The Moon Pool (Dr. Goodwin #1) (1918)

by A. Merritt

A loose association of adventurers penetrates the lost kingdom that lies far beneath a South Pacific island, where opposing religious factions teeter on the brink of war and a being of living light threatens to conquer the surface world. 

Abraham Merritt's verbose and adjective-heavy prose varies in its effectiveness.

 

Abraham Merritt

At times, he does such a good job of describing settings that they appear effortlessly in the mind's eye. 

This is particularly true of the first part of the novel, which is set on and around the island of Ponape. 

On the other hand, once our heroes descend into the bowels of the earth, things become rather murky.

 

Even after paragraph after paragraph devoted to depictions of his otherworldly settings, I was more often than not mystified as to their physical layouts, and it made some of the action confusing.

 

The pacing is problematic as well.

 

The first part of the novel is riveting and mysterious, so much so that I thought this would be a 5-star book.

 

The story slowed down considerably once the action moved underground, with those confusing descriptions and too much uninteresting characterization.

 

I was particularly annoyed by the character of Larry O'Keefe, a stalwart pilot whose superstitious Irish nature is way overblown.

 

However, things pick up considerably at the end, with an exciting, apocalyptic climax that features some extraordinary imagery.

"The Abyss of the Moon" (French)

"The Moon Lake" (German)

"The Lake of the Moon" (Greek)

"Lunar Backwater" (Russian)

"The Well of the Moon" (Italian)

"The Moon Pool" (Bulgarian)