Customer Reviews

Raiders of Gor

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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 he's 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 didn't 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 I'm listing the series, in order, along with some brief info. Some of these books I haven't 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 - the 1966 copyright is held by John Lange, the author's real name.

2.) Outlaw... - 1967. Tarl Cabot returns to Gor, to find he's 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 can't 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, to 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 Norman's 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 Jason Marshall is enslaved and forced to fight in a pit on Gor.

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

16.) Guardsman... - 1981. Jason 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. I'm 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... - 1982. Savages and Blood Brothers are a two-part set. Just recently read this conclusion to Savages. Brings closure to Ubar of the Skies.

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

20.) Players... - 1984. Tarl Cabot joins the Carnival. Cos goes to war with Ar.

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

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 with amnesia, told by a slave girl.

26.) Prize... - unread. This is not yet published.

This is one of those odd books that I picked up off a rack in the 70's because of the cover art, and was pleasantly surprised to find a great story, too. This was the first book of the series that I read, but as a measure of it's quality, you do not really need to know anything about the rest of the series to enjoy it. While Tarl of Bristol is an agent of the "priest-kings" it is not really necessary that you know who or what they are. Perhaps it is better that you do not.

Briefly, this is the story of a great warrior who is captured and enslaved while on a mission for his patrons. He is famed in story and song as that world's greatest warrior. Yet, he finds that rather than accept a clean excecution, he instead submits to the fate of slavery. This decision comes as a surprise to him. It totally destroys his self image and his honor. He truly thought that he would accept death before dishonor.
Only one small boy shows compassion to him during his enslavement. When pirates attack the village where Tarl is a slave he manages to escape while his captors are enslaved. While returning to the burned village to recover his weapons and supplies he finds the boy's dead body. The rest of the story deals with the vengeance of what was once the world's greatest warrior against the raiders. Yet Tarl of Bristol knows that, once lost, honor can never be regained- it can only be "recollected."

Raiders of Gor is one of the best books of Norman's Gor series (right along with Magicians of Gor).

First of all it features all the expected ingredients of a Gor novel: A lot of bondage situations and non-consensual sex amidst the typical Gor-like setting with adamantine warriors dominating their submissive female slaves. Plus an elaborately carved fantasy world with unique flora, fauna and complex human (and non-human) societies.

But as a welcomed change, our hero Tarl Cabot doesn't wander through this world like the invincible and unaffectable symbol of virtue, law and order he had become in the first 5 books of this series. Instead we discover a darker side of our ideal warrior that Norman exploits to create an intelligent story of downfall and rise-back to power. For the first time I found myself really rooting for Tarl as he first succeeds in establishing himself as a competent swordsman in the anarchic pirate city of Port Kar, to finally become the savior of his newly chosen hometown, when he wards off a large-scale attack on Port Kar by rival seaports.

The only reason that kept me from giving Raiders even 5 stars was the usual exaggeration of Tarl's achievements, like defeating a small armada of war barges with just a longbow and a huge quiver of arrows. Or the flight with his warbird across miles of open sea through a severe thunderstorm. But those minor flaws aren't too crucial to spoil the fun, and whatever you can say of Norman's idiosyncratic and maybe sexist fantasy setting, Raiders of Gor is one exciting fantasy book featuring strife, passion and a fallen hero set to become a morally stained yet emotionally matured elite warrior in a wild and dangerous archaic world.

I read this book because a man wanted me to understand his fantasy of women. Of all the Gor books, this particular one is the most fun becuase Tarl becomes a man of Port Kar. Port Kar is the center of evil in this world. He was forced to sacrifice his dignity and his freedom, and once freedom was regained, he no longer felt compelled to do what is good and right but to do what suits him. I am a women and I didn't find their treatment of women appalling. In fact, I relished the idea of being a good woman and have since tried harder than ever to be a good Kajira for the man who wanted me to read Raiders. I have been enslaved by Jakob and by Gor. I have been marked with a K. I am happy living in my own private Gor fantasy, although most people would never go that far. I would highly reccomend at least reading Raiders, and the other Gor books, and perhaps incorporating it into a little role playing in the bedroom.

After what everybody seems to consider his most popular Gor novel, "Nomads of Gor," and what I think is clearly his magnum opus, "Assassin of Gor," John Norman has Tarl Cabot head off in a new direction in this 6th volume of the Counter-Earth series. I think "Raiders of Gor" is a notch below those two, on a level with "Priest-Kings of Gor," which is certainly a comparable novel from the series since it also redefined Tarl Cabot's role on Gor. From being the agent of the Priest-Kings, Cabot now begins to be a foe of the Others, not so much out of allegiance to the creatures that brought him to Gor, but because the Others want to conquer Counter-Earth.

We have heard mention of Port Kar in the earlier Gor books and now Tarl Cabot is visiting the city that is considered the cesspool of Gor. The city is so decadent that it has no Home-Stone and power in Port Kar belongs to those strong enough to take it. However, while on his way to Port Kar, on a mission in service to the Priest-Kings, Tarl Cabot has an experience, which necessarily transforms him from the Tarnsman of Ko-ro-ba into Bosk, captain of Port Kar. He is not the man he was, and one of the consequences of this change is that Bosk is not inclined to serve the will of the Priest-Kings in their battle with the Others. But even in Port Kar, the coming war for the control of Counter-Earth is part of the power politics of the Council of Captains.

"Raiders" focuses much more on the Tarl/Bosk character at the expense of some of the wonderful supporting characters Norman had created in the previous couple of novels, although there are a few (e.g., the slave-boy Fish). But whatever faults the rest of the novel might have for fans of the series, the sequence in which Bosk decides to stay and fight for Port Kar is one of the dramatic highpoints of the series. This is followed by a big sea battle that represents a major change from the more intimate battles that Cabot has fought in previous novels. Norman is trying to make things bigger, but that does not necessarily translate into them being better.

"Raiders of Gor," at least for me, was the last really decent John Norman novel for a long time ("Marauders of Gor" was the next one that was up to this level). After this point what is usually described as the Gorean Philosophy becomes more dominant than the adventures of Tarl Cabot in Norman's writings. It is perhaps telling that out of print copies of his novels "Slave Girl of Gor" and "Kajira of Gor" go for more than "Nomads of Gor" and "Assassin of Gor." For those who grew up on the Martian novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs I would still recommend reading the first five novels of Norman's Gor series for sure, and if you like it enough to keep going you can certainly try this one. Just be forewarned that if you interest is adventure rather than the sexual dominance of women by men, your interest will wane significantly as your progress further in the series.

I don't think I've ever forgiven John Norman for not completing his last Tarl Cabot adventure because the entire storyline, including the digressions with other principle characters, caught hold of and focussed my reading habits in many, often unexpected ways. These ranged from his awful grammer, over the top humour, repetitious cramming of viewpoints and threatened sadism..... through to a depiction of an entire world whose sole purpose was to fill a man's life with a dream of adventure. (Of course, the female's view of these adventures was not quite at the same level).

The fact that he stumbled when he wrote in 'Raiders' of Cabot's fall from grace is hardly surprising. He had made the character so squeaky clean that nothing he said or did could have eased the transition from idealist to selfish brute. But surely, that change was long overdue, and you have to admit choosing slavery (to a woman, of all things in this storyline!) did a good job of shattering not so much the character's illusions, but the reader's!

The situations he was getting into, leading up to this point, were not for the faint of heart or the Sunday-go-to meeting kind of guy.... and Port Kar was not the kind of place in which the do-gooder Cabot would have lasted very long. Nor, for that matter, was the world of Gor, as it was apparently developing in the mind of the author.

Once past the initial fall from grace, and accepting Cabot's occasional overt lapse into self pity as being a necessary follow on to the same, it's easy to get lost in the tale of a man who had lost his belief in himself but was yet at the same time a man that tamed and claimed the loyalties of hardened pirates and cutthroats, made one of the few (if the Chronicles of Gor are to be believed) successful female slave escapees ever, leap whole-heartedly back into bondage for his sake (ok, she paddled a reed raft rather than leapt, the end result was the same), accepting pain, humiliation and chains just to be at his side.

I said earlier that John Norman's grammer was awful (worse than my own even), but not so his story-telling. The brooding violence of the man Cabot is carefully built until the great sea battle scene.... and just when you expect everything to explode.... he wins!

...and then goes on to the REAL battle. The seige of his Keep. It is there that you see the Cabot of old, not to mention the female's (no slouches in courageous activity themselves) that many men secretly dream of.

It's because of stories like this one that, as I mentioned before, I don't think I've ever forgiven John Norman for not completing his last Tarl Cabot adventure.....

...do I think such a place exists? Of course not. Do I wish I could have been there anyway? Absolutely!

I was all set not to like this book but it won me over in the end. I had heard from reviews that in this volume Tarl Cabot forsakes his Warrior's Code and becomes a depressed and cynical character. Furthermore much of the action takes place at sea and I have never been one for maritime adventures so it didn't really sound like my cup of tea. It's true, Raiders of Gor marks a sea change in Cabot's personality (pun intended). In the beginning he is faced with the choice of death with honor or life in ignominious slavery and he chooses the latter. This is not entirely convincing. After all, Tarl Cabot is the man who dared to confront the omnipotent Priest-King in their lair in the Sardar Mountains, the man who won the respect of the ferocious Wagon Peoples, whose iron will could not be broken by the oppressive silver mines of Tharna. It would have been more believable if there had been some preceding event that had shaken his faith in the Warrior's Code befores he caved in completely. All the same, once his captors are attacked by slavers from the malignant city of Port Kar he goes back to performing rousing deeds of daring-do with all the gusto of old all the while bewailing his unworthiness. He not only single-handedly defeats seven bargefuls of cutthroats, quickly dispatches the nasty pirate Surbus, and rises to prominence in the city of Port Kar, he also wins two exciting sea battles against overwhelming odds, rallies the populace to defend the city against the combined might of the sea kingdoms of Cos and Tyros, and narrowly survives the siege of his keep in Port Kar. Nevertheless, he continues to berate himself even though it is obvious to the characters in the book as well as the reader that he is as heroic as ever. In one scene he even breaks down and cries when his beloved slave Midice proves unfaithful! At first I thought it was a bad idea to change Cabot's character like this but by the end of the book I wasn't so sure. He is more human now, less of an archetype. Besides, because of his "unworthiness", Cabot refuses to continue as an agent of the Priest-Kings so I'm sure the character change was required for the author to take the overall story arc where he wanted it to go. OK, all ye mateys, set sail for adventure on the bounding main and read Raiders of Gor!

Honour, once lost, can never be regained, only recollected .... Yes, there but for the grace of God go I.

This 6th book in the series remains my favourite, after all these years, as it is the pivot on which the whole series turned. Or would have if John Norman had not lost his way in the detail of Gor's wonderful and fantastic backdrop. But I digress, them great invincible warrior, falls from grace and redisovers his humanity. And a new strength is born in him as he understands his own weakness, and theose of his enemies and allies.

The actual title of this book is "RAIDERS OF GOR". It is sixth (6th) in a saga of 25(+?) novels about the planet Gor, the Counter-Earth, which co-orbits with Earth around our sun (Sol). It is never visible to us because the sun always blocks it. In this volume, Tarl Cabot ventures to the villainous city of Port Kar on the delta of the great Vosk river on Thassa, the Gorean sea. It is filled with great intrigue, sword fights, and a lot of interesting maritime description of ships similar to those that sailed on Earth in distant times (e.g., classic Greek). Like all Gor books, this volume is filled with vivid descriptions of the flora and fauna of an alien world populated with Terran abductees and their descendants. It continues to explore the psyche of the protagonist, Tarl Cabot, who becomes Bosk of Port Kar. Norman explores in "Raiders" the core of Tarl's being by exposing him to a fate which inexorably alters his character but not his supposedly not his ultimate destiny with the Priest-Kings.

Raiders of Gor is by far one of the best of the early books in the counter-Earth series of books brilliantly penned by John Norman.

The story was quite interesting and diverged from what was usual up to that point. Having Tarl Cabot be stripped of his honor and thus humiliating him- although an ends to a means- (Concerning The Subsequent Books) may well have been detrimental to the overall texture of the series. Previous to this book Cabot had worked directly for the Priest-Kings; subsequent to this book he only worked indirectly for them through his handler Samos. Although his most harrowing adventures came during the latter period, this took the series into uncharted realm, an arc which included heavy bondage and many other ridiculous theories.

The books had originally been Sword & Planet Space-Operas, but diverged into something quite different between the time book #6 started and books #8 were completed. Many fans of the series were turned off by this tangent. What turned me off was not so much the B&D but the utter lack of description when it came to sex. Norman almost never described sex between his characters and when he did it was either lacking in detail or abstract. John Norman would have done well to have hired the late great Chris Bunch to pen some of his books. That man knew how to write a love scene! See and read The Demon King, The Seer King and The Warrior King to understand my points!

Despite the above criticisms, Raiders of Gor takes the series to a whole new level by showcasing Port-Kar, heretofore only alluded to in some of the previous books. The naval battles could have been better described, but were enjoyable nonetheless for their uniqueness in the Gorean pantheon.

Yes, please read this book. You will not be disappointed.

A. Nathaniel Wallace, Jr.