Where Tarzan Teams Up with Some Scary Beasts

The Beasts of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Like the first novel, and unlike the second, this works quite well as a novel with a single, straight-forward, unique plot. At about 75,000 words, it's a good length for a pulp novel--not too long, I mean--and it makes good use of the skills and attributes of the character Burroughs created.

I sort of like urban Tarzan, Lord Greystoke. If nothing else, it's a good palate-cleanser for the jungle scenes. But Tarzan in the wilderness, with animals, with trees to swing from, well, that's the reason you read Tarzan, right?

Like Superman with Lois or Jimmy, Tarzan is only vulnerable with his wife and child, so this story has his nemesis, Rokoff, kidnapping them from their London home and promising to leave them forever in the worst possible situation. His need to get revenge on Tarzan means that, instead of killing him when he has the chance, he keeps him alive to witness or at least know about the horrible life they will be trapped in. Of course, with Tarzan still alive, even marooned on an island, there's still hope.

The title lets you know part of the story. He befriends a panther and dominates a group of gorillas, making them into a kind of tribe or army, and some of the best scenes in the story include them going after the bad guys. With a little tweaking, this could all be converted to fantasy; it's very close.

There is a nice conclusion to the novel, which I'm glad for. I was afraid we were going out on a cliffhanger. Nope. Good ending. All made sense. Satisfying and self-contained, this is about as successful as this type of novel can be.

[*There's tons wrong with these books, especially the harmful stereotypes and casual racism, and maybe I should write a review just on that and then link it every time I mention it. For now, let me just refer to ~all of that~ with a sort of asterisk, reminding the reader that the flaws in society, in every period, inevitably keep showing up in books like a stain on every page. Whether that means one reads those stories with a cautious awareness of the flaws or one avoids reading them altogether I leave to others to decide for themselves. I get it either way.]

In terms of action, though, and creativity, and intrigue, Burroughs is an amazing storyteller. His golden era is well behind us, with movies and TV shows, and future generations may forget him altogether, the way we have done with so many authors of earlier periods, but he might well rebound. These titles of more than a century ago have become something of a niche read, but Tarzan, and some version of his stories, continues to be profitable and famous for good reason.

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Where It's Two Books in One

The Return of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Like the first Tarzan book, this is more fun to read than I expected. I could almost give it a 4--but it is in other ways a poorly written book, so I'll compromise with a 3.

The beginning feels like an Agatha Christie mystery or something, with Tarzan traveling on a ship across the Atlantic and getting involved with a young woman and her husband being harassed and intimidated by her brother, who is the villain of the novel. I enjoyed the urbane version of Tarzan, the cultured man who can turn it up a notch if he needs to. Good fun. This plot is working very well until about halfway through, when we are jerked back to Africa, in and around the place Tarzan's parents were shipwrecked. This requires Tarzan to be thrown overboard, supposedly to his death, and Jane to be in a shipwreck.

I mean, come on! First of all, the odds of Tarzan surviving and then ending up in exactly that spot are so ridiculously tiny, but for Jane to end up there, too, on that same stretch of coast, is just so unlikely it's goofy. Laughable. This was bad planning. But second, it makes the book split right down the middle. The author could have made a whole novel about Tarzan protecting a young woman from a bad guy on a ship and in Paris, which I was up for. Then he could have made a whole other novel set back in the jungle. Trying to mix the two plots was a mess.

But as I said, it was pretty fun to read. A super-competent protagonist who is also highly moral is my favorite. I don't think I'm alone here. So if you read Tarzan novels, you just allow the outrageous coincidences and let yourself enjoy the story.

I've seen these books in libraries and used books stores my whole life and never really wanted to read them, but I see the appeal now. They're still not for everybody--especially those who, quite understandably, can't stomach the casual racism that was so prevalent at the time. (I personally would like to see that changed with suitable edits, but I realize that most people hate seeing Roald Dahl's books, and others', being changed in that way.)

Anyway, flawed, for sure, but still fun.

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When Heroes Were Heroes and Pulp Was Pulp

Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I wanted to read Tarzan for myself, interested in experiencing the story in a more direct way than the old cartoons and movies, so I picked it up a bit ago. Even though I have a soft spot for old pulp, I didn't have terribly high hopes. However, I liked it better than I expected. With the usual caveats, I found it entertaining and reasonably sophisticated; one can see why it spawned so many sequels and movies and retellings.

The pace is brisk, the action is exciting, and the prose is pretty good, actually--though my surprise is not intended to be condescending. Dude could write. Putting aside (if you can) the inevitable awkward language used for peoples and cultures, and overlooking (if you can) the problematic early 20th Century attitudes toward race and gender, one might find that the tone is more modern than expected. The easy callousness toward the fictional native tribesmen was unfortunately expected; the explicit anti-colonial stance was not.

Two steps forward, one step back.

(If he were writing today, I expect Burroughs would do better. No way to know, though.)

Some old pulp can only be read as a curiosity, IMO, in an ironic way (like Flash Gordon, which I didn't much like), but this is a better class of story. I think many readers could enjoy Tarzan as just a regular action novel. I did, anyway.

However, the reader should expect a few bumps.


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Classic Pulp

A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Just to be clear, I rate books by how much I enjoyed it (with a few special conditions sometimes) and not how "good" I think it is. So all those 1/5 and 2/5 reviews--I get it, but I don't see it that way.

I'll admit, when I first read most of this novel on my iPad, I think from project Gutenberg, I didn't like it that much.

This time, I bought a nice 5-novel omnibus hardcover, an actual book to hold in my hands. That's so much more fun to read from than ebook. And this time, I read it straight through with pleasure and look forward to the sequels.

As far as pulp fantasy or science fiction goes, this for me is right up there with the best. I keep trying to like Doc Savage, and kinda do. I attempt Flash Gordon, and don't see much to enjoy. I've tried other pulp series with similar success (Mack Bolan and the like). This is better.

In my opinion, of course.

I'm not interested in the flaws, so never mind about all that. I liked the story. I liked picturing the surface of Mars covered with ancient cities. I liked the mix of hand-to-hand weapons, guns, and flying ships--kinda like Star Wars, you know? I liked the hero winning over the beautiful woman, the loyal Woolla, the draft animals, the city of Helium, and the whole race of Tharks. That's fun.

Lots of action. Lots of movement. Lots of interesting settings. I liked it.

If you pick up this novel, set your expectations to "pulp." For my money, it works.

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