Korak at the Earth’s Core launches a sweeping new super-arc from ERB, Inc. Even the name of the arc sounds epic: The Dead Moon Trilogy. Completely in the hands of author Win Scott Eckert, it’s a book with a lot to accomplish.
It has to convey the scope of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ shared universe. Focused on its title character as he may be, Eckert brushes against the company’s macrocosm while literally delving down into a previously alluded to microcosm. References to other characters from other series abound, but the key that breathes new life into this universe – or multiverse – is Victory Harben, who doesn’t appear but casts a long shadow.
It also has to continue moving Burroughs’ concepts out of the past and focus a modern lens. Eckert accomplishes this well, without sacrificing the urgent action-filled prose that’s a hallmark of Burroughs’ inventions.
Officially, Korak the Killer (Tarzan’s son) has not had many adventures revealed, and a few decades have passed since the last canonical reference, Tarzan and the Ant Men. (Yes, there’s no way to not mention that there’s canon.)
Not overplaying it, Eckert delves deep into Korak’s psyche. This man suffered trauma after trauma in both childhood and as a World War I soldier. He’s heroic but extremely messed up. A man of action, to be sure, but also often haplessly thrown into strange situations.
In between battles with unearthly beasts and foes both human and not, Eckert sketches out more about the meaning of life in a savage land. The food chain gets uncomfortable when most links on it are sentient. Several characters are also stumbling toward an understanding of the soul, and how that may bind us together.
Yes, this pulpy novel has levels. Thankfully, there’s a lot of pulp goodness in it. Whenever I open one of these books, I’m reminded of great phrases from reading in my childhood. If only my thews were mighty.
Finally, all this should be accessible to new readers. On this, I cannot be sure because I’ve dipped in and out of Burroughs’ work many times over the years – a little Lord Greystoke here, some Barsoom there. Thanks to Eckert’s previous Tarzan novel, Battle for Pellucidar, I know more about life At the Earth’s Core than I would have. But I think it is. Though Eckert references several other works and worlds, they add color, not complication.
Adding further color, Christopher Paul Carey pens a novella in the back – “Pellucidar: Dawn of the Deathslayer.” This too deals with uneven and unpleasant lines on the food chain, creating a new hero that Carey and company can take in other directions. Plus her name just rolls off the tongue: Darva the Shadow. Both Eckert and Carey have a knack for names that sound Burroughsian, but I think Carey has just a slight edge.
The previous “Super-Arc” from ERB, Inc. felt easier to pick up with any novel. Korak at the Earth’s Core has to be the starting point for this one, but it also has one clear guiding vision in Win Scott Eckert. Trust that he’ll get to the core of Korak and put him back stronger than before.
Though I did preorder the hardcover, I was given an Advance Reader’s Copy for this review.
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