Customer Reviews

Tarzan 2 in 1 (Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle & Tarzan and The Lost Empire)

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The only problem with pairing these two Tarzan titles is that they are too similar.

Both involve lost kingdoms, one medieval and the other Roman.

Both involve two warring cities or kingdoms at opposite ends of a valley, and the strife between them.

Both involve "gosh & golly" that enduring civilizations from the distant past still live on in Africa.

However, this is not intended as sarcasm or criticism. These are each in their way excellent stories. Tarzan, particularly in "Lost Empire" shows a lot of knowledge and research of ancient Rome.

One of Tarzan's most sympathetic roles is as the rescuer of friendless, lovely females, and he has his hands full in fulfilling this mission in each of these novels. He also becomes the defender of the downtrodden.

Descriptions are good, and in each book Burroughs sets out to create -- chapter after chapter -- living, imaginary worlds peopled with interesting characters. Of course, they are either wonderfully good, or diabolically evil, but that's typical of Burroughs.

The little money Nkima shows up again-- he's always a fun character.

Alas, Burroughs does have a bad habit of going back to formulaic plots and re-creating them. Usually the details, characters, and descriptions are interesting enough that we don't resent this rather unimaginative trait.

However, these two novels are so close in plot, I'd recommend readers buy the pair, read one, and then go back to read the second after some intervening books have been read.