Tarzan and the Forbidden City

Tarzan #20

by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Tarzan cared little for the fate of adventurer Brian Gregory, drawn to the legendary city of Ashair by the rumor of the Father of Diamonds, the world's hugest gem. But to the ape-man the tie of friendship was unbreakable, and Paul d'Arnot's pleas moved him to agree to guide the expedition Gregory's father and sister organized for his rescue. The enigmatic Atan Thome was also obsessed with the Father of Diamonds, and planted agents in the Gregory safari to spy out its route and sabotage its efforts. Both parties reached their goal, remote Ashair . . . as prisoners of its priests, doomed to die in loathsome rites.

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

191 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1938

About the author

Edgar Rice Burroughs was an American author, best known for his creation of the jungle hero Tarzan and the heroic John Carter, although he produced works in many genres.

Reviews

[Tharindu Dissanayake · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Curiosity is often a fatal poison,"

Paul d'Arnot returns to Tarzan again and the reader is once again invited to a captivating story that is fully packed of action. The plot is very fast moving compared to other books of the series.

There was little repetitions and the story was very engaging. However, to me, it felt like the ending was dragged on more than necessary, making it a bit tiring. Almost through the last five chapters, it felt that the ending is almost at hand, but it kept being dragged on, a little too much in my opinion.

"Death! Man's last refuge when hope is gone, his last friend, his life's ultimate goal."

[Louie the Mustache Matos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tarzan and the Forbidden City is book #20 of the 24-book Tarzan series written by Edgar Rice Burroughs (aka ERB). It was originally published in serialized form in one of the weekly pulps, Argosy Magazine, in 1938 originally titled the Red Star of Tarzan.

The general plot is that when a young man disappeared in Africa while searching for one of the largest diamonds in the world, called the Father of Diamonds, Paul Darnot, one of Tarzan's best friends, asks him to join the rescue team. Brian Gregory's father and sister have not heard from him for months and are concerned. When they meet Tarzan, he learns that Brian and he could be twins, they look so much alike.

In the investigation, it is disclosed that saboteurs were part of Gregory's group trying to impede his pursuit of riches. The Forbidden City is an all-too-frequently used trope with warring factions: Ashair and Thobos. There are numerous encounters where Tarzan demonstrates his physical and mental prowess with a particular emphasis on a unicorn seahorse.

One of the few unique story elements involves underwater breathing apparatus essential to the plot. It gives the tale a more science fiction feel, along with the seahorse unicorn. I loved the adventure and the consequence. Good read.

[LadyCalico · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one contains the usual generic plots but with the bonus of Tarzan taking the action underwater, which was a really creative touch, but with the demerit of not having Little Nkima. I would not have found this one to be one of my favorites except for the bittersweet knowledge that I have read my last Tarzan, and thus I savored every word of it, like that last slice of pizza before starting a diet. This series has been quite a wild ride and I am heartbroken to have to leave the jungle and the noble apeman. *sob*

[Dch3jac1 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Late Tarzan.
Started off well - adventuring through the jungle, wrestling lions and apes etc - the usual Tarzan stuff.
Eventually we get to the forbidden city (cities - there are two) and it slowly turned into farce. People kept getting captured, escaping, running around a bit, getting captured again by someone else, escaping, running around abit..... By the last few pages I'd lost track of who was where and just wanted it to be finished.
I think E.R.B. had run out of ideas or just didn't care.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tarzan cared little for the fate of adventurer Brian Gregory, drawn to the legendary city of Ashair by the rumor of the Father of Diamonds, the world's hugest gem. But to the ape-man the tie of friendship was unbreakable, and Paul d'Arnot's pleas moved him to agree to guide the expedition Gregory's father and sister organized for his rescue.

[Rob Roy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another great Tarzan novel with various groups of people moving in all directions, and Tarzan intervening at just the right moment to save the day in virtually every chapter. This book also offers a surprise ending, though easily guessed. An ideal book to read when you just want to relax and get a way.

[Kevin Dumcum · Rating 2 out of 5]

The under water temple is pretty imaginative, but otherwise, this story is a mess. Time and again, one or more of the party wanders off (or is dragged off) to be captured, imprisoned, and/or tortured, to have Tarzan come to the rescue almost nonchalantly, always in the nick of time. Burroughs really seemed to have lost his motivation with Tarzan. The last five pages were so rushed I almost got whiplash reading them.

[Kenneth · Rating 4 out of 5]

At the time I read this edition, a birthday present from my grandmother, I would have rated this a 5. However, this is a typical later Tarzan book written formulaically with two opposing cities at war with each other most of the time. And this time there is a guy to be rescued and bad guys seeking the Father of Diamonds. A great Tarzan adventure nevertheless.

[Joyce · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good adventure story with an ironic ending. This would most likely appeal to teenage boys and young men. While the number of troubles Tarzan and his group go through left me saying "enough already" at times, I still was interested in how it would all play out in the end.

[Theresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow. Another plane crash. The originality is amazing. This time it’s with Tarzan (Jane’s disappeared from the storyline again)

The good guys are trying to find their son and brother: Brian Gregory (who amazingly looks like Tarzan: again). While the bad guys are after the Father of Diamonds in the lost city which (supposingly) Brian had a map to. Atan Thome may be a bad guy but I like him. He has such a subtle, intelligent sense of humor, until the end that is. Greed does that.

And this is the third story where the unknown race has two factions at war with each other. I’m starting to be glad there’s only a few of books left of this series so I can get it over with. Though the underwater elements are original.

Footnote: 1) “I’ll get you and your dirty monkey-man, too’. Reminds me of the wicked witch in Wizard of Oz. “I’ll get you and your little dog too’. Wonder if the writer of the movie read this book?

2) The Father of Diamonds should have been the Mother of Diamonds and the volcano the father.

Fave scenes: Helen rescued from the village, the great ape dum-dum, Tarzan fighting the sea serpent and flooding the temple.

[Jerimy Stoll · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is full of action and adventure. This story starts out fast and keeps a fast pace throughout the entire book. Tarzan is introduced in the beginning and is present through the entire tale. There are of course damsels of tough character, Islamists, priests, savage tribesman, plenty of vicious animals, kings, and more. I would recommend this story to anyone who loves fantasy, adventure, action, general fiction, other Edgar Rice Burroughs books, or pulp fiction.

Lessons learned in this book:

1. The bad guys always get theirs in the end (probably not true to real life).
2. If one becomes over reliant on one person, they might forget how to trust in themselves.
3. If one over fixates on something it will eventually drive them mad.
4. Greed often leads to violence. This is actually a biblical concept where it is stated that the love of money is the root of all evil.

I hope you have fun reading this story. If nothing else, it is entertaining. It is no falser than the US government, or the news these days. Fiction makes good non-fiction.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

As the series goes on the books definitely get better. Here we see Tarzan hired by the Gregory Family to look for their son/ brother Brian. In the process they get divided, Tarzan comes to the rescue, all whilst looking for “The father of Diamonds”.

Above all the story works really well, however, it is worthy of note the following: After th3 GLORIOUS RETURN of Jane in the previous book, she has now been written out. Yet again, like with other works by Burroughs, this is a rehash, two cities mortal enemies, with a common ancestry. By now, you get the realisation that all these cities are “White Cities, advanced with black slaves” and above all, Burroughs in effect summed up and concluded this book in one paragraph.

[C2 Winston]

Tarzan of the apes is a truly unique character. He has the ability to think straight and remain calm in the worst of times and devise a plan. Tarzan is also quite resilient and he does what needs to be done. This is shown in the story when Tarzan battles the warrior, defeats the two lions, and still manages to retrieve the diamond even when it was claimed to be impossible. He does this even when odds are going against him when his friends keep getting lost.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this story, there are actually a couple of forbidden cities, and once again, a giant diamond is involved. Burroughs has employed the same plot devices consistently in this series, with slight variations and combinations to generate a fresh narrative. Still, he remains entertaining, and the character of Tarzan is always fascinating.

[Shea Carlson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unimaginative Plot

Someone who looks so much like Tarzan that people confuse the two. Done several times already.

A secluded civilization with two warring cities. Done several times before.

Abducted women. Done in almost every book.

Racism. Ditto.

[Norman Howe · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one checks all the boxes:
Pointless war between cities? Check!
Tarzan leading a rescue party? Check!
Tribe of Mangani to assist and sow chaos? Check!
Climactic battle? Check!
Romantic subplot? Check!

This would have made a great serial.

[Mike Brooke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not so good ! Long and tedious . I dont believe it was written by Edgar. Also the water scenes were overdone and complex.. Anyhow I got through it with some enjoyment and will go to his ,earlier works ,

Mike Brooke

[Brett Plaxton · Rating 4 out of 5]

In which Tarzan finds himself in a hidden valley where 2 cities are at war and fights a giant seahorse underwater. He’s recruited by friends of Captain D’Arnot to find a man missing in Africa looking for a lost diamond.

[Jeff Mayo · Rating 1 out of 5]

Tarzan is the doppelganger of a diamond hunter who went missing. If that weren’t enough idiocy, Tarzan fights a unicorn seahorse the size of a man. I read this many years ago, and it is only memorable for how bad it is.

[Dan Blackley]

Ashair, the city in this story, number 20 in the series holds the "Father of Diamonds". This large gem is said to be the biggest in the world. With Paul's request, Tarzan goes to find this gem.

[Jeff J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

#20 in the Tarzan series. Tarzan leads a search for a hidden city and the “Father of All Diamonds”. Great twist at the end.

[Ted · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not one, but two forbidden cities. Tarzan kills a lion, an undersea monster, and a T-Rex!

[Phillip Fitzsimmons · Rating 3 out of 5]

I recommend this book because I enjoyed it. Though it is both over the top and pretty silly.

[Angie S · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bit of a mixed bag. I enjoyed all the jungle scenes and thought the Mangani apes were very entertaining. The times Tarzan got into a fight with a weird animal were fun. He took on a mini t-rex (that was cool), some weird horsefish sea monsters, talking apes and all that good stuff. It slowed to a grind when Tarzan and his pals found the hidden civilizations and were promptly captured. It was so tedious. They'd take turns escaping and being recaptured. The evil kings, queens and priests simply weren't interesting. Fortunately, the Mangani showed up again and things picked up once more. Though I think by that time Burroughs had run out of ideas because he quickly resolved everything in a few pages and ended the book.

[Nickolai · Rating 4 out of 5]

Сама по себе книга интересная и легко читается. Но как двадцатая в ряду абсолютно похожих друг на другу, вызвала преимущественно утомление и желание,чтобы побыстрее всё закончилось.

[John Grace · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jane is never mentioned and the lead female character has a crush on Tarzan. Think we can read between the lines!

[Major B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another fun adventure! There are definitely a lot of repeated themes here, but the underwater parts were very cool. There were lots of captures and escapes, and never a dull moment!

[Becky · Rating 3 out of 5]

An old friend returns and I was so excited to see him. If you've read the book that started all of this - and if you haven't, why haven't you - then you will recognize Lieutenant Paul d'Arnot as the brave Frenchman that Tarzan rescued in Tarzan of the Apes and who then introduces him to civilization. This time around he is seeking help for a friend whose son has been lost in the jungle. The son, Brian Gregory, was on an expedition looking for a huge diamond known as the father of diamonds and Papa Gregory has come with his beautiful 19-year-old daughter, Helen, to try to find and rescue him. d'Arnot was in his twenties in the first Tarzan book and in the meantime Tarzan and Jane have borne and raised a son and are grandparents. That means that d'Arnot must be at least 50 now, so what is he doing panting after a 19-year-old? This is Edgar Rice Burroughs though, so logic does not apply.

Speaking of lack of logic, this is the third or fourth book with a Tarzan-look-alike. This time around it's Brian Gregory himself that so closely resembles Tarzan that even his family is fooled. This is a plot device that is introduced mostly to give the woman involved with the villians a reason to take Tarzan's side at critical moments. Later in the book it is completely forgotten. I wonder if that was because this was serialized and ERB couldn't go back and rewrite that part when he decided he didn't want to follow up with it later. The world will never know.

A kidnapping leads Tarzan, d'Arnot, and others into the jungle and adventure. The villain of the piece is trying to beat them to the diamond and this time around he's not Russian but Eurasian. Did Tarzan ever meet an evil Brit? I can't recall. I know there were bad Americans, lots of bad Russians, a few bad Swedes, and plenty of evil Germans and Japanese in the books written in either World War. But I think he continually cast the Brits as allies and/or victims. One of these days I want to read the Edgar Rice Burroughs biography I bought from a used bookstore and maybe I'll find clues in it as to why ERB was such an angliophile.

One truly unique points to this book was a lot of the action takes place underwater with magical ERB scuba suits. I love underwater everything so that was a nice change of pace.

This was one of the books when Tarzan has a beautiful woman throwing herself at him and he never bothers to mention that he already has a wife (or she, if you prefer) and isn't available. I really do wish that ERB had treated Jane with more respect. To be fair, Tarzan doesn't encourage these women, he's just so manly and awe-inspiring that the women can't help falling for him. I can't really blame them, can I?

Other than d'Arnot, this was a thoroughly forgettable Tarzan book. I just finished it two days ago and I already couldn't tell you a thing that happened once the action swings into high gear. (Swings, get it? Because Tarzan swings... never mind.) The funniest part of the book for me was listening to text to speech and having the computer render d'Arnot's name as "darn it." If you aren't a completist or a complete Tarzan nut, you can skip this one.

Three stars with at least one star awarded for the return of d'Arnot.

[Jared Gulian · Rating 1 out of 5]

I found an old copy of this book in charming clothbound hardcover for three dollars at the secondhand store, and I bought it immediately because was swept away by my nostalgic memories of watching Tarzan movies as a kid. I had never read Burroughs before. Lately I’ve been craving escapist fantasy because the world is a total mess. Who can blame me?

That said, reading this book was a mistake.

Yes, it was escapist fantasy. There is a fascinating forbidden city situated in an extinct volcano, and there is a mysterious underwater temple. However, there is also wholesale misogyny and blatant racism left right and centre.

The one female character, Helen, was rescued three times in the first one-third of the book. At that point, I stopped counting. She kept getting abducted by different people. Once she did use her own agency to escape a group of kidnappers at night, but she then walked right into a group of cannibals. I hate it when that happens. She kept having to get saved by men. Over and over and over.

The Black Africans in this book are portrayed as caricatures who are buffoonish, frightened, superstitious and inferior. They are only slaves and servants. As I read, at first I made the mistake of assuming the advanced civilisation in the forbidden city was comprised of Black Africans, but when I read more carefully, I realised whenever their race was described, they were described as white. Shocking, really. I had naïvely assumed these mysterious civilisations with advanced culture in Africa would be made up of… well… Africans! Silly me.

As it turns out, Edgar Rice Burroughs was a certified racist through and through. He was a eugenicist and he supported “scientific racism“ — the pseudoscientific belief that empirical evidence exists to justify racial discrimination and the white supremacy. He even believed that the English nobility were truly superior to other white people. This is why Tarzan was portrayed as orphaned nobility.

It’s truly shocking that these sorts of racist stories like Tarzan were never even questioned. At least as humanity goes we’ve made some progress. Okay, not much. But some!

Suffice it to say… I will not be reading any more Edgar Rice Burroughs…

[Tony Santo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tarzan meets his old Friend Captain D'Arnot who asks him to help his friend Monsieur Gregory find and his rescue his missing son. His son, Brian Gregory, disappeared in the African country while looking for the fabled "Father of Diamonds." Tarzan agrees to lead the expedition to find Gregory's lost son, and together with D'Arnot, the fetching Helen Gregory, and a mix of rascally crew, they embark on the adventure.

I always find each of ERB's Tarzan adventures to be thoroughly captivating. The introduction of new characters and the way Burroughs eventually connects them with Tarzan is enjoyable. This book is no exception. There is a plot convention that gets predictable after a while, but you would have to be a Tarzan reader to notice it.

I think every character gets a chance to be kidnapped, rescued, taken prisoner, get lost, get found, go for help, get intercepted, taken prisoner again, fall in love, and get rescued again. In this case, the plot stumbles back and forth between familiar ground once a little too often. The lack of progress that resulted in this device went on too long, and left me feeling a bit claustrophobic. Aside from this, a few of the characters have arcs where they change for the better, either through their own experiences or because of Tarzan's influence. These moments are satisfying as we grow fond of characters. Their transformations add to the magnificent regard the reader has for Tarzan.

There is a flavor of the scientific when Tarzan and company discover a mineral which, when woven into a sea diving suit somehow creates an endless supply of oxygen, making walking on the river bottom a hoot. It reminded me of some of the "John Carter" moments where Burroughs explains the plausibility of flying ships and similar Martian miracles. Strange undersea creatures native to the Forbidden City were cute, but they never reached the thrill level the reader gets when Tarzan fights a Lion or other wild beasts.

Not the best of the Tarzan books, but even so, a notch or two above anything else I find. Once again, Tarzan delights me.