World Below (Classics of Science Fiction)

Rating:
Summary: An Early Classic.
Review: S. Fowler Wright's 1929 classic novel, "The World Below", is as enjoyable today, as it was when first published. The novel is divided into two books, the first is "The Amphibians", which was first published by itself in 1925 (1924 according to some sources). The second book continues the story started in "The Amphibians', and bears the same title as the novel, "The World Below".

The story is one of time travel, where the narrator travels half a million years into the future in an attempt to find two previous explorers who have failed to return. What he finds is a world as completely different from ours, as ours is different from when dinosaurs roamed the Earth. He encounters several new intelligent peoples whom he names: `The Amphibians', `The Killers', and The Dwellers".

As with the novels of Verne, as well as some of Wells, this story is more adventure than science fiction, but it is very enjoyable and well worth reading. This book was tied for 7th on the Arkham Survey of 'Basic SF Titles' in 1949. It was also ranked 28th on the 1952 Astounding/Analog All-Time Poll for books. Although this work is in the shadow of H.G. Wells "The Time Machine", it is still an intriguing and highly imaginative work worth rediscovering.