Explorers of Gor [Paperback]

John Norman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 13, 1979 | Series: Gor

This enchanting escapade is the most important quest of Tarl Cabot's career. He must retrieve a potent shield ring from a strange explorer. It is imperative that the omnipotent Priest Kings obtain this ring so that the Goreans do not challenge their enormous power. Throughout his expedition, Cabot learns of uncharted territories on Earth's cosmic counterpart. In the dense forests he discovers, Cabot must use his skills to endure the perils that await his arrival. Cabot will encounter Gor's barbarism in full force through enchantingly dangerous beasts, bloodthirsty men, and exotic kingdoms. Coinciding with the 40th anniversary of the first book of the Gorean Saga, TARNSMAN OF GOR, E-Reads is proud to release the very first complete publication of all Gor books by John Norman, in both print and ebook editions, including the long-awaited 26th novel in the saga, WITNESS OF GOR. Many of the original Gor books have been out of print for years, but their popularity has endured. Each book of this release has been specially edited by the author and is a definitive text.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: DAW (March 13, 1979)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0879974494
• ISBN-13: 978-0879974497
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 6.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,537,227 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Tarl Cabot in Darkest Africa, June 7, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Explorers of Gor (Paperback)

This 13th Gor novel marks the halfway point in the series thus far. (As I write this the 26th book is being prepared for publication after a 13 year hiatus and a 27th volume has been announced.) In this one Tarl Cabot once more goes on a mission for the Priest-Kings, this time to recover the shield ring of the Kurii (last seen in Volume 10, Tribesmen of Gor). During his wanderings through the African landscape of the unexplored equatorial region of Gor he encounters intrigue, treachery, a hidden empire, crocodilian river tharlarion, cannibals, a boar-like tarsk, pygmies, army ants, amazons, an 8-foot thick rock spider, a lost city, a ring of invisibility, and the Kurii. Sounds pretty exciting, doesn't it? Unfortunately it's not as exciting as it sounds. None of those things show up until you're about 200 pages into the novel! Somehow the villains in this one don't seem as villainous and the dangers don't seem as threatening as they should be. In his better adventures Tarl Cabot usually meets up with a stereotypical rogue who is charming, knowledgeable, a true warrior, and knows how to handle women a la Gor (i.e., terrorize, brutalize, and rape them). In this one the role was divided between 2 characters: Ayare who is the smart charmer and Kisu who is a violent lout (which is good on Gor). It just doesn't work as well. But the real reason this one didn't click is because the flow of the story was continually broken up by interminable discussions of Gorean philosophy. At 464 pages this may very well be the longest of all the Gorean books (some of the later ones have more pages but they also have bigger print). The difference in length is taken up entirely by the theory and practice of the enslavement of females. The author may have invented a few new ways to restrict his slave girls both physically and psychologically but philosophically speaking I don't recall anything in this book that he hasn't already beaten to death in previous volumes. At this point in the series he is just preaching to the converted---if you've bought in to his point of view, it's redundant and if you haven't, further haranguing will not change your mind. I realize that a lot of the people who buy his novels are into bd/sm and therefore expect this but I suspect that there are a lot of readers who are not. It would better serve the stories and all of the readers to confine the bd/sm aspects to example and leave the unnecessary and unrealistic philosophical discussions out.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars excellent, January 10, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Explorers of Gor (Paperback)

This book unfortunately sees Norman's last gasp at the Kurii for about 5 or 6 books. The Guardian series is BS. Explorers has action suspense and is well researched and imagined. Marauders is better, but this book is well done. Skip the slave stuff. It adds nothing

6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Way to go stirner!!!, October 12, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Explorers of Gor (Paperback)

As an avid Gor fan I must agree that the Master/Slave relationship is a big part of the Gorean ethos. I feel that John Norman is trying to put over a fundemental point that men and women have stopped talking to each other about what concerns us most the continuation of the human species. Procreation has become a chore and increasingly if you listen you can hear the words "men (or women just don't understand us women (or men)" how can we if we don't or won't or can't talk frankly and openly to each other. The situation he uses may be distasteful to some but it is merely a metaphor for our inability to talk to one another. She is offered the choice "Talk or Die" I know I would rather talk. The book offers marvellous views of life up the amazon (Gorean equivelant) or the nile it is a book of discovery and adventure. the correctness is subjective.