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Robert Grandon #1
Planet of Peril
When Robert Grandon swapped bodies with a prince of the planet Venus, he was concerned only with the thrill and interest of living on a different world. But the situation he found himself in was hardly that of a leisurely sightseer. Instead he found himself smack in the center of a whirlwind of intrigue, danger and desperation.
PLANET OF PERIL is a science-fiction adventure on a world of semi-barbaric nations, ferocious beasts, gigantic reptiles and maidens in distress.
PLANET OF PERIL is a science-fiction adventure on a world of semi-barbaric nations, ferocious beasts, gigantic reptiles and maidens in distress.
Audio CD
First published January 1, 1929
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135 people want to read
About the author
Otis Adelbert Kline
188 books20 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 - 25 of 25 reviews
June 24, 2020
The daring adventures on a world of primitive monsters! When Robert Grandon swapped bodies with a prince of the planet Venus, he was concerned only with the thrill and interest of living on a different world. But the situation he found himself in was hardly that of a leisurely sightseer. Instead, he found himself smack in the center of a whirlwind of intrigue, danger, and desperation. Planet of Peril is a science-fiction adventure on a world of semi-barbaric nations, ferocious beasts, gigantic reptiles, and maidens in distress!
February 26, 2022
The ebook version on Kindle is the 2009 edition by Wildside Press. Unfortunately, this also seems to be the heavily revised and redacted Ace edition from 1963.
Why do I say unfortunately? Well, I guess it depends on your taste. The original novel was serialized in 1929, and was over 350 pages when it received a hardcover edition a year later. The Ace and Wildside editions are half that length. That's fine, but so much world building has been eliminated that the book loses it's mystique. I was tempted to compare these versions to the original Star Wars trilogy vs the post-prequel CGI versions, but in reality, the difference is like the original vs the Cliff Notes (or Spark Notes, or whatever people cheat with these days). Such radical editing turned a classic Radium-Age planet-and-sword adventure into a Golden-Age superhero story.
Other meddling that was done in the 60s includes inexplicably shoehorning this novel as a sequel to Otis Kline's epic "The Swordsman of Mars," even though that story hadn't been written until 4 years later. So the early chapters of this book reference events in other books that didn't exist at the time, and it doesn't make a whole lot of sense.
So what we have here is a condensed adventure that you can recommend to your kids, but it lacks any finesse. There are flying vampire gorillas, man-eating dinosaur monsters, dastardly villains, and just like Ralph Milne Farley's Venus series, giant intelligent ants to conquer. The action races from one cliche situation to the next. But you don't understand the characters at all. Our hero starts off as a bored 24-year-old at the opera, who somehow doesn't mind getting kidnapped by a mad scientist who wants to send him to Venus in the body of a weakling slave, and yet within minutes he is kicking Venusian asses, winning the heart of a tyrannical princess, and conquering unexplored regions of another planet. Whew! That's a lot in just a few pages! Guess the guy was cured of his boredom.
If you have a hard time suspending belief in these kinds of books, then you won't be able to tolerate this more cartoonish version. However, if you like your adventure short and to the point, then this will serve as a quick hit of dopamine. The original and unexpurgated is still out there for your investment and preservation, and if you've read it, I'd be curious as to your thoughts.
Why do I say unfortunately? Well, I guess it depends on your taste. The original novel was serialized in 1929, and was over 350 pages when it received a hardcover edition a year later. The Ace and Wildside editions are half that length. That's fine, but so much world building has been eliminated that the book loses it's mystique. I was tempted to compare these versions to the original Star Wars trilogy vs the post-prequel CGI versions, but in reality, the difference is like the original vs the Cliff Notes (or Spark Notes, or whatever people cheat with these days). Such radical editing turned a classic Radium-Age planet-and-sword adventure into a Golden-Age superhero story.
Other meddling that was done in the 60s includes inexplicably shoehorning this novel as a sequel to Otis Kline's epic "The Swordsman of Mars," even though that story hadn't been written until 4 years later. So the early chapters of this book reference events in other books that didn't exist at the time, and it doesn't make a whole lot of sense.
So what we have here is a condensed adventure that you can recommend to your kids, but it lacks any finesse. There are flying vampire gorillas, man-eating dinosaur monsters, dastardly villains, and just like Ralph Milne Farley's Venus series, giant intelligent ants to conquer. The action races from one cliche situation to the next. But you don't understand the characters at all. Our hero starts off as a bored 24-year-old at the opera, who somehow doesn't mind getting kidnapped by a mad scientist who wants to send him to Venus in the body of a weakling slave, and yet within minutes he is kicking Venusian asses, winning the heart of a tyrannical princess, and conquering unexplored regions of another planet. Whew! That's a lot in just a few pages! Guess the guy was cured of his boredom.
If you have a hard time suspending belief in these kinds of books, then you won't be able to tolerate this more cartoonish version. However, if you like your adventure short and to the point, then this will serve as a quick hit of dopamine. The original and unexpurgated is still out there for your investment and preservation, and if you've read it, I'd be curious as to your thoughts.
May 5, 2012
Otis Adelbert Kline’s 1929 novel Planet of Peril is a sword-and-planet adventure very much in the style of Edgar Rice Burroughs.
In fact so much so that the two authors were alleged to have had something of a literary feud going over this issue. The reality seems to be that although Kline’s work was essentially Burroughs pastiche Burroughs (very sensibly) took no notice. Burroughs was by that time so popular that he could afford to regard imitation as a tribute rather than a threat.
As a Burroughs pastiche Planet of Peril is pretty reasonable. If you enjoy Burroughs’ work there’s no reason you won’t enjoy Kline’s. Kline could not match the extraordinary world-building skills of Burroughs but he gave it his best shot.
Robert Grandon is bored, in the way only a 24-year-old can be bored. He craves a life of adventure and he has done his best to pursue that craving but ennui has still caught up with him. So when he receives a very mysterious invitation he has no hesitation in accepting it.
Doctor Morgan has a curious proposition for him. He has already demonstrated his telepathic abilities by the manner in which the invitation was extended, but telepathic skills are only a part of the strange tale he spins. It appears that he is in telepathic communication with certain inhabitants of the planets Venus and Mars. Even stranger, these are inhabitants of those planets who lived aeons ago. And even stranger still, he has discovered that it is possible to swap minds with these people. He offers Grandon the opportunity to take over the body of a long-dead Venusian while the Venusian takes over his body.
Grandon accepts the offer, and finds himself on the planet Venus in the distant past in the body of a Venusian prince who has been enslaved by a beautiful but formidable and cruel princess named Vernia. The inhabitants call the planet Zarovia.
Grandon escapes and encounters some of the strange creatures of Zarovia, such as the deadly insectoid sabits. He becomes involved in plots and counter-plots and in the conflicts between the constantly warring kingdoms of Zarovia. He also discovers love, in the unlikely form of Vernia. She turns out not to be so evil after all.
The battles involve airships and an odd mix of primitive and advanced weaponry, in the typical style of sword-and-planet adventures.
There’s the usual mix of intrigue, romance and action. It might not be quite up to the standards of the best examples of the genre but it’s entertaining enough stuff and worth a look.
In fact so much so that the two authors were alleged to have had something of a literary feud going over this issue. The reality seems to be that although Kline’s work was essentially Burroughs pastiche Burroughs (very sensibly) took no notice. Burroughs was by that time so popular that he could afford to regard imitation as a tribute rather than a threat.
As a Burroughs pastiche Planet of Peril is pretty reasonable. If you enjoy Burroughs’ work there’s no reason you won’t enjoy Kline’s. Kline could not match the extraordinary world-building skills of Burroughs but he gave it his best shot.
Robert Grandon is bored, in the way only a 24-year-old can be bored. He craves a life of adventure and he has done his best to pursue that craving but ennui has still caught up with him. So when he receives a very mysterious invitation he has no hesitation in accepting it.
Doctor Morgan has a curious proposition for him. He has already demonstrated his telepathic abilities by the manner in which the invitation was extended, but telepathic skills are only a part of the strange tale he spins. It appears that he is in telepathic communication with certain inhabitants of the planets Venus and Mars. Even stranger, these are inhabitants of those planets who lived aeons ago. And even stranger still, he has discovered that it is possible to swap minds with these people. He offers Grandon the opportunity to take over the body of a long-dead Venusian while the Venusian takes over his body.
Grandon accepts the offer, and finds himself on the planet Venus in the distant past in the body of a Venusian prince who has been enslaved by a beautiful but formidable and cruel princess named Vernia. The inhabitants call the planet Zarovia.
Grandon escapes and encounters some of the strange creatures of Zarovia, such as the deadly insectoid sabits. He becomes involved in plots and counter-plots and in the conflicts between the constantly warring kingdoms of Zarovia. He also discovers love, in the unlikely form of Vernia. She turns out not to be so evil after all.
The battles involve airships and an odd mix of primitive and advanced weaponry, in the typical style of sword-and-planet adventures.
There’s the usual mix of intrigue, romance and action. It might not be quite up to the standards of the best examples of the genre but it’s entertaining enough stuff and worth a look.
August 8, 2008
The first in Kline's three book Venus series. Kline and Edgar Rice Burroughs were contemporaries and often in competition. They each wrote a Mars and a venus series of Sword and Planet novels. Although Burroughs was better, Kline's work holds up pretty well by comparison.
I have the much older Ace edition with a great Roy Krenkel painting.
I have the much older Ace edition with a great Roy Krenkel painting.
September 25, 2018
Kline and his hero Robert Grandon swing swords on Venus a full 2 years before Burroughs!
I read this after having read Kline's later “The Swordsman of Mars”, and I guess that's also the order that Ace reprinted them in the 60s. Although “Planet of Peril” was written in 1930 and “The Swordsman of Mars” was written in 1933, Ace tosses in edits that make this, the Venus series, a sequel to Kline's later Mars series. In some senses this may not truly be important, but I read these as the 6ps Ace editions with the changes and I'm not entirely sure how much is Ace messing with Kline or how much is vintage Kline.
So, the story, Robert Grandon goes to an opera but encounters psychic disturbance and his attention is directed to a personal ad. Before too long he is projected into the body of a captive prince on Venus and in a blink he is conquering kingdoms.
There is one odd distinction here in that Grandon is the supreme swordsman of another world, partly because the sword he has made is the only sword on the planet!
Much of what happens here is squarely in Edgar Rice Burroughs territory: a fugitive princess, patterns of escape and capture, monsters by the boatload, royal plotters, etc. One can pick out the influence of Burroughs adventures like “At The Earth's Core”, “A Princess of Mars”, “The Moon Maid”, etc. For the readers who have already delved into Burroughs own Venus series, one can see where “Planet of Peril” might actually have been subtly parodied in spots. In fact, I felt a lot like the overwrought pacing at the start of this book was reflected a few times in the “Amtor” series.
The first couple of chapters on Venus are actually a tad messy, with conquest and prophecy and battles crammed into so tightly that it makes the Flash Gordon comic strip look slow. Once the princess appears, and is promptly rescued from something, the book really begins. “Planet of Peril” settled into a good pattern for a bit, but towards the end it goes off the rails again.
The better parts have stuff like flying monsters abducting victims to a volcano, a race of giant insects that keep primitive humans as slaves, and some royal plotting to depose the empress lady (love interest). Kline nailed a lot of this kind of thing in “The Swordsman of Mars” but in “Planet of Peril” he doesn't quite seem to be getting it. Fight scenes are too brief, description is light, and the world building is almost non-existent in places. I really wish I had a clearer picture of how this was edited, that might explain some of the general schizophrenia.
Despite its problems, “Planet of Peril” is still vintage sword & planet, complete with romance, action, and intrigue. Kline gives the story the right kind of spirit and at times it delivers exactly the way it's supposed to. I do plan to continue with Kline and with the series, but I also plan on finding a restored version of the original 30s text!
I read this after having read Kline's later “The Swordsman of Mars”, and I guess that's also the order that Ace reprinted them in the 60s. Although “Planet of Peril” was written in 1930 and “The Swordsman of Mars” was written in 1933, Ace tosses in edits that make this, the Venus series, a sequel to Kline's later Mars series. In some senses this may not truly be important, but I read these as the 6ps Ace editions with the changes and I'm not entirely sure how much is Ace messing with Kline or how much is vintage Kline.
So, the story, Robert Grandon goes to an opera but encounters psychic disturbance and his attention is directed to a personal ad. Before too long he is projected into the body of a captive prince on Venus and in a blink he is conquering kingdoms.
There is one odd distinction here in that Grandon is the supreme swordsman of another world, partly because the sword he has made is the only sword on the planet!
Much of what happens here is squarely in Edgar Rice Burroughs territory: a fugitive princess, patterns of escape and capture, monsters by the boatload, royal plotters, etc. One can pick out the influence of Burroughs adventures like “At The Earth's Core”, “A Princess of Mars”, “The Moon Maid”, etc. For the readers who have already delved into Burroughs own Venus series, one can see where “Planet of Peril” might actually have been subtly parodied in spots. In fact, I felt a lot like the overwrought pacing at the start of this book was reflected a few times in the “Amtor” series.
The first couple of chapters on Venus are actually a tad messy, with conquest and prophecy and battles crammed into so tightly that it makes the Flash Gordon comic strip look slow. Once the princess appears, and is promptly rescued from something, the book really begins. “Planet of Peril” settled into a good pattern for a bit, but towards the end it goes off the rails again.
The better parts have stuff like flying monsters abducting victims to a volcano, a race of giant insects that keep primitive humans as slaves, and some royal plotting to depose the empress lady (love interest). Kline nailed a lot of this kind of thing in “The Swordsman of Mars” but in “Planet of Peril” he doesn't quite seem to be getting it. Fight scenes are too brief, description is light, and the world building is almost non-existent in places. I really wish I had a clearer picture of how this was edited, that might explain some of the general schizophrenia.
Despite its problems, “Planet of Peril” is still vintage sword & planet, complete with romance, action, and intrigue. Kline gives the story the right kind of spirit and at times it delivers exactly the way it's supposed to. I do plan to continue with Kline and with the series, but I also plan on finding a restored version of the original 30s text!
May 26, 2017
I liked Kline's Mars stories, so I had hopes for his Venus stories, which I thought I had heard he was more known for. Instead, I was rather disappointed. Nothing really stands out about this short, run-of-the-mill planetary adventure. The human hero from Earth faces odds and yet manages to bag the space Princess. I guess there was the suspense about how she counter-acted the Really Bad Thing that Happened, but it was rather pedestrian and felt a bit like a cheat. I'll finish the series because they were difficult to find and for historical reasons, but I'll probably scan the old ACE covers and pass them back into the Usedbookosphere.
February 21, 2011
There's a curious bit of editorial butchery about it: Wikipedia lists it as one of Kline's earliest works, yet this Ace edition references both The Swordsman of Mars and The Outlaws of Mars, both written years later. Is this some form of editorial/publishing OCD that made them retrofit the novels into a series ordered by Ace publication dates? In any case it makes for a strange introduction and epilogue, where the reader can see the surgical scars.
After a promising start of inserting Grandon into a setting of political turmoil and political imprisonment (and escape and rebellion and so forth), the story detours into a story of liberating an isolated country from insectoid domination.
After a promising start of inserting Grandon into a setting of political turmoil and political imprisonment (and escape and rebellion and so forth), the story detours into a story of liberating an isolated country from insectoid domination.
Read
February 21, 2009This book made Princess of Mars seem like it was written by a genius. What an unabashed and dumb ripoff. Colonialist and Imperialist majors could have a field day scrutinizing this whiteboy's fantasy life among the injuns of another planet.
April 26, 2019
Not very well written but does keep new ideas coming throughout the story sufficiently enough to maintain one's interest. It contains many Burroughs inspired ideas but isn't as much of a rip-off of the Barsoom books as some people claim. It vaguely has the same outline, of a guy being transported to another planet and rescuing a princess but other than that it's pretty much a completely different story. The plot is rather haphazard but most of the elements basically work OK. The highlight definitely being the central chapters involving the subjugation by and subsequent battle against an alien race of giant insects. He probably should have just expanded these passages with better writing and had it run to the conclusion of the novel but oh well.
Some problems; the main character is imbued with amazing skill and abilities without ever explaining how. In Burroughs' Barsoom novels John Carter is a former soldier giving him a high ability in fighting, and due to his Earth attuned muscles is extraordinarily strong and fast. This book's "Robert Grandon" has none of that. He's just an unremarkably average man who answers a classified ad and is whisked away to another planet and then is somehow superior to everyone he meets in fighting and military ability. It's just too much of an obvious power fantasy. Another thing I couldn't really get over was how it's supposed to be on another planet but everything is astoundingly similar to Earth, with the exception of some oversized flora and fauna here and there. It's an entirely different planet dude. Try to be a little more imaginative.
Anyway, it's worth a read if you like this sort of thing. As good or better than the later Barsoom novels. It's available for free at project gutenberg australia, Roy Glashan's Library has the ebook, and I think there is a free one on apple books as well.
Some problems; the main character is imbued with amazing skill and abilities without ever explaining how. In Burroughs' Barsoom novels John Carter is a former soldier giving him a high ability in fighting, and due to his Earth attuned muscles is extraordinarily strong and fast. This book's "Robert Grandon" has none of that. He's just an unremarkably average man who answers a classified ad and is whisked away to another planet and then is somehow superior to everyone he meets in fighting and military ability. It's just too much of an obvious power fantasy. Another thing I couldn't really get over was how it's supposed to be on another planet but everything is astoundingly similar to Earth, with the exception of some oversized flora and fauna here and there. It's an entirely different planet dude. Try to be a little more imaginative.
Anyway, it's worth a read if you like this sort of thing. As good or better than the later Barsoom novels. It's available for free at project gutenberg australia, Roy Glashan's Library has the ebook, and I think there is a free one on apple books as well.
February 11, 2024
I might have enjoyed this a lot more when I was a teenager. It reminded me a lot of the Green Star series by Carter, which I did enjoy back in the day.
This is what fantasy ought to be, anyway. Imaginative and to the point, rather than an 11-book series, 500-1000 pages apiece, filled with breakfasts in taverns with the plot being rehashed for every incidental character the main ones happen to meet.
In ten pages we're already hastily introduced to a mechanism that transports our protagonist to another world, this time telepathic brainswitch. Whatever, it's fine, that's what we're here for right? He goes to Venus millions of years ago, but instead of a planet so hot steel would boil we have a world barely different from Earth, populated by humans. That's okay too, really.
I simply grew bored of everything going just right for our hero. Apparently I am reading an edited version, and the original was twice as long. I can't imagine extra length making this any better, myself. The whole time I was reading I was thinking this would be better as a comic book.
This is what fantasy ought to be, anyway. Imaginative and to the point, rather than an 11-book series, 500-1000 pages apiece, filled with breakfasts in taverns with the plot being rehashed for every incidental character the main ones happen to meet.
In ten pages we're already hastily introduced to a mechanism that transports our protagonist to another world, this time telepathic brainswitch. Whatever, it's fine, that's what we're here for right? He goes to Venus millions of years ago, but instead of a planet so hot steel would boil we have a world barely different from Earth, populated by humans. That's okay too, really.
I simply grew bored of everything going just right for our hero. Apparently I am reading an edited version, and the original was twice as long. I can't imagine extra length making this any better, myself. The whole time I was reading I was thinking this would be better as a comic book.
October 22, 2020
I’m a big fan of Sword and Planet generally...
I’ve read AOK Mars and Moon books. I liked them. This however was not very good. It just was rushed, with little to no description, and felt like a rough draft or an outline. There were some cool concepts in it but nothing was fleshed out. I understand that ACE edited and revised it some from its originally 1929 version. I wonder if the original unabridged version is better?
Overall, I can’t recommend it. I hope the other 2 in OAK Venus series are better.
I’ve read AOK Mars and Moon books. I liked them. This however was not very good. It just was rushed, with little to no description, and felt like a rough draft or an outline. There were some cool concepts in it but nothing was fleshed out. I understand that ACE edited and revised it some from its originally 1929 version. I wonder if the original unabridged version is better?
Overall, I can’t recommend it. I hope the other 2 in OAK Venus series are better.
April 2, 2022
I checked this out because of the many comparisons of Kline to Edgar Rice Burroughs. While I can definitely see the similarities Kline is missing that certain knack for adventure that Burroughs possessed in spades. That being said I did enjoy this and as it is Kline's first book I will try some more of his work sometime.
October 6, 2017
Read back in the 70s
January 3, 2018
Not a lot of depth in the characters. Easy reading that would be good for a young adult.
March 24, 2024
Started well but very poor narrative. Did not finish.
March 23, 2017
Very good science fiction.
Written in the early 1900's, tells a good story in the vernacular of the. Adventure, romance and a different view of Venus
Written in the early 1900's, tells a good story in the vernacular of the. Adventure, romance and a different view of Venus
June 25, 2014
Grandon, a restless young man, is kidnapped by someone calling himself Dr Morgan. Dr Morgan imprints some information on him telepathically and makes a proposal. It appears that Dr Morgan is a master of telepathy and, due to this, is able to send his thoughts back through time to a civilisation on Venus millions of years ago. Not only that, if two bodies and minds share enough similarities, Dr Morgan is able to exchange them.
There is, apparently, a young man in ancient Venus, willing to exchange bodies with Grandon, and Grandon agrees (as you would!).
It’s a clumsy device, but for 1929 it was no doubt an exciting idea.
So, Grandon awakes as the slave of a tyrannous Empress, but soon escapes. As he is inhabiting the body of a young prince of Uxpo he is soon rescued by his own people. Meanwhile, the Empress’ cousin has hatched a plot to seize the throne by kidnapping the Empress. It seems that if she is absent from the kingdom for a year she will be automatically exiled and stripped of her title.
Grandon, in the first of a series of increasingly unlikely coincidences, meets up with the kidnappers and manages to rescue her.
There then follows encounters with vampire batmonkeys, and a valley of human-enslaving termites, from whose immense pincers Grandon escapes with the Empress to return to her kingdom and claim it back from the usurper.
It is, despite my somewhat sarcastic précis, immensely enjoyable hokum. There was a rumour circulating at the time, started it seems by Donald Wollheim, that ER Burroughs and Kline were involved in a feud since Edgar R considered Kline to be stealing his ideas. The author later confessed that he’d made it all up for the sake of a good story.
It is true that Kline wrote some Mars novels, some Venus novels and some novels set in a jungle with a strong-thewed hero. There are certainly some broad plot similarities between the two, and both employ the almost obligatory device of somehow transporting and Earthman to Mars or Venus. Kline, it seems, much like Leigh Brackett, seemed to realise that there wouldn’t be much mileage in trying to flog the concept of a living civilisation on Mars or Venus, so they transported their heroes back through time to a Venusian or Martian civilisation that flourished millions of years ago.
Kline’s work, although enjoyable, is not in the same league as Burroughs. One gets the impression that Kline made it up as he went along. In one chapter, trapped and very near to being at the mercy of the giant termites, he hides in a corner under a pile of edible fungi, and just by chance finds a hole that leads down into a forgotten armoury of a lost race. There’s lots of armour, some useful weapons and…oh, what’s this? A whole chest of drawers full of plans for machines which can destroy the termites, and full instructions on how to use them.
Kline is a bit too fond of his Deus ex Machina resolutions, which leads me to assume that he was … making it up as he went along. Good trick if you can keep it up, and keep it interesting.
There is, apparently, a young man in ancient Venus, willing to exchange bodies with Grandon, and Grandon agrees (as you would!).
It’s a clumsy device, but for 1929 it was no doubt an exciting idea.
So, Grandon awakes as the slave of a tyrannous Empress, but soon escapes. As he is inhabiting the body of a young prince of Uxpo he is soon rescued by his own people. Meanwhile, the Empress’ cousin has hatched a plot to seize the throne by kidnapping the Empress. It seems that if she is absent from the kingdom for a year she will be automatically exiled and stripped of her title.
Grandon, in the first of a series of increasingly unlikely coincidences, meets up with the kidnappers and manages to rescue her.
There then follows encounters with vampire batmonkeys, and a valley of human-enslaving termites, from whose immense pincers Grandon escapes with the Empress to return to her kingdom and claim it back from the usurper.
It is, despite my somewhat sarcastic précis, immensely enjoyable hokum. There was a rumour circulating at the time, started it seems by Donald Wollheim, that ER Burroughs and Kline were involved in a feud since Edgar R considered Kline to be stealing his ideas. The author later confessed that he’d made it all up for the sake of a good story.
It is true that Kline wrote some Mars novels, some Venus novels and some novels set in a jungle with a strong-thewed hero. There are certainly some broad plot similarities between the two, and both employ the almost obligatory device of somehow transporting and Earthman to Mars or Venus. Kline, it seems, much like Leigh Brackett, seemed to realise that there wouldn’t be much mileage in trying to flog the concept of a living civilisation on Mars or Venus, so they transported their heroes back through time to a Venusian or Martian civilisation that flourished millions of years ago.
Kline’s work, although enjoyable, is not in the same league as Burroughs. One gets the impression that Kline made it up as he went along. In one chapter, trapped and very near to being at the mercy of the giant termites, he hides in a corner under a pile of edible fungi, and just by chance finds a hole that leads down into a forgotten armoury of a lost race. There’s lots of armour, some useful weapons and…oh, what’s this? A whole chest of drawers full of plans for machines which can destroy the termites, and full instructions on how to use them.
Kline is a bit too fond of his Deus ex Machina resolutions, which leads me to assume that he was … making it up as he went along. Good trick if you can keep it up, and keep it interesting.
November 9, 2008
I've been a fan of Edgar Rice Burroughs and his "planetary romances" since childhood, and have wanted to check out the works of his most popular imitator for some time. A couple of years ago I picked up most of the Kline books from eBay, in the old Ace short paperbacks with the neat Krenkel covers -- anyway, this is weaker than I expected on the whole. The action never flags -- more triumphs and reverses in this 160 pages than in the typical ERB volume -- but missing is anything much in the way of characterization, descriptive power, or narrative intelligence. Characters appear to save other charactes at the most opportune moments -- typical in the genre -- but there's little in the way of time-sense or geographic sense here and it just didn't cohere. The characters are uniformly wooden and poorly or not at all described, and very little here seemed even remotely original; slavish is only going a little too far. I hope the rest are better...
September 14, 2016
What can I say? I enjoyed it. Very much in the tradition of Edgar Rice Burroughs, filled with coincidences and luck, strange creatures and feudal kingdoms. The premise is at least as odd as Burroughs’s beam transfer between Earth and Mars: telepathy can be strengthened by obscure technology, and when strengthened can be used to communicate through time to other planets that have evolved duplicates of humans on Earth. Duplicates can trade minds, across time and space. And since one man’s boredom is another man’s war game, it isn’t difficult to find two individuals willing to trade places.
Speaking of war games, a lot of the subscenarios in Planet of Peril would make great ideas for fantasy roleplaying games. At one point, the main character literally stumbles upon a D&D-style dungeon.
Speaking of war games, a lot of the subscenarios in Planet of Peril would make great ideas for fantasy roleplaying games. At one point, the main character literally stumbles upon a D&D-style dungeon.
August 13, 2016
I usually like this old pulp stuff. I like Edgar Rice Burroughs Martian stories featuring John Carter. This is another authors version of these sort of stories.
Otis Aldelbert Kline had a literary feud with Burroughs and so decided to rip of his Carson of Venus stories.
As an impartial referee I decided to see which version was best......and the result is Edgar wins hands down.
Anyway, this is how it goes.
A man from Earth ends up on Venus, frees the slaves, becomes the leader by virtue of his superior fighting skills. Meets a beautiful Princess who is dubiously betrothed to a handsome despot ruler. A war ensues, a chase ensues a rescue ensues.
Hero beats villain and marries Princess.....all sounds familiar?
It's all the same story but by a different author.
ERB rules.
Otis Aldelbert Kline had a literary feud with Burroughs and so decided to rip of his Carson of Venus stories.
As an impartial referee I decided to see which version was best......and the result is Edgar wins hands down.
Anyway, this is how it goes.
A man from Earth ends up on Venus, frees the slaves, becomes the leader by virtue of his superior fighting skills. Meets a beautiful Princess who is dubiously betrothed to a handsome despot ruler. A war ensues, a chase ensues a rescue ensues.
Hero beats villain and marries Princess.....all sounds familiar?
It's all the same story but by a different author.
ERB rules.
May 16, 2012
Mildly enjoyable pulp, but such an unabashed ripoff of Burroughs' John Carter series that I felt my time may have been better served just reading the John Carter stories again. In fact, I'm hard-pressed to think of a single memorable moment in Planet of Peril that wasn't duplicated somewhere in the Burroughs tales. Still, I bought it to read some sword-and-planet pulp, and it delivered, so I can't say I was cheated.
October 3, 2014
Swashbuckling at it's finest
What a fun read. Although Edgar Rice Burroughs is the master of the Earth hero in an alien environment genre, Kline follows closest and enables the reader to continue their swords and adventure addiction. Robert Grandon of Earth exchanges his body with that of a captive Prince of Venus. Of course being a earthmen he doesn't stay captive very long. Battles, swordfights, monsters, and beautiful Queens vie for your attention as this story unfolds.
What a fun read. Although Edgar Rice Burroughs is the master of the Earth hero in an alien environment genre, Kline follows closest and enables the reader to continue their swords and adventure addiction. Robert Grandon of Earth exchanges his body with that of a captive Prince of Venus. Of course being a earthmen he doesn't stay captive very long. Battles, swordfights, monsters, and beautiful Queens vie for your attention as this story unfolds.
January 1, 2012
if you have read all the E.R.B. books available you can turn to klines works. while not as well written as E.R.B, they are still fun to read. lets face it,neither are literary geniuses,but who realy wants to read Homer or Voltaire anyway?
April 13, 2017
I will be honest. I had those books on my kindle-for-pc for a long time now and I can’t remember for the life of me what they were all about.
So, even though I have already begun two books, namely ‘The Hobbit’ (in French) and ‘MS Access for Dummies’ I decided I wanted to find something new to read.
(Yes. I can read multiple books at once, three is nothing, my worst time was with 5 books all at once. And no, I don’t mix stories together.)
So, I open this book thinking to myself ‘nice title, feels like one of those old books’. I opened it and began reading the story.
After a few pages I began wondering what the actual age of this book was. This is when I realized it was from 1929. And that explained a lot.
And then, I thought: I have two ways to read this book - 1: I decide to read it as if it was some actual guy who wrote it and judge it as such. -2 : I decide to remember the year it was written and see what will happen.
I choose the option 2. Mostly because I love this type of stories, like Conan and things like that.
I wasn’t disappointed.
Of course, I couldn’t stop myself to facepalm once or twice… or numerous times. Because, come on, there was too many times I wasn’t able not to facepalm. Here are a few examples:
One of the guy doesn’t even wink when he is asked to go ‘as a slave to an amazon ruler.’ And he will ‘finds impossible to escape from bondage’. I mean what is so exciting about this situation, unless you’re into amazon bondage of course?
Or the description of why one of the guy was send into bondage: he ‘had the temerity to make love to her’… so, like they had fun and then she threw him away? Or he tried to impose himself on her. More like the last thing to me, buddy…
Of course you have the particular description of all that is ‘bad’ or ‘evil’ as ugly and all that is beautiful and fair as civilized, which is so cliché it ends being funny.
And finally, the way the author plugs one of the plot holes: kills people for the stupidest reason, they won’t be in the way.
Reading this, you might not understand my rating but bear with me, just a little more.
Yes, this book has lots of machismo in it, with a dominant male who is good at everything, conquer and save everybody (more or less). But you have also a damsel that is recognise as a military genius, and shows some strong courage and wit.
The way I read this book, is the way I read a tale: evil versus good, in the simplest way. No complication, you can see who is going to be your enemy and you know how the end will be (or so you think, nice twist at the end).
Conclusion : I had a blast! I loved it! It was good to read something that simple (too simple?), like one of those vanilla wafer you buy at the grocery stores that I buy when I want to eat something sweet but I’m not in the mood for a multi layered Italian butter cream tier cake.
On a side note: never call me ‘fluffly head. You’re warned.
So, even though I have already begun two books, namely ‘The Hobbit’ (in French) and ‘MS Access for Dummies’ I decided I wanted to find something new to read.
(Yes. I can read multiple books at once, three is nothing, my worst time was with 5 books all at once. And no, I don’t mix stories together.)
So, I open this book thinking to myself ‘nice title, feels like one of those old books’. I opened it and began reading the story.
After a few pages I began wondering what the actual age of this book was. This is when I realized it was from 1929. And that explained a lot.
And then, I thought: I have two ways to read this book - 1: I decide to read it as if it was some actual guy who wrote it and judge it as such. -2 : I decide to remember the year it was written and see what will happen.
I choose the option 2. Mostly because I love this type of stories, like Conan and things like that.
I wasn’t disappointed.
Of course, I couldn’t stop myself to facepalm once or twice… or numerous times. Because, come on, there was too many times I wasn’t able not to facepalm. Here are a few examples:
One of the guy doesn’t even wink when he is asked to go ‘as a slave to an amazon ruler.’ And he will ‘finds impossible to escape from bondage’. I mean what is so exciting about this situation, unless you’re into amazon bondage of course?
Or the description of why one of the guy was send into bondage: he ‘had the temerity to make love to her’… so, like they had fun and then she threw him away? Or he tried to impose himself on her. More like the last thing to me, buddy…
Of course you have the particular description of all that is ‘bad’ or ‘evil’ as ugly and all that is beautiful and fair as civilized, which is so cliché it ends being funny.
And finally, the way the author plugs one of the plot holes: kills people for the stupidest reason, they won’t be in the way.
Reading this, you might not understand my rating but bear with me, just a little more.
Yes, this book has lots of machismo in it, with a dominant male who is good at everything, conquer and save everybody (more or less). But you have also a damsel that is recognise as a military genius, and shows some strong courage and wit.
The way I read this book, is the way I read a tale: evil versus good, in the simplest way. No complication, you can see who is going to be your enemy and you know how the end will be (or so you think, nice twist at the end).
Conclusion : I had a blast! I loved it! It was good to read something that simple (too simple?), like one of those vanilla wafer you buy at the grocery stores that I buy when I want to eat something sweet but I’m not in the mood for a multi layered Italian butter cream tier cake.
On a side note: never call me ‘fluffly head. You’re warned.
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