Customer Reviews

Rogue of Gor (Counter-Earth Saga #15)

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Rogue of Gor is the 2nd volume in the Jason Marshall trilogy. This one finds him searching for his long lost love, Miss Beverly Henderson. The trail leads him to Victoria, a town on the Vosk river preyed upon by pirates, where he buys her off of a slaver's block and sets her free despite her protestations that she is a true slave and does not want to be freed. Jason will hear none of it and takes her home to put her on a pedestal and adore her from a distance (which is totally out of character with the way he treats other women including those who, like Beverly, have been abducted from Earth and enslaved). She then proceeds to rebuke and abuse him at every opportunity. Funny thing, every time Jason acts like an idiot it gives John Norman an excuse to launch into yet another tirade espousing his views on the domination of females. Amazing coincidence, that! It seems that no one on Gor has sex without it being preceded by, interspersed with, and followed by lengthy discussions of Mr. Norman's philosophy. These digressions from the story are repetitive, tedious, and boring, boring, boring. If they were cut out, this trilogy would easily fit into 2 volumes. I don't know where the title of this book came from as there is certainly nothing roguish about Jason Marshall. The title to this review seems more appropriate (but, of course, would not sell as many books). Another hundred pages or so and Jason finally wises up. The book then gets more interesting as Jason devises a plan to deal with the river pirates and convinces the forces of Port Cos and Ar's Station to join in (their war with each other having conveniently fizzled out). Be forewarned: Those who like their trilogy segments to at least partially resolve the issues in the volume will be sorely disappointed....

Simply put, each of Norman's books about Gor is a solid adventure tale that incorporates the BDSM lifestyle into it. I own the entire collection (many 1st editions) and have to say that for a series, Norman kept to the original idea he had in book one thru nearly the entire set. The latest, and newest of the series, I found Norman had become a bit "long winded" in some of his descriptions and that made it a difficult read for me. Otherwise it was an very exciting story, even when the main characters changed. Norman's writing style was one that I could not put down until there was no more story to read. Enjoy.

By the time we get to "Guardsman of Gor," the 15th of John Norman's Counter-Earth novels, we are clearly in a transitional period. I did not like the idea that instead of Tarl Cabot we were now telling the story of a different Earth man who ends up on Gor, although the Jason Marshall trilogy was more interesting to me than the story of Judy Thornton, a woman brought to Gor as a captive in "Slave Girl of Gor." In the first volume of the trilogy, "Fighting Slave of Gor," Marshall ends up on Gor when he tries to save Beverly Henderson from a Gorean slave trap. The next thing the civilized Earth man knows he is a slave on Gor. Starting out as the silk slave of the Lady Florence of Vonda, Marshall then becomes a Gorean gladiator, which gives him the opportunity to become free so that he can find Beverly, who now also a slave on Gor.

"Rogue of Gor" is the middle volume in the trilogy and the novel and has Marshall searching for Beverly. But since this is a trilogy you know that he is not going to find her until the final volume, "Guardsman of Gor." Instead, Marshall travels along the River Vosk to the port city of Victoria, north of Port Kar, and finds himself in the middle of a war between Glorious Ar and the Salerian Confederation as the pirate fleet seeks to control the waterways of Gor on which the cities are so dependent. In terms of providing more action than sex, this is the one volume of the trilogy that delivers on that score and if you are waiting for Jason and Beverly to consummate their relationship in Gorean terms you have the last half of the next novel for all of that to play out (after a giant naval battle). In this one he finds her on the slaver's block, buys her, and sets her free even though she insists she is a true slave and therefore does not desire freedom.

There is a sense in which Norman is trying to get back to the basics, since the fight between Ar and the Salerian Confederation is not, at face value, part of the gigantic struggle between the Priest-Kings and the Kurii. But the sexual philosophy of Gor is now becoming the dominant theme of Norman's stories. The back of the original paperback declares, "Jason Marshall learned the meaning of manhood and the power of women, both dominant and submissive" on Gor, but clearly he has yet to fully accept his role in this society. This time around Norman is educating a male rather than a female, which is usually the case in the Gor novels, and I think that you have to take such instruction at face value.

The obvious assumption might be that most men would not need to be persuaded to live a life being a master, but when you consider the discussion that Jason and Beverly were having at the start of the trilogy before they ended up on Gor you have to admit that it is not exactly the sort of lifestyle to which a "civilized" man would aspire. Clearly Norman is arguing men have to be carefully taught such beliefs almost as much as women, although you will never convince me the male of the species would require as much persuasion. Consequently, whether you judge "Rogue of Gor" by the standard of either the best Gor adventures ("Nomads of Gor" and "Assassins of Gor") or the main testaments of Gorean sexuality ("Slave Girl of Gor," "Kajira of Gor," and "Dancing Girl of Gor"), it falls short. For the most part only true believers are going to proceed beyond this trilogy to complete the series.

One minute, Jason is saying that Miss Henderson can't be a slave, then he hopes that she is... but oh no, he can't think that way... but boy she'd sure look good on her knees, nude, serving him... But surely not Miss Henderson...

Gimme a break ~ when he finds her, and buys her, she is thrilled that she will get to serve him; but he wants to set her free. She doesn't want to be free; he doesn't want her to be free & yet he treats her as tho she is free... which she isn't. He keeps her locked indoors, thereby making sure she is not really free: and by taking away her slavery, he makes sure she isn't truly free to be who she is.

Too wishy-washy. I'll get the next in the series, just so that I've read them all, but honestly, I'm not that excited about it. Hopefully the next will be better than this one.

Rogue of Gor to me was a pretty good middle book to the Jason Marshall Trilogy. I loved Jason's single-minded determination to find the love of his life. And when he finds her he puts her on a pedastal so high not even he can reach her. Beverly Henderson is an ungrateful wench. She shows no gratitude to the man who has literally saved her life. Unfortunately Jason does not realize that he cannot change her opinions of him due to her new Gorean status.

The war between Ar and elements of the Salerian Confederation are interesting to behold, yet they are mostly shown in the background. Indeed, one pivotal battle is discussed from the viewpoint of a minor character (Thus Being In Second Person). Norman never did write large scale battles very well. Indeed, I can remember only a few, and these were for the most part inconsequential to the overall storylines of the books.

Where he succeeds--barely is in the character study of Jason Marshall (See My Other Reviews). I also liked the expansion of Gor's geography. His details of the Vosk towns were a delight to behold. I felt this certainly grew Gor. However, like others, I too was disappointed in the repetitive discussions on male/female relationships. This was ground that he'd covered all to often in other books and did not need to do again in this book. The other reviewer is absolutely correct in saying this trilogy easily could have been a duology had it been better edited. One wonders who the editors at DAW were in the 1970s and 1980s.

But I liked the series as a whole. I'm giving it a slightly above average review for Amazon.

A. Nathaniel Wallace, Jr.