Edgar Rice Burroughs At The Earth's Core, by Bobby Nash and Jamie Chase

At the Earth's Core was one of my favourite films growing up so going into this book I thought I knew the story, surprisingly I was way off the mark as the book packs so much more into it's pages than the film ever did. For instance I want aware that Edgar Rice Burrough's appeared in the story, or that it started in the Sahara desert with the books hero David Innes telling his story to Edgar Rice Burrough's.

For anyone who isn't familiar with this story mining business man David Innes joins forces with a crazy inventor called Abner Perry, Perry has invented a manned drilling machine called the mole that he believes will make both him and Innes a fortune. Unfortunately things don't go to plan and our duo end up at the earth core, but instead of molten rock they find themselves in the wonderful but dangerous world of Pellucidar. A world that is filled with strange people and creatures most of whom are not friendly, a place where if you don't have your wits about you a grizzly death isn't far away. Throw into the mix a love interest for David as he falls for the charms of Dian the Beautiful, and a dominant species of mind controlling carnivore pterodactyls and you have a real boys own action and adventure story.

The book is written by Bobby Nash a writer I am well aware of and I have to admit I am a fan of his work, I was also lucky enough to interview him a few years ago. As a fan of Bobby's work I always thought I was going to enjoy this book, what I wasn't prepared for was how blown away I was with this book it is simply stunning. And that is not an exaggeration as the story telling and pacing throughout the book is absolutely perfect, from the opening page to the very last one. But were Bobby really shines is in his ability to make David Innes a believable and likeable character, Innes is an ordinary man dealing with extraordinary circumstances while still maintaining his personal sense of honour. As with all adventure story's you always know the hero is going to win out in the end, but even knowing this Bobby has still managed to build a real sense of danger with every turn of the page, and if the chips were down David Innes is someone you would want standing next to you.

The painted artwork by Jamie Chase is also spectacular and helps set the mood and tone of the book perfectly, from spectacular landscapes to terrifying creatures Jamie's art bring the whole world of Pellucidar to life. As someone who cannot draw beyond stick men ( I kid you not) I can only imagine and marvel at the hours and patience it must take to create artwork of this standard.

As I said at the start of this blog as a child I had watched the film adaptation of At the Earth's Core, and as all films of this type it was one of my instant favourites. So I went into this book thinking I already knew the story, how wrong I was the differences between the film and this book is like night and day. Each has their own merit but if I were to chose between watching the film again or reading the book, the book would win every-time and if you haven't read the book because you've seen the film. Do yourself a favour and pick up the book, I guarantee you will be highly delighted you did so.

On a final note I recently found out that there are several books written about Pellucidar, so I am hoping that Bobby and Jamie get the recognition they deserve for this book. So they can go on to produce the rest of them, and if they do so they can have my money now.