Tribesman of Gor [Hardcover]

John Norman (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Daw Books, Inc. (1976)
• ASIN: B0014C3MXK
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tarl Cabot goes to Arabia, June 20, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Tribesman of Gor (Paperback)

One of the best of the series. Moves the battle between the Kurii and the Priest-Kings, via their earthly agents to the next level. Once more Tarl Cabot goes native, this time as Hakim of Tor into the swirling Tahari Desert to fight for the survival of Gor. With some help from an unexpected quarter Tarl once more saves the day...learns new and interesting weapons, befriends world leaders with his stunning blend of martial skills, thickheaded stubbornness, and winning personality.

Beyond the excellent story line, we get another glimpse into the workings of Gor and what it means to be Gorean. After coming to grips with his newfound Goreaness Tarl Cabot goes on with his expounding of where it's at.

Warning: Not everyone's cup of tea. If you are under the impression that gender is a societal thing...my suggestion...don't pick this book up...you'll be in for a shock.

I wish you well

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Saudi Arabia a la Gor, March 19, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Tribesman of Gor (Paperback)

In the previous volume (Marauders of Gor) Tarl Cabot romped with pseudo-Vikings. In this one it's pseudo-Bedouins. Samos of Port Kar, agent of Priest-Kings, receives three messages under mysterious circumstances...beware of the steel tower; beware of Abdul; and surrender Gor...and off goes T.C. to the burning sands of the Tahari Desert to investigate. Along the way he encounters assassins, slave girls, treachery, slave girls, an invisible monster, slave girls, a desert bandit, slave girls, an old friend/enemy who IS a slave girl...you get the idea. As in Hunters of Gor, the author takes time out to spend 2-3 pages expounding on his sexual theories. It's hard to take them seriously, especially since they are not consistent. For example, Norman says that true slave girls revel in their domination by men and would not have it any other way. But a girl who asks to be freed reveals herself to be a true slave. Hunh? The Gorean ethic didn't seem to bother me as much in this book as it did in previous volumes, probably because domination of women, slavery, and harsh punishment are an integral part of the culture this story is based upon. (Alternatively, the previous books may have inured me to it but I don't think so.) Some of the previous books (most notably Assassins of Gor and Hunters of Gor) have had scenes so outrageously over the top as to cause the reader to guffaw. There were none in this book that compare although Cabot's inhuman stamina, good luck, and fighting ability do stretch credulity a bit. There are a few other minor flaws (such as asking the reader to believe that a massive 20 foot monster could survive in an environment that is described as chronically food-poor) and one gaping hole in the plot: early in the book Tarl is framed for a crime and sentenced to a life of hard labor in the salt pits of Klima. However, there is tribal warfare brewing between the Kavars and the Aretai so the villain that framed him becomes afraid that the march to Klima will be attacked during the fighting allowing Cabot to escape. He decides to bust him out of prison then kill him as an escaping criminal. Needless to say, Tarl makes good his escape despite the bad guys. (Why the villain didn't just kill him while he was helplessly chained to the cell wall isn't clear.) Later on the same villain captures him and the same war is still brewing but this time he DOES send Cabot on the march to Klima. Hunh? Well, I didn't read this book to be edified and I didn't read it for a dose of reality. I read it to be entertained. Ultimately, what counts in a book like this is how much fun it is to read and on that score it was quite good. It makes me wish that their were more gradations in Amazon's rating scale. I reserves 1 star for a book that is either unreadable or that made me mad that I wasted my time reading it. 5 stars I reserve for books that are near perfect for their genre. (Nomads of Gor got 5 stars.) This book is better than Hunters of Gor (3 stars) but not quite as good as Raiders of Gor or Priest-Kings of Gor (4 stars). I'd like to give it three-and-a-half stars but can't. It's closer to 4 than to 3 stars, so I gave it 4.

1.0 out of 5 stars Here is where he started to lose me., June 7, 2011

By 

tor "tor" (fl, usa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tribesman of Gor (Paperback)

To me this is where this series really started to go off the rails and divert into self-parody.
I read most of these books as a teenager and enjoyed the action scenes and the female slave aspect at the time but now they just seem horrible. Norman never says anything once he can say three or four times; does he think being so repetitous makes the utterances more profound or does he just not have anything else to say and needs to take up space? I do not agree with the sexual philosophy but even if I did once a book is enough starting with this book you seem to get it once a chapter.
When the bandit Hassan enters the palace dining romm on the back of his kaila end scatters gaurdsman with one sweep of his mighty sword and grabs the girl with one crack of the whip i just laugh.
Books four, five and six are still good reads as far as I am concerned. The yellow pool of Turia is a truly unique adversary I did not figure out immediately and Harold and Kamchak of the Tuchuks are very funny. Book five is good for the action sequences, yes they are a little farfetched, and the plot twist where the hero realizes he is not fooling anyone but that they are fooling him. Book six I just liked the battles at sea, everything else was very pedestrian. Books eight and nine had overtones of Beowulf which i liked also.