Treasure of Gor

Gor #38

by John Norman

In the open, windswept American southwest, in a remote, lonely area, there exists a small, privately managed, privately financed observatory.  On the surface, there is no reason to regard this institution as different from others of its kind.  It is, however, in at least one respect, quite different, for it serves as a liaison point between the orbiting steel worlds of the Kurii, a technologically advanced, ambitious, ruthless, predatory life form, and the planet Gor, which the Kurii covet, after having destroyed their own world by generations of neglect, greed, and war.  The staff of the observatory, for the most part going about their normal duties, assumes that the nature and activities of the observatory are not other than those familiar to similar institutions.  On the staff, amongst others, is a brilliant, troubled, sensitive, lovely young woman specializing in radar imaging, Agnes Morrison Atherton.  Among the characteristics of her active mind, is a difficult-to-resist, tenacious, dangerous curiosity.  She discovers a file largely unintelligible to her, one which contains mysterious, coded coordinates.  Laboring on her own time and over several nights, she manages to decipher the coordinates which, investigated, reveal two large, spherical objects, apparently artificial, emerged from the asteroid belt.  In the interests of science, of collegiality and transparency, Atherton is excited and eager to share her views and speculations with the senior staff of the observatory.  It seems that whatever might be the nature and purpose of these mysterious bodies, Atherton’s contributions are less than welcome.  She is drugged and awakens to find herself stripped and for sale on the planet Gor.  Marked and collared, she begins her life as a Gorean slave girl.

Genres: Science Fiction

716 pages, Paperback

Published April 23, 2024

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

John Norman, real name John Lange, was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1931. His best known works, the Gor series, currently span 36 books written 1966 (Tarnsman of Gor) to 2021 (Avengers of Gor). Three installments of the Telnarian Histories, plus three other fiction works and a non-fiction paperback. Mr. Norman is married and has three children.

Reviews

[Robby]

An awful lot going on for the main character in this one. Long book, but a good read as the Gor books go. Way less of the monotonous description John Norman is known for

[Malkinius · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Book I Did Not Expect To See Or Read

I expected Book 37, Warriors of Gor to be the last, the summation and conclusion of the Gorean sagas. I was wrong. This is one of the books that is not part of the main series story arc. It stands alone. It is also one of what are called the “slave books” because the main character is a slave brought from Earth and who finds what she truly is and wants to be, a slave.

The book refers to characters, locations, and events from previous books, and also follows up on the stories of a few lesser-known characters. There is even a walk-on cameo by Nar from Tarnsman of Gor. It is near the end of the book.

Except for the beginning, which is to put it mildly, dense, the rest of the book is vintage Norman. You still have his, why use only one adjective when you can use three, way of writing throughout the book. If you have read the series this far, it is as familiar as a much loved, well worn blanket. It gives us another look into the world of Gor after most of the loose ends were tied up in Warriors of Gor.

I don’t know if there will be a book 40. I hope there is. If so, it will be another year before it happens. This is one of his longer books at 710 pages and 104 chapters. It is worth the time taken to read and think about it. There is more than a sword and sandal story with slaves scattered throughout the book. And just when you think the story has reached its conclusion, there is another quarter or fifth of the book left to go. There is always more going on than the main character sees or understands. Still, it doesn’t plod along, it keeps moving with more and more detail of his rich Gorean world added as you follow Mira along her journey from an astronomical observatory on Earth to the Rence marshes and beyond.

For long time Gor fans, this book will not disappoint you. For someone new to the series, it may be enjoyable, but you will not have the depth of understanding that goes with the rest of the series. So you can read it as a stand-alone book. Just remember, this is not Earth and not an Earth culture. It is the summation of many historical cultures that moved in their own direction.

So, buy the book, and get comfortable, as you are in for a long story that is well worth the time it takes to read. And return once more to the counter Earth called Gor.

[willa cather gender truther · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really could not ask for a more perfect object lesson in the intellectual consequences of an absolute belief in natural law; everything that is dull about this book comes from its understanding of men and women as fundamentally uniform and distinguished from one another only when they are the victims of some malignant social construct or neurosis. Otherwise, all characters speak in the same voice, carry the same values, and are only really defined by name and present circumstances. The same ten paragraphs, a kind of autohypnotic mush of affirmations, make up most of the book; I suspect they make up most of the previous 37 as well. The word incurious is overused, but I struggle to think of a more apropos way to describe Norman's apparent disinterest in the possibilities of prose style, narrative, psychology or rhetoric; despite producing propaganda, he does not even seem to be interested in what makes propaganda effective. You couldn't even really call the book horny.

[AmbushPredator · Rating 5 out of 5]

Back in for for what is no 38 in the series but hopefully not the final entry, this is a rip-roaring adventure with new characters, though as it continues the Priest King/Kurii war, there are mentions of more familiar characters. It’s as good as ever, though the modern covers leave much to be desired- this one supposedly depicting a scene from the book but clearly the person drawing it neglected to read the description of the animal depicted!!

[Lizzy DeMarco · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always enjoy the Gor novels from the slaves perspective. This one aboue Agnes aka Mira did not disappoint. It ended on a cliffhanger so I hope there is more to come.