Return to the Centre of the Earth Leskanich. The story is narrated by Patrick Stewart. Recording was delayed after Wakeman was hospitalised with a life threatening case of double pneumonia and pleurisy, and needed time to recover. Upon release, the album reached number 34 on the UK Albums Chart. In 1974, Wakeman released his second solo album "Journey to the Centre of the Earth", a concept album based on the same-titled science fiction novel by Jules Verne. It tells the story of Professor Lidenbrook, his nephew Axel, and their guide Hans who follow a passage to the Earth's centre originally discovered by Arne Saknussemm, an Icelandic alchemist.
The Descent (novel) caving and of underground topography. Reviewers noted the novel to be a relatively rare contemporary entry in the once-common Hollow Earth subgenre, popularized by Edgar Rice Burroughs and Jules Verne. The very concrete hellish environment evoked Dante's "Inferno", while the hadals could also be read as a homage to the Morlocks of H. G. Wells. The novel garnered positive reviews in the "Denver Post", "Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel", "The Rocky Mountain News", "Fort Worth Star-Telegram", "Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel", "Baltimore Sun", "Publishers Weekly", "Library Journal", and "Booklist". The 2005 film of the same name contains similar plot elements (a subterranean expedition trapped underground