If money were not an appreciable concern for me, I'd already have purchased all of the books in The Wild Adventures of Edgar Rice Burroughs series. 1 But it is, and even at the quite reasonable Kindle price of A Shade Under $6 A Pop, that adds up to more than I want to spend on books that I undoubtedly will only read once. So I just thought about them. I almost cracked when #8 came out (October 22, 2018) as it featured a cover and some interior artwork by Mike Grell, and I dearly love him...but I resisted.
And then, no doubt because I'd spent so much time looking at the Wild Adventures books, I had a pop up ad for a new Carson of Venus book appear on my Amazon page: Carson of Venus: The Edge of All Worlds (Edgar Rice Burroughs Universe) by Matt Betts.
Well. CARson. I am awfully fond of all of ERB's protagonists, but Carson was my favorite. Still I managed to hold off.
Which turns out to have been a good decision, because I just signed up for a free trial (2 months' worth!) of kindleunlimited...and one of their offerings is Carson of Venus: The Edge of All Worlds. I am currently on page 122 of 266, and I have been quite happy with the book thus far. For one thing, it reads much like ERB's Carson, which means that in addition to the action stuff, there is also a sense of humor. In fact, I've actually laughed out loud a couple of times thus far, and that isn't something that happens to me a lot when I read.
For another thing--and no spoilers here, so don't look away--the book has crossover elements. As in plural. ERB did quite a bit of that in his own books, of course. In fact, the first ERB Carson novel (The Pirates of Venus) had references to Jason Gridley and David Innes (from the Pellucidar series) and Tarzan (from the Tarzan series), and I'm pretty sure that there was at least a glancing reference to John Carter (from the Barsoom series) at some point. Anyway...that kind of shared universe stuff makes me extraordinarily happy for some reason, so it was nice to see that in Mr. Betts' novel.
Oh, and re: kindleunlimited? They also have 7 of the Wild Adventures of ERB books--all but #1 and #9. So I guess I'll be getting down with some of that when I finished off this Carson novel.
Speaking of which...since I've fooled around with writing this bit for a day, I've almost come to the end of The Edge of All Worlds--I'm on page 214, and the novel actually ends on page 226. The rest of the pages are taken up by Pellucidar: Dark of the Sun by Christopher Paul Carey.
And?
It is most definitely holding my interest. As you could probably infer from the fact that I've read one hundred pages in the past day. And you know what? I haven't really been making an effort. The pages just flow by as you get caught up in the story. Yes, indeed, this Betts fellow is on to something.
So I think I'll just finish this book off before I close this thing out.
BTW, I neglected to mention that I was amused and delighted by the way that Betts set this book up. Again no spoilers--even though this happens on page one--but remember how many times ERB set up stories by having himself interact with his characters? Well, it's one of those things. With a nice little twist that invokes one of my favorite ERB novels, The Deputy Sheriff of Comanche County. (ERB really excelled in Westerns, I must say.)
Slightly later...
Finished. And while this does indeed set us up for further adventures, there is also a nice sense of completion. I'm going to pause for a minute and let this settle in my guts before I turn to to Pellucidar story. But I must say...this was a very enjoyable read, and I am looking forward to more books in this series.
Two other things occur to me which might entice you into reading this lovely li'l book. First, unlike most of ERB's heroes, Carson is very reluctant to kill other "people"--even enemies. I like that in a man. Second, there are about a dozen leading characters in this novel, and most of them have rather distinctive (and, for me, kind of hard to remember) names...and yet I actually had very vivid associations with each one of them. That's no mean feat, especially for a guy who was spent many an hour in a movie theater squinting at faces and wondering, "Now, who is THAT guy?" So another hats off to Matt Betts.
I trust Matt Betts. And I think you can trust him, too. (After all, this isn't my first rodeo.)
And now...Pellucidar.
1 This series currently consists of nine volumes, with the last book released on January 13, 2020:
#1 Tarzan: Return to Pal-ul-don by Will Murray
#2 Tarzan on the Precipice by Michael A. Sanford (ku)
#3 Tarzan Trilogy by Thomas Zachek (ku)
#4 Tarzan The Greystoke Legacy Under Siege by Ralph N. Laughlin (ku)
#5 A Soldier of Poloda by Lee Strong (ku)
#6 Swords Against the Moon Men by Christopher Paul Carey (ku)
#7 Untamed Pellucidar by Lee Strong (ku)
#8 Tarzan and the Revolution by Thomas Zachek (ku)
#9 Tarzan, Conqueror of Mars by Will Murray
And look at how many of them are available via kindleunlimited (ku)
2 So it looks like there is going to be another series of books based on ERB's characters. Amazing how much life this man's characters have in them, isn't it?
P.S. I read the "Pellucidar: Dark of the Sun" story by Christopher Paul Carey that rounded out this volume, and...well, it was okay. Mr. Carey isn't the storyteller that Mr. Betts is, for sure, but it was at least interesting...especially so in that it intersects with the Carson of Venus story. I have to admit that my first thought upon finishing this story was, "Oh, no, he wrote The Wild Adventures of ERB #6 Swords Against the Moon Men." But what the hey...I might not even make it to that one, right?
Time will tell.
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