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Tarzan

Tarzan: The Complete Adventures

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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 of the ApesThe Return of TarzanThe Beasts of TarzanThe Son of TarzanTarzan and the Jewels of OparJungle Tales of TarzanTarzan the UntamedTarzan the TerribleTarzan and the Golden LionTarzan and the Ant MenTarzan, Lord of the JungleTarzan and the Lost EmpireTarzan at the Earth's CoreTarzan the InvincibleTarzan TriumphantTarzan and the City of GoldTarzan and the Lion ManTarzan and the Leopard MenTarzan's QuestTarzan and the Forbidden CityTarzan the MagnificentTarzan and the Foreign LegionThe Tarzan TwinsTarzan and the Tarzan Twins and Jad-Bal-Ja the Golden LionTarzan and the Castaways

5070 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 1, 2011

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About the author

Edgar Rice Burroughs

2,902 books2,739 followers
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.

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5 stars
271 (50%)
4 stars
162 (30%)
3 stars
75 (14%)
2 stars
21 (3%)
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5 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
100 reviews5 followers
February 11, 2014
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
295 reviews1 follower
September 8, 2017
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.
Profile Image for James.
1,818 reviews18 followers
July 10, 2021
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”
30 reviews
December 3, 2019
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.
Profile Image for Ronda.
31 reviews1 follower
September 4, 2019
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.
2 reviews
March 17, 2022
Great read

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
Profile Image for Briana Warner.
357 reviews
January 3, 2020
Well is a good book but some of the content just isn't that great. Not for kids that is a fact.
Profile Image for Bruce Fisher.
7 reviews
September 1, 2020
Juvenile and racist. That didn't bother me when I read as a kid, but I can't read it now.
Profile Image for Charles J Kilker.
78 reviews3 followers
July 20, 2015
Complete Adventures of EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS

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.
Profile Image for Joanne.
2,231 reviews
November 20, 2016
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!
Profile Image for Sheryl Heuer.
15 reviews
March 12, 2013
I loved the first two books, but the next ones became repetitive enough that I stopped reading the collection after the fourth book.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews

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