On an artificial world created by the immortal Lord Urthona, the landscape is forever shifting. Mountains crumble into plains, flesh-eating trees roam the surface, chunks of the planet are ejected into orbit as temporary moons only to fall back and crash into the surface. It is on this world that Earthman Paul Janus Finnegan—known as Kickaha among other aliases—and his companion, the Lady Anana, find themselves stranded with the devious Urthona, Red Orc, and their human henchman, McKay. Somewhere on this vexing planet floats Urthona’s palace and the means for finding a gateway to another world. Before Kickaha and Anana can find it, however, they must survive the treachery of the other three—not to mention the dangerous plants, animals, and natives.

In this fifth and penultimate volume in his Word of Tiers series, Farmer provides enough detail about previous events involving the characters that you don’t need to read the previous books to enjoy The Lavalite World. However, what this story fails to mention is that the series began with a character named Robert Wolff also known as Jadawin, one of the immortals lords. Thus, to grasp the full scope and breadth of the World of Tiers, it is advisable to begin with book one, The Maker of Universes.

I can’t help but to compare Farmer’s World of Tiers to Jack Vance’s Planet of Adventure series or to some of Farmer’s other works such as The Stone God Awakens, The Green Odyssey, or even Riverworld. In all cases, a human finds himself (by whatever means) in a strange world and in order to escape, must venture across the planet, battling dangerous tribes, animals, and the environment along the way, all while earning the companionship of a beautiful woman and making a few unlikely allies. There is nothing wrong in these comparisons and each story puts its own spin on that basic premise, making every one a rip-roaring adventure.