Book review: The Cave Girl is fun, but misleading

Hi everyone. I finished this book earlier this week and that means it's time for another review. Today's lucky story is The Cave Girl by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Story:
Waldo Emerson Smith-Jones is swept off the ship he was traveling on and washes ashore on an uncharted island. Due to the fact that he is a bookworm and was helicoptered-parented by his mother all his life Waldo is a coward. He soon finds out that the inhabitants of the island are Paleolithic-era people who are intent on killing him. He meets and befriends a beautiful cave girl named Nadara who teaches him her language and how to survive in the wild. She names him Thandar, which translates as "The Brave One." She clings to him in the hopes that he will rid her village of two antagonistic cavemen who are making life hard for everyone. However he flees the first chance he get. As time goes by Waldo gets stronger and braver, and starts to fit into a better role on this island. Will Waldo be able to face his fears and his many enemies and get back home?
I have enjoyed the stories of Edgar Rice Burroughs because I enjoy the places he comes up with and the loyalties the characters develop for each other. When I learned of this title I was hoping for more prehistoric-themed stuff. The story is still fun even if it goes with a lot of Mr. Burroughs story stereotypes. I was disappointed when I was reading that there weren't other Paleolithic inhabitants on this island. Also the story seemed a little fast paced. When it comes down to some of Waldo's health problems I'm not sure that living out in the wild and becoming another Tarzan would cure them. Also I was disappointed with the abrupt ending of the story. Still, I think Mr. Burroughs managed to recreate a nice little paleozoic community in the pages of this book.
Caution:
Many characters, male and female, wear only a loincloth (no further detail is given), though this is probably to recreate the authenticity of the prehistoric people. A woman takes a bath in a stream but nothing is seen. Some blood is mentioned during fights with cavemen and panthers, but nothing graphic. Two people kiss.
Lessons:
Our weaknesses can be made into strengths. Men and women are supposed to come together as husband and wife.

Review of the Caspak Trilogy

The Caspak Trilogy is a series of books written by Edgar Rice Burroughs, author of the Tarzan adventures. Edgar Rice Burroughs has written books with prehistoric animals before, like in his Pellucidar series, but this is a trilogy that goes for a lost world angle. The first book in the series is The Land That Time Forgot. During World War I, a German U-Boat sinks an American ship, and a man named Bowen J. Tyler finds himself with a woman named Lys La Rue and his dog, Nobs. They are rescued by a ship, but sunk again by the same U-boat. The surviving crew manage to capture the U-boat and work towards getting back home. However, they get lost and end up at a continent called Caprona (which was named after a fictitious explorer who discovered it). They enter into the continent to find themselves in a prehistoric world filled with dinosaurs and ancient mammals. The natives of this place call the land Caspak, and the people of the U-boat try to set up a colony. However, the German prisoners mutiny and leave the Americans and British on Caspak while they leave. To make matters worse, Lys is abducted and Bowen has to find her while braving the dangers of a primeval world.The sequel, The People That Time Forgot, takes place some time after Bowen's manuscript is found. A rescue party heads to Caprona/Caspak to try and rescue Bowen, Lys, and the survivors. Leading this expedition is Tom Billings, who is an old friend of Bowen's. Tom flies a plane over Caspak, but is brought down by a pterosaur. He rescues a native girl, Ajor, from a prehistoric cat. After being attacked by some ape-men, Tom decides to take Ajor back to her people, the Galu. While traveling, Tom learns that in Caspak, people obtain status through a type of evolutionary progression, with the Galu being the highest form of evolutionary people. Tom learns of a plan to try and conquer the Galu by people who had not reached that stage yet, but are not willing to wait, and must try to stop them before they destroy Ajor's people.The final book in the Caspak Trilogy, Out Of Time's Abyss, concludes the story of Caspak and the people who discovered its secrets. In this story, an expedition that left Fort Dinosaur is returning to its home. This company, led by Bradley, are constantly being visited by a winged human. Bradley is abducted by this human, which is known as a Wieroo, and taken to the Wieroo civilization. He also meets a native girl (who is also a Galu like Ajor) named Co-Tan, who is being held by the Wieroo because she is a cos-ata-lo, or someone who was born a Galu. According to legend, the people who can make cos-ata-lo are meant to become Caspak's rulers. The Weiroo are all male, so they abduct Galu women to try and get female Wieroo, but with no luck. Bradley rescues Co-Tan and escapes from the Wieroo. While falling in love with Co-Tan, Bradley must undergo a deadly journey with lots of twists and surprises to return her to her people.
I am a huge fan of dinosaurs and like to read stories that feature them. However, I think that these stories push things a little too far with the idea of an evolution that takes a lifetime instead of millions of years. The Wieroo are also just plain weird to me. I did enjoy the stories as a whole and wish that Edgar Rice Burroughs did take the time to create more stories in Caspak. I would recommend these stories to anyone who's a fan of prehistory.