are rescued by a British tug boat..... alot occurs here, the tug boat is sunk, the crew captures the sub, the sub is overcome by a strange current, and then they come upon Caprona.....
February 26, 2016
Three different stories bound together by same mystic land of strange human races and many action packed quests. For me first thing what came to mind was that it is like Jules Verne writing Ringworld novel :P and Burroughs likes the idea of human hatching :).
October 20, 2020
There aren't enough dinosaur novels in the world and I hoped I would enjoy Edgar Rice Burroughs' Caspak Trilogy. Sadly I was terribly disappointed. All three books are very similar structurally and thematically. Burroughs had his formula and he stuck to it. I enjoy pulp adventure fiction, but for whatever reason Burroughs style just doesn't click with me. Simply put, it hasn't aged well. The characters are flat and simplistic and the the plotting is predictable. Burroughs has a reputation for writing swashbucking action but I found large portions of these stories unbearably dull. I was similarly disappointed with his other famous novel A Princess of Mars. Surprisingly for a series about a lost continent, there are hardly any dinosaurs in these books! There are a total of three dinosaur encounters in the entire trilogy. The bulk of the action and plot revolve around the various tribes of hominins who inhabit Caspak and how they relate to one another. At certain points, these books feel less like an adventure series and more like a vehicle for Burroughs' strange ideas about race and evolution.
All I can say is that, if you are a dinosaur enthusiast like myself, skip this series and read Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World instead. Doyle's novel is superior in every way and much more entertaining.
All I can say is that, if you are a dinosaur enthusiast like myself, skip this series and read Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World instead. Doyle's novel is superior in every way and much more entertaining.
February 4, 2017
I had planned to read one book in this series one at a time with things in between but Burroughs is such a damn engaging storyteller that once I built up momentum in book 1, well, book 2 was just sitting there. so I'll do a second review of the compiled set.
The first book in the series, "Land that Time Forgot", grew on me as I read the other two in the series - they all tie together with different characters in overlapping frames in the timeline, and stuff from the first book pays off handsomely in the third, "Out of Time's Abyss", which is quite good. There is a slow unraveling of the mysteries of Caspak's ecosystem, but if you are expecting a science fiction explanation for the wacky way this island works, well, don't get your hopes up. But since ERB is much more of an action writer than anything like a scientist.
no, really. Anything like a scientist.
I do have to point out that the hero of the second book, The People That Time Forgot, while a classic pulp hero and capable adventurer, is a world class doofus.
Finally, it was written in 1918. Keep that in mind when thinking about geopolitics and race relations.
The first book in the series, "Land that Time Forgot", grew on me as I read the other two in the series - they all tie together with different characters in overlapping frames in the timeline, and stuff from the first book pays off handsomely in the third, "Out of Time's Abyss", which is quite good. There is a slow unraveling of the mysteries of Caspak's ecosystem, but if you are expecting a science fiction explanation for the wacky way this island works, well, don't get your hopes up. But since ERB is much more of an action writer than anything like a scientist.
no, really. Anything like a scientist.
I do have to point out that the hero of the second book, The People That Time Forgot, while a classic pulp hero and capable adventurer, is a world class doofus.
Finally, it was written in 1918. Keep that in mind when thinking about geopolitics and race relations.
July 24, 2012
A second or third-grader would love this - there's non-stop action, and not much thought behind the world Burroughs created here, except as was driven by the thought "What would a second or third grader find exciting!?"
Make no mistake, I love me some prehistoric life, and I don't mind the cold-blooded lizardy version of dinosaurs that ruled thought at the time Burroughs wrote, but there's like 25 big dinos per acre! All carnivores!
The book isn't satisfying on its own, either - it's so clearly setting up a series, that I guess he didn't mind much that the central conflicts in this one were never really resolved.
And, by the way, the views of the evolution of man leave it pretty clear that Burroughs felt white people are more evolved than other races. So there's that. Oh, well.
Thanks for Tarzan and John Carter of Mars, Edgar. You can keep Caspak.
Make no mistake, I love me some prehistoric life, and I don't mind the cold-blooded lizardy version of dinosaurs that ruled thought at the time Burroughs wrote, but there's like 25 big dinos per acre! All carnivores!
The book isn't satisfying on its own, either - it's so clearly setting up a series, that I guess he didn't mind much that the central conflicts in this one were never really resolved.
And, by the way, the views of the evolution of man leave it pretty clear that Burroughs felt white people are more evolved than other races. So there's that. Oh, well.
Thanks for Tarzan and John Carter of Mars, Edgar. You can keep Caspak.
January 24, 2012
The Caspak books, now those bring back some memories. Caspak is a lost world. Our hero has stumbled onto it (I think by submarine). The concept is that the further the hero travels in a certain direction the more or less evolved all of the creatures are. The action is a fight for survival as the hero encounters dinosaurs and cavemen.
This is everything a growing boy needed in the 1970s, possibly for current generations as well. I don't know. My son liked them.
This is everything a growing boy needed in the 1970s, possibly for current generations as well. I don't know. My son liked them.
March 18, 2024
...aka The Caspak Trilogy
Book 1, The Land That Time Forgot - When a bottle is washed ashore in Greenland, it is found to contain a journal telling the adventures of Bowen J. Tyler, Jr. Voyaging across the Atlantic in 1916 to join the ambulance corps, Bowen’s ship is attacked and sunk by a German U-boat. He manages to rescue a beautiful fellow-passenger, Lys La Rue, and they are picked up by a tug, but it is in turn attacked by the same U-boat. To cut a long story short, eventually the plucky Allies beat the dastardly Germans and gain control of the U-boat, but find themselves unable to land in friendly territory because everyone assumes they’re German and keeps trying to destroy them. Eventually they find themselves lost in the seas near Antarctica where they come across a landmass which had once been described by an explorer but which had been thought to be a fable – Caprona! Or as the prehistoric-style natives call it, Caspak!
I’ve loved Burroughs’ Barsoom books and the first Tarzan story in the past, so I had high hopes for this, but sadly I found it mediocre at best. The U-boat stuff seems to go on forever, but eventually they make it to Caspak which turns out to be a place so cut off from the rest of the world that dinosaurs still survive and humans have evolved differently from the rest of us. I think the problem is there isn’t much of a plot. Basically the survivors spend their time trying to avoid being killed by animals or humans, and observing the various evolutionary layers of humans that all co-exist on this strange continent. Peril, escape. Peril, escape. Peril, escape. That about sums it up. The natural world is curiously under-described, since that really ought to be the main interest. It appears that at all stages of evolution men lust after women (specifically Lys) and like to fight and kill other men. Who’d have guessed? After many adventures, Bowen comes to believe he will never return to the civilised world, so puts his journal in a bottle and tosses it in the ocean…
Book 2, The People That Time Forgot, tells of the rescue mission that Bowen’s friend, Tom Billings, undertakes when the journal comes to light. After many adventures, they arrive in Caspak where Billings gets separated from the rescue party, falls in love with a savage much against his will (it’s OK though, she’s quite a civilised savage, and anyway, she’s beautiful), fights and kills many men in defence of her honour, peril, escape, peril, escape, and eventually concludes that he will never return to the civilised world…
Book 3, Out of Time’s Abyss, picks up the story of some of the characters who arrived with Bowen and later with Billings, searching for the lost men and trying to find a way back to civilisation. Along the way, one of them falls in love, they fight, peril, escape, peril, escape, blah, blah, blah. I abandoned it and read the plot summary on wikipedia.
Each part of the trilogy is novella-length, so together they only make up the length of an average novel. And yet in that space, Burroughs effectively tells the same story three times, merely changing the hero and heroine. His women are beautiful, scantily-dressed and feisty. The heroes are brave, full of initiative and always carry that marker of superior civilisation – big guns. Animals are part threat, part food-source. The thread that might have rescued it from pot-boiler status is the form of evolution on the island, but it’s under-developed and doesn’t really make sense, not even in the fantasy-world meaning of that term. It is there merely as an excuse to have various layers of society, from the caveman-type to the pinnacle of evolutionary aspiration – meaning like us.
It fills a few hours and if read further apart the three parts might not be quite so noticeably repetitive. But overall I found this one a disappointment, I’m afraid. 2 ½ stars for me, so rounded up.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
Book 1, The Land That Time Forgot - When a bottle is washed ashore in Greenland, it is found to contain a journal telling the adventures of Bowen J. Tyler, Jr. Voyaging across the Atlantic in 1916 to join the ambulance corps, Bowen’s ship is attacked and sunk by a German U-boat. He manages to rescue a beautiful fellow-passenger, Lys La Rue, and they are picked up by a tug, but it is in turn attacked by the same U-boat. To cut a long story short, eventually the plucky Allies beat the dastardly Germans and gain control of the U-boat, but find themselves unable to land in friendly territory because everyone assumes they’re German and keeps trying to destroy them. Eventually they find themselves lost in the seas near Antarctica where they come across a landmass which had once been described by an explorer but which had been thought to be a fable – Caprona! Or as the prehistoric-style natives call it, Caspak!
I’ve loved Burroughs’ Barsoom books and the first Tarzan story in the past, so I had high hopes for this, but sadly I found it mediocre at best. The U-boat stuff seems to go on forever, but eventually they make it to Caspak which turns out to be a place so cut off from the rest of the world that dinosaurs still survive and humans have evolved differently from the rest of us. I think the problem is there isn’t much of a plot. Basically the survivors spend their time trying to avoid being killed by animals or humans, and observing the various evolutionary layers of humans that all co-exist on this strange continent. Peril, escape. Peril, escape. Peril, escape. That about sums it up. The natural world is curiously under-described, since that really ought to be the main interest. It appears that at all stages of evolution men lust after women (specifically Lys) and like to fight and kill other men. Who’d have guessed? After many adventures, Bowen comes to believe he will never return to the civilised world, so puts his journal in a bottle and tosses it in the ocean…
Book 2, The People That Time Forgot, tells of the rescue mission that Bowen’s friend, Tom Billings, undertakes when the journal comes to light. After many adventures, they arrive in Caspak where Billings gets separated from the rescue party, falls in love with a savage much against his will (it’s OK though, she’s quite a civilised savage, and anyway, she’s beautiful), fights and kills many men in defence of her honour, peril, escape, peril, escape, and eventually concludes that he will never return to the civilised world…
Book 3, Out of Time’s Abyss, picks up the story of some of the characters who arrived with Bowen and later with Billings, searching for the lost men and trying to find a way back to civilisation. Along the way, one of them falls in love, they fight, peril, escape, peril, escape, blah, blah, blah. I abandoned it and read the plot summary on wikipedia.
Each part of the trilogy is novella-length, so together they only make up the length of an average novel. And yet in that space, Burroughs effectively tells the same story three times, merely changing the hero and heroine. His women are beautiful, scantily-dressed and feisty. The heroes are brave, full of initiative and always carry that marker of superior civilisation – big guns. Animals are part threat, part food-source. The thread that might have rescued it from pot-boiler status is the form of evolution on the island, but it’s under-developed and doesn’t really make sense, not even in the fantasy-world meaning of that term. It is there merely as an excuse to have various layers of society, from the caveman-type to the pinnacle of evolutionary aspiration – meaning like us.
It fills a few hours and if read further apart the three parts might not be quite so noticeably repetitive. But overall I found this one a disappointment, I’m afraid. 2 ½ stars for me, so rounded up.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
July 9, 2014
Burroughs's love of evolution shines through in this fast tale filled with constant danger, romantic deeds, and heroic escapes. All the characters get out of all the scrapes just in the nick of time, and they sail away after coincidentally finding everything they need. Even the timeline towards the end seemed a little dubious. It's showy and flashy and exciting, but take away the setting, and what have you got? Boring people.
Between the constant reminder of the dangerous, ferocious, huge animals hunting you, and the beautiful, half-naked, apparently savage, loyal female companions running around ready to join your crew, there wasn't much room for very deep character development. If you like science fiction a lot, then sure, it's a classic, but I'll take some Wells or Verne any day. Perhaps Burroughs was groundbreaking in his writing style, but I still feel a little gypped after all the time I spent reading this book. I guess I hadn't remembered it was really three entire books in one, so it just drudged on and on.
Every long chapter ends on a cliff-hanger, but I still never much cared for what would happen next. I know he'd feed me some other cockamamie explanation with unnecessary details and implausible circumstances. (It's like the old Star Treks where you know all the meaningless guys dressed in red will die, but your main lovable heroes manage to stay alive and look good doing it. Funny and lovable for a time, but it's only the foundation for something greater. You can't watch this stuff constantly.)
Between the constant reminder of the dangerous, ferocious, huge animals hunting you, and the beautiful, half-naked, apparently savage, loyal female companions running around ready to join your crew, there wasn't much room for very deep character development. If you like science fiction a lot, then sure, it's a classic, but I'll take some Wells or Verne any day. Perhaps Burroughs was groundbreaking in his writing style, but I still feel a little gypped after all the time I spent reading this book. I guess I hadn't remembered it was really three entire books in one, so it just drudged on and on.
Every long chapter ends on a cliff-hanger, but I still never much cared for what would happen next. I know he'd feed me some other cockamamie explanation with unnecessary details and implausible circumstances. (It's like the old Star Treks where you know all the meaningless guys dressed in red will die, but your main lovable heroes manage to stay alive and look good doing it. Funny and lovable for a time, but it's only the foundation for something greater. You can't watch this stuff constantly.)
October 18, 2016
The Land That Time Forgot felt so brief to me! I expected it to be longer; I feel like it was over in 10 minutes. But, I really enjoyed it. Caspak is so full of life, literally teeming, and the land is so curious. I like the way that it is narrated, there is no dramatic irony, you learn things about the land at the same time as the narrator, Bowen, does. This was nice, it encouraged curiosity and wonder and a feeling of camaraderie with Bowen. I like the strange worldview of the people who live there (a strange concept of the stages of life and evolution) and I'm sure that this will be developed in the following books? This lost a star for me simply because it was so short. I'm wondering now if I have accidentally read an abridged version? I feel like there's so much to be developed - But I suppose that with first person narration we cannot know any more than our protagonist, and he doesn't know much. I guess that's what the sequels will be for!
March 23, 2008
"There were all sorts and conditions of horrible things; huge, hideous, grotesque monsters...I had perhaps the fraction of a second longer to live when I heard an angry growl behind us mingle with a cry of pain and rage from the giant..." Classic pulp fiction! What Land of the Lost aspired to be! Hilariously fun!!! Like an action-adventure popcorn movie! Mine is the 1924 Grosset & Dunlap edition, stained and worn with the cover half falling off; not the Commemorative Edition shown here. There's something pleasing about reading a really old book; the feel and smell of the old pages, different for every one, adds something to the experience.
September 14, 2012
This is THE book
March 17, 2019
These are basically love stories. They also contain some wildly creative alternate takes on evolution and how to be a proper gentleman when faced with a T Rex. These stories are not as well known as ERB's Tarzan and John Carter series, and they lack the character development, but they are entertaining in their own way.
August 24, 2022
“Земя забравена от времето” – Едгар Райс Бъроуз. Това е една от най-хубавите изненади това лято. Вече се бях примирил, че едва ли ще видим още нещо, от емблематичните произведения на този култов автор, когато ей тая книга се появи в секцията „предстоящи“ на издателство „Изток-Запад“. Книгата излезе точно на време, за да си я взема и да отпраша с нея към морето на следващия ден. Пясък, море и едно плаване към неоткрит континент
„Сякаш за този кратък период видях със собствените си очи цял космически цикъл, с всичките му промени и еволюции – неща, които никой смъртен не беше виждал, надзървания в отминал свят, мъртъв свят, толкова отдавна изчезнал, че дори най-долният камбрийски пласт не пази остатъци от него. Изгорели в стопената вътрешна кора, те завинаги са изгубени за човешкото знание, освен в това забравено кътче на планетата, където ме запрати съдбата и където бе подпечатана участта ми. Аз съм тук и тук ще остана.“
В това томче е събрана цялата трилогия, което е супер, защото историята е завършена, приключението не свършва в средата на нищото и не се налага да чака човек за следващата книга от поредицата. Това не е друга версия на „Изгубеният свят “ на Конан Дойл. Трилогията на Бъроуз излиза цялата през 1918 г., 6 години след емблематичната книга на бащата на Шерлок Холмс, но в никакъв случай не е нейно копие и не експлоатира същата идея. Да прилича на нея, както и на „Пътешествие до центъра на Земята“ или „Тайнственият остров“ на Жул Верн. Общата рамка е еднаква – неизвестен континент/остров/място на Земята в което е запазена праисторичската флора и фауна, или някаква напълно различна и непозната, и в което героите преживяват невероятни приключения. Смели, силни и галантни мъже и красиви, смели и естествено изпаднали в беда девойки. Клишето е на лице, но тук разликите идват какво от таланта на Бъроуз да увлича читателя в своите приключения, така и от интересната идея която лежи под повърхността на приключения роман.
Бъроуз използва неизвестния континент Каспак и неговите обитатели за да изложи идеята за еволюцията на човека, естествено във вида в който са си представяли хората я началото на 20 век. Това е бурно време за тази млада теория, която все още се бори за своето място, на бял свят излизат редица фосилизирани останки на хоминиди, които учените се пробват да наредят във филогенетичен ред - идея която сега знаем, че е грешна. Точно и тази идея става основа на странния животински свят на който се натъкват откривателите на Каспак. Това континент в който с безумна сила кипи непрестанна битка за оцеляване, както между животните, така и между отделните племена на хората, които Бъроуз представя много интересно – и като език, и като култура, умения и външен вид, подчинение на идеята за еволюцията и идеала за съвършения човек. Изгражда свят в който непрестанно преповтаря по изключително бурен начин еволюцията на животинските видове и човека на Земята, но ускорена милиони пъти.
Много е любопитна и интересна трактовката на Бъроуз в третата книга, на легендата за ангелите, които вземат за невести земните жени. Хареса ми начина по който е подходено към тази идея, от една страна през призмата на еволюцията, а от друга – интерпретирайки мита извън рамките на библейския прочит.
Много, много добро четиво за лятото от един от бащите на жанровата литература!
„Сякаш за този кратък период видях със собствените си очи цял космически цикъл, с всичките му промени и еволюции – неща, които никой смъртен не беше виждал, надзървания в отминал свят, мъртъв свят, толкова отдавна изчезнал, че дори най-долният камбрийски пласт не пази остатъци от него. Изгорели в стопената вътрешна кора, те завинаги са изгубени за човешкото знание, освен в това забравено кътче на планетата, където ме запрати съдбата и където бе подпечатана участта ми. Аз съм тук и тук ще остана.“
В това томче е събрана цялата трилогия, което е супер, защото историята е завършена, приключението не свършва в средата на нищото и не се налага да чака човек за следващата книга от поредицата. Това не е друга версия на „Изгубеният свят “ на Конан Дойл. Трилогията на Бъроуз излиза цялата през 1918 г., 6 години след емблематичната книга на бащата на Шерлок Холмс, но в никакъв случай не е нейно копие и не експлоатира същата идея. Да прилича на нея, както и на „Пътешествие до центъра на Земята“ или „Тайнственият остров“ на Жул Верн. Общата рамка е еднаква – неизвестен континент/остров/място на Земята в което е запазена праисторичската флора и фауна, или някаква напълно различна и непозната, и в което героите преживяват невероятни приключения. Смели, силни и галантни мъже и красиви, смели и естествено изпаднали в беда девойки. Клишето е на лице, но тук разликите идват какво от таланта на Бъроуз да увлича читателя в своите приключения, така и от интересната идея която лежи под повърхността на приключения роман.
Бъроуз използва неизвестния континент Каспак и неговите обитатели за да изложи идеята за еволюцията на човека, естествено във вида в който са си представяли хората я началото на 20 век. Това е бурно време за тази млада теория, която все още се бори за своето място, на бял свят излизат редица фосилизирани останки на хоминиди, които учените се пробват да наредят във филогенетичен ред - идея която сега знаем, че е грешна. Точно и тази идея става основа на странния животински свят на който се натъкват откривателите на Каспак. Това континент в който с безумна сила кипи непрестанна битка за оцеляване, както между животните, така и между отделните племена на хората, които Бъроуз представя много интересно – и като език, и като култура, умения и външен вид, подчинение на идеята за еволюцията и идеала за съвършения човек. Изгражда свят в който непрестанно преповтаря по изключително бурен начин еволюцията на животинските видове и човека на Земята, но ускорена милиони пъти.
Много е любопитна и интересна трактовката на Бъроуз в третата книга, на легендата за ангелите, които вземат за невести земните жени. Хареса ми начина по който е подходено към тази идея, от една страна през призмата на еволюцията, а от друга – интерпретирайки мита извън рамките на библейския прочит.
Много, много добро четиво за лятото от един от бащите на жанровата литература!
February 17, 2021
While not written with quite the excitement and fantasy of his John Carter series, this book is still quite entertaining; and has not managed to become obsolete with the advancement of technology the way some of our other favorite or classical fantasy literature has.
November 25, 2017
really a 3.5 for me. Great pulp but clearly not Burroughs best (not for me anyway). still fun characters the frame recalling the Lusitania was a neat idea (I thought), and the novel take on evolution was inspired (and really original from a sci-fi POV).
September 18, 2011
Some of my fondest memories as a youth are those I spent reading Edgar Rice Burroughs. This was the first book of his I read. I think I went on to read his entire collection.
February 26, 2012
This is a wonderful story. i finally got round to reading it and it is certainly much better than the Doug McLure movie from the '70s. Talk about high action and excellent writing.
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