Lord of the Trees

Secrets of the Nine #2

by Philip José Farmer

Death will come to me as to every man. But until that moment I will live as if I were the strongest of all living things

He is James Cloamby, Viscount Grandrith. The one and only. The white monkey of the jungle. Slayer of wild beasts and righter of wrongs. Last of the wild men. Lord of the trees. Pristine spirit of darkest Africa. Member of the House of Lords and one of the wealthiest men on the planet.

30,000 years ago some Stone Age people discovered the elixir of life. Unless they met with disaster, they lived for centuries. Going back to his roots in the Gabon the Lord of the Trees is rudely intercepted. A 1200-foot plunge into shark-infested seas and a bloody rendezvous with jungle mercenaries gives him a taste for adventure again - which is just as well. For the Lord of the Trees has fallen into the grip of the Nine, grim and ancient rulers who control the world from distant mansions...

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Pulp, Adventure, Fiction

149 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

Philip José Farmer was an American author, principally known for his science fiction and fantasy novels and short stories. He was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, but spent much of his life in Peoria, Illinois.

Farmer is best known for his Riverworld series and the earlier World of Tiers series. He is noted for his use of sexual and religious themes in his work, his fascination for and reworking of the lore of legendary pulp heroes, and occasional tongue-in-cheek pseudonymous works written as if by fictional characters.

Reviews

[Karl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book back in the early 80's as Lord of the Trees / The Mad Goblin (Ace Double).
But could not pass up purchasing this (in such) excellent condition hardcover edition.

[Icy-Cobwebs-Crossing-SpaceTime · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reviewed for Hearts on Fire Reviews.

As many decades as I’ve been reading Science Fiction and Speculative Fiction, I’d never read any of the works of Philip Jose Farmer, so “Lord of the Trees” was quite an introduction. I marveled at the depth and breadth of Mr. Farmer’s imagination. Not content to dabble in just one Universe, he has created several different, and often Parallel, Universes. This novel happens to fall in the “Wold Newton Family” collection: stories of heroes and heroines, larger-than-life individuals, and even villains, all of whom are genetically linked to a diverse collection of individuals radioactively affected by a meteor landing near Wold Newton, Yorkshire, England, in 1795.

In addition to the “Wold Newton Family,” there exists-possibly in this Universe, possibly in a parallel, possibly in more than one-a group of immortals or near-immortals known as The Nine, who periodically accept new candidates, and some of whom are diligent manipulators of genetic trees, appearing, for example, as great-grandfathers, grandfathers, and so forth. As immortals, The Nine have their own agendas, which don’t necessarily dovetail with the good of humanity.

That’s where heroes such as Lord Grandwith step in. Whether he is the actual Tarzan, or whether he is the actual Doc Savage, or neither, he certainly has the background: raised in Africa, feral, super-powerful and meta-human; and he is unafraid to face off with The Nine. “Lord of the Trees” is Volume X of The Memoirs of Lord Grandwith, as edited by Mr. Farmer, and a rip-rollicking adventure it is. Readers who fondly dwell on the decades of Classic Pulp Fiction of the 1920’s and 1930’s will find a home here.

[Richard Guion · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good follow up to A Feast Unknown, which if you are going to read this one is definitely required reading. It’s a good Tarzan story with him being hunted in the African jungle by The Nine, lots of action and a high body count. As a novel it has a somewhat dissatisfying ending. This was 1/2 of an Ace double novel originally with The Mad Goblin, a Doc Caliban adventure, also by Farmer on the second half. Farmer intended to write more novels detailing the fight against the Nine but never got around to it. He had so many series to write. As a Tarzan novel, I think that Tarzan and the Dark Heart of Time is superior, with even better action, characterization, and a great payoff at the end.

[Little Timmy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Are you a pulp fan? Like Doc Savage or Tarzan? Ever wonder about their sex life or even why they never seemed to have to goto the bathroom like normal humans. Farmer must have too. He answers everything you could want to know but wasn't in the orginial books. Adult material but great reads. Very recommended

[Stephen Holtman · Rating 2 out of 5]

In this sequel to A Feast Unknown, the ‘Hero’ continues to try to take down the nine group.I have the unfortunate task of telling you that this book was a little less fun then it’s predessecor. To start off with, the Grandrith caratcher is a lot less enjoyable then the last time that we have seen him. He went from being a decent Caratcher to an egotistical friend that’s all right in small doses. As for the action, that seemed to be the thing that saved this from being a totally bad book. As for said action, It itself was OK. I can’t say that it always a walking destructionathon. But it did have it’s moments. But for a book like this to not only lack any real quality, but the one that does get used gets done so half heartedly doesn’t speak well for it. I had hoped that this would be the one to give Farmer the five starrer that has evaded him so many times since I started to review for this sight. But as you might’ve guessed from the review so far this is not the book that is going to do that. It had decent writing, sometimes OK action, the caratchers were kind of annoying and the fact that the mystery of the weird Sexually altered ailment was never dealt with made this one of the worse books in the writer’s vast history. This one sadly does not stand up to the quality of a good book.

[Preston Holden JR · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tarzan Lives On

I was eager to learn the history of a vast majority of our super intelligent heroes and some with super human physical strength. And to also out that some were virtually immortal was even more fascinating. I am looking forward experiencing the stories from the Wold Newton series.

[Chris Hayes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as strong as A Feast Unknown, but a nice follow up.

[Ben Shakey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This the a sequel to A Feast Unknown, which I enjoyed much more.

A Feast Unknown took the stock characters of Tarzan and Doc Savage and took them out of the early 20th century mores that they were created in an placed in them in the genre of a sexually explicit and homo-erotic 1960s paperback. Lord of the Trees continues this by taking the same Tarzan character and placed him in action adventure men's paperback such as Mack Bolan or The Executioner.

Because our culture is always more comfortable with violence than sex, A Feast Unknown feels challenging and transgressive, while Lord of Trees feels like it took Tarzan and made him into a common straight to video action hero.

I'll still read the Mad Goblin though.

[Phillip · Rating 2 out of 5]

As long as you are in a 'pulp' mood, this book is great fun. Having just finished a bit of hard science fiction, I was in just the right mood for this 180 page action scene with PJF's version of Tarzan, as the 'Lord of the Trees, battles his way in order to find a weakness within his ex-masters, the nine. This is the middle volume in a trilogy but you learn all you need here so can be read on its own.

[Michael Chesler · Rating 5 out of 5]

old is like new

Never aging, never content, never at peace. Is immortality worth it.
To be set apart from the masses and never to be truly yourself, this is the destiny of those committed to staying alive.
On the periphery are us, the ones that just wither on the world’s vine.

[Chris Gager · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read as the first half of a dual novel book with "The Mad Goblin" as the second half. These stories feature Farmer's analog versions of Tarzan(book 1)) and Doc Savage(book two). My review is under that book.

[Matt Springer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tore through this. The predecessor is also great pulp but with a very strange sexual component? You get a good recap in this one so I’m tempted to suggest skipping A Feast Unknown. But this one is good fun.

[Tony Fecteau · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was fascinating. Basically, characters that we have read in the past are actual people and can live a long time? Quite fascinating, and I really did not know where I was being taken with the story.

[Bent Andreassen · Rating 4 out of 5]

More like 3 1/2 stars. Fast and hilarious action.

[S B · Rating 2 out of 5]

Could not get into it at all. DnF

[Pedro · Rating 5 out of 5]

RIP roaring, non-stop, breathless ride of a book. No chapter breaks, no paragraph breaks, just 149 pages of zero-brains, breakneck speed action. Loved it!

[Linda Lozar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting

Much different than the first novella in the trilogy. A little less descriptive violence and no sex, but then the time frame is different. The first book covers several weeks, this one actually covers, from my estimate, less than a week. It is much more concise in that respect. Great follow-up.

[Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great story by Philip Jose Farmer. His ability to write the Tarzan character is uncanny. On top of that, he crafted a crazy world run by the ageless Nine, and places his Tarzan analog squarely within that world. This installment is a lot less sexually explicit than the first (A Feast Unknown), which allowed Farmer to focus on the Lord Grandrith character and the plot. Full of action, this is one of the best Farmer stories I've read. I'm already onto the Mad Goblin to hear Doc Caliban's side of the story!

[dejah_thoris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unlike the previous bizarre book, A Feast Unknown, Lord of the Trees is pure action and violent gore where Tarzan has to defeat his enemies in order to survive. It's quite swash-buckling and my biggest critique is the lack of chapters because one long narrative is hard to break when you must. I especially enjoyed how Tarzan determined which of his two companions was deceiving him though I believe he has still more members of the Nine to destroy before his quest ends.

[Stig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Violent and fast-paced, this novel pits "Tarzan" and, to a lesser extent, "Doc Savage" against a group of nasty immortals which run pretty much everything. Exciting enough, but after a while all the violence gets a bit tiresome - there is often a mean streak in Farmer's fiction, and I could have done with less of that.

[William Stafford · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is like a high octane action movie you walk into after it's started. It's a non-stop chain of fights, chases and explosions vividly but not too graphically depicted by the author. The narrator is a souped-up version of Tarzan but he is so arrogant I couldn't warm to him. The ending clearly signals there are other episodes to come but I doubt I shall spend much time seeking them out.

[Travis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Farmer's Tarzan 'homage' character gets his own novel, and it is essentially one long chase across Africa, as the jungle lord has rebelled against the conspiracy that he used to serve and which granted him his immortality.

Lots of info dumps about Farmers pulp-based universe, but great action scenes.

[Andre · Rating 2 out of 5]

Non stop fighting action without substance. It's as if the plot from book 1 had been put on hold throughout this one. Horribly boring. I am still going to read The Mad Goblin hoping the story unfolds to something worthwhile.

[Mark Gunnels · Rating 2 out of 5]

After a bizarre first volume that involved Tarzan and Doc Savage (and I'm not exaggerating) dueling with their penises, this second volume was extremely dull.

[Shawn Manning · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having a hankering for some Tarzan, I decided to read this book, as it had been sitting on my TBR pile for some time. I had read the preceding volume, so I shouldn't have been surprised when it ran more like James Bond than Tarzan. The pace is fantastic and never lets up. While I enjoyed it well enough, it wasn't quite the same.