Burroughs Books

The original novel "Tarzan of the Apes" is clearly the classic Edgar Rice Burroughs novel and the one you have to read if you read only one ERB pulp fiction adventure, but all things considered "Tarzan the Terrible" is a better example of what would be the typical Burroughs yarn. The eighth book in the Tarzan series, "Tarzan the Terrible" continues the adventure begun in "Tarzan the Untamed" when the Lord of the Jungle discovered the burnt corpse of his wife, Jane after German soldiers visit his African home. ERB never really did like Jane all that much (he though La of Opar would have been a better mate) and killed her off. However, he had no more success in keeping her dead than Arthur Conan Doyle did with killing off Sherlock Holmes, and Tarzan learns that Jane was not murdered by the Germans but kidnapped and sets off in pursuit. Originally published as a seven-part serial in "Argosy All-Story Weekly" in February-March, 1921, "Tarzan the Terrible" continues his private war against the German invaders.

Tarzan has spent two months tracking his mate to Pal-ul-don ("Land of Men"), a hidden valley in Zaire, when he finds a land of strange animals (dinosaurs) and a pair of strange humanoids with tails that he befriends. Ta-den, is a hairless, white skinned, Ho-don warrior, while O-mat is a hairy, black skinned, Waz-don, chief of the tribe of Kor-ul-ja. Of course, in this new world Tarzan becomes a captive but impresses his captors so well that they name him Tarzan-Jad-Guru ("Tarzan the Terrible") because of his skills and accomplishments. Meanwhile, a second visitor comes to Pal-ul-don, wearing only a loin cloth and carrying an Enfield rifle along with a long knife, bow and arrows (think about it). However, it is indeed in Pal-ul-don where Jane is now being held captive, a pawn in a religious power struggle that consumes the rest of the novel as Tarzan tries to rescue her and set things to right in the strange kingdom he has discovered.

"Tarzan the Terrible" has all of the elements you expect from your standard Edgar Rice Burroughs novel. The hero pursues his beloved and has to go through an extended series of fights and escapes to rescue her. Jane does exhibit a bit more spunk this time around (she captures, cleans, and eats a rabbit), so there is an effort to make her more worthy of her jungle mate than before. The religious and social customs of Pal-ul-don are worked out a bit more than we have seen previously in the Tarzan series, which would become more dependent on Tarzan discover more "lost cities" in the interior of darkest Africa with the descendants of Roman legionnaires, crusaders, or whatever. "Tarzan the Terrible" is almost as good as "Tarzan the Untamed," and in many ways represents the end of the glory days of Tarzan. You are only one-third of the way through the series at this point, but after this one the stories get a bit redundant and repetitive as ERB milks his romantic adventure formula for all its worth.

I WAS IN STANDERD 8TH, A FRIEND HANDED ME THIS BOOK, IN FIRST FEW PAGES I WAS CAUGHT BY THIS LARGER THEN LIFE CHARECTER. LATER ON I WENT ON TO READ ALL THE 24 BOOKS. I LIKED THEM ALL BUT THIS BOOK WILL ALWAYS BE MY FAVARATE.ALL YOU NOBLE TARZAN FANS MARK MY WORDS YOU WILL KNOW WHAT I FELT READING THIS BOOK.

The definitive Tarzan editions for the 21st century. These Leonaur editions are rated for collectors. They are incredibly attractive and readable. And at 2 per volume they have a great price. Simply magnificent.

The definitive Tarzan editions for the 21st century. These Leonaur editions of Edgar Rice Burroughs are top rated because of their value for collectors - simply magnificent!

The definitive Tarzan editions for the 21st century. These Leonaur editions are rated for collectors. They are incredibly attractive and readable. And at 2 per volume they have a great price. Simply magnificent.

The definitive Tarzan editions for the 21st century. These Leonaur editions of Edgar Rice Burroughs are top rated because of their value for collectors - simply magnificent!

"The Third Tarzan Omnibus" includes the seventh, eighth, and ninth Tarzan novels written by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Included is what is arguably the greatest Tarzan adventure, which takes place in "Tarzan the Untamed" and "Tarzan the Terrible," and tells the story of what Tarzan did during World War I, beginning with one of the most stunning scenes in the series, when Tarzan discovers his jungle home has been destroyed by German soldiers and finds the burnt corpse of his wife Jane, still wearing her wedding ring. Of course, this turns out to be a trick, and once again ERB has his hero traveling across the jungle to rescue the woman he loves.

"Tarzan the Untamed" was first published as a six-part serial in "Red Book Magazine" in 1919, the second part of which published as "Tarzan and the Valley of Luna" in five-parts in "All Story Weekly" in 1920. After German soldiers destroy the Greystoke estate in British East Africa, Tarzan takes an oath of vengeance and goes after his enemy. The romantic sub-plot has to do with a young English couple Tarzan encounters along the way, but the main emphasis is on the action as Tarzan basically wipes out the Germans all by himself. All things considered, this is probably the best of the Tarzan novels, although obviously the first one is something special.

"Tarzan the Terrible" was published in "Argosy All-Story Weekly" in 1921. At the end of the previous novel Tarzan discovered that Jane was not dead, so what become a bloody mission of vengeance in "Tarzan the Untamed" now becomes a rescue mission. In addition to that basic ERB plot line, Burroughs also creates the land and people of Pal-ul-don, one of his better strange civilizations in the Tarzan series. Almost as good as the previous novel, but not quite.

"Tarzan and the Golden Lion," published in "Argosy All-Story Weekly" in 1922-23, picks up from the previous two novels, with Tarzan, Jane and Korak returning from Pal-ul-don. They find an orphaned lion cub that Tarzan decides to raise (after all, his parents were apes). The lion is named Jad-bal-ja, which means the Golden Lion in the language of the pithecanthropi of Pal-ul-don. The novel is basically a standard ERB pulp fiction adventure, except that Tarzan has the biggest lion on earth as his friend and ally. Be aware that the plot thread with Esteban is not wrapped up until the next Tarzan novel, "Tarzan and the Ant Men."

You can get a bit further in the Tarzan series and not be disappointed, but pretty quickly things get rather repetitive with the whole Tarzan finds a lost civilization bit. However, taken together, these three novels make up the best of these Tarzan omnibuses.

The first three volume of the Martian series of Edgar Rice Burroughs focused on how John Carter, former cavalier of Virginia, made his way to the planet Barsoom and won the hand of Dejah Thoris, princess of Helium after having to repeatedly rescue her from one danger after another. This volume collects the next two ERB pulp fiction adventures in the Martian series, which focus on the son and daughter of John Carter and his beloved princess. While John Carter is now a minor character in each, the two stories do reflect the combination of romance and pulp adventure that worked so well in the first three. "Thuvia, Maid of Mars" focuses on a new hero, Cathoris, son of the Warlord of Mars and his beloved princess. Cathoris is one of two princes and a Jeddak who are seeking the hand of the Thuvia of Ptarth. When she is kidnapped by the sinister Prince Astok of Dusar, the entire planet is about to be thrown into a bloody war and Cathoris has to follow in his father's footstep and deal with savage beasts and phantom armies as he rescues Thuvia and saves Barsoom from a costly war. Of course, by the time he catches up with his beloved, Cathoris finds the situation is slightly more complicated than he thought, mainly because ERB never provides a smooth ending for his couples.

"Thuvia, Maid of Mars" was originally serialized in "All-Story Weekly" in April 1916, which explains the novel's subtext about world war, since one was going on in Europe at that point in time. The original title was "Cathoris," but apparently when it was published as a novel in 1920 somebody wised up and changed it. Thuvia is not as great a name as Deja Thoris, but it is not bad. In many ways this is like the previous novel, "The Warlord of Mars," where the hero chases his beloved across the landscape of Barsoom and has to deal with green men and white apes. Fortunately, unlike ERB's Tarzan series, "Thuvia, Maid of Mars" is really the only time that repeats himself like this in the Martian series, which stands out as his best as he proves in the next and most inventive volume in the series, "Chessmen of Mars."

Originally published serially in "Argosy All-Story Weekly" in 1921 and in hardback the following year it is arguably one of ERB's most imaginative stories. This reputation rests on two things. The first is the relationship between the Kaldanes "heads" and the headless Rykors who are the "descendants of exceedingly stupid humanoid creatures bred by the Kaladane over eons for strength, health, beauty and microcephaly." True, this makes no sense from an evolutionary standpoint, but it is one of the more imaginative parasitic relationships in science fiction history. The second is jetan, the Martian version of chess, which is usually played on a 10 x 10 game board of alternating black and orange squares in the cities of Barsoom, but in the city of Manator is played with living pieces in a giant arena. Of course in the living version of the game a moving piece is not guaranteed a square but has to fight for it.

The framing device for "The Chessmen of Mars" is told by John Carter on a visit home to Earth to see his nephew (rather remarkable given how long it took Carter to get back to Barsoom after his first adventure that he would risk a trip back). Over a game of chess Carter tells of jetan and the adventures of his daughter, Tara of Helium, in Manator. As was the case with the "Thuvia, Maid of Mars," ERB introduces a new hero for this adventure in Gahan, Jed of Gathol. The novel opens with the two of them dancing at a royal function in Helium. She has her eyes set on Djor Kantos, son of her friend's best friend, but he is interested in somebody else. When Gahan declares his love for her, Tara throws a fit and we know these two are meant for each other. Taking her flier on an unadvised flight during a Gale, the princess ends up blown across Barsoom and as happened with both her mother and her sister-in-law, her hero has to track her down and effect a rescue.

The combination of the Kaladanes jumping from one Rykor to the next with the jetan game to the death is quite captivating. For many readers of ERB's pulp fiction yarns "The Chessmen of Mars" is a favorite and while it has the standard hero rescues beloved plot that is a Burroughs staple it is layered with all this interesting stuff. Actually, the romance is the least interesting part of the story. This is far and away the most memorable volume in the Martian series, which is saying something because from start to finish it is ERB's best. With the Tarzan series you can basically leave off once he meets La of Opar, but the Martian series is the one worth reading from start to finish and "Chessmen" is the highpoint.

This book does an amazing job telling the story on behalf of climate. While the statistical side of things are presented, the book is not number laden and over-factual. It is very conceptual and theory-driven. I recommend this book for anyone from students interested in weather, to those who call themselves weather experts.

Burroughs was a respected man of letters and a dedicated naturalist. This was the first book to appreciate Walt Whitman's poetical prowess.