Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

At the Earth's Core
At the Earth's Core
At the Earth's Core
Audiobook5 hours

At the Earth's Core

Written by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Narrated by Patrick Lawlor

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

()

About this audiobook

David Innes is a young man who has just inherited a large mining company. An eccentric inventor, Abner Perry, convinces Innes to underwrite a project to build an "iron mole," claiming it will make them both wealthy. The mechanical beast works well-actually too well. On the maiden voyage, instead of digging for a few minutes and returning, they plunge straight through the earth's crust into the "inner world" of Pellucidar. This world resembles Earth but is a horizonless, primeval tropical landscape where the sun neither sets nor rises, and it is populated by "Sagoth" gorilla men, wild human slaves, and the ruling hypnotic, reptilian "Mahors."

Upon arriving at this strange world, the men are immediately captured and enslaved. But soon Perry learns to read the language of the Mahors and discovers a secret way to turn the tables! True to Burroughs form, this nonstop fantasy thriller weaves together savage islanders, pterodactyls, telepathy, and, of course, romance.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateSep 14, 2009
ISBN9781400181186
Author

Edgar Rice Burroughs

Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875–1950) is best known for his creation of Tarzan of the jungle and of the heroic John Carter who adventured on Mars, although he is also the author of many other novels in a range of genres.

Related to At the Earth's Core

Titles in the series (2)

View More

Related audiobooks

General Fiction For You

View More

Related articles

Reviews for At the Earth's Core

Rating: 3.500000060427807 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

187 ratings10 reviews

What did you think?

Tap to rate

Review must be at least 10 words

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    It took me a long time to get back to Boroughs. I read all the Tarzan books as a teen but there are several others on my wish list. He's always available to be enjoyed so I know I'll get to them sometime.Needing a change in book styles I selected this classic. Wow, was it fun! I always forget what a great adventure writer he was. Now I have to read the sequel.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    It took a while to get going about 30 pages in, but it was entertaining enough to read.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This novel, published in 1914, feels very Jules Verne-ish, albeit that the technology is updated a few decades from that author's Journey to the Centre of the Earth. While the science of a hollow Earth is obviously nonsensical, this is quite a gripping story and the environment in this strange, buried world is vividly described. This is a short novel, only 82 pages, but it packs in a lot with a bare minimum of backstory and character development. The end is rather rushed and unbelievable even in the context of the obviously fantastical narrative, but I enjoyed this one at a fairly superficial level.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    My copy had pictures from the "new" movie - that Doug McClure classic version.Very fun tale familiar story.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Easy and entertaining read if you REALLY suspend disbelief in the overall premise. Mindless entertainment.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    It's been a while since I read any Edgar Rice Burroughs and I'd forgotten just how good he could be. This is a great book, possibly my favourite ERB book so far. A well written, often amusing and always exciting adventure as David Ennis and Abner Perry drill down into the hollow Earth and discover the amazing world of Pellucidar. Loved this. It reminded me why I set about collecting ERB's books in the first place.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Published in 1914 the same year as [Tarzan of the Apes] this one is a notch below the first of the Tarzan books.It starts promisingly enough with our hero David Innes and his older inventor friend Perry strapped into a metallic earth burrowing machine. The steering mechanism becomes jammed as they helplessly feel the heat intensify in their capsule, but just as their air supply runs out after four days travelling and Perry is lying inert in his seat the machine breaks through into another world. They have arrived in a world that lies near the centre of the earth and where humans and humanoids battle prehistoric monsters and each other for survival. It is at this point that any characterisation and plotting goes out the window as Burroughs concentrates on building his world in which our heroes have one adventure after another. If the initial premise seems unlikely then the exploits of David Ennis are real boys own fantasy stuff; amazing coincidences, incredible luck, feats of superhuman courage, strength and ingenuity, follow in breathless succession as our hero falls in lust with a beautiful slave girl and single-mindedly tries to woo, win and save her from peril.Burroughs makes his fight scenes exciting and exotic and there are some imaginative scenarios, but they are linked together with minimal story telling. The world building has promise, but it is never fleshed out in enough detail to make it believable or even workable. His idea that the world of Pelucidar has no concept of time is just plain daft, but it does allow for Burroughs to abandon his plot development, whenever he wishes to bring about the next amazing coincidence.David Innes tells the story in the first person and says "please bear in mind that I do not expect you to believe this story" and I suppose we; the readers have been warned. This is pulp fiction, probably no worse than much of the stuff that was and still is being churned out and one imagines that Burroughs hardly stopped to think much about his writing. He had an idea for a story, an idea with which could spin off more tales (there are seven in the series) and he hacked his way to the end. A two star read.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Burroughs' work was disappointingly simplistic on many levels. Perhaps I had unrealistic expectations based upon my belief that he wrote "science fiction;" this work makes clear he has no understanding of the scientific processes unlike great 19th century authors like H.G. Wells. Perhaps more surprising was Burroughs' inability to develop meaningful characters, story lines or social commentary. Not much more than an easy reading dime store novel.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The first novel in ERB's Pellucidar series, we're introduced to the animals and various tribes of men who live in that underground world. It's very readable, but your suspension of disbelief is going to have to work on these propositions: that Pellucidar is upside down, yet has a gravity opposite that of earth; that there is a complete underground world that leaves nothing but air pocket between two parts of our sphere called Earth; that several versions of mankind exist at the same time, from human-like animals with long tails to large, bronzed giants of good looks and full language, and who are the advanced species in this world? Well, large bat-like things most resembling the extinct pherodactyls (sp) of yore. And, of course, the fact that our hero faces at least 10 death-defying events where he gets away every time. Oh yeah. Escape from a 40 foot bear-like creature. Hve that big monster that came roaring after you turn into a herbivorus flower eater. And . . . well, you get the picture.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    An entertaining, if entirely illogical story. One could call it a rousing good tale. In the vein of Flash Gordon.