Customer Reviews

Tarnsman of Gor

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(28)
3 star:		(22)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

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 - in my copy, a 1975 reprint, the 1966 copyright is held by John Lange. Makes me wonder if Norman isn't a pen 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, 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 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 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. 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... - 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 didn't 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.

The Tarl Cabot novels may not be your cup of tea, but anyone should be impressed with John Norman's ability to define, construct, and populate his own fictional world - in this case Gor, the Counter-Earth. His stories read very much like pulp fiction and thus must be taken with a grain of salt. Though by no means is "Tarnsman" high literature, this in no way detracts from the reader's enjoyment. Like Edgar Rice Burroughs and Robert E. Howard before him, Norman manages to picque your interest and lead you into a serialized telling of his characters' adventures on the planet Gor. If you're willing to set aside preconceived notions regarding Norman's work, this should be a fun and thrilling ride.

I own the whole Gor series, and so far have only read to Book 10. I believe that anyone who tries to read all 25 novels in a row may experience burnout. "Tarnsman," though, keeps you asking for more. You'll find that the first 4 novels are actually parts of a fascinating story arc that introduces Tarl Cabot to this violent yet fascinating world. Through Cabot's eyes we get to observe the different societies on Gor, their customs and rituals, and also we meet the mysterious Priest-Kings who hold sway over it all. The consistency in the writing is truly remarkable and satisfying.

Caveat: The reader will find, as stated in other reviews, that John Norman has very exact ideas regarding gender roles. He repeats himself quite a bit about how women are only fulfilled and content when they submit to male domination and thus allow themselves to be "truly female." In my experience I have found that both women and men are equally fans of John Norman's novels. If anything, the "slave/master" scenario tends to lend itself to sexual fantasies (or BDSM, as some have pointed out.) Therefore, I can't say that these ideas ruin the series for the reader. As long as you know what you're getting into and get past these "rough spots", you should be able to truly appreciate the Gor series.

I would recommend "Tarnsman of Gor", as well as the rest of the novels in the series, to anyone who likes well-crafted adventure tales. They're great fun to read - my current favorite is #4, "Nomads of Gor." (Trying to collect the whole series may take more than just a little cash, as the novels are largely out of print. I hope all 25 get reprinted this time around.)

Although it uses the trappings of science fiction, Tarnsman of Gor (the first volume of the Chronicles of Counter-Earth) is strictly fantasy adventure. The obvious ancestor of this book is Edgar Rice Burroughs's Mars books, which are likeways fantasy that use science as a mere device to get the story going.

Like Burroughs's John Carter, Tarl Cabot is a man who is mysteriously transported to another world (this one a planet on the opposite side of the sun). On this new world, Cabot becomes a warrior and gets involved with the intrigues of this feudalistic planet.

In one sense, this is a fun novel, pure adventure with no greater purpose than to amuse and in this sense, it largely succeeds. On the other hand, there are times when the last-minute rescues get a little out of control.

Similar to Burroughs, Norman often shows a perception of the world that is less than modern. While Burroughs had 19th century values that bordered on racism in his books, Norman's book shows the seeds of the misogyny and sadomasochism which I understand gets completely out of hand in his later books. At least Burroughs is the product of his time; Norman seems to be around a millenium out of his. Nonetheless, for an adult who can see past these things, which are not so overt as to be truly bad, there is a good tale to be enjoyed.

The Gor series is renown and extremely popular as an alternate dominance/submissive fantasy landscape. As someone who has read the entire (25 book) series I would like to warn newcomers to the world of Gor that the first novel in the series, Tarnsman, sets a strange and contrary tone to the rest of the series. Norman doesn't really hit his stride until the fifth book in the series (Assasin of Gor). That would be a good starting place to begin the series (you'll have to find it used, though, and Gor goes fast in used bookstores). Or an even better place to begin would be with Slave Girl of Gor, Dancer of Gor or Kajira of Gor-- these books get at the essence of Norman's Gorean sexuality and are separate from the Tarl Cabot saga that provides the meat for the rest of the series. These books are self contained stories about three earth women who come to Gor, and you won't get bogged down with Gorean politics. There is also a three part series in the middle of the series (Fighting Slave of Gor starts the three-parter, I believe) about an Earth man named Jason who is brought to Gor by slavers and is assimilated much faster into the culture than Tarl Cabot is in Tarnsman. Norman is just beginning to get his ideas in focus in Tarnsman and the book is startlingly out of place when viewed with its companion novels. Plainly put, it is bad. So don't read Tarnsman and think "I've done Gor and it wasn't much." Read the later books. The ones I have pointed out all serve as better points of entry into a series that has as much to offer in the way of intricate and interesting world-building as it has in the way of cheap thrills

The first entry in the Gor series is a straightforward adventure, drawing heavily on the tradition of Edgar Rice Burroughs's Mars novels, but with more plot holes and just a dash of sex.

Tarl Cabot, whose father mysteriously disappeared years before, finds himself magically transported to Gor, a counter-Earth revolving on the opposite side of the sun.

The first three or four Gor novels are almost completely devoid of the sadomasochism and misogynism that made later books in the series so popular in the 70s and 80s. If you're looking for light fantasy with just a hint of kinkiness, this will fill the bill.

However, if you're more interested in the BDSM element, I suggest you skip to the sixth novel in the series, when this takes over and pushes the fantasy element aside.

I was very disappointed in how the series turned out, not only because I don't find anything sexy about women being trained to "heel" like dogs, begging to be raped, and sleeping at their masters' feet, but because the writing gets really, really, really bad. Plot is almost entirely disregarded in favor of windy philosophical disquisitions on why men are superior to women and should beat them severely; after all, they really want to be beaten up. There are endless pages of extremely repetitious dialogue, mostly the master explaining the way of things to the slave girl:

"You are a slave," I said.
"Yes", she said.
"You must obey me," I said.
"Yes, master," she said.
"Don't speak unless spoken to," I said.
"Yes, master," she said.
"What did I just tell you?" I said.

This I said/she said format goes on and on and as it's essentially photocopied from book to book, it becomes almost impossible to wade through to get to the few strands of plot that are inserted to make the book look respectable.

Norman's sexual philosophy is reminiscent of the attitude of slave owners in the American South, who felt that black people were inferior and actually were happier being enslaved so they didn't have to think for themselves.

Bottom line: If you want SF adventure, read the first four books and stop there. If it's BDSM you want, skip to "Captive of Gor". Bear in mind that there is no graphic sex, no four-letter words, just a lot of brutality and discussion of brutality, and an attitude towards women that goes beyond chauvinism to unadulterated hostility.

I abandoned the Gor series when it got to the high teens, mainly because Tarl Cabot was being replaced more and more often as the main character in the novels, although I was never a fan of the Gorean philosophy regarding sex, which is essentially that women can only enjoy true sexual freedom by totally submitting to the strong will of a male master. John Norman's series has certainly achieved much notoriety because of this philosophy and I have had a few encounters with true believers on the internet who try to live out the Gorean lifestyle as much as possible. However, I came to the series as a fan of Edgar Rice Burroughs' novels about John Carter of Mars, and clearly "A Princess of Mars" is the template for "Tarnsman of Gor." Both novels tell of someone who is transported to a more primitive planet where fights are resolved with swords and our hero falls for a beautiful woman whose station rises high above his own. Yet Norman's novel clearly creates its own world, which is what attracted it to me in the first place.

Gor is also known as Counter-Earth because it is on the far side of the sun always blocked from view. Gor is slightly smaller than Earth, which works in Tarl Cabot's favor when he accedes to a cryptic message from the father he has not seen for decades and enters a space ship in the woods of New England, bringing with him a handful of earth. After all, Cabot is a college professor (like John Lange, the professor of philosophy who wrote these novels under the John Norman name), and has not been living the life of a warrior. But on Gor he is trained to be a Tarnsman, a rider of the great war birds. His mission is to capture the Home Stone of Ar, the great city-state that is the "Rome" of the Gorean world. The effort is an attempt to end the power of Marlenus, who had been given the power of "Ubar" (essentially the war chief) to handle an emergency, but who refused to give up power afterwards and is building an empire.

This 1966 novel is relative short, a little over 200 pages long, but it becomes an important prologue to the rest of the series. In the first half of the book the reader, like Tarl Cabot, is introduced to many key concepts that are developed in the future novels, from the practice of slavery and the joys of paga to caste-bound Gorean society and the technological restrictions imposed on the people of Gor by the mysterious Priest-Kings. When you go back and reread "Tarnsman of Gor," after you have gotten deeper into the series (i.e., "Slave Girl of Gor"), you will recognize the embryonic form of the Gorean philosophy as well: the concept of honor, the independence of men, the respect for the environment, the dangers of technology, and the great "truth" of female slavery." However, at first glance, the sword and sorcery elements are what hook the reader into this opening novel. The parallels between Marlenus of Ar and Julius Caesar of Rome are obvious, but Gor is a much more barbaric world than that of the Roman Empire and one of the fun aspects of reading these books is recognizing the bits and pieces of different warrior cultures Norman has brought to his creation.

"Tarnsman of Gor" ends in the same manner as "A Princess of Mars," which means the series effectively offers a second beginning in the next novel, "Outlaw of Gor," which is the first novel in what I think of as the Priest-Kings trilogy. I think that the fifth novel, "Assassins of Gor," is the high point of the series, after which it starts transforming itself into something significantly different. But those first five novels are certainly worth reading for those who like the Burroughs school of grand adventure and Norman improves greatly as a writer, creating memorable supporting characters and unique actions scenes.

I first picked up this book when I was 15, and I absolutely loved it. It took less than a day to finish, and knowing that there were at least 20 others in the saga, I began over the next 4 years to collect purely for the sake of completing the set. Given that I will probably never want to read or look for another Gor book again, I would say that building this collection as a teenager was fun, but as my collection grew, I soon shared the scepticisms of thousands of other readers, and had no interest in being part of a developing 'movement' that had at its core a philosophy of degrading treatment to women (often against their consent, although die-hard fans on their web forums would probably say they were 'begging for it').

Why then have I given this 4*s?

What you must realise is that this book is an excellent example of fiction that questions its own fictional state. The first three books (Tarnsman, Outlaw and Priest-Kings) had remarkable introductions regarding how exactly they came to print - manuscripts written by Cabot making their way to his lawyer friend who then passes them on to John Norman - the 'publisher'. In my opinion it was this style, only really evident in Norman's early books, that provided the fuel for fans to develop their addicitons to Gor - very clever indeed. The effect was that the fantasy became believable, and one would actually question whether a planet on the opposite side of the sun was possible - would we ever know? Was Norman the author or the publisher? Did Norman really look into Cabot's history - from a jovial but lazy Oxford Grad to an equally lazy (and then kidnapped) history teacher in New England?

Read the first three books, enjoy Cabot's journey, empathise with his unhappiness and then rebith at the beginning of book 2 (Outlaw), and let this book do what it is suppossed to - tell a good story and provide you with a retreat from your own world.

But before you give too much fuel to your imagination, think about what else you might be missing out on (real literature), particularly when Norman loses the plot (after book 5/6), relies upon his slave-girls to sell his books, and totally forgets about the origin's of Gor's success - this first, incredible book, and the maintenance of a perception of reality within a fantasy-world.

This being the first novel in the Gor series, it is suprisingly short on detail, and high on action. As some other reviewers have stated, it is almost comicbook like it its writing. But, don't let that detract you from what is a fantastic story.

John Norman's first 6 books are fantastic, with a hero (Tarl Cabot) that seems to survive incredible odds with flair. But that 6th book starts a dark slide, one which gets worse as the series evolves. Many of the rest of the novels still brim with action, once you learn to recognize that there are sections you can just skim over, as they have nothing to do with the plot. The man has created a very real world, that I can immerse myself into for hours and weeks at end.

The books about the females (7, 11, 19, & 21) can be skipped, without any real lose of plot. And, they will save your eyes from his senseless drivel about female domination...something Norman can't seem to shut up about.

But, if you don't mind skimming over his pages of that drivel, some wonderful stories come out of it. And I for one will snap up a 26th novel about the Counter-Earth in a second....because I really want to see that reunion with Talena fleshed out. It seems bizzare to wait 25 novels to see a "romantic" (for lack of a better word) plot to finish...but I have to know!

Read them, and enjoy them...and know that it is fantasy, and the man DOES have some sick and twisted thoughts. As another reviewer did state...reading his books would sometimes influence the way I behaved towards women...I would be shorter with them...especially when I was younger, and didn't know how to work in a relationship Never any physical violence, or S&M desires, but I would act differently. Now that I am older an more mature, it doesn't affect me.

Oh, and Norman did write some books for another publisher that had nothing to do with Gor after he stopped writing these books...don't waste your money...more of the slave drivel, with characters you couldn't care less about.

I was somewhat disappointed in the first book of the series. I first stumbled upon Gor in a used bookstore several years ago while browsing. I picked up Nomads of Gor and thought what the heck, I'll give it a try. I couldn't put it down! It was simply the most exciting, best book I had ever read. Since then I have reread it several times and even though I think Assassin is the best book of the series, Nomads is my favorite. I ended up reading 5 or 6 of the other books before I finally found the first 3 through Amazon. Starting with Raiders, the series dramatically begins to slide downhill. Its almost as if Tarl Cabot is a totally different man after the first 5 books. Character development is always good, but Norman went about it much too quickly. You are suddenly thrown from a hero who is honorable and just and has hope to someone gloomy and spiteful who has none and who rambles on and on about how he wishes he was like he once was for pages and pages at a time. And enough already of the men/women roles of Gor. Nomads and Assassin had enough to make it interesting, but there's no sense filling up a hundred pages of a book about it when the readers have known the situation for the last 10 or 15 books. The high content of BDSM has ruined the series for me. I admit that that was one of the things that intrigued me and made the series enjoyable at first. It was a great change from all the politically correct BS these days, but enough is enough! All the later books don't suck. Marauders, Explorers, and Tribesmen are good, but in no way compare to the first 5, expecially 4 and 5. Norman doesn't even include the Tarl Cabot saga in some of the later books. They are all about an earth woman or man coming to Gor and being thrust into the social differences of Gor and Earth and include pages of rambling that we learned in-THE FIRST 5 BOOKS! I finally got to read Tarnsman after I had become disallusioned with the series and couldn't wait! Here was the old Tarl Cabot again, the one that had made me love Gor with his adventures. It was good, but not as good as I had expected. I think I had simply hyped it up too much with myself. I understand it was the first book in the series, so of course the books should grow from there, but it wasn't as realistic as it could have been. For one thing it was too short. In some of the novels Norman will build up a big scene or the ending with flourish. In Tarnsman it seemed like everything just happened too fast. It should have went deeper into Tarl's training with weapons for afterall, he was to become one of the greatest swordsmen on Gor. His relatonship with Talena proceeded too quickly also. She went from hating him to loving him just like that, it seemed, in a very short time. And what was up with the talking spider? That was just plain corny, I thought. Overall, a descent story. It could have been much better. If you've never read any of the other novels you may enjoy this a great deal. It's a good start to some great stories. Do read this though, and all the books in the series if you can. It's still a great series, even though toward the end you may get disgusted with it like I have. Tarnsman, Outlaw, Priest-Kings, Nomads, and Assassin are great books, at times simply awesome. I've heard rumors that Norman is coming out with a new book entitled Witness of Gor. Hopefully it will continue the adventures of Tarl Cabot. I'd like to see the Others finally vanquished or at least some conclusion reached. Neverthess, John Norman remains one of my favorite authors, if not THE favorite, simply for his great writing in the early novels.

Popular rumor has it that John Norman, a college professor, wanted to show a writing class that practically anything can be published and so in 1967 came up with this light sci-fi novel. This is no disjointed, _Naked Came the Stranger_, however. _Tarnsman_ has structure and modest character development. The protagonist, Tarl Cabot, is brought to the vaguely Greco-Roman counter-earth of Gor to undertake a perilous mission to assure the delicate balance of power among city-states. Along the way, the reader gets a quick over-view of caste structure, social systems based on discipline and honor, and the place of males and females in the natural order.

Surprised, perhaps, by the popularity of a counter-earth in which women are submissive and where masculine, assertive men live in a structured Greco-Roman society, Norman (or, purportedly, any number of ghost writers) subsequently turned out no less than 25 novels in this series. Despite intense and censorious pressure from feminists and the politically correct which saw an end to the series in the mid-1980s, these novels simply will not go away. They do not stay long on the shelves of used book stores, and they are being re-published, no doubt to the horror of those who would have us believe that men and women are the same. Persistent rumors of a 26th novel and continuation of the series are avidly received by devotees.

Having read the series as it was originally published, volume by volume, I find that _Tarnsman_ is much more cartoon-like than succeeding volumes, but it is entertaining nonetheless. As other reviewers correctly point out, there is a marked change in tone with the sixth volume (_Raiders of Gor_) which sees the protagonist, Tarl Cabot, fall from his Code as a Warrior in order to grovel and save his life. Thereafter, the Chronicles are considerably more brutal and much more negative, both in their general tone and vis-a-vis male/female relations.

Underlying the central plot of the Chronicles, which focuses on the struggle for planetary dominance by competing alien races who use humans as pawns, there is a continuous, erotic, but misogynistic diatribe about male dominance and female submission. This gender war/gender theory theme gets rather tedious as it wears on through volume after volume. If, by the seventh or eighth volume, one does not understand the dominance/submission principles espoused by Norman, then a reader must be (to use Norman's own words) "an inert dolt." Non-compliant females are apt to be back-handed (at best) and to, "taste blood in their mouths."

It is not surprising that Gor has been enthusiastically adopted--- and corrupted-- by one subset of the leather/BDSM crowd (bondage, discipline, sadism, masochism). One can find ample reference to Gor on the internet, but surprisingly few of those "Gor" devotees have read any of the Chronicles or understand any of its themes beyond S&M (of which there is actually quite little)! This is rather a shame as the novels have some thought to offer in their own right, rather than as a pseudo-justification for flogging sex-slaves (whether male or female).

Gor is fantasy. The latter volumes tend to be a dark fantasy. There is some thought behind these novels, however, and they should not be dismissed out-of-hand.

I read the Chronicles both for their theories and the plot. I was quite disappointed when Norman abandoned (or was compelled to abandon for lack of a publisher) an interesting plot line. I, for one, would like to see the adventures of Tarl Cabot resolved.