The Outlaw of Torn [Hardcover]

Edgar Rice Burroughs (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2004

Here is a story that has lain dormant for seven hundred years. At first it was suppressed by one of the Plantagenet kings of England. Later it was forgotten. I happened to dig it up by accident. The accident being the relationship of my wife's cousin to a certain Father Superior in a very ancient monastery in Europe. He let me pry about among a quantity of mildewed and musty manuscripts and I came across this. It is very interesting -- partially since it is a bit of hitherto unrecorded history, but principally from the fact that it records the story of a most remarkable revenge and the adventurous life of its innocent victim -- Richard, the lost prince of England. In the retelling of it I have left out most of the history. What interested me was the unique character about whom the tale revolves -- the visored horseman who -- but let us wait until we get to him. It all happened in the thirteenth century, and while it was happening it shook England from north to south and from east to west; and reached across the channel and shook France. . . .

Product Details

• Hardcover: 252 pages
• Publisher: Wildside Press (March 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1592245765
• ISBN-13: 978-1592245765
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,914,158 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A first rate swordplay pulp novel from Edgar Rice Burroughs, February 21, 2005

By 

Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Outlaw of Torn (Hardcover)

Edgar Rice Burroughs is best known for his Tarzan novels and better known for his Mars, Pellucidar and other science-fiction series, but "The Outlaw of Torn" is one of his best pulp fiction yarns. It was actually the second story Burroughs wrote. Apparently the editor at "All-Story," which had published "Tarzan of the Apes," suggested ERB write it and then rejected the story when it was submitted. It was then published in five parts in "New Story Magazine" (January-May 1914), and the first book edition was published in 1927.

Burroughs begins with his standard storytelling device: the author comes across the story of Richard, the lost prince of England and tells it to his readers. Henry III of England insults Sir Jules de Vac, who takes his vengeance by kidnapping young Prince Richard. As Norman, the Outlaw of Torn, the young man becomes the greatest swordsman in England and a fearless outlaw with a price upon his head who raises an army loyal only to him. Of course, although he is ignorant of his noble birth, he is drawn to the lovely Bertrade de Montfort, daughter of the King's brother-in-law, the Earl of Leicester. This romance fits in nicely with the plans of de Vac, who contrives situations in which the king will be responsible for killing his own son. Yes, the ending is predictable, but ERB has a great sense of pacing and you have to remember that he was writing this decades before all of the Errol Flynn movies that would define the swordplay genre.

The obvious comparison for "The Outlaw of Torn" is with Robin Hood, but Burroughs' pulp novel has its own tale to tell. This really is one of his best novels and as an example of the pulp fiction of the early 20th century it is a first-class work. Keep in mind that he tended to do a lot of sequels, and they started to get rather redundant and repetitive (especially in the last half of the Tarzan novels). But "The Outlaw of Torn" stands out because as a historical novel it is unlike pretty much everything else Burroughs wrote. I read every ERB novel I could get my hands on as a kid, and "The Outlaw of Torn," in my 75 cent Ace Paperback edition with the Roy Krenkle cover, has been the one I have re-read the most.