What do You think about Out Of Time's Abyss (2004)?
Third installment in Burrough's Caspak trilogy. This book introduces characters who disappeared in the first novel and takes up the tale of their subsequent adventures, eventually connecting figures and events across both earlier novels. This time around we spend a lot more time among the Wieroo, a winged species of human banshees who might have advanced intelligence but have used it to create a human bird-bat civilization based on advancement through murder. The theme of Anglo-Saxon hero falling for capable but subservient Galu maiden is repeated, and we get a nasty battle scene with some sadistic Prussians to remind us that even though the setting might be fantastic, its environment antediluvian, this work dates from 1918.
—Scot
By the third Caspak book, it is clear that Burroughs' heroes and villains are pretty cookie cutter. Brave hero meets native girl, they fall in love through their shared ordeals and they defeat the villains. With that said, the strength of this story is the interesting society he develops with the Weiroos. Through book 1 and 2 there have been hints about the winged creatures, but in this book we finally get to see why the other tribes fear them and why they are heading to an evolutionary dead end. Their society, customs and brutality are fully explored as Bradley ( a character from Book 1) is captured and must make his escape. Time's Abyss also raps up loose ends from the other two books and forms a definitive conclusion to the trilogy.
—Stuart
One of the all-time great titles for a novel, isn’t it? The final of the three Caspak books, in some ways it is more reminiscent of a Barsoom adventure than its two predecessors—Burroughs’s favored lost-city-with-strange-inhabitants motif is added to the prehistoric dangers we’ve already seen.It’s an odd mix but an inventive one, and it works. Overall, ‘Out of Time’s Abyss’ is perhaps the best of ERB’s short novels set in this world. The book also fully lays out the odd and rather preposterous science fiction premise of Caspakian evolution, hinted at in the earlier novels. He seemed to love to inject such tongue-in-cheek propositions into his writing. And succeed in making us believe them!The protagonist here has a certain resemblance to a fellow Britisher, Lord Greystoke, physically as well as in his self-assuredness. He’s certainly better with women than the heroes of the first two books. He’s also competent at dealing with the grotesque winged semi-human Weiroo who kidnap him and the beautiful young woman with whom he inevitably falls in love. That’s three for three in the series.And inevitably, the Weiroo political structure—advancement through assassination—also provides Burroughs with the opportunity for some of his typical social commentary. Their city of Oo-oh (another great name) is vividly realized. Definitely a worthwhile read—but you must finish the other two books first!
—Stephen Brooke
