Customer Reviews

Tarzan 2-in-1 (Tarzan the Untamed & Tarzan the Terrible) (Tarzan the Classics)

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These are two of the best books ERB wrote in the series. Although "Tarzan of the Apes" is the undisputed best novel of the series, quite possibly a literary masterpiece, these two have even more adventure, action, and clever plot twists than the original. I think "Tarzan the Terrible" is an overall better read, but the final few chapters of "Tarzan the Untamed", in Xuja, city of the mad, is my favorite part of the entire series. I enjoyed it better than Opar, Ashair, or any of the other lost cities ERB created. I wish he had set the entire novel there. If you're an adventure or Tarzan fan you can't miss these two stories. They're the 7th and 8th books in the series and still have aspects of Tarzan being fresh in his creator's mind. The latter books are all good, but they remind me alot of another series, my favorite, the Gor series by John Norman. The first books are outstanding, but the series begin to get repetitive as though the authors used up all their good ideas and are recycling them with different but similiar settings and characters and the storylines follow much of the same course as the previous ones. The only negative thing I can say about the Tarzan series, if indeed you even consider this negative, is that coincidence seems to play much too big of a role. Everyone in the story will somehow end up in the same place at the same time no matter what they've been through and where they've been. But I guess that's what helps make them enjoyable. It all works out. If you like the Tarzan series I recommend two other books by Edgar Rice Burroughs: "The Outlaw of Torn", a medieval tale and "I Am a Barbarian", a tale of the mad Roman emperor Caligula. I also recommend the Gor series by John Norman(the ones with Tarl Cabot in them anyway) and anything by Robert E. Howard.

It is commonly agreed among ERB fans that Tarzan the Untamed and Tarzan the Terrible are two of the best books of the series. They make a pair that complete a whole story, but can be read separately as well. The only thing I wanted to add to the discussion is the fact that Tarzan the Terrible is the ONLY novel in which the lost land of Pal-ul-don appears. This land was greatly expanded and mined to completion in the 1950's Dell Tarzan comics. So, if you were a fan of that old Dell Tarzan, at least Tarzan the Terrible deserves a reading. As mentioned by others, these two stories are filled with action and adventure and, I believe, would find a readership among kids today if only the books were carried by more book stores.

These are two of the best Tarzan novels, filled with everything that Burroughs does best: action, mystery, romance, lost cities... TARZAN THE TERRIBLE is the direct sequel to TARZAN THE UNTAMED, and anyone who has read these books will want to get a copy of Philip Jose Farmer's THE DARK HEART OF TIME: A TARZAN NOVEL, which takes place chronologically in between these two amazing books.

These two stories are, in my humble opinion, the two best works of ERB in the Tarzan series. Very nice plot twists (as opposed to the rather contrived ones later on) and a great deal of background into the settings (example: the Ho-don and Waz-don dialect dictionary in Tarzan the Terrible)make these two "must own" books.

If you're looking for a great way to while away some time or, even better, find a good book for a young reader - I urge you to strongly buy this book!

These two novels in my opinion were the best in all of the 22 book series. Tarzan goes from fighting germans to fighting prehistoric people and animals in a lost land. How does it get any better than that? And the Jane thing is cool! A must read for ultimate action/adventure readers.