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Lost on the Last Continent #1
Terrors of Pangaea
What do you do when you reach the end of all times? Colonel Preston Lost is a man of many talents. One of the youngest to achieve the rank of colonel, Lost found himself unable to return to civilian life after the war. He was a man born at the wrong time. Chivalry was dead, and there were no more crusades or mighty deeds to be done. Sport fishing and big game hunting became first a pastime, then an obsession, but the times were against him, and the nations outlawed such sport, as they did anything dangerous, rare, or worthy of manhood. Basically, anything he saw as “fun” or “challenging.” His aerospace plane had, at first, been merely another pastime. And then he saw the unidentified flying object. Lost didn’t think of himself as reckless. He believed in preparation, proper equipment, and patience in stalking the prey. But, in reality, he was not a cautious man. If he was, he wouldn’t have followed the spaceship into the black storm clouds above the Bermuda Triangle. Now he’s at the end of time, having crash-landed on Pangaea Ultima with few supplies and no way of returning home. But Lost is a man of many talents, and anything should be possible for him. Or, is it possible that this time, Lost has met his match?
- GenresScience Fiction
292 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 7, 2020
67 people are currently reading
41 people want to read
About the author
John C. Wright
146 books452 followersJohn C. Wright (John Charles Justin Wright, born 1961) is an American author of science fiction and fantasy novels. A Nebula award finalist (for the fantasy novel Orphans of Chaos), he was called "this fledgling century's most important new SF talent" by Publishers Weekly (after publication of his debut novel, The Golden Age).
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
March 22, 2020
Old fashioned sci-fi pulp but with a strong dose of Christianity in the background. My favorite sci-fi fantasy writer right now.
January 18, 2020
John C. Wright's imagination is a national treasure. He successfully combines an SF time travel story with a "The Lost World" feel, an Edgar Rice Burroughs vibe, and the excitement of the cliffhangers in serials. Part 1 of this series was super fun.
February 1, 2020
Lost on the Last Continent book 1
Action! Adventure! Far-future dinosaurs!
Colonel Preston Lost is chasing after a UFO in a plane specifically designed for it (and to skirt the law) when it brings him to an eye -- or rather, he realizes, a vortex. Going through it lands him in the far future, where the sun is enormous and red, the moon is far larger (but recognizable), and dinosaurs have evidently been drawn into the future. Where there are the numerous future races of man (current day humanity being the First), gladiators, a man from a Russian legend, wasps used as a weapons, rings with strange powers, a woman from Atlantis, and much more.
Action! Adventure! Far-future dinosaurs!
Colonel Preston Lost is chasing after a UFO in a plane specifically designed for it (and to skirt the law) when it brings him to an eye -- or rather, he realizes, a vortex. Going through it lands him in the far future, where the sun is enormous and red, the moon is far larger (but recognizable), and dinosaurs have evidently been drawn into the future. Where there are the numerous future races of man (current day humanity being the First), gladiators, a man from a Russian legend, wasps used as a weapons, rings with strange powers, a woman from Atlantis, and much more.
August 28, 2022
Чисто приключенческий винтаж в стиле похождений Джона Картера на Марсе, только тут наш герой попадает не на Марс, а на 250 миллионов лет в будущее, а там творится полная вакханалия, всюду вулканы и динозавры, Луна занимает полнеба и чуть не падает на Землю, все покрыто руинами сотен древних цивилизаций, а на руинах живут одичавшие потомки людей, в большинстве случаев почти уже не похожие на нас, и вся эта шерстяная, хвостатая, крылатая, чешуйчатая братия беспрерывно сражается между собой за территорию, рабов и артефакты прошлых эпох (кто читал у Райта «Досчитать до триллиона», тот узнал сеттинг).
Наш попаданец такое терпеть не может и немедленно берется за объединение всех племен под стягом всемилостивейшего Иисуса Христа, потому что как же без Иисуса Христа в книгах Райта? Никак.
С первых же страниц ясно, что Престон Лост у нас всесторонне выдающийся герой — он и миллиардер, и гений интеллекта, и двухметровый качок, и пламенный патриот США, и из всего стреляет, и на всем ездит (и верует в господа нашего Иисуса Христа, вы не забыли?) Но Райту этого мало, и по ходу путешествия Лост приобретает и ночное зрение, и способность летать по воздуху, и регенерацию, и ружье с бесконечными патронами — в буквальном смысле, спавнятся прямо в патроннике.
В результате к концу книги сопереживать похождениям этого мартисью 800 уровня уже никак не получается, что довольно обидно, т.к. сами приключения достаточно занимательные, за ряд сцен самому Филипу Фармеру было бы не стыдно.
Надеюсь, в продолжениях автор немного снизит градус и Лост станет хотя бы отдаленно похож на живого человека, и перестанет при каждом удобном случае рассказывать постлюдям про величие американского духа и любовь Иисуса Христа.
Наш попаданец такое терпеть не может и немедленно берется за объединение всех племен под стягом всемилостивейшего Иисуса Христа, потому что как же без Иисуса Христа в книгах Райта? Никак.
С первых же страниц ясно, что Престон Лост у нас всесторонне выдающийся герой — он и миллиардер, и гений интеллекта, и двухметровый качок, и пламенный патриот США, и из всего стреляет, и на всем ездит (и верует в господа нашего Иисуса Христа, вы не забыли?) Но Райту этого мало, и по ходу путешествия Лост приобретает и ночное зрение, и способность летать по воздуху, и регенерацию, и ружье с бесконечными патронами — в буквальном смысле, спавнятся прямо в патроннике.
В результате к концу книги сопереживать похождениям этого мартисью 800 уровня уже никак не получается, что довольно обидно, т.к. сами приключения достаточно занимательные, за ряд сцен самому Филипу Фармеру было бы не стыдно.
Надеюсь, в продолжениях автор немного снизит градус и Лост станет хотя бы отдаленно похож на живого человека, и перестанет при каждом удобном случае рассказывать постлюдям про величие американского духа и любовь Иисуса Христа.
June 5, 2023
Preston Lost is a fighter pilot who one day chases a UFO into a weird portal. There are no explanations beyond this; no biographical backgrounds, no motivations. Just action, constant action, so much action that you will need to take breaks during your reading sessions. Just like Preston you will be bewildered with the weird creatures you encounter, but there is no time to try to understand why the sun is larger in the sky or why there are dinosaurs or talking simians or weird men in this place, because Preston is too busy not trying to be killed by practically every creature or being he encounters. Even the water is deadly.
This is pure, unfiltered pulp action, with a main character who does not shrink from danger, cower before more powerful enemies, or despair at his plight. The book is wonderfully written, with laconic yet lyrical prose. The setting is huge, dangerous, and wondrous all at the same time. I would have liked just a bit more insight into this crazy world, but I certainly want to read on.
This is pure, unfiltered pulp action, with a main character who does not shrink from danger, cower before more powerful enemies, or despair at his plight. The book is wonderfully written, with laconic yet lyrical prose. The setting is huge, dangerous, and wondrous all at the same time. I would have liked just a bit more insight into this crazy world, but I certainly want to read on.
April 26, 2020
Delightful - Echos of Golden Era Sci Fi
What a delightful read! It reminds me of Golden Era Sci Fi full of thrills and monsters, with a glorious hero.
What a delightful read! It reminds me of Golden Era Sci Fi full of thrills and monsters, with a glorious hero.
January 16, 2020
Old-fashioned post-world fiction with present-day relevance
This is a very compelling book and I found it hard to stop. The protagonist is an anachronism-- a proud American who still believes in American principles but has no place in the tranquilized world extrapolated from the present day. He is sent to a savage world populated by superior post-humans of various races who are unable to understand things like freedom, morality, and love. This gives Wright the chance to savagely mock modern thought while giving us a heavy does of rip-roaring adventure. Said adventure is delivered by a true master of the writing craft, but the savage mockery is equally delightful. The result is numerous quotable passages amidst the heroic leaps off of dangerous precipices and desperate fights with deadly foes. The next book is coming soon and I for one can't wait.
This is a very compelling book and I found it hard to stop. The protagonist is an anachronism-- a proud American who still believes in American principles but has no place in the tranquilized world extrapolated from the present day. He is sent to a savage world populated by superior post-humans of various races who are unable to understand things like freedom, morality, and love. This gives Wright the chance to savagely mock modern thought while giving us a heavy does of rip-roaring adventure. Said adventure is delivered by a true master of the writing craft, but the savage mockery is equally delightful. The result is numerous quotable passages amidst the heroic leaps off of dangerous precipices and desperate fights with deadly foes. The next book is coming soon and I for one can't wait.
April 22, 2020
Huge fan of Wright’s science fiction. Here he reiterates the evolution versus faith trope from the Count to a Trillion sequence. Fantastic read. Great work of inventive imagination.
March 31, 2020
More fine work from Wright
If you’re a fan of John C Wright, there is plenty of hum here to love. A pulpy square jawed hero; a beautiful Atlantis princess; new races of humanity and the conflicts between them.
No work is perfect, and if I had to pick out a flaw, is that it’s a little too action oriented for my tastes. Wright’s perfectly capable of writing great action, but I tend to come to him for sense of wonder and epic scope, and that’s what I crave in his stories. (Though there’s plenty of that here, too!)
If you’re a fan of John C Wright, there is plenty of hum here to love. A pulpy square jawed hero; a beautiful Atlantis princess; new races of humanity and the conflicts between them.
No work is perfect, and if I had to pick out a flaw, is that it’s a little too action oriented for my tastes. Wright’s perfectly capable of writing great action, but I tend to come to him for sense of wonder and epic scope, and that’s what I crave in his stories. (Though there’s plenty of that here, too!)
February 25, 2020
It may not make sense to rate 4 stars for a book I gave up on. The main character Preston Lost is a bigger than life military hero, who can do anything, and never succumbs. The story runs in the vein of Doc Savage and is very well written. What caused me to put this down was sheer exhaustion. Following Lost's non-stop physical struggle to survive, the relentless seemingly impossible to overcome threats to his life, just wore me out. Someone else will love this book, but it got me too keyed up.
February 17, 2020
Has the flavour of Jack Vance but better
Wow, Wright has an incredible imagination. Non-stop action, one of the most entertaining science fiction books I've read in a long time.
Wow, Wright has an incredible imagination. Non-stop action, one of the most entertaining science fiction books I've read in a long time.
June 25, 2020
John Wright's imagination positively overflows in this first in a trilogy. Written deliberately in the style of over-the-top pulp, each chapter is very short and almost all end on a cliffhanger. Read in book form, however, and they are almost counterproductively quick moving. There is so much action that it sometimes becomes difficult to follow the plot. In short: a classic hero of superhuman abilities is catapulted millions of years in the future and must lead a rebellion against the overlords at the end of the earth and reclaim humanity's place. Unabashedly American, this book will appeal to those who are looking for a wild, fun, and unapologetically classical work of speculative fiction. "Literature" it may not be; but nevertheless is a rocket of a read.
I was provided a complimentary copy of this book and was not required to write a positive review.
I was provided a complimentary copy of this book and was not required to write a positive review.
December 29, 2020
One part Orson Card, four parts Edgar Burroughs, two fingers of Michael Crichton, a splash of Fritz Lieber and a spoonful of Sunday mass.
This is one of the best new pulps I've read in a long while, blending the strangeness of Pellucidar, the geek-theory levels of Andromeda Strain and Jurassic Park, the sensory richness of Lankhmar and an exciting premise. Worthy to be shelved with any of the Grey Mouser books or any of John Carter's adventures.
This is one of the best new pulps I've read in a long while, blending the strangeness of Pellucidar, the geek-theory levels of Andromeda Strain and Jurassic Park, the sensory richness of Lankhmar and an exciting premise. Worthy to be shelved with any of the Grey Mouser books or any of John Carter's adventures.
September 17, 2020
Non stop Action
Non stop action from the start, some of it hard to conceptualize as to setting, doesn't start making sense until almost half way through.
Non stop action from the start, some of it hard to conceptualize as to setting, doesn't start making sense until almost half way through.
October 14, 2020
Great
Very creative and a wonderful look into the adventures of Lost, a man who finds himself lost in the future.
Very creative and a wonderful look into the adventures of Lost, a man who finds himself lost in the future.
September 13, 2024
What a blast. Other authors would give their adventurer a break to recover. Our hero escapes the villains with the help of a fellow warrior or friendly native or ancient god and gets a beautiful nurse to feed him and tend his wounds so he’s ready for the next action sequence. Or at least he gets a nap.
Nothing of the sort for Preston Lost on the Last Continent! Lost is relentlessly attacked, pursued, drowned, stung, and hurled off precipices starting at about page two. The friendly native doesn’t speak his language, the fellow warrior is crippled trying to kill him, the ancient god doesn’t have any food to hand, and the beautiful nurse is a prisoner in need of rescuing. The whole book treads the line between presenting impossible problems and solving them.
When I was younger and less wise, I read the first chapter of Terrors of Pangea and put it down because I thought it was silly. It is, but the Gray-piloted flying saucers and albino dinosaurs are underpinned by a great deal of careful thought. Everything hangs together: the action, the world, the exploration of the main character, who is “not a reckless man.” I’m holding the sequel in reserve for when I’m feeling down.
Nothing of the sort for Preston Lost on the Last Continent! Lost is relentlessly attacked, pursued, drowned, stung, and hurled off precipices starting at about page two. The friendly native doesn’t speak his language, the fellow warrior is crippled trying to kill him, the ancient god doesn’t have any food to hand, and the beautiful nurse is a prisoner in need of rescuing. The whole book treads the line between presenting impossible problems and solving them.
When I was younger and less wise, I read the first chapter of Terrors of Pangea and put it down because I thought it was silly. It is, but the Gray-piloted flying saucers and albino dinosaurs are underpinned by a great deal of careful thought. Everything hangs together: the action, the world, the exploration of the main character, who is “not a reckless man.” I’m holding the sequel in reserve for when I’m feeling down.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews