Tarzan and the Leopard Men [Mass Market Paperback]

Edgar Rice Burroughs (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 12, 1986

The steel-clawed Leopard Men were looking for victims for their savage rites. The secret cult struck terror in the hearts of all the villagers. Only Orando of the Utengi dared to declare war on them. And with Orando went Tarzan of the Apes -- but a strangely changed Tarzan, who now believed that he was Muzimo, the spirit or demon who had been Orando's ancestor. There were traitors among Orando's people. And in the village of the Leopard Men was Kali Bwana, the white girl who had come to Africa to find a missing man. Only Tarzan could save her....

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

The first time I ever went to Tarzana, California, I walked down Ventura Boulevard, noticing that all of the buildings were really ugly. Then I arrive at my destination: a small house, set back from the street, with a beautiful tree shading the entire front yard. Inside, the air was cool and everything was polished wood, especially the incredible, gigantic desk. That's where he worked. It was awesome.

Edgar Rice Burroughs had a huge California ranch, and the land eventually became a town, named for Burroughs's most famous character. Burroughs created one of the few heroes everyone knows, and at that desk, he took Tarzan to exotic lands, had him face bizarre creatures and endless, exotic challenges. Those adventures spirit the reader away to a timeless time of action and heroism. And sitting in that office, I was a permanent convert. For me, and for countless others, the legend will never cease. And that's as it should be.
                        --Steve Saffel, Senior Editor

From the Inside Flap

The steel-clawed Leopard Men were looking for victims for their savage rites. The secret cult struck terror in the hearts of all the villagers. Only Orando of the Utengi dared to declare war on them. And with Orando went Tarzan of the Apes -- but a strangely changed Tarzan, who now believed that he was Muzimo, the spirit or demon who had been Orando's ancestor. There were traitors among Orando's people. And in the village of the Leopard Men was Kali Bwana, the white girl who had come to Africa to find a missing man. Only Tarzan could save her....

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 35 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (May 12, 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345338286
• ISBN-13: 978-0345338280
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #654,639 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An ERB adventure in which Tarzan gets amnesia, November 1, 2003

By 

Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Tarzan and the Leopard Men (#18) (Mass Market Paperback)

"Tarzan and the Leopard Men" was originally published as a six-part serial in "Blue Book Magazine" from August 1932 to January 1933. The 18th of Edgar Rice Burroughs' pulp fiction yarns about the Lord of the Jungle (and 44th overall) represents the downward spiral in the series as ERB pulls the old amnesia chestnut out to tell another story of romance and adventure in the jungles of Africa.

The story begins with a story in which a series of things happen: Kali Bwana, the story's requisite damsel in distress, is attacked in the middle of the night by Golato, the headman of her safari. Tarzan, accompanied by Nkima, his little simian friend, is knocked unconscious and trapped under a tree. Meanwhile, Nyamwegi, a native who is returning home to his village after seeing his girl friend, is attacked and killed by four of the Leopard Men, a mysterious cannibalistic cult. Orando, son of Lobongo, the chief of that same village, discovers and frees Tarzan, who no longer remembers his own name, even though he thinks the ape-man is a demon.

Both Nyamwegi and Orando had been praying to their muzimo, their protective spirit, and Orando decides that Tarzan is his muzimo, and that Nkima must be Nyamwegi's ghost. Not remembering that he is the Lord of the Jungle but still having all of his finely honed instincts and physical abilities might make accomplishing the tasks at hand more difficult, but you know that by the end of this yarn that Tarzan will put an end to the Leopard Man cult and not only rescue Kali Bwana but help her find what she is looking for in the African jungles. In other words, your basic, formulaic ERB potboiler for 23 chapters.

If this was one of your first Edgar Rice Burroughs Tarzan novels you would be more impressed with "Tarzan and the Leopard Men" than if you have been working your way chronologically through the series, because in that case there is really nothing new here beyond the amnesia gambit. But that is not exactly a positive addition to the formula. The bottom line is that this Tarzan adventure is okay, but nothing special. Once you get past the first ten Tarzan novles you are into the land of diminishing returns with pretty much each and every volume.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tarzan and the Leopard Men and History, May 10, 2007

By 

David Adams (Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tarzan and the Leopard Men (Mass Market Paperback)

Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote Tarzan and the Leopard Men, an 80,000 word novel, in a two-month period -- July 9 to September 25, 1931. 1 It is perhaps the closest to reality of Burroughs' novels, pitting the ape-man against the "Anyoto" (Leopard) society in the area around the eastern edge of the great Ituri Forest in the Belgian Congo. In this story, Tarzan quelled their activities for awhile, though one of the worst outbreaks of the Leopard Men occurred three years later in this area.

The Anioto, or Leopard Men actually existed for a long time in the Congo. It was a secret society within various native tribes, flourishing from the eighteenth century to 1936. The Anioto consisted of young men who sought to address local problems through a reign of terror in which people were killed and mutilated by iron claws, causing severe lacerations to the neck and chest. Victims were often found missing limbs or even their heads. Anioto comes from the verb, nyoto, which means to scratch, probably owes its origin to Bafwasea vernacular.

The Anyoto Society apparently originated among the Mabudu tribe in the Wamba area of the Ituri Forest, and after infiltrating the Mambela Society of the Babali tribe, the sect gradually spread south to Avakubi, Irumu, Bafwasende, and even Beni on the southeast edge of the forest, leaving a trail of mutilated bodies in its wake. Cyrier identifies the Anioto initiation ceremony as the "Mambela ceremony," which may indicate its historical filtering through this tribe. However, he indicates that the Aniyoto among the Bali has a long history into the nineteenth, perhaps even the eighteenth century. "Although Anioto may not have been ubiquitous throughout the area, it appears that some villages were familiar with the association and had direct contact with it."

Burroughs no doubt had done his homework before writing "Tarzan and the Leopard Men." This most historically authentic of his Tarzan stories is filled with accurate details of the Aniyoto and demonstrates the great lengths Burroughs would go to research his novels, even though this one is often disparaged as hack work not deserving a second notice.

That said: Burroughs created a situation even more fantastic than the Aniyoto in which the blood of virgins is collected for a youth potion. Well, he WAS writing pulp fiction. Leopard Men is not listed as a great favorite even among fans, however, the psychological ramifications of this one is interesting to say the least.