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Tarzan #14
Tarzan the Invincible
Tarzan, his monkey friend Nkima, and Chief Muviro and his faithful Waziri warriors prevent Soviet communists from looting the lost city of Opar. The story also prominently features Tarzan's lion ally Jad-bal-ja.
The novel was originally serialized in the magazine Blue Book from October, 1930 through April, 1931 as Tarzan, Guard of the Jungle.
The novel was originally serialized in the magazine Blue Book from October, 1930 through April, 1931 as Tarzan, Guard of the Jungle.
192 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1930
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1106 people want to read
About the author
Edgar Rice Burroughs
2,803 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 51 reviews
May 25, 2020
"the cruel tyrant that drives civilized man throughout his headlong race from the cradle to the grave - Time, the master of countless missions of slaves."
"the masks that we call faces, and which are trained to conceal out true thoughts,"
Tarzan the Invincible brings a nice slow paced story to the series, braking away from the usual complex and multi-plot stories. The book appears to be started right after the Pellucidar adventure. The story itself is simple and fun, sharing some familiarity with the Tarzan the Untamed but much less complicated. One of my favorites of the series so far.
"Thinking aloud is sometimes fatal,"
"Like many people, he had believed that everyone would be as interested in what interested him as he,"
"I go, Tantor," he said. "Search out the forest where the young trees have the tenderest bark and watch well against the men-things, for they alone in all the world are the enemies of all living creatures."
"the masks that we call faces, and which are trained to conceal out true thoughts,"
Tarzan the Invincible brings a nice slow paced story to the series, braking away from the usual complex and multi-plot stories. The book appears to be started right after the Pellucidar adventure. The story itself is simple and fun, sharing some familiarity with the Tarzan the Untamed but much less complicated. One of my favorites of the series so far.
"Thinking aloud is sometimes fatal,"
"Like many people, he had believed that everyone would be as interested in what interested him as he,"
"I go, Tantor," he said. "Search out the forest where the young trees have the tenderest bark and watch well against the men-things, for they alone in all the world are the enemies of all living creatures."
June 20, 2022
Tarzan’s monkey friend Nkima accidentally discovers something wrong in the jungle. He seeks out Tarzan and leads him to what turns out to be a group of communists intent on raiding the lost city of Opar for its gold. Additionally, the ruler and high priestess of the city, Queen La, is no longer in control and is in fact, a prisoner of the citizens of Opar. Tarzan has his work cut out for him if he wants to get things back in order.
This 14th novel in the Tarzan series was originally serialized in the magazine "Blue Book" from October 1930 through April 1931 as "Tarzan, Guard of the Jungle". That’s a good title as it perfectly describes Tarzan’s role here, as a guardian of all he holds dear. It follows upon the heels of his adventures in Pellucidar, (Tarzan at the Earth's Core). After a string of stories in which Tarzan visits lost cities, cultures, and locales, this book now returns to the rather familiar place of Opar. In fact, this book is the last ERB-authored one to feature Opar and the lovely La, unless you count the juvenile piece Tarzan and the Tarzan Twins with Jad-bal-ja the Golden Lion which actually takes place before the events of this book.
The story is set amidst the backdrop of the growing Communist threat, although that seems to be mere window dressing when reading from this far future date. Rather, the story is a typically good Tarzan tale, filled with one adventure after another, as dictated by the original serial-form publication. Lion and leopard attacks, fist and knife fights, prison escapes, and more. Interestingly, Jane is not even mentioned, once again. The same thing happened in the Johnny Weissmuller movies, and I learned this was because audiences wanted Tarzan to not seem so tied down or domesticated. Other female characters would be introduced instead. Here, La remains in love with Tarzan, but Tarzan informs her he will never think that way about her.
I was pleased to see Tarzan's lion ally Jad-bal-ja, the Golden Lion himself, play a prominent role once again. Several nice additional characters were also well written, including two who seemed to be “Reds” but turned out to be fulfilling other, more espionage-type rolls. The bad guys were bad, and the good guys were, if not always “good”, certainly redeemable.
Ten more ERB Tarzan books to go. Let the countdown begin!
This 14th novel in the Tarzan series was originally serialized in the magazine "Blue Book" from October 1930 through April 1931 as "Tarzan, Guard of the Jungle". That’s a good title as it perfectly describes Tarzan’s role here, as a guardian of all he holds dear. It follows upon the heels of his adventures in Pellucidar, (Tarzan at the Earth's Core). After a string of stories in which Tarzan visits lost cities, cultures, and locales, this book now returns to the rather familiar place of Opar. In fact, this book is the last ERB-authored one to feature Opar and the lovely La, unless you count the juvenile piece Tarzan and the Tarzan Twins with Jad-bal-ja the Golden Lion which actually takes place before the events of this book.
The story is set amidst the backdrop of the growing Communist threat, although that seems to be mere window dressing when reading from this far future date. Rather, the story is a typically good Tarzan tale, filled with one adventure after another, as dictated by the original serial-form publication. Lion and leopard attacks, fist and knife fights, prison escapes, and more. Interestingly, Jane is not even mentioned, once again. The same thing happened in the Johnny Weissmuller movies, and I learned this was because audiences wanted Tarzan to not seem so tied down or domesticated. Other female characters would be introduced instead. Here, La remains in love with Tarzan, but Tarzan informs her he will never think that way about her.
I was pleased to see Tarzan's lion ally Jad-bal-ja, the Golden Lion himself, play a prominent role once again. Several nice additional characters were also well written, including two who seemed to be “Reds” but turned out to be fulfilling other, more espionage-type rolls. The bad guys were bad, and the good guys were, if not always “good”, certainly redeemable.
Ten more ERB Tarzan books to go. Let the countdown begin!
March 23, 2011
I thought this was a fun one! Some of the later Tarzan books that I've read recently hadn't really held my interest, but this one, like many of the earlier books in the series, was fun, fast-paced, and full of adventure.
June 8, 2019
When I was 10 years old, my father gave me three books for Christmas: Treasure Island, The Swiss Family Robinson, and Tarzan and the Golden Lion. At the time, these were all a little advanced for me but when I reached my teen years, I finally read the Tarzan book and was hooked on his adventures. My older brother also had a copy of Tarzan and the Ant Men which I still consider one of the best in the series. In the 80s, I decided to read all of the Tarzan adventures in order but only made it as far as Tarzan at the Earth's Core and then for some reason I stopped reading them. In the mean time, I started collecting Burroughs editions in hard cover and now have a near-complete set of his books. So I kept seeing the books on their shelves and decided to read the next Tarzan adventure, Tarzan the Invincible.
This book was originally published in Blue Book magazine from October 1930 through April 1931 as Tarzan, Guard of the Jungle.
The plot of this one has Tarzan coming upon a group of Soviet communists who are hatching a very convoluted plot to attack Italian Somalia in the guise of French troops thereby starting a war between Italy and France which they hope will embroil Europe in another world war leaving the Communists to pick up the pieces. The leader of the group is hoping to become emperor of all of Africa. Part of the scheme is to get gold to finance this coup from the treasure vaults of the lost city of Opar. Well Tarzan overhears this and immediately goes to Opar to find that La, the high priestess of the city, has been overthrown and placed in a cell. Tarzan rescues her but she winds up wandering lost in the jungle. Others are also lost in the jungle including some of the communists including a beautiful woman named Zora. A lot of the story has Tarzan looking for La and others looking for Zora. Tarzan gets help from his faithful Waziri to stop the communists and eventually reinstate La to her rightful place in Opar.
Well, its been decades since I last read a Tarzan novel and this one definitely did not grab me like the earlier books in the series. Too much wandering in the jungle with not enough plot. This is the fouth book to feature Opar and I believe the last. I know Opar was also a story line in the first Tarzan book I read, Golden Lion. I'll probably read more of these, along with other Burroughs novels, at some point but I'm really not in a rush to do so.
This book was originally published in Blue Book magazine from October 1930 through April 1931 as Tarzan, Guard of the Jungle.
The plot of this one has Tarzan coming upon a group of Soviet communists who are hatching a very convoluted plot to attack Italian Somalia in the guise of French troops thereby starting a war between Italy and France which they hope will embroil Europe in another world war leaving the Communists to pick up the pieces. The leader of the group is hoping to become emperor of all of Africa. Part of the scheme is to get gold to finance this coup from the treasure vaults of the lost city of Opar. Well Tarzan overhears this and immediately goes to Opar to find that La, the high priestess of the city, has been overthrown and placed in a cell. Tarzan rescues her but she winds up wandering lost in the jungle. Others are also lost in the jungle including some of the communists including a beautiful woman named Zora. A lot of the story has Tarzan looking for La and others looking for Zora. Tarzan gets help from his faithful Waziri to stop the communists and eventually reinstate La to her rightful place in Opar.
Well, its been decades since I last read a Tarzan novel and this one definitely did not grab me like the earlier books in the series. Too much wandering in the jungle with not enough plot. This is the fouth book to feature Opar and I believe the last. I know Opar was also a story line in the first Tarzan book I read, Golden Lion. I'll probably read more of these, along with other Burroughs novels, at some point but I'm really not in a rush to do so.
April 8, 2019
The Tarzan books seem to be a little generic lately, but that's not all bad as at least they are entertaining. At least in this one we weren't introduced to yet another lost civilization, as the only lost city was Opar, which we have encountered before. The plot involved a secret scheme to launch the world into war, although even that wasn't entirely true as everyone had their own agenda. No Jane in this one but a decent amount of action and not too hard to follow. Like most of the Tarzan novels I've been reading it wasn't a standout, but wasn't bad either.
January 14, 2024
Not always politically correct by today's standards but still always a bit of fun.
May 3, 2015
This is another fun Tarzan adventures in which he encounters communists in his jungle domain who are bent on embroiling the world into another World War. No mention of Jane, but there is enough romance between likeable characters as there are enough violence and justice dished out from the hand of Tarzan upon the not-so-likeable ones. Highly recommended for those who want to escape into larger-than-life adventures and to live vicariously through Tarzan as he swings through the trees and proves himself lord of the jungle!
April 13, 2016
Tarzan story # 14. This story brings back a number of friends Tarzan has made in the past; Annoying yet adorable Nkima, The Ferocious Jad-bal-Ja, Faithful friend Tantor, The fiercely devoted Waziri, and the Lovely La. Tarzan pays a visit or two to Opar AND thwarts the plans of yet another power hungry white man.
Don't know who any of those characters are? Maybe it's time you pay the world of Tarzan's African jungle a visit! :)
Don't know who any of those characters are? Maybe it's time you pay the world of Tarzan's African jungle a visit! :)
February 10, 2014
Tarzan foils the plans of an international group of Communists plotting to sow discord in colonial Africa. However the Russian leader of the group is secretly trying to set himself up as Emperor of all Africa, one of many sub-plots.
Burroughs brings back some characters from past volumes: La, High Priestess of Opar, Jad-Bal-Ja the lion, and Nkima the monkey.
Still great fun!
Burroughs brings back some characters from past volumes: La, High Priestess of Opar, Jad-Bal-Ja the lion, and Nkima the monkey.
Still great fun!
May 20, 2022
Edgar Rice Burroughsin "Voittamattomassa Tarzanissa" (Kauppakirjapaino, 1972) viidakon rauhaa uhkaa kommunisteista koostuva safari, jonka jäsenet haluavat ryöstää Oparin mittaamattomat kulta-aarteet maailmanvallankumousta rahoittaakseen. Seikkailussa ovat mukana myös ylipapitar La (viimeistä kertaa), kultaleijona Jad-Bal-Ja sekä pikku Nkima.
Perusvarmaa menoa niin hyvässä kuin pahassa.
Perusvarmaa menoa niin hyvässä kuin pahassa.
May 31, 2025
Alexander gave me a first edition of this for Christmas 2024 and I had a lot of fun kicking off my summer reading with it because It's been eons since I've read a Tarzan novel.
December 5, 2020
I have a lot of problems with this book. This is the fourteenth book in the Tarzan series, and one of the things that attract me to these stories is ERB's imagination. He is an expert storyteller, and there is always plenty of adventure, bad guys galore, epic heroes, stoicism, romance, misunderstood people who may or may not be bad guys, and so on. Now to talk about this small 192-page novel.
Cover: Attractive cover portraying Tarzan on a charging horse with drawn bow menacing a group of four Arabs. I give the cover five stars.
Title: Taran the Invincible. Love the title, it held my interest and made me want to read the book to find out why Tarzan is invincible. I give the title five stars.
Chapter 1: The chapter starts with ERB speaking to his audience about why he wrote this book. I shook my head. This part of the chapter should have been forward. Without even a break the story starts. It was a little confusing because I wasn't sure if the author was still speaking about why he was writing or if we were getting into the story. I give chapter one two stars.
Character Development: Tarzan needs no introduction, he has been developed in thirteen previous novels. His animal friends are also well-known companions with their own personalities by this time as well. The antagonists on the other hand fit the standard mold of typical Tarzan villans. I give Character development two stars.
Tarzan is Invincible: The Author has made a larger than life character in Tarzan. This has unfortunately made it so that the only way for Tarzan to become a captive is to knock him out. This has become an annoyance in the storytelling. A good deal of the previous Tarzan novels has the hero being knocked out with some regularity. He would have one of the lumpiest heads and bloodiest brains of anyone ever known to live. I give this aspect of the story two stars.
Willing Suspension of Disbelief: Sometimes this is easy with Tarzan novels, and sometimes it is nearly impossible. At one point ERB states that a group of black porters and servants who were hired by the white expeditionists were basically lost without the presence of their white masters. I had to laugh. If we are talking about Africans in the early 1900s who grew up in the Jungles of Africa being worried about being in the jungle without the presence of a few Russians, an American, and a Mexican who have never been in a jungle before, then I believe it would be the other way around. I give that part of the book one star.
Most of the rest of the book was as I expected it to be. There was a lot of action, and adventure, a bit of romance, and some twists and turns. I give the middle of the book three stars.
Drawing the story to a close: I love this part of the book. It is the final chapter and all of the characters involved are in their separate parts of their own stories, and the writer has only thirteen pages to tie them all together and make the story jive. Without fail, all of the characters are brought together somehow and each of their parts in the story is nicely tied together. I give this part of the story five stars.
Cover: Attractive cover portraying Tarzan on a charging horse with drawn bow menacing a group of four Arabs. I give the cover five stars.
Title: Taran the Invincible. Love the title, it held my interest and made me want to read the book to find out why Tarzan is invincible. I give the title five stars.
Chapter 1: The chapter starts with ERB speaking to his audience about why he wrote this book. I shook my head. This part of the chapter should have been forward. Without even a break the story starts. It was a little confusing because I wasn't sure if the author was still speaking about why he was writing or if we were getting into the story. I give chapter one two stars.
Character Development: Tarzan needs no introduction, he has been developed in thirteen previous novels. His animal friends are also well-known companions with their own personalities by this time as well. The antagonists on the other hand fit the standard mold of typical Tarzan villans. I give Character development two stars.
Tarzan is Invincible: The Author has made a larger than life character in Tarzan. This has unfortunately made it so that the only way for Tarzan to become a captive is to knock him out. This has become an annoyance in the storytelling. A good deal of the previous Tarzan novels has the hero being knocked out with some regularity. He would have one of the lumpiest heads and bloodiest brains of anyone ever known to live. I give this aspect of the story two stars.
Willing Suspension of Disbelief: Sometimes this is easy with Tarzan novels, and sometimes it is nearly impossible. At one point ERB states that a group of black porters and servants who were hired by the white expeditionists were basically lost without the presence of their white masters. I had to laugh. If we are talking about Africans in the early 1900s who grew up in the Jungles of Africa being worried about being in the jungle without the presence of a few Russians, an American, and a Mexican who have never been in a jungle before, then I believe it would be the other way around. I give that part of the book one star.
Most of the rest of the book was as I expected it to be. There was a lot of action, and adventure, a bit of romance, and some twists and turns. I give the middle of the book three stars.
Drawing the story to a close: I love this part of the book. It is the final chapter and all of the characters involved are in their separate parts of their own stories, and the writer has only thirteen pages to tie them all together and make the story jive. Without fail, all of the characters are brought together somehow and each of their parts in the story is nicely tied together. I give this part of the story five stars.
February 25, 2021
This was actually a rather enjoyable read. A rather fun story seeing Tarzan return from the centre of the Earth. Believing this to be the case, a group of communists from around the world come together to seek out Opar, plunder its wealth for “the cause”. Tarzan returns, saunters through the jungle with Tantor the elephant, Golden Lion and others.
This is a jovial story of how money, or, the thought of corrupts, internal fighting, and how Tarzan can help La (of Opar). Oddly enough for Burroughs, not too bad an ending either.
This is a jovial story of how money, or, the thought of corrupts, internal fighting, and how Tarzan can help La (of Opar). Oddly enough for Burroughs, not too bad an ending either.
April 16, 2015
A Tarzan book with no Jane....nope....not word one about Jane. Just Tarzan doing his thing--swinging through the jungle, hanging out with Tantor and Numa and Nkima, saving gals.....Lots of Tarzan swinging through the jungle super highway so that we could be updated on the various characters. They kept separating and recombining in different ways. This one seemed to have unnecessary "busy work" type traveling through the jungle. We're attacking Opar to get the riches, oops, our men are afraid and run away, so we'll go back to base camp. Now we've regrouped and left the cowards behind and we'll try again. Oops, now everybody's afraid! Time to go back to the base camp again. Now we're going to try to institute our big plan to start a war between Italy and France, but boy, we'd sure like that gold....
Once again parts of the book had the feel of being written by a much different hand....Did Burroughs employ interns a la Patterson?
Not as much fun as some of the others. Not as much social commentary. It tried to work on the whole communist/socialist/capitalist thing, but half heartedly.
Once again Tarzan is getting koshed on the head and even gets grazed by a bullet on his noggin! This guy surely developed punch drunk fighter's syndrome when he got older!! He has had entirely too many concussions!!!
Once again parts of the book had the feel of being written by a much different hand....Did Burroughs employ interns a la Patterson?
Not as much fun as some of the others. Not as much social commentary. It tried to work on the whole communist/socialist/capitalist thing, but half heartedly.
Once again Tarzan is getting koshed on the head and even gets grazed by a bullet on his noggin! This guy surely developed punch drunk fighter's syndrome when he got older!! He has had entirely too many concussions!!!
August 13, 2018
Tarzan has returned from Pelucidar to find ‘another’ group of white men encroaching on his terrain. Supposingly its for political reasons. Several different groups are represented; Arabs, E. India, Mexico, Soviet Russia and the Philippines, plus blacks from East, Central and West Africa. They say their purpose is to improve the lot of the common man through Socialism and bring down the capitalist dogs, but they’re headed for the mines of Opar.
These stories have so many different groups who keep running around all over that they get confusing.
Footnote: 1) I love the loyalty and personality of both Nkima the monkey and Jad-bal-ja the lion. Obviously, Nkima was changed to Cheeta in the movies.
Fave scenes: any scenes with Jad-bal-ja, Colt’s farewell to Nao, Tantor guarding Zora and Tarzan catching up to La.
These stories have so many different groups who keep running around all over that they get confusing.
Footnote: 1) I love the loyalty and personality of both Nkima the monkey and Jad-bal-ja the lion. Obviously, Nkima was changed to Cheeta in the movies.
Fave scenes: any scenes with Jad-bal-ja, Colt’s farewell to Nao, Tantor guarding Zora and Tarzan catching up to La.
March 31, 2021
This one was a breath of fresh air in what I refer to as the stale Janeless generic Tarzan books. This one is kind of reminiscent of Tarzan and the Golden Lion with a soupçon of Tarzan the Untamed. A group of very bad men and a girl conspiring to rob Opar, with their own evil and ambitious infighting helping Tarzan almost as much as his beasts and Waziri. Although not quite as much fun as that book, this one is still better than average--we thankfully have the return of Nkima at his most Nkima, Jad-bal-ja, and Tantor, and, not so thankfully, La and the evil priests of Opar, my least favorite element in the Tarzan series.
April 24, 2018
This one is a pretty typical Tarzan book - with a bunch of white people getting into trouble in the jungle and Tarzan watching over them. It was good to see La again, though. It's a good thing Tarzan is so noble or Jane would have something to worry about there.
September 14, 2012
A VERY WORTHWHILE read!
February 27, 2013
Tarzan foils the plots of those dirty reds.
August 1, 2018
Read back in the mid-1960's. Tarzan is now defending Opar and saving Africa from a Communist takeover.
December 13, 2025
The little monkey Nkima sees strange white men in the land of Tarzan. He goes to Tarzan and makes a scene. Tarzan investigates and learns that these men have plans to steal all the gold in Opar in order to fund worldwide revolution.
Tarzan races ahead of them to Opar but is captured as there has been a change in leadership there. He is thrown into a cell next to Laa, the high priestess of Opar.
They escape and Tarzan goes off to hunt down food. Laa gets bored and wanders off.
Tarzan assumes Laa has been captured by the white men so he goes in pursuit of them. It is unclear if Laa has become their prisoner, but Tarzan decides to harass and follow the progress of their party. They reconnoiter Opar but flee when they are attacked. One of the party, an American is wounded. Later, Laa meets this man and nurses him to health.
In the meantime, Tarzan finds the only woman amongst the revolutionaries wandering in the jungle. He becomes her protector, but oddly never talks to her.
The revolutionaries mission begins to fall apart, because of their earlier flight from Opar and Tarzan’s nightly surprises.
This was fun, but not amongst his best. On two occasions, Tarzan is captured by enemies and has to escape for the Lord of the Jungle, he is not all that alert to danger.
Tarzan races ahead of them to Opar but is captured as there has been a change in leadership there. He is thrown into a cell next to Laa, the high priestess of Opar.
They escape and Tarzan goes off to hunt down food. Laa gets bored and wanders off.
Tarzan assumes Laa has been captured by the white men so he goes in pursuit of them. It is unclear if Laa has become their prisoner, but Tarzan decides to harass and follow the progress of their party. They reconnoiter Opar but flee when they are attacked. One of the party, an American is wounded. Later, Laa meets this man and nurses him to health.
In the meantime, Tarzan finds the only woman amongst the revolutionaries wandering in the jungle. He becomes her protector, but oddly never talks to her.
The revolutionaries mission begins to fall apart, because of their earlier flight from Opar and Tarzan’s nightly surprises.
This was fun, but not amongst his best. On two occasions, Tarzan is captured by enemies and has to escape for the Lord of the Jungle, he is not all that alert to danger.
April 7, 2025
Very similar to Tarzan the Untamed but with less of a motivating force for Tarzan.
Communists invade Tarzan’s jungle hoping to loot Opar’s gold to fund their plans to start WW2 (this was written in 1929/1930). Tarzan joins the fray thanks to a monkey named Nkima. He spies on them and begins sabotaging them.
The book features many of Burroughs hallmarks of secret good guys, romances, and very good action scenes. Burroughs is extremely good at creating memorable action scenes in each book and this one has several.
Overall a fun story but not one of the best.
I read the Authorized Library edition which also included a bit of the behind the scenes history of the book’s production. It includes interesting details such as the life Burroughs around the time of the book’s production and insight into his business acumen.
Communists invade Tarzan’s jungle hoping to loot Opar’s gold to fund their plans to start WW2 (this was written in 1929/1930). Tarzan joins the fray thanks to a monkey named Nkima. He spies on them and begins sabotaging them.
The book features many of Burroughs hallmarks of secret good guys, romances, and very good action scenes. Burroughs is extremely good at creating memorable action scenes in each book and this one has several.
Overall a fun story but not one of the best.
I read the Authorized Library edition which also included a bit of the behind the scenes history of the book’s production. It includes interesting details such as the life Burroughs around the time of the book’s production and insight into his business acumen.
July 22, 2022
One of the lesser Tarzan novels, this one is filled with lots of capture/escape sequences and very little else. Tarzan is back in Opar, La (now his friend as well as his obsessive semi-stalker) is in trouble, little Nkima runs around a lot and there's a plot by Communists to start a jungle war. It's as readable as ever, just rather aimless, and filled with the usual coincidences of people who know one another tripping over one another in the depths of the jungle. And the ending is tied up over-hastily in the last few pages as if Burroughs had lost interest in it.
September 7, 2022
Tarzan goes up against a group of communists who have invaded the jungle with plans to raid the lost city of Opar for gold to fund their plot to take over all of Africa. What could go wrong? Mainly, the fact that the communists are a back-stabbing group of opportunists, very few of them representing themselves for what they truly are.
This is also the last appearance of La of Opar in the Tarzan books and here she is an ally of the ape-man.
This is also the last appearance of La of Opar in the Tarzan books and here she is an ally of the ape-man.
April 12, 2025
It was 1930 and Tarzan was thwarting the communists. As a kid, I liked the series, and even this book. The story had a 2 issue run in the Gold Key Comics version of Tarzan of the 1960’s. It is so bad, the Marvel Comics of the 1970’s didn’t even touch it. Tarzan, a monkey, a warrior chief, and a lion save the lost city of Opar from a communist looting.
August 18, 2025
And the start of a stretch of Tarzan novels that are ... fine? And that I may or may not have read when I was young -- I honestly don't remember if some of these were on the library shelves.
This time around, we're back in more familiar environs. A group of ... I think revolutionaries?, at least, spurred on by a Russian, have come to Tarzan's stretch of the jungle to go loot the vaults of Opar; and La, high priestess of Opar, is having problems of her own with her subjects, and yep, Tarzan gets involved and yep, plenty of jungle adventure before he sets everything aright and it's a perfectly cromulet read, but nothing about it is what I'd call especially memorable.
(I will mention that I've been reading the Tarzan books in the new ERB Authorized Library editions, and they all include a lengthy section at the end with a long essay about the history of the book, and then many pages of reprints of book covers, illustrations, etc.; and it's all fascinating stuff, although a lot of the essay is Burroughs kvetching about pay rates from various magazines and trying to convince them to publish the Western he just wrote when really they just want more Tarzan or Mars or Pellucidar.)
This time around, we're back in more familiar environs. A group of ... I think revolutionaries?, at least, spurred on by a Russian, have come to Tarzan's stretch of the jungle to go loot the vaults of Opar; and La, high priestess of Opar, is having problems of her own with her subjects, and yep, Tarzan gets involved and yep, plenty of jungle adventure before he sets everything aright and it's a perfectly cromulet read, but nothing about it is what I'd call especially memorable.
(I will mention that I've been reading the Tarzan books in the new ERB Authorized Library editions, and they all include a lengthy section at the end with a long essay about the history of the book, and then many pages of reprints of book covers, illustrations, etc.; and it's all fascinating stuff, although a lot of the essay is Burroughs kvetching about pay rates from various magazines and trying to convince them to publish the Western he just wrote when really they just want more Tarzan or Mars or Pellucidar.)
January 21, 2021
Blatant Racism
Even though this book was written decades ago, I can't get past the blatant racism, which seems to get worse with every novel in this series. And don't get me started on the coincidences or rehashed plots.
Even though this book was written decades ago, I can't get past the blatant racism, which seems to get worse with every novel in this series. And don't get me started on the coincidences or rehashed plots.
February 16, 2021
Zora is an interesting character with personality, but gets too little screen time. Overall the books feels like a chaotic mix of characters getting lost and confused in the jungle, which is accurate, but not exactly super engaging. Meh.
December 11, 2024
In which Tarzan finds himself once again in the lost city of Opar, this time defending against dastardly commies. Mayhem ensues.
I saw that this book is the last time we see Opar and its ruler La. It was nice to see La get a decent denouement.
I saw that this book is the last time we see Opar and its ruler La. It was nice to see La get a decent denouement.
July 26, 2020
Soviets try to loot the city of Opar of its diamonds. Tarzan comes to right this wrong!
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