Tarzan is the quintessential feral child, an archetypal wild boy lost in the jungle and raised by great apes. Created by author Edgar Rice Burroughs, the ape man character of Lord Greystoke continues to enthrall and captivate readers and audiences, the world over.
This compilation contains all 25 of the Tarzan novels written and published by Burroughs during his lifetime, and is formatted with an active table of contents by title and chapter for easy
Tarzan of the Apes The Return of Tarzan The Beasts of Tarzan The Son of Tarzan Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar Jungle Tales of Tarzan Tarzan the Untamed Tarzan the Terrible Tarzan and the Golden Lion Tarzan and the Ant Men Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle Tarzan and the Lost Empire Tarzan at the Earth's Core Tarzan the Invincible Tarzan Triumphant Tarzan and the City of Gold Tarzan and the Lion Man Tarzan and the Leopard Men Tarzan's Quest Tarzan and the Forbidden City Tarzan the Magnificent Tarzan and the Foreign Legion The Tarzan Twins Tarzan and the Tarzan Twins and Jad-Bal-Ja the Golden Lion Tarzan and the Castaways
Edgar Rice Burroughs was an American author, best known for his creation of the jungle hero Tarzan and the heroic John Carter, although he produced works in many genres.
This book was very much a surprise. I grew up watching the Tarzan Movies and always had a desire to read the Tarzan novels. We can pretty much forget the Tarzan Movies, the books are much better. The novels are a tale of a child that is raised in the Jungles of Africa by Apes after his parents die. The books take you from his infancy to adulthood. Tarzan's father was a English Aristocrat, and during his adventures he returns to England for a period of time, but returns to Africa. I do not want to go too much into the stories because I feel you will be surprised by the imagination of the author. There is a similarity to the movies, but the books, 25 in all, make a sharp detour from the movies, and became even more interesting. I have read some reviews of the Tarzan Books and some readers feel the author is a racists & sexists, and do not like the novels. You have to remember the time period when the books were written, and this will give you some insight into the time period and class structure when the books were published. I do not believe the author meant to offend anyone, it was just the time period when the books were published. The books are dated now, but WOW! Tarzan is an adventure that took me completely by surprise and set my imagination free. Tarzan of the Apes, which is the first book, is a classic in every way, from the pristine prose to the simple but exciting story that will not allow you to put the book down. After the 4th or 5th book the author turns more into science fiction which would not out of place by the authors of today. The books do return to the classic tales, especially the last two novels. I could not put the book down, and it contained all the 25 stories which are well over 3600 pages. It seems the last books left an opening for another novel, because the story did not end, and it left the reader waiting in anticipation for the next book. What is interesting is there was some research on the part of the author in the behavior of wild animals, hunting safaris, and the ways of the tribal African natives of which I have some knowledge and seems to be very accurate.
I would highly recommend the novels and feel your imagination will never cease being amazed by the tales.
The author Edgar Rice Burroughs was an American author who created the jungle hero Tarzan and the heroic Mars Adventurer John Carter. He was published in many genres, but was known for popular science and fantasy stories. During World War 2 he became the oldest war correspondent, and his stories were published in Argosy Magazine. He was a talented writer who was way ahead of his time.
Tarzan of the Apes The Return of Tarzan The Beasts of Tarzan The Son of Tarzan Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar Jungle Tales of Tarzan Tarzan the Untamed Tarzan the Terrible Tarzan and the Golden Lion Tarzan and the Ant Men Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle Tarzan and the Lost Empire Tarzan at the Earth's Core Tarzan the Invincible Tarzan Triumphant Tarzan and the City of Gold Tarzan and the Lion Man Tarzan and the Leopard Men Tarzan's Quest Tarzan and the Forbidden City Tarzan the Magnificent Tarzan and the Foreign Legion The Tarzan Twins Tarzan and the Tarzan Twins and Jad-Bal-Ja the Golden Lion Tarzan and the Castaways
I'm about half way through these stories. I'm enjoying the adventures, but I had to take a break from all of the "lord and master" stuff and Jane swooning at the drop of a hat. I would recommend them, but you just have to keep in mind when they were written, and take them for what they are - the exciting adventures of a man raised by apes.
Well, here we have it, the works of Tarzan complete and what a mammoth task that was. This is an interesting series to critique. Like with so many books, they are so far removed from the movies, it is shocking. Looking at the Johnny Weissmuller movies, by today’s standards, uncomfortably racist.
Over all the stories were fun, the key to reading Tarzan is to read it superficially. The moment you truly look at the stories, you become uncomfortable, you ask too many questions, the more questions you ask the more that appear.
On one side, the concept of an unknown land and continent opens up a plethora of potential for themes and story lines. Lines of “the missing link” tribes, lost civilisations forgotten in time, the quest for money or eternal youth are all great stories. HOWEVER, looking at them more closely 99% of all these stories you would assume that Africans are dim witted half wits and all the advanced civilisations with money, stone buildings etc were all White. The social/ race divide was truly shocking. In part a reflection of the period, but also a reflection of the author.
In SO MANY cases we have two ‘white’ cities at war with each other’s for eons. These civilisations were descendants of Europeans. One Roman, another English, or Saxon. Yet they have all managed to live in touched, unseen by anyone around them. Each group once never thought of trying to communicate with their country of origin.
Then, we move onto Jane and their son. Makes two random appearances and completely forgotten. Why? Tarzan and Jane, nope, just Tarzan doing whatever he liked, we is KING OF THE APES, LORD OF AFRICA. Africa is his domain, who cares about wife and child!
Then, in other stories, we have the (White) Americans coming to Africa to pillage, plunder, kill as many animals as they can for fun, take gold and jewels. I’ve made links with this in other stories, of Roosevelt reading in Africa killing game, Hemingway doing the same, all these combined have created a sub view of a rich continent for people to use at their beck and call.
The last book and ending, kind of just ended. It ended more on a whimper rather than a glorious bang of satisfaction. So, although many of these stories were truly fun to read, the key is “keep it superficial”
I finally got around to finishing this book. I've read most of the novels now, at least those I wanted to read. If all you know about Tarzan is from the movies, you're in for a shock. Many of these stories are solid, intricately plotted adventure, although a bit heavy sometimes on coincidence, and a few are quite imaginative. Burroughs did get kind of repetitious with lost civilizations for a while, but he got over it. My favorite Tarzan story besides the original has to be Tarzan the Terrible, which involves people with tails and tame triceratops.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Really enjoyed the first part of the series. Towards the end, I couldn’t bring myself to pick them up anymore. I don’t know if the series should have ended sooner or if the editor was just lazy. Names would change mid story and plots weren’t finalized. All in all it was mostly enjoyable.
The only problems with e book was the miss spelled words and the reference to blacks as niggers I see no way to refer to them in the context of the time and must remain
An excellent short story with Tarzan being stranded on a desert island with a wild mix of people, some ancient Mayans and a group of headhunters who have lost their heads and fail to turn up. Great addition to Tarzan's legacy.
Tarzan and THe Madman is missing from this compilation and the last book they found in his mementos- so the end of a most wonderful exciting series , this plus John Carter of Mars has put Edgar Rice Burroughs among my favorite authors!