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Tarzan #10
Tarzan and the Ant Men
Vintage paperback Tarzan #10
188 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1924
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1256 people want to read
About the author
Edgar Rice Burroughs
2,800 books2,735 followersEdgar 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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Displaying 1 - 30 of 90 reviews
June 10, 2020
"only the exceptional man works hard when he does not have to."
Continuing from the last book while picking up the loose end of Miranda Estaban, this story spans across an entirely new reality. Although it does not lack any uniqueness that is inherent to the series, I found the first half of the book to be a little too over descriptive.
Second half of the book assumes Tarzan's usual trot until the end and, almost at the last page, the story takes a sudden turn to the end.
Although the story was good, in my opinion it does not measures up to any of the series before.
"War and work, the two most distasteful things in the world, are, nevertheless, the most essential to the happiness and the existence of a people."
Continuing from the last book while picking up the loose end of Miranda Estaban, this story spans across an entirely new reality. Although it does not lack any uniqueness that is inherent to the series, I found the first half of the book to be a little too over descriptive.
Second half of the book assumes Tarzan's usual trot until the end and, almost at the last page, the story takes a sudden turn to the end.
Although the story was good, in my opinion it does not measures up to any of the series before.
"War and work, the two most distasteful things in the world, are, nevertheless, the most essential to the happiness and the existence of a people."
November 19, 2015
I enjoyed this Tarzan novel, but as I move through the series at least two things are becoming evident. In this series, you can't toss a stick in Africa without hitting some type of lost civilization or city, and most likely, that same stick is going to hit someone in the head and give them amnesia.
There seems to be a new "lost city" discovered in every Tarzan novel, and in this one there were technically two civilizations found. One was a group of neanderthal type cave dwellers where the women completely dominated the men, and the other was a race of people around a foot tall.
There were three separate storylines going on here. You had the cave people storyline, the ant men storyline, and another storyline featuring Esteban Miranda, who is a Tarzan lookalike. He had been imprisoned by cannibals in the last novel, but pops up again here. (And there's amnesia involved.)
So at one point, Tarzan finds himself shrunk down to the size of the ant men at around a foot tall. Its temporary, however, and eventually he will return to full size, but no one knows exactly when. And how do they manage to shrink Tarzan? By hitting him in the head, of course. There's a gland in the brain that when struck will shrink a man down to a foot tall. Yeah, I never knew that either!
Another thing of note is how difficult some of the names of the ant men were. Komodoflorensal. Veltopismakus. Elkomoelhago. Trohanadalmakus. You get the idea. If you can get past that, there's a decent story here.
It seems to suffer from the same twisting plots as several of the Tarzan novels, but overall it's still a good read. If you like the other Tarzan novels, you'll probably like this one.
There seems to be a new "lost city" discovered in every Tarzan novel, and in this one there were technically two civilizations found. One was a group of neanderthal type cave dwellers where the women completely dominated the men, and the other was a race of people around a foot tall.
There were three separate storylines going on here. You had the cave people storyline, the ant men storyline, and another storyline featuring Esteban Miranda, who is a Tarzan lookalike. He had been imprisoned by cannibals in the last novel, but pops up again here. (And there's amnesia involved.)
So at one point, Tarzan finds himself shrunk down to the size of the ant men at around a foot tall. Its temporary, however, and eventually he will return to full size, but no one knows exactly when. And how do they manage to shrink Tarzan? By hitting him in the head, of course. There's a gland in the brain that when struck will shrink a man down to a foot tall. Yeah, I never knew that either!
Another thing of note is how difficult some of the names of the ant men were. Komodoflorensal. Veltopismakus. Elkomoelhago. Trohanadalmakus. You get the idea. If you can get past that, there's a decent story here.
It seems to suffer from the same twisting plots as several of the Tarzan novels, but overall it's still a good read. If you like the other Tarzan novels, you'll probably like this one.
June 21, 2024
Probably one of my favorite Tarzan novels about his adventures among a tribe of 18-inch high pygmies.
September 3, 2014
"And you intend," he demanded "to defy a city of four hundred and eighty thousand people, armed only with a bit of iron rod?"
"And my wits" added Tarzan.
That's some good Tarzan right there.
"And my wits" added Tarzan.
That's some good Tarzan right there.
March 18, 2021
I can't call it the worst Tarzan novel, since I haven't read them all. But it's the weakest entry in the series so far. Of course, even a bad Tarzan novel can be fun on the level of pulp fiction. (Though I maintain that the very first Tarzan novel is a true classic of English literature, with deeply thematic elements, telling not just the story of a man raised by apes, but of the rise of human civilization itself. But I digress.)
The book picks up where Tarzan and the Golden Lion left off. Esteban Miranda, Tarzan's evil doppelganger, has been imprisoned by a cannibal tribe, and the only reason he's still alive is that the village chief and the witch doctor are having an ongoing argument about whether he's Tarzan, or the River Devil. Enter the witch doctor's young daughter, Uhha, who is tricked into helping Esteban escape. For good measure, he drags her along into the jungle with him as he flees.
Meanwhile, Tarzan's son Korak has been trying to teach the old man to fly an airplane, and Tarzan decides he's going to go for a solo flight, against the advice of Korak and his wife Meriem (who hasn't appeared since The Son of Tarzan). Korak and Meriem also appear to have reproduced, so that means that Tarzan's a grandpa now.
Tarzan, being Tarzan, heads off in the airplane anyway, and promptly crashes it deep within an impenetrable part of the jungle.
Tarzan first encounters a strange matriarchal tribe called the Alali where brutish, hairy women hunt fearful men, bonk them on their heads with clubs, and drag them home for mating season. Tarzan, of course, is captured by one of the brute women. Escaping with one of the younger men, Tarzan helps turn the lad from being fearful and incapable into a confident hunter. So confident, in fact, that he eventually upends the entire tribal structure. I mean, you could kind of see that coming.
This is the first sense you get that this tenth book in the series is less a Tarzan novel than it is a socio-political commentary that just happens to feature Tarzan. I don't wish to read ERB's mind with regards to feminism, but it's no great leap to suggest that he probably appreciated more traditional sex roles. Check it out:
Tarzan next encounters the Minunians -- the "Ant-Men" of the title. People who are only two feet tall. Tarzan's time among the Ant-Men takes up the bulk of the novel (as it should, given the title), and here is where ERB really gets into the political commentary, mostly about the evils of unjust and crippling taxation, but also regarding deep corruption in government as well. Consider that when this book was written, the income tax was only about a decade old. He also describes in overwrought detail the social and military structures of their society. It goes on . . . and on . . . and on . . .
Also worth noting are all the Minunian names. I'd dreaded the hyphenated names of characters and places from Pal-ul-don in a previous book. Here we have names and places that seem to have been created by randomly banging on a typewriter keyboard. Zoanthrohago. Komodoflorensal. Veltopismakus. Kalfastoban. Adendrohahkis. Trohanadalmakus. Qwertyuiop.
Befriended by one city of Minunians as their friendly giant, Tarzan is captured and enslaved in a rival city, and . . . I kid you not . . . . shrunk down to Ant-Man size. Apparently this involves being struck at the base of the skull with a rock. Yes. ERB might have been onto something about taxation, but his knowledge of science is pretty dang sketchy. At one point Tarzan discovers that although he's been shrunk down to two feet high, he somehow retains his normal strength. This allows him to bust through some prison bars and at one point literally rip a man's head off. Literally. Off.
Okay, not entirely off. But his ghost will be called "Nearly-headless Caraftap," from here on out.
ERB then spends half the book on Tarzan's escape because, after putting all kinds of effort into world-building, he means to tell you everything there is to know about Minunian society, even if that means describing each and every corridor of every building down to the smallest detail.
It goes on . . . and on . . . and on . . .
Every now and then ERB switches back to Esteban Miranda wandering through the jungle, and Uhha plotting her escape from him. Which she eventually does by bonking him on the head. Then leaving him naked. Then getting herself eaten by a lion! Which, . . . damn you, ERB! How could you do that to Uhha! She's just a kid!
And every now and then ERB switches over to the young man from the Alali tribe, gathering other young men to his side, and teaching them to be brave in the face of brute-women.
And there's even a fourth plot where Korak decides hey, maybe we ought to go out looking for the old man, because he hasn't returned with my airplane.
You keep wondering when these disparate plots are going to collide. You must wait. . . and wait . . . and wait.
Tarzan learns that being shrunk by the rock to the head is only temporary, and that he'll eventually return to full size. Which of course happens just after he staggers through the impenetrable thorn forest that surrounds this strange part of the jungle. (Much easier to penetrate when you're two feet high. What convenient timing.)
But Korak, et al, have discovered the dazed and confused Esteban Miranda snacking on a dead buffalo, and believing him to be Tarzan, bring him home to nurse him back to health. Jane arrives from England along with Flora Hawkes, who, unlike in the last book, suddenly speaks in a colloquial dialect. Where the heck did that come from? Be consistent, ERB!
Even Jane thinks Esteban is her husband. Which is ridiculous, but contrivances are ERB's thing. Just go with it. Because that's when Tarzan finally makes it home. And there's not even a "Sorry, son, I crashed your plane."
Oy vey.
Honestly, it's not awful, but so much of the book is taken up with endless descriptions of Minunian society that it all just sinks under its own weight.
Also, the whole concept of Minunians is silly.
Also, ERB killed Uhha, the bastard!
The book picks up where Tarzan and the Golden Lion left off. Esteban Miranda, Tarzan's evil doppelganger, has been imprisoned by a cannibal tribe, and the only reason he's still alive is that the village chief and the witch doctor are having an ongoing argument about whether he's Tarzan, or the River Devil. Enter the witch doctor's young daughter, Uhha, who is tricked into helping Esteban escape. For good measure, he drags her along into the jungle with him as he flees.
Meanwhile, Tarzan's son Korak has been trying to teach the old man to fly an airplane, and Tarzan decides he's going to go for a solo flight, against the advice of Korak and his wife Meriem (who hasn't appeared since The Son of Tarzan). Korak and Meriem also appear to have reproduced, so that means that Tarzan's a grandpa now.
Tarzan, being Tarzan, heads off in the airplane anyway, and promptly crashes it deep within an impenetrable part of the jungle.
Tarzan first encounters a strange matriarchal tribe called the Alali where brutish, hairy women hunt fearful men, bonk them on their heads with clubs, and drag them home for mating season. Tarzan, of course, is captured by one of the brute women. Escaping with one of the younger men, Tarzan helps turn the lad from being fearful and incapable into a confident hunter. So confident, in fact, that he eventually upends the entire tribal structure. I mean, you could kind of see that coming.
This is the first sense you get that this tenth book in the series is less a Tarzan novel than it is a socio-political commentary that just happens to feature Tarzan. I don't wish to read ERB's mind with regards to feminism, but it's no great leap to suggest that he probably appreciated more traditional sex roles. Check it out:
The hideous life of the Alalus was the natural result of the unnatural reversal of sex dominance. It is the province of the male to initiate love and by his masterfulness to inspire first respect, then admiration in the breast of the female he seeks to attract. Love itself developed after these other emotions. The gradually increasing ascendency of the female Alalus over the male eventually prevented the emotions of respect and admiration for the male from being aroused, with the result that love never followed.
Having no love for her mate and having become a more powerful brute, the savage Alalus woman soon came to treat the members of the opposite sex with contempt and brutality with the result that the power, or at least the desire, to initiate love ceased to exist in the heart of the male--he could not love a creature he feared and hated, he could not respect or admire the unsexed creatures that the Alali women had become, and so he fled into the forests and the jungles and there the dominant females hunted him lest their race perish from the earth.
Tarzan next encounters the Minunians -- the "Ant-Men" of the title. People who are only two feet tall. Tarzan's time among the Ant-Men takes up the bulk of the novel (as it should, given the title), and here is where ERB really gets into the political commentary, mostly about the evils of unjust and crippling taxation, but also regarding deep corruption in government as well. Consider that when this book was written, the income tax was only about a decade old. He also describes in overwrought detail the social and military structures of their society. It goes on . . . and on . . . and on . . .
Also worth noting are all the Minunian names. I'd dreaded the hyphenated names of characters and places from Pal-ul-don in a previous book. Here we have names and places that seem to have been created by randomly banging on a typewriter keyboard. Zoanthrohago. Komodoflorensal. Veltopismakus. Kalfastoban. Adendrohahkis. Trohanadalmakus. Qwertyuiop.
Befriended by one city of Minunians as their friendly giant, Tarzan is captured and enslaved in a rival city, and . . . I kid you not . . . . shrunk down to Ant-Man size. Apparently this involves being struck at the base of the skull with a rock. Yes. ERB might have been onto something about taxation, but his knowledge of science is pretty dang sketchy. At one point Tarzan discovers that although he's been shrunk down to two feet high, he somehow retains his normal strength. This allows him to bust through some prison bars and at one point literally rip a man's head off. Literally. Off.
Okay, not entirely off. But his ghost will be called "Nearly-headless Caraftap," from here on out.
ERB then spends half the book on Tarzan's escape because, after putting all kinds of effort into world-building, he means to tell you everything there is to know about Minunian society, even if that means describing each and every corridor of every building down to the smallest detail.
It goes on . . . and on . . . and on . . .
Every now and then ERB switches back to Esteban Miranda wandering through the jungle, and Uhha plotting her escape from him. Which she eventually does by bonking him on the head. Then leaving him naked. Then getting herself eaten by a lion! Which, . . . damn you, ERB! How could you do that to Uhha! She's just a kid!
And every now and then ERB switches over to the young man from the Alali tribe, gathering other young men to his side, and teaching them to be brave in the face of brute-women.
And there's even a fourth plot where Korak decides hey, maybe we ought to go out looking for the old man, because he hasn't returned with my airplane.
You keep wondering when these disparate plots are going to collide. You must wait. . . and wait . . . and wait.
Tarzan learns that being shrunk by the rock to the head is only temporary, and that he'll eventually return to full size. Which of course happens just after he staggers through the impenetrable thorn forest that surrounds this strange part of the jungle. (Much easier to penetrate when you're two feet high. What convenient timing.)
But Korak, et al, have discovered the dazed and confused Esteban Miranda snacking on a dead buffalo, and believing him to be Tarzan, bring him home to nurse him back to health. Jane arrives from England along with Flora Hawkes, who, unlike in the last book, suddenly speaks in a colloquial dialect. Where the heck did that come from? Be consistent, ERB!
Even Jane thinks Esteban is her husband. Which is ridiculous, but contrivances are ERB's thing. Just go with it. Because that's when Tarzan finally makes it home. And there's not even a "Sorry, son, I crashed your plane."
Oy vey.
Honestly, it's not awful, but so much of the book is taken up with endless descriptions of Minunian society that it all just sinks under its own weight.
Also, the whole concept of Minunians is silly.
Also, ERB killed Uhha, the bastard!
November 5, 2019
The tenth Tarzan novel revolves around another lost civilization that Tarzan discovers, this time after he crash lands an airplane. Actually, there are two lost civilizations. One is a race of large female-dominated people and one is the titular ant-men consisting of small pygmy-like folks. These are not small villages but rather cities of thousands of people. Tarzan has plenty of adventure among both groups including getting captured, escaping, leading battles, and even encountering his own look-alike from previous books, Esteban Miranda. Jane puts in a cameo appearance, being in England at the beginning of the story.
For fans of this series, it’s a pretty decent Tarzan yarn but you will have to wade through a fairly large amount of world building and corresponding info dumps. ERB obviously spent some time working out the two cultures and especially the complex system of buildings and structures that make up the ant people’s city. Also complicating matters are the long, complicated names of the characters such as Veltopismakus, Komodoflorensal, Trohanadalmakus, and Elkomoelhago. If ERB was getting paid by the word, then he certainly did himself a disservice with these long names.
So yes, a decent Tarzan entry for veterans but not the place to start for readers curious about Tarzan novels.
For fans of this series, it’s a pretty decent Tarzan yarn but you will have to wade through a fairly large amount of world building and corresponding info dumps. ERB obviously spent some time working out the two cultures and especially the complex system of buildings and structures that make up the ant people’s city. Also complicating matters are the long, complicated names of the characters such as Veltopismakus, Komodoflorensal, Trohanadalmakus, and Elkomoelhago. If ERB was getting paid by the word, then he certainly did himself a disservice with these long names.
So yes, a decent Tarzan entry for veterans but not the place to start for readers curious about Tarzan novels.
March 6, 2025
Tarzan and the Ant Men, the 10th book in the series, is my least favorite up this point, even dethroning The Son of Tarzan.
This one is just far too silly for my tastes. Not that these books are known for their realism, but this one stretches credibility too much with a premise that involves Tarzan shrinking down to the same size as a lost civilization of pygmy people and is caught between a war amidst them. With this absurd, almost sci-fi premise, and names like Komodoflorensa and other long, incomprehensible words, this feels like a story that would've been more suitable to the Barsoom series rather than Tarzan. Even then I don't think it would've been all that great.
1.5⭐
This one is just far too silly for my tastes. Not that these books are known for their realism, but this one stretches credibility too much with a premise that involves Tarzan shrinking down to the same size as a lost civilization of pygmy people and is caught between a war amidst them. With this absurd, almost sci-fi premise, and names like Komodoflorensa and other long, incomprehensible words, this feels like a story that would've been more suitable to the Barsoom series rather than Tarzan. Even then I don't think it would've been all that great.
1.5⭐
June 4, 2017
The good parts of this book were really a hoot--Tarzan learns to fly and discovers that his arrog...er, self-confidence is not an asset in a pilot, Tarzan's evil twin discovers that he is NOT King of the Jungle while Gulliver's Travels meets the Taming of the Shrew. Obviously Burroughs was having a great time writing this book. Also, Burroughs indulged himself by letting loose rants of social commentary about the spoiling effects of easy living, the welfare state, and heavy taxation raising up a nation of weak, lazy, indoctrinated syncophants, which so accurately prophesies today's ridiculous spoiled snowflakes, so be warned if you are a feminazi or a pampered entitled liberal snowflake sobbing in your safespace, you might find the commentary less amusing than I did. All this in such a slim book--it must be very busy! Yes, it certainly is. The downside is that Burroughs got too involved in building the world of antmen taking the description and explanations to extremes and when such descriptions interrupted the action for too long, they got really boring to the adrenaline fueled reader who was panting to get back to the action. A problem easily solved by honing your art of the fast skim when reading this book.
Read
September 24, 2015Surprisingly enjoyable, I have to admit. At this point I'm committed to finishing the series even if it kills me.
February 5, 2016
Even though the Tarzan stories are over 60 years old they remain timeless. These books are fantastic reading. These books make all the movies and cartoons seem meaningless. Highly recommended
March 11, 2016
By far the best book ever written.
January 22, 2024
Tarzan's further escapades
May 17, 2022
There are two serious problems in 1920s Africa: 1) radical suffragists and 2) the new American income tax.
Radical suffragists lead to women actually initiating sex! if you can believe such a thing, and that leads swiftly to them hitting men over the head with clubs and raping them and a loss of all language skills, even having names. It takes like...weeks for this progression. Who knew, right?
But that's just a side trip, for the main plot is about Tarzan being captured by the Veltopismakusian scientist Zoanthrohago, being shrunk, and then there's the civilization called Trohanadalmakus, and his ally Komodoflorensal. (Writers, don't name your characters like that!)
Not quite sure how the income tax got wedged in there, but clearly Burroughs was POed about it.
It's not very good writing either. He overuses words, tells not shows ("terrifying smells" was one that stopped me cold. He didn't explain that at all. Animal? Food? Ax body spray mixed with farts?), and stops to chit-chat about his philosophy. If you crossed all that off, you'd have two okay adventure stories sewn together.
But nobody crossed it all off.
I do not believe I ever tried a Tarzan novel before, and now I have. I confess to some skimming.
Radical suffragists lead to women actually initiating sex! if you can believe such a thing, and that leads swiftly to them hitting men over the head with clubs and raping them and a loss of all language skills, even having names. It takes like...weeks for this progression. Who knew, right?
But that's just a side trip, for the main plot is about Tarzan being captured by the Veltopismakusian scientist Zoanthrohago, being shrunk, and then there's the civilization called Trohanadalmakus, and his ally Komodoflorensal. (Writers, don't name your characters like that!)
Not quite sure how the income tax got wedged in there, but clearly Burroughs was POed about it.
It's not very good writing either. He overuses words, tells not shows ("terrifying smells" was one that stopped me cold. He didn't explain that at all. Animal? Food? Ax body spray mixed with farts?), and stops to chit-chat about his philosophy. If you crossed all that off, you'd have two okay adventure stories sewn together.
But nobody crossed it all off.
I do not believe I ever tried a Tarzan novel before, and now I have. I confess to some skimming.
August 22, 2012
I've been enjoying the Tarzan books enormously up until now, but this one was horribly tedious. Way too much information about the ant-men, their customs, sewage systems, monetary systems, language, etc. etc. etc.
Then try wading through tongue-twisting names like these in sentence after tiresome sentence:
Komodoflorensal
Adendrohahkis
Veltopismakusian
Trohanadalmakusian
Zoanthohago
Hamadalban
Zertolosto
Kalfastoban
Burroughs must've randomly pounded his fist on the typewriter keys to come up with names for his characters.
I gave up reading it about three-quarters of the way through. Hopefully, this book was just an unfortunate aberration and ERB will get back on track with more of the Tarzan I love in the volumes to follow.
Then try wading through tongue-twisting names like these in sentence after tiresome sentence:
Komodoflorensal
Adendrohahkis
Veltopismakusian
Trohanadalmakusian
Zoanthohago
Hamadalban
Zertolosto
Kalfastoban
Burroughs must've randomly pounded his fist on the typewriter keys to come up with names for his characters.
I gave up reading it about three-quarters of the way through. Hopefully, this book was just an unfortunate aberration and ERB will get back on track with more of the Tarzan I love in the volumes to follow.
July 31, 2024
Goated Tarzan book, I love the side plot
July 11, 2023
In which Burroughs engages in some social satire and oh, ERB, no.
Events pick up about a year after the end of Tarzan and the Golden Lion. Esteban Miranda (remember him?), who has been languishing in a hut in a cannibal village for the past year (long story short: The chief and the witch doctor disagree on whether he's Tarzan, or whether he's actually the River Demon and just taking Tarzan's form to test them. The obvious solution: Chain him to a post until he either vanishes (proving he's the River Demon) or dies (proving he's Tarzan)), manages to engineer his escape by smooth-talking Uhha, the witch doctor's daughter. Oh, and yes, he's still got that pouch of diamonds he stole in the last book.
At the same time, Tarzan, back on the Greystoke estate, is trying his hand at one of those new-fangled aeroplanes. And on his first solo flight, of course he heads out and starts overflying the Great Thorn Forest, which he discovers is more of a Great Thorn Ring around a series of inhabited lands, and promptly clips a tree and crashes in the midst of those lands.
And there we encounter the first of the two new races in this book, the Alali, speechless and primitive, and the women are big and mean and dominate & oppress the men completely, which Burroughs takes pains to point out is Very Bad and Unnatural. And naturally one of the aforementioned big, mean women discovers the unconscious Tarzan and admires his Apollonian physique and ... DEATH BY SNU-SNU!
Well, that's her plan, but of course (because Burroughs) it doesn't quite work out that way -- Tarzan escapes (after teaching one of the men the Power of Not Putting Up With Those Wimmins; and also the Power of the Bow & Arrow and Spear) and continues further into the new lands and has probably his weirdest adventure in the entire series when he discovers a race of relatively advanced and militaristic humans who are only 18" high and ride around on tiny antelopes. And have the worst, longest names that I'm not even going to try to reproduce here, but it's a safe bet that Burroughs had Gulliver on the brain.
And Tarzan spends some time hanging with a friendly group before getting overcome in battle & captured (they're tiny but there are a lot of them) and, through means that are never fully explained but I assume it's the same kind of science the Professor was practicing on Gilligan's Island, complete with coconut shells connected by tubes, Tarzan gets shrunk to 18", which gives him an opportunity to see their civilization from the inside (and for Burroughs to get on his high horse regarding the inadvisability of, e.g., Prohibition and the federal income tax).
And while all this is happening, we occasionally cut back to Esteban Miranda's misadventures, and to the young Alalus reshaping his entire culture via the power of the Pointy Stick.
And, in a bit of Barsoomian bleed-through, there's a beautiful princess and love gone wrong and it all ends happily (albeit extremely abruptly) in the end.
Another one that I remember fondly from my younger days, and I'm happy to see it still held up relatively well (although in my younger days I completely missed the Trenchant Social Commentary, and, honestly, I kind of wish that were still the case).
Events pick up about a year after the end of Tarzan and the Golden Lion. Esteban Miranda (remember him?), who has been languishing in a hut in a cannibal village for the past year (long story short: The chief and the witch doctor disagree on whether he's Tarzan, or whether he's actually the River Demon and just taking Tarzan's form to test them. The obvious solution: Chain him to a post until he either vanishes (proving he's the River Demon) or dies (proving he's Tarzan)), manages to engineer his escape by smooth-talking Uhha, the witch doctor's daughter. Oh, and yes, he's still got that pouch of diamonds he stole in the last book.
At the same time, Tarzan, back on the Greystoke estate, is trying his hand at one of those new-fangled aeroplanes. And on his first solo flight, of course he heads out and starts overflying the Great Thorn Forest, which he discovers is more of a Great Thorn Ring around a series of inhabited lands, and promptly clips a tree and crashes in the midst of those lands.
And there we encounter the first of the two new races in this book, the Alali, speechless and primitive, and the women are big and mean and dominate & oppress the men completely, which Burroughs takes pains to point out is Very Bad and Unnatural. And naturally one of the aforementioned big, mean women discovers the unconscious Tarzan and admires his Apollonian physique and ... DEATH BY SNU-SNU!
Well, that's her plan, but of course (because Burroughs) it doesn't quite work out that way -- Tarzan escapes (after teaching one of the men the Power of Not Putting Up With Those Wimmins; and also the Power of the Bow & Arrow and Spear) and continues further into the new lands and has probably his weirdest adventure in the entire series when he discovers a race of relatively advanced and militaristic humans who are only 18" high and ride around on tiny antelopes. And have the worst, longest names that I'm not even going to try to reproduce here, but it's a safe bet that Burroughs had Gulliver on the brain.
And Tarzan spends some time hanging with a friendly group before getting overcome in battle & captured (they're tiny but there are a lot of them) and, through means that are never fully explained but I assume it's the same kind of science the Professor was practicing on Gilligan's Island, complete with coconut shells connected by tubes, Tarzan gets shrunk to 18", which gives him an opportunity to see their civilization from the inside (and for Burroughs to get on his high horse regarding the inadvisability of, e.g., Prohibition and the federal income tax).
And while all this is happening, we occasionally cut back to Esteban Miranda's misadventures, and to the young Alalus reshaping his entire culture via the power of the Pointy Stick.
And, in a bit of Barsoomian bleed-through, there's a beautiful princess and love gone wrong and it all ends happily (albeit extremely abruptly) in the end.
Another one that I remember fondly from my younger days, and I'm happy to see it still held up relatively well (although in my younger days I completely missed the Trenchant Social Commentary, and, honestly, I kind of wish that were still the case).
August 9, 2023
I read this for GarbAugustt, an excellent readathon on booktube, where creators and viewers read trashy books all month. This pulpy men's adventure was thoroughly enjoyable and took me by surprise- definitely outside of my comfort zone.
I will definitely be looking out for the first entries in the series so I can read them in order.
Highly recommended and I will give a review on my channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMBq...
I will definitely be looking out for the first entries in the series so I can read them in order.
Highly recommended and I will give a review on my channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMBq...
April 11, 2025
Another "lost city in Africa" tale, with sort-of Neanderthals and 18" high humans. Head trauma abounds (Tarzan is knocked out multiple times and a Tarzan lookalike is knocked out and given brain damage) and at one point Tarzan is shrunk down to the same size as the "ant-men." OK, but not great. 2.5 stars.
March 24, 2022
Free at Gutenberg #61837. Names, the section pre-MiniMen may tie up loose ends from previous books, sub-plots, are too long. Estaban, slave in cannibal village, stole Tarzan's diamonds before. The spaniard convinces naive lovely Uhha 14 to free him, takes her along for protection.
Tarzan, now grandad, crashes son's plane behind impenetrable thorns, where 18" white Minimen live, their cooperative work ant-like. In the jungle live mute tribes who sign. A `great she` strips Tarzan. Author Burroughs says shes' rule led to no love or respect in their matriarchal society.
Boy shields Tarzan from being eaten, so escaping Tarzan pulls Boy over the fence too. Tarzan's new shadow gets bow, pride, leads meek Men of his tribe to a fresh destiny. Change comes.
52 for 2022: #13 Every great she has a club -- weapon, that is.
#5 Chapt titles
Tarzan, now grandad, crashes son's plane behind impenetrable thorns, where 18" white Minimen live, their cooperative work ant-like. In the jungle live mute tribes who sign. A `great she` strips Tarzan. Author Burroughs says shes' rule led to no love or respect in their matriarchal society.
Boy shields Tarzan from being eaten, so escaping Tarzan pulls Boy over the fence too. Tarzan's new shadow gets bow, pride, leads meek Men of his tribe to a fresh destiny. Change comes.
52 for 2022: #13 Every great she has a club -- weapon, that is.
#5 Chapt titles
May 18, 2018
2016 - I love Tarzan, let me just get that out there. I don't care how silly or outdated the story and world, Tarzan can do no wrong. Except in this book. It's a hot mess. Still gets an extra star or two for nostalgia and overall Tarzan love, but this is a bad book. Bad, bad book. (to be fair, I wrote this after only reading the first 1/3 of the book and then giving up.)
2018 - I hated this book. I can't remember hating any of the Tarzan books but this one flat out sucks. The misogyny is horrific, the magical science is ridiculous, and I'm beginning to think Jane and company are suffering from severe PTSD. How else do you explain their inability to recognize an imposter, especially when ERB constantly talks about the huge and distinctive scar across Tarzan's forehead. Here's a tip for you guys, if "Tarzan" doesn't have the scar, it's probably not Tarzan. Idiots. I especially hated the whole subplot where women can't love without men to teach them how and that they're just hoping to be beaten into submission so they can be happy. What the heck!?
2018 - I hated this book. I can't remember hating any of the Tarzan books but this one flat out sucks. The misogyny is horrific, the magical science is ridiculous, and I'm beginning to think Jane and company are suffering from severe PTSD. How else do you explain their inability to recognize an imposter, especially when ERB constantly talks about the huge and distinctive scar across Tarzan's forehead. Here's a tip for you guys, if "Tarzan" doesn't have the scar, it's probably not Tarzan. Idiots. I especially hated the whole subplot where women can't love without men to teach them how and that they're just hoping to be beaten into submission so they can be happy. What the heck!?
August 10, 2016
One of the worst Tarzan books by Burroughs and maybe a sign that he was starting to lose interest in his most successful creation. Fortunately, he still had a few good ideas left for some of the later books. This one is only interesting for hardcore Tarzan fans, boring, ludicrous, an example of all the worst traits of so called pulp-fiction.
June 18, 2013
Edgar Rice Burroughs has an interesting story, always. This book is no exception. Tarzan learns to fly a plane, which crashes in an unknown land to him. He discovers new species of people, makes friends, makes enemies, and uses his wits and strength to get him out of his fix. Definitely a fun read.
September 14, 2012
Very Good read!
April 28, 2013
I really liked the Ant men that were small. And Tarzan turning tiny was brilliant! 10 down, 15 to go!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 26, 2020
By this point, the Tarzan series was getting, well, a little "Tarzan-y." You couldn't take a leak in Africa without stumbling upon some lost civilization, Tarzan had become a barrel-chested superhero, and his romance with Jane was largely forgotten. Whereas the early stories were written like some of the best of Jack London and had some profound critique about what it means to be human and about civilization in general, the later stories turned into pure escapism.
Not that there's anything wrong with that! These stories are a blast, and can be enjoyed by young and old. Mine is a Tarzan family--my kids read Tarzan, I read Tarzan, and my 80-year-old mother reads Tarzan. "Tarzan and the Ant Men," however, is one of the last of the bunch that actually has something serious to say in this strange mashup of Radium-Age scifi and jungle adventure.
Back in the 1920s, this story was very topical as first-wave feminism was just starting to chip away at traditional gender roles in Western society, and imaginative writers were playing it forward in the science fiction of the day. For example, there are remarkable similarities between this work and Karinthy's "Capillaria" written in Hungary over half a globe away. In both stories, the question asked is how well would a society function if there was just as much devaluation of one gender, but with men being the more "diminutive." Both stories feature civilizations with powerful, aggressive women and bite-sized males reduced to their essential breeding and domestic functions. Some have interpreted works like this as being in defense of the need for better equality of the sexes, while others have seen it as representative of male castration fears and poking fun at the audacity of women thinking they could be equal or better than men. And as a result, a piece of pulp escapism becomes a timeless classic still read and discussed today.
So this is one of the more bizarre and interesting of the Tarzan mashups, and perhaps of the whole series in general. Definitely worth taking a look at it, though admittedly it won't be to everyone's sense of good taste.
Not that there's anything wrong with that! These stories are a blast, and can be enjoyed by young and old. Mine is a Tarzan family--my kids read Tarzan, I read Tarzan, and my 80-year-old mother reads Tarzan. "Tarzan and the Ant Men," however, is one of the last of the bunch that actually has something serious to say in this strange mashup of Radium-Age scifi and jungle adventure.
Back in the 1920s, this story was very topical as first-wave feminism was just starting to chip away at traditional gender roles in Western society, and imaginative writers were playing it forward in the science fiction of the day. For example, there are remarkable similarities between this work and Karinthy's "Capillaria" written in Hungary over half a globe away. In both stories, the question asked is how well would a society function if there was just as much devaluation of one gender, but with men being the more "diminutive." Both stories feature civilizations with powerful, aggressive women and bite-sized males reduced to their essential breeding and domestic functions. Some have interpreted works like this as being in defense of the need for better equality of the sexes, while others have seen it as representative of male castration fears and poking fun at the audacity of women thinking they could be equal or better than men. And as a result, a piece of pulp escapism becomes a timeless classic still read and discussed today.
So this is one of the more bizarre and interesting of the Tarzan mashups, and perhaps of the whole series in general. Definitely worth taking a look at it, though admittedly it won't be to everyone's sense of good taste.
August 2, 2018
Tenth in the series. Tarzan’s son Jack now has a wife, Meriem and a son of his own. And Tarzan has learned to fly and during his first solo flight he discover a basin of jungle he’d never seen before. Unfortunately his curiosity causes him to crash.
Actually two races are involved in this (like Gulliver’s Travels). The Alalus, a matriarchal race of mute Neanderthals and the Ant Men, true pygmies who seem amazingly high tech for the time and place. And the Minunian’s names are horrible. I’d definitely use nicknames.
There’s a lot of inconstancies and/or things that don’t make any sense. I know it’s supposed to be a fantasy adventure, so maybe I'm expecting too much, but it should follow some sort of rules or the story just becomes a comedy.
First, that diamond locket really leads a charmed life. The way it’s been lost and found and traveled all over is truly a miracle. But then a lot of stuff in these books have done so. Second, you’d think that two escaped prisoners would be caught after roaming around so long. But that is the way of bureaucracy, everything is so compartmentalized nobody knows or cares what others are doing as long as it doesn’t interfere with their own job. Third, when Tarzan escapes from the lion into the underground borrow with his friends why didn’t the lion eat/kill the antelope mounts left up top? They were all there the next morning. Must have been a stupid lion. Then there’s the quick personality changes, etc.
But the surprise at the end was totally unexpected, but still a bit implausible.
Fave scenes: the young Alalus boy helping Tarzan, Zoantrohago’s experiment explanation, escaping down the shaft and the two locked doors.
Actually two races are involved in this (like Gulliver’s Travels). The Alalus, a matriarchal race of mute Neanderthals and the Ant Men, true pygmies who seem amazingly high tech for the time and place. And the Minunian’s names are horrible. I’d definitely use nicknames.
There’s a lot of inconstancies and/or things that don’t make any sense. I know it’s supposed to be a fantasy adventure, so maybe I'm expecting too much, but it should follow some sort of rules or the story just becomes a comedy.
First, that diamond locket really leads a charmed life. The way it’s been lost and found and traveled all over is truly a miracle. But then a lot of stuff in these books have done so. Second, you’d think that two escaped prisoners would be caught after roaming around so long. But that is the way of bureaucracy, everything is so compartmentalized nobody knows or cares what others are doing as long as it doesn’t interfere with their own job. Third, when Tarzan escapes from the lion into the underground borrow with his friends why didn’t the lion eat/kill the antelope mounts left up top? They were all there the next morning. Must have been a stupid lion. Then there’s the quick personality changes, etc.
But the surprise at the end was totally unexpected, but still a bit implausible.
Fave scenes: the young Alalus boy helping Tarzan, Zoantrohago’s experiment explanation, escaping down the shaft and the two locked doors.
December 26, 2020
Yet again, ‘in premise’ a good idea and concept for a story, but again it failed it hit the mark in almost every respect. The story is similar to that of the previous book ‘Tarzan and the Golden Lion”. An interesting premise of a hidden world and culture from society within Africa itself. The people’s within this region have grown up and evolved separately and independently from those around them. Whilst out flying, Tarzan accidentally crashes into this world. Tarzan learns about the various warring cultures, tribes and so forth. In some cases IT WAS rather interesting, having tribes run solely by women and the are subservient. Enter Tarzan, man triumphs over woman who then becomes a kept woman and cook........ NOT A GOOD STORY.
Within the story you get to see Tarzan learning new languages super quick, the warring cultures view on slavery and hierarchical system. All of which again COULD BE the premise of a good story, but, never made it so.
This story, perhaps a product of its time, the who issue of men being better than women and slavery, but, why write a story like this? There was no continuity of plot and story line from one area to the next. We then have the fake Tarzan of the last story who randomly pops up. Both Korak/ Jack and Jane, name only but Burroughs can’t be bothered to integrate them into one tangible story.
Above all, ‘Tarzan of the Apes’ is pretty useless in Africa.
Within the story you get to see Tarzan learning new languages super quick, the warring cultures view on slavery and hierarchical system. All of which again COULD BE the premise of a good story, but, never made it so.
This story, perhaps a product of its time, the who issue of men being better than women and slavery, but, why write a story like this? There was no continuity of plot and story line from one area to the next. We then have the fake Tarzan of the last story who randomly pops up. Both Korak/ Jack and Jane, name only but Burroughs can’t be bothered to integrate them into one tangible story.
Above all, ‘Tarzan of the Apes’ is pretty useless in Africa.
September 20, 2023
If you've found yourself reading this particular Tarzan book, then you've made it quite a ways through the series and I have to assume that you aren't stopping any time soon. If this is the one that you just so happened to pick up and started reading, honestly, no harm no foul. You'll understand the main plot of the story without missing a beat. Generally hit all the notes that Tarzan books are known for and see the Ape Man generally reunite with his loved ones. That being said, each Tarzan book builds on the others and sometimes calls back to an event in a previous installment, so if you are thinking of starting here, maybe seek out the first in the series.
Beyond that, I seriously wonder JUST how many parts of Africa are left to be explored by Tarzan. That he still runs into places he knows nothing about gets kind of boring. Otherwise, I'm glad that Burroughs didn't try to use "science" to return Tarzan back to regular size as it made the book far less problematic in the long run.
Esteban Miranda returns in this book, but is of zero consequence, that being said, I am sure that we'll run into him again in some other book. I tend to get annoyed that these Tarzan villains hang around for so long from book to book.
Thanks for all the Tarzan books, Cliff. Still got a little ways to go before I wind through the whole series. Miss you, buddy.
Beyond that, I seriously wonder JUST how many parts of Africa are left to be explored by Tarzan. That he still runs into places he knows nothing about gets kind of boring. Otherwise, I'm glad that Burroughs didn't try to use "science" to return Tarzan back to regular size as it made the book far less problematic in the long run.
Esteban Miranda returns in this book, but is of zero consequence, that being said, I am sure that we'll run into him again in some other book. I tend to get annoyed that these Tarzan villains hang around for so long from book to book.
Thanks for all the Tarzan books, Cliff. Still got a little ways to go before I wind through the whole series. Miss you, buddy.
August 24, 2022
When taking his first solo flight in an airplane, Tarzan crashes in a remote land surrounded by thick thornbushes, keeping it isolated from the rest of Africa. Here, Tarzan has one of his most bizarre adventures. He encounters first a primitive human race in which the women are stronger than the men and dominate the society. Soon after, he encounters the Ant Men--human who are only about a foot tall. Tarzan gets captured and shrunk down to the same size by an Ant Man scientist. His adventure consists mostly of his escaping from slavery and aiding those who had befriended him--an adventure that includes a fantastic battle against a pair of relatively gigantic African wildcats. ERB always writes great action scenes, but this one is one of my all-time favorites.
ERB also uses aspects of the Ant Men society to sneak in some snarky criticisms of income tax and Prohibition (both relatively new in real life at the time). Burroughs did sneak in his political opinions from time to time. "Pirates of Venus" includes a satirical look at the Soviet Union, while "I am a Barbarian" snarks at aspects of FDR's New Deal. But he always fits these remarks smoothly into the stories he's telling, so it never slows down the action.
ERB also uses aspects of the Ant Men society to sneak in some snarky criticisms of income tax and Prohibition (both relatively new in real life at the time). Burroughs did sneak in his political opinions from time to time. "Pirates of Venus" includes a satirical look at the Soviet Union, while "I am a Barbarian" snarks at aspects of FDR's New Deal. But he always fits these remarks smoothly into the stories he's telling, so it never slows down the action.
February 19, 2025
Tarzan insists on taking up his son Korak’s new plane only to crash it 100 miles away in an area he is unfamiliar with. He is pulled from the plane by a very strong female Neanderthal-type person and dragged to her camp. These Neanderthals are a matriarchal society. He escapes with one of the males who is being held in captivity. They travel together. Tarzan teaches him to make a spear and bow and arrow.
Meanwhile, Esteban Miranda, the man who stole Tarzan‘s jewels in an earlier book escapes from the African tribe he has been held by for a year. And he drags the daughter of the medicine man with him.
Tarzan meets humans who are one-quarter his size. He lives with them for a while, learning their language. They are called the Minuni. He joins them in a battle. He is then captured and carried off.
Tarzan is himself shrunken by this second tribe of Minuni and set to work in their mines.
This is a slow start but once he realizes that he is now just 18” tall it picks up. Burroughs rails against war and taxation and the moral and social decay that comes from too much leisure time.
Meanwhile, Esteban Miranda, the man who stole Tarzan‘s jewels in an earlier book escapes from the African tribe he has been held by for a year. And he drags the daughter of the medicine man with him.
Tarzan meets humans who are one-quarter his size. He lives with them for a while, learning their language. They are called the Minuni. He joins them in a battle. He is then captured and carried off.
Tarzan is himself shrunken by this second tribe of Minuni and set to work in their mines.
This is a slow start but once he realizes that he is now just 18” tall it picks up. Burroughs rails against war and taxation and the moral and social decay that comes from too much leisure time.
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