Customer Reviews

Marauders of Gor

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I read the Gor series as a boy in the 70's and early 80's. IMHO the series is most appealing to teenage boys. I recently pulled Assassins of Gor off the shelf one night while bored, and re-read it. I was shocked that there was no real sex, and only a handful of pages of philosophy and psychology that I had to skip over. The book was really excellent, although in a straight forward, uncomplicated sort of way. These are escapist novels, richly detailed, which immerse you in an exotic world, not real thinkers. My enduring memories were of the later books in the series, which were almost unreadable because whole chapters were devoted to philosophy and psychology.

I am not offended by the idea that it is natural and enjoyable for women to be submissive to men. Although I recognize it as wish fulfillment fantasy, still I consider it harmless, especially in such an obviously fictitious setting. I even found it mildly interesting the first time it was mentioned. It is the umpteenth repetition that I find boring. I just turn those pages, skipping ahead to the next action sequence. Speaking of wish fulfillment, I wish someone would edit the series, and re-publish it without these parts. Maybe Eric Flint could do it? He likes to edit, according to his afterword to 1633 and hes good at it. Of course, if you take the sex out of Gor you get Barsoom, and that story has already been written.

I looked on Amazon to see if there was anything new going on with the series, and there was. It is being reprinted, starting at the beginning, and at least 2 new books seem to be published, or at least in the works. I was disappointed though that Amazon didnt have the whole series listed under one easy to find heading. I guess there are, after all, millions of books and only so many Amazon employees. So Im listing the series, in order, along with some brief info. Some of these books I havent read, as noted.

1.) Tarnsman of Gor - 1966. Earthman, Tarl Cabot, goes to another planet, hidden on the opposite side of our sun, and becomes a master swordsman and Warrior. This is the book that is most like Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs, which I highly recommend. Note - in my copy, a 1975 reprint, the 1966 copyright is held by John Lange. Makes me wonder if Norman isnt a pen name.

2.) Outlaw - 1967. Tarl Cabot returns to Gor, to find hes been outlawed.

3.) Priest-Kings - 1968. Tarl Cabot goes to lair of Priest-Kings to clear his name.

4.) Nomads - 1969. Tarl Cabot goes to Southern Plains, and meets Mongol type nomads.

5.) Assassin - 1970. Tarl Cabot returns to Ar, greatest city-state on Gor. Note - this is the first copy I have by Del Rey books, and it has cover art by Boris. I may not like reading about the Gorean philosophy on sexual roles for men and women, but I cant get enough of Boris artwork depicting it.

6.) Raiders - 1971. Tarl Cabot goes to Port Kar, pirate capitol of scum and villainy, and learns the meaning of shame. More Boris art on the cover of the Del Rey edition.

7.) Captive - 1972. A new character, Elinor Brinton, is captured on Earth and becomes a slave girl on Gor. The first time this is done, it may be slightly creative and a little interesting, but it is a radical departure from the earlier books and I consider it to be the beginning of the end. At least Tarl Cabot has a few pages at the end, which sort of tie this book into the rest of the series. This is also the last book published by Ballantine books, which I think is significant in the content and direction of the rest of the series.

8.) Hunters - 1974. Tarl Cabot goes to the Northern Forest and meets amazon type women. This seems to be the first time there was a break in John Normans writing, undoubtedly related to his switch to Daw books as a publisher.

9.) Marauders - 1975. Tarl Cabot goes to the land of the Norsemen and meets Viking type Marauders.

10.) Tribesmen - 1976. Tarl Cabot goes to the Tahari desert.

11.) Slave Girl - 1977. Earth girl Judy Thornton enslaved on Gor. Again. No Tarl Cabot at all.

12.) Beasts - 1978. Tarl Cabot goes to the Arctic ice pack and meets Eskimo type people.

13.) Explorers - 1979. Tarl Cabot goes to the equatorial rain forests.

14.) Fighting Slave - 1980. Earthman John Marshall is enslaved and forced to fight in a pit on Gor.

15.) Rogue - 1981. John Marshall wanders free on Gor.

16.) Guardsman - 1981. John Marshall earns a homeland.

17.) Savages - 1982. Tarl Cabot goes to the great plains and meets American Indian type savages. Note - If you like this, John Norman also wrote Ghost Dance in 1970, a similar type story about real American Indians. Im impressed that he kept the writing schedule he did on the Gor novels, and still wrote other books on the side. He also wrote Time Slave in 1975.

18.) Blood Brothers - unread. Savages and Blood Brothers are a two-part set. I read Savages and was bored when it just petered out at the end with no dramatic climax. So I didnt buy Blood Brothers. Now I hear that this book has all that and more, oh well.

19.) Kajira - unread. Another Slave girl story.

20.) Players - 1984. Tarl Cabot joins the Carnival.

21.) Mercenaries - 1985. Tarl Cabot returns to Ar again.

22.) Dancer - unread. Another Slave Girl novel? This is where I stopped even looking in the bookstore.

23.) Vagabonds - unread.

24.) Magicians - 1988, unread.

25.) Witness - 2002, unread. I read on amazon that this is a story about Marlenus (or possibly Tarl?) with amnesia, told by a slave girl.

26.) Prize - unread. It seems that this is not yet published, but forthcoming.

If you are a Tarl Cabot(Carl Tabot-see Tarnsman) fan (even if you are not a John Norman fan because he later sinks into strange social and gender commentary) this is your book. If you read the preceding novels, starting with Tarnsman, it is a better read. They are all good summer reading. Skip Kajira, though. After Assassin, the focus is on Kurii and men. They are similar. The series is fascinating and Marauders displays Norman's insight into the basic nature of man (but not Woman). Read it

I have read all the Gor books. But this was the first I ever did read so prehaps I view it through rose tinted glasses.
It really is one of the best.
Tarl travels north to a Viking type country and we finally see open battle with the ferocious Kurii.
If you have not read Norman before you will be suprised. His descriptive style of writing is like no other author I have ever seen. Meticulous descriptions of weapons, objects, places, set pieces, give Gor a flavour unlike any other land.
And now onto the controversy. It is all about the ultimate in co-dependant roles with males being the domintator and females the submissive partner.
Now I can understand the viewpoint but we dont need to hear it over and over again. Just do what I do, and skip over these pages. Thankfully you will not have to do it that much in this book, unlike say the last few in the series where over half of the text is taken up with it.
Despite that quibble get this book now.

"Marauders of Gor," the 9th volume in John Norman's Chronicles of Counter-Earth, was the last of the Gor novels that I really enjoyed. One of the Others comes from the north bearing a token of the death of Talena, Cabot's one-time free companion. Cabot heads north, as much out of a sense of vengeance than to continue in the service of the Priest-Kings, from whose cruel control he has been trying to free himself. In many ways the book is quite reminiscent of the most popular novel in the series, "Nomads of Gor," with Tarl Cabot finding comradeship with the barbaric transplanted Norseman of the north. The parallels are clearly the same, with Cabot having to gain acceptance with a group of fierce warriors who do not trust outsiders, helping his new friends with their endeavors, and having them help him with his own in return. The character of Ivar Forkbeard is more boisterous version of Kamchak the Tuchuk, and my favorite sequence in the novel is when Forkbeard comes up with a way of defying his liege lord for an unfortunately slight. The book also offers a pitched battle between the Kurii, as the Others call themselves, and the warriors of Torvaldsland. Of course, it would not be a Gor novel without a couple of choice examples of women being taught by a strong master than only by accepting total dominance can they achieve true happiness, but at least in "Marauders of Gor" the focus is still more on the conflict between the Priest-Kings and the Others rather than on the Gorean philosophy, which pretty much dominates the rest of the series. The idea of transplanted Norseman also finds Norman borrowing another Edgar Rice Burroughs tradition of "lost" civilizations, as we shall see with in future novels with transplanted Native American tribes and the like. After the relative disappointment of the previous two Gor novels, "Marauders" almost gets the series back on track for those of us who enjoyed the adventure and political intrigue more than the sexual conquests, but Norman quickly abandons not only that focus but Tarl Cabot as a central character in the novels that followed this 1975 effort.

I had heard that Norman got back on track in terms of action-adventure in Marauders of Gor, his take on Viking life a la Gor. (Can you imagine Vikings that are chess fanatics? Sorry, it just doesn't fit the image!) Unfortunately, it is only partially true. The first half of the book establishes the character of Ivar Forkbeard, a typical John Norman-style roguish hero, and life in Torvaldsland to which Tarl Cabot is drawn by the abduction and possible murder of his runaway slave Telima by the Kurii, the alien race opposed to the Priest-Kings. This part of the book contains the usual Gorean hijinks such as the abduction of Hilda the Haughty of Scagnar but is marred by Norman's obsession with the domination of females. The level of cruelty towards woman in these books is becoming increasingly disturbing. But in the second half the Kurii show up and from this point on Norman is indeed back on track. It then rivals the first 6 volumes as fun reading. If the first half had been as good as the second half, I would have given it another star.

I have read the Gor books sequentially, the last being The Marauders of Gor. This book to me is the weakest by far in the series. The previous books had revolved around the differences and tensions between Cabot's values as brought from Earth, and the cultural norms of Gor. These values often involved the status of women with respect to submission and their domination by strong men. These same tensions were reflected in the Gor characters themselves, although they generally did not have the philosophical background that Cabot, being from Earth, had. An example of this is when the ultimate leader, Marlenus, fell in love with the panther, Verna, whom he had captured and subdued as a slave. Marlenus released her.

However, absolutely none of these tensions or contradictions were used in The Marauders. Norman instead opts for a tired repetition of his "women all want to be ravished" philosophy. This novel is an unbroken saga of kidnapping, killing, and rape, with a little bit of "War of the World" justification thrown in. Again, my objection is the complete lack of any effort to get inside the characters of the slaves, or indeed of anyone. Cabot seems to be returning to his original identity, but there is no reason for him to do so, other than that he has taken part in enough battles.

I hope the books following this in the series are better. The Gor view is controversial, but up to this book, the setting has always provided a groundwork for actually thinking about the questions. To me, this novel is just a hack, cut-and-paste conglomeration of his previous work.

I'm reading the books, in order, for the first time. #7, Slave Girl of Gor, was unbelievably bad. The one preceding this was ok. This one is ok. This review reads almost identical to the one I posted for #8, Hunters of Gor, as the books were generally identical in nature.

One of the things I am discovering is that Norman just can not convey a story without s-p-e-l-l-i-n-g out what he's trying to say, bluntly and repetitively, and repetitively, and repetitively (yeah, like that). I appreciate, with enthusiasm, stories of domination and submission, but geez Norman, just pull out a baseball bat and hit me up side the head why don't you? Because I'm not sure I'm getting your message. Was it something about females naturally submitting to men and males naturally being dominant? The long soliloquies that he includes and REPETITIVELY are excruciating! I find myself constantly flipping past page after page after page where he drones on and on and on and on about females learning their place. Just tell the damn story already!

I WANT to like this story and to get into this world. He's got a wonderful setup and he did a good job in the first 6 novels. But if this continues much longer I'm going to have to find a Gorean pole and have myself impaled.

I realize this stuff was written a long time ago, and what I have left to read has already been written - but I am crossing my fingers and hoping it gets better (in other words I am not looking at future reviews and making my decision - just hoping for the best as I read).

I bought this book for a friend and they were very happy with the book and the condition that it arrrived in.

Marauders of Gor is a direct sequel to Hunters of Gor. The novel takes place immediately after the events of Hunters of Gor.

I liked this book tremendously. Norman showed and described the savagery of the Kuri monsters from space. Marooned on Gor and commanded by those of their brethren from the steel cities, these creatures are tenacious to the extreme. The pitched battles they fought between the Torvaldslanders show a different aspect of Gor; this aspect is one we have seldom seen in the series.

The companions Tarl meets up with are first-rate as well. Ivar Forkbeard and the berserker Rollo may have been more frightening than the Kuri! Rollo himself was unstoppable! These men are the kinds of characters we wish could be reprised in other Gor novels.

In the climactic end of Marauders of Gor we see the Kuri and their perfidious allies defeated by tenacity and guile. The actual downfall of the Kuri comes after the final battle where the monsters are permitted to "flee" to "safety" and then trapped by the bridge and annihilated by accurate Viking archery. Norman later describes how the Kuri would be declawed and defanged and then made into thralls! That would be something to see/read about in any upcoming sequel he pens. The fighting in this book was surreal; just as was the metaphorical descriptions of what was taking place on Earth at the very moment the climactic battle was being fought for the survival of the Torvaldslanders.

I did not give this book Five stars because I felt that Norman held back in his descriptions of sex and violence. Case in point: He held back in describing the menage trios Ivar was having with two of his bond-maids. The late Chris Bunch would never have done this- nor would Larry Niven. However, the book is a solid read and I would reccomend that any Gor fan buy the book. Indeed, any fan of action-oriented science-fiction would like this novel. Buy it at all costs!

A. Nathaniel Wallace, Jr.

I haven't looked at this book in fifteen years...but it is one of the few books I have read in my lifetime that were "magical" The story truly puts you into the shoes of some heroic, yet very afraid characters who are attacked by increadibly fearsome alien beasts. I'll have to go back and read it again to see if it still contains the "magic" for me. No. I'll leave it as a grand childhood memory that was never spoiled.