At the Earth's Core

Edgar Rice Burroughs was a pulp writer. He pounded them out fast and furious. He used formulas. So what? A lot of his books are a ton of fun. At the Earth's Core is the first of several which take place in the "inner world" that is found inside our planet. Main character David Innes penetrates to the center using a giant iron mole (ohhh, the symbolism!). In many ways, the plot is a standard Burroughs setup. Character finds a strange place. Character is thrown into a strange culture. Character meets beautiful woman, falls for her, but manages to insult her by not knowing the local customs. Character escapes, journeys, makes allies and overthrows the oppressors. Character is reunited with beautiful native, but loses her in the end, leading to the sequel.

O.K., so on the face of it, it may sound silly. Burroughs knows how to tell a tale and you race through the book pretty quickly. Fun stuff. Whether he can keep it up for the other tales set in this locale, we'll see!