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Gor #2
Outlaw of Gor
Tarl Cabot finds himself transported back to Counter-Earth from the sedate life he has known as a history professor on Earth. He is glad to be back in his role as a dominant warrior and again in the arms of his true love. Yet Tarl finds that his name on Gor has been tainted, his city defiled, and all those he loves made outcasts. He is no longer in the position of a proud warrior, but an outlaw for whom the simplest answers must come at a high price. He wonders why the Priest-Kings have called him back to Gor, and whether it is only to render him powerless.
Rediscover this brilliantly imagined world where men are masters and women live to serve their every desire.
Outlaw of Gor is the 2nd book in the Gorean Saga, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.
Rediscover this brilliantly imagined world where men are masters and women live to serve their every desire.
Outlaw of Gor is the 2nd book in the Gorean Saga, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.
254 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1967
222 people are currently reading
1122 people want to read
About the author
John Norman
99 books337 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
John Norman, real name John Lange, was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1931. His best known works, the Gor series, currently span 36 books written 1966 (Tarnsman of Gor) to 2021 (Avengers of Gor). Three installments of the Telnarian Histories, plus three other fiction works and a non-fiction paperback. Mr. Norman is married and has three children.
John Norman, real name John Lange, was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1931. His best known works, the Gor series, currently span 36 books written 1966 (Tarnsman of Gor) to 2021 (Avengers of Gor). Three installments of the Telnarian Histories, plus three other fiction works and a non-fiction paperback. Mr. Norman is married and has three children.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 142 reviews
February 11, 2009
This book would be better if it were called 'Terb vs. the Blood Lesbians', which would have the combined benefits of precisely outlining the plot and sparking the audience's collective imagination. If I had written it, that's what I would have called it, but if I had written this book, I would be a damaged man trying to outweigh my insecurities with a chivalry fetish.
Now, kicking John Norman for being kinky is a tired game that's been done better, especially since he's no more sexually confused than Stephanie Meyer. Both idealize the phrase 'love conquers all' until it supersedes pain, self-interest, or plot.
Norman doesn't bathe his books in this sort of rhetoric, indeed, he can run on for chapters with only hints of the queasiness he is capable of evoking. He also often contradicts and questions his own persistent themes. This is because he is not merely a fetishist or a chauvinist, but a man who has combined romanticism, nobility, and idealism to create a confused (if far-reaching) rhetoric of female slavery.
His is not a slavery to injure women or to lay them low, but a slavery to elevate them, to make them better than they ever could have been alone. Likewise, his grandiose philosophy states that men are just as useless without women as their subjects. Nor is it enough for Norman's protagonist to simply capture or enslave a woman.
Norman places a high importance on freeing a woman entirely, so that they can choose their subservience out of a true and abiding love. I am reminded of the passage from Angela Carter's 'The Sadean Woman' where she mentions that the 'earth mother goddess' of New Age religion is just another social slavery women subject themselves to., since it invites them to define themselves solely by their capacity for childbirth.
Likewise, Norman is not happy unless the 'weaker sex' realizes just how helpless it is, that it is only half of a whole, and cannot survive alone. Anyone who buys into such rhetoric only does so because they are not a whole person.
Since Norman had already written a book where a man travels through a world filled with luscious lady slaves and frees them so that they can truly devote themselves to him, he felt he had to up the ante with the sequel.
Now, Terb, son of Terb, Terb rider must travel to the far-off city of Therb where he meets the Therbtrix, its alluring and mysterious queen. He sees that it is up to him, and him alone alone, to take down this one-of-a-kind matriarchy in a world where women are normally slaves or unseen. This isn't because he wants it to be like the other, patriarchal cities, but rather because the women have made a royal mess of everything, and can't be trusted to rule over men.
Indeed, the Blood Lesbians practice extensive slavery, consider the men of their city to be little more than animals, and love nothing so much as pitting men against one another in brutal bloodsports. Of course, if everyone around me was bent on enslaving, branding, and raping me due to my chromosomes, I might go a little nuts, too.
Since Norman has trouble making plot conflicts, Terb swims through his minor 'difficulties' without mussing his hair, freeing the slaves along the way. Everyone he befriends or acts kindly to returns later at a crucial moment to save his life, meaning he's very lucky none of them got sick or failed to travel a thousand miles to the same city he traveled to at just the right time.
All these 'name' characters also survive, and most of them hook up with one another, though none realize that the other knows Terb until he shows up and everyone gets to act all surprised. Norman can't seem to bring himself to cause any hardship, let alone death, except to henchmen and major villains. Many books (and children's movies) share this problem, and so we go through bloody war after bloody war and no one important ever dies.
Eventually, we get to Norman's piece de resistance, where we learn that the Queen of the Blood Lesbians only hates Terb because she secretly loves him and has always literally dreamed of becoming nothing more than a slave and a man's play toy. Terb has a moment's pang of remorse over his 'one, true love' (wherever she is) but seems to quickly forget it in time for the suggestive fadeout.
Norman is not content with a physical dominance over women, indeed, nothing less than complete emotional and psychological slavery will do. It's almost as if Norman is so insecure about his own worth as a person that he can only love a woman who is entirely devoted, body and soul, to his every whim. But of course, that would be silly; and really sad.
In addition, women who are already suggestible are 'no fun'. Terb's aforementioned 'true love' was one ornery, cutthroat bitch, so Norman felt he had to ratchet it up and create a literal Queen of all Bitches for his hero to dominate with his impassable exterior and self-sacrificing kindness.
We all know a guy who complains about being 'too nice'. He listens to women complain about their boyfriends and is often heard to quip how they should love him instead, since they always say he's so nice. If these men had their way, our world would look like Gor. Any man who was simply 'nice' would have the most powerful and self-willed women of the world eating from his hand. Probably literally.
Of course, what his friends should tell him is that, while he is technically 'not a jerk', he probably has no other redeeming qualities. Then they should remind him that actually 'being nice' requires a person to be active, and not just to passively avoid being mean. That is to say, he is much like our dithering and inscrutable Terb: with little personality to speak of, and with even less opportunity to show off how really self-sacrificing he can be.
It's one thing when you are a world-shaking man with the ability to defeat an army single-handedly. It's less engaging when you sit in your den writing novels about interesting things happening to your author surrogate. I'd suggest Norman needed to get out more, but he wasn't going to be developing any healthy relationships, anyway. Better to stick with the pretend women in his books.
One question remains: why do I keep reading these books? The sad thing is, despite the fact that they are somewhat unsettling, the pacing and writing are still better than much of modern fantasy or even accilaimed bestsellers. Cormac McCarthy won the Pulitzer and he can't even punctuate a sentence. When a zany, insecure chauvinist can outwrite the 'great literary minds' of the day, maybe its time to get into nonfiction. Then again, it worked for Hemingway. Hell, Frank Miller's still riding the 'wacky chauvinist' train, though for how much longer, it's hard to say.
My Fantasy Book Suggestions
Now, kicking John Norman for being kinky is a tired game that's been done better, especially since he's no more sexually confused than Stephanie Meyer. Both idealize the phrase 'love conquers all' until it supersedes pain, self-interest, or plot.
Norman doesn't bathe his books in this sort of rhetoric, indeed, he can run on for chapters with only hints of the queasiness he is capable of evoking. He also often contradicts and questions his own persistent themes. This is because he is not merely a fetishist or a chauvinist, but a man who has combined romanticism, nobility, and idealism to create a confused (if far-reaching) rhetoric of female slavery.
His is not a slavery to injure women or to lay them low, but a slavery to elevate them, to make them better than they ever could have been alone. Likewise, his grandiose philosophy states that men are just as useless without women as their subjects. Nor is it enough for Norman's protagonist to simply capture or enslave a woman.
Norman places a high importance on freeing a woman entirely, so that they can choose their subservience out of a true and abiding love. I am reminded of the passage from Angela Carter's 'The Sadean Woman' where she mentions that the 'earth mother goddess' of New Age religion is just another social slavery women subject themselves to., since it invites them to define themselves solely by their capacity for childbirth.
Likewise, Norman is not happy unless the 'weaker sex' realizes just how helpless it is, that it is only half of a whole, and cannot survive alone. Anyone who buys into such rhetoric only does so because they are not a whole person.
Since Norman had already written a book where a man travels through a world filled with luscious lady slaves and frees them so that they can truly devote themselves to him, he felt he had to up the ante with the sequel.
Now, Terb, son of Terb, Terb rider must travel to the far-off city of Therb where he meets the Therbtrix, its alluring and mysterious queen. He sees that it is up to him, and him alone alone, to take down this one-of-a-kind matriarchy in a world where women are normally slaves or unseen. This isn't because he wants it to be like the other, patriarchal cities, but rather because the women have made a royal mess of everything, and can't be trusted to rule over men.
Indeed, the Blood Lesbians practice extensive slavery, consider the men of their city to be little more than animals, and love nothing so much as pitting men against one another in brutal bloodsports. Of course, if everyone around me was bent on enslaving, branding, and raping me due to my chromosomes, I might go a little nuts, too.
Since Norman has trouble making plot conflicts, Terb swims through his minor 'difficulties' without mussing his hair, freeing the slaves along the way. Everyone he befriends or acts kindly to returns later at a crucial moment to save his life, meaning he's very lucky none of them got sick or failed to travel a thousand miles to the same city he traveled to at just the right time.
All these 'name' characters also survive, and most of them hook up with one another, though none realize that the other knows Terb until he shows up and everyone gets to act all surprised. Norman can't seem to bring himself to cause any hardship, let alone death, except to henchmen and major villains. Many books (and children's movies) share this problem, and so we go through bloody war after bloody war and no one important ever dies.
Eventually, we get to Norman's piece de resistance, where we learn that the Queen of the Blood Lesbians only hates Terb because she secretly loves him and has always literally dreamed of becoming nothing more than a slave and a man's play toy. Terb has a moment's pang of remorse over his 'one, true love' (wherever she is) but seems to quickly forget it in time for the suggestive fadeout.
Norman is not content with a physical dominance over women, indeed, nothing less than complete emotional and psychological slavery will do. It's almost as if Norman is so insecure about his own worth as a person that he can only love a woman who is entirely devoted, body and soul, to his every whim. But of course, that would be silly; and really sad.
In addition, women who are already suggestible are 'no fun'. Terb's aforementioned 'true love' was one ornery, cutthroat bitch, so Norman felt he had to ratchet it up and create a literal Queen of all Bitches for his hero to dominate with his impassable exterior and self-sacrificing kindness.
We all know a guy who complains about being 'too nice'. He listens to women complain about their boyfriends and is often heard to quip how they should love him instead, since they always say he's so nice. If these men had their way, our world would look like Gor. Any man who was simply 'nice' would have the most powerful and self-willed women of the world eating from his hand. Probably literally.
Of course, what his friends should tell him is that, while he is technically 'not a jerk', he probably has no other redeeming qualities. Then they should remind him that actually 'being nice' requires a person to be active, and not just to passively avoid being mean. That is to say, he is much like our dithering and inscrutable Terb: with little personality to speak of, and with even less opportunity to show off how really self-sacrificing he can be.
It's one thing when you are a world-shaking man with the ability to defeat an army single-handedly. It's less engaging when you sit in your den writing novels about interesting things happening to your author surrogate. I'd suggest Norman needed to get out more, but he wasn't going to be developing any healthy relationships, anyway. Better to stick with the pretend women in his books.
One question remains: why do I keep reading these books? The sad thing is, despite the fact that they are somewhat unsettling, the pacing and writing are still better than much of modern fantasy or even accilaimed bestsellers. Cormac McCarthy won the Pulitzer and he can't even punctuate a sentence. When a zany, insecure chauvinist can outwrite the 'great literary minds' of the day, maybe its time to get into nonfiction. Then again, it worked for Hemingway. Hell, Frank Miller's still riding the 'wacky chauvinist' train, though for how much longer, it's hard to say.
My Fantasy Book Suggestions
March 24, 2022
PROSCRITOS DE GOR.
Segundo libro de la criticada saga Gor y una mejora importante en el estilo de escritura. La premisa es simple, Tarl Cabot necesita llegar a los montes Sardos en busca de Los Reyes sacerdotes cuando de camino ocurre algo que lo embarca en una aventura al interior y exterior de una ciudad dominada por mujeres. Por lo que si fuera un videojuego la aventura de este libro sería una especie de Misión secundaria.
La aventura me pareció divertida, en general logró engancharme, aunque hay un par de decisiones tontas del protagonista y un par de "deus ex machina" qué le restan puntos. En la narrativa mejora bastante comparado con el primer libro donde todo es más expedito, acá el autor se toma mayor tiempo en el desarrollo del personaje y en la construcción de mundo, lo que se agradece, ya qué de todos los libros que he leído de está saga (Guerrero de Gor, Proscritos de Gor, Reyes sacerdotes, Nómades de Gor, asesino de Gor y Exploradores de Gor) es el primero en el que logró empatizar en algo con el protagonista.
La historia en parte me recuerda a algunos de los tipicos cuentos de Las mil y unas noches, dónde generalmente los personajes tenían un objetivo a alcanzar cuando de camino debían enfrentar algún reto o aventura qué los desviaba de su misión, llevandolos a nuevos lugares y alguno que otro descubrimiento. Acá no hay descubrimientos, pero sí lugares qué nos harán conocer mejor este mundo y que nos harán pasar un buen rato. Aunque eso sí, tambien hay algo del típico discurso maestro-esclava que tanto rechazo le ha causado a algunos lectores, aunque al menos acá, lo poco que hay, está en función de la trama por lo que no llega a hacerse denso o pesado.
Después de "Asesino de Gor" y "Reyes sacerdotes" éste es el siguiente mejor libro que he leído de esta saga a la fecha... aunque eso tampoco la hace una gran novela.
¡Entretenida!
Segundo libro de la criticada saga Gor y una mejora importante en el estilo de escritura. La premisa es simple, Tarl Cabot necesita llegar a los montes Sardos en busca de Los Reyes sacerdotes cuando de camino ocurre algo que lo embarca en una aventura al interior y exterior de una ciudad dominada por mujeres. Por lo que si fuera un videojuego la aventura de este libro sería una especie de Misión secundaria.
La aventura me pareció divertida, en general logró engancharme, aunque hay un par de decisiones tontas del protagonista y un par de "deus ex machina" qué le restan puntos. En la narrativa mejora bastante comparado con el primer libro donde todo es más expedito, acá el autor se toma mayor tiempo en el desarrollo del personaje y en la construcción de mundo, lo que se agradece, ya qué de todos los libros que he leído de está saga (Guerrero de Gor, Proscritos de Gor, Reyes sacerdotes, Nómades de Gor, asesino de Gor y Exploradores de Gor) es el primero en el que logró empatizar en algo con el protagonista.
La historia en parte me recuerda a algunos de los tipicos cuentos de Las mil y unas noches, dónde generalmente los personajes tenían un objetivo a alcanzar cuando de camino debían enfrentar algún reto o aventura qué los desviaba de su misión, llevandolos a nuevos lugares y alguno que otro descubrimiento. Acá no hay descubrimientos, pero sí lugares qué nos harán conocer mejor este mundo y que nos harán pasar un buen rato. Aunque eso sí, tambien hay algo del típico discurso maestro-esclava que tanto rechazo le ha causado a algunos lectores, aunque al menos acá, lo poco que hay, está en función de la trama por lo que no llega a hacerse denso o pesado.
Después de "Asesino de Gor" y "Reyes sacerdotes" éste es el siguiente mejor libro que he leído de esta saga a la fecha... aunque eso tampoco la hace una gran novela.
¡Entretenida!
December 14, 2020
Tras leer el primero en 2012 cayó este a continuación. Mas de lo mismo y no seguí con la serie. Esto es la review del primero:
Lo leí en el 2012 y, a ver, que es del 1967, no pidáis mucho (mejor nada) en cuanto a estilo.
Si os suena John Carter os podéis hacer una idea de qué vais a encontrar: al profesor Tark Cabot que se trasladado a una especie de Tierra en contra-órbita solar a la nuestra y donde hay ciudades-estado, Reyes-sacerdotes, bellas mujeres (pero que muy bellas y con no mucha ropa, oye), esclavos y unas aves de guerra...y ¡oh, casualidad!, nuestro profesor resulta ser un guerrero de la ostia.
Esto fue una serie de mucha popularidad en su momento, fantasía pulp, erótica, épica y bizarra. Toma, que lo tenía todo para que la juventud anduviese loca. Y eso que, según he leído, el contenido erótico iba aumentando según avanzaba la serie (en este solo pinceladitas).
Entretenido, pero un rato machista si lo vemos con nuestros ojos del XXI.
Copio/pego para el segundo, más de lo mismo una vez leído la introducción al worldbuilding que podría considerarse este.
Lo leí en el 2012 y, a ver, que es del 1967, no pidáis mucho (mejor nada) en cuanto a estilo.
Si os suena John Carter os podéis hacer una idea de qué vais a encontrar: al profesor Tark Cabot que se trasladado a una especie de Tierra en contra-órbita solar a la nuestra y donde hay ciudades-estado, Reyes-sacerdotes, bellas mujeres (pero que muy bellas y con no mucha ropa, oye), esclavos y unas aves de guerra...y ¡oh, casualidad!, nuestro profesor resulta ser un guerrero de la ostia.
Esto fue una serie de mucha popularidad en su momento, fantasía pulp, erótica, épica y bizarra. Toma, que lo tenía todo para que la juventud anduviese loca. Y eso que, según he leído, el contenido erótico iba aumentando según avanzaba la serie (en este solo pinceladitas).
Entretenido, pero un rato machista si lo vemos con nuestros ojos del XXI.
Copio/pego para el segundo, más de lo mismo una vez leído la introducción al worldbuilding que podría considerarse este.
August 13, 2010
ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.
Outlaw of Gor is the second novel in John Norman's cult classic Gorean Saga. After languishing on Earth for seven years, Tarl Cabot is finally returned to the Counter-Earth where he hopes to find his father and the woman he loves. Instead, he finds that things are not at all as he left them. After a bit of roaming, he winds up in a city he's never been to before and gets tangled up in a battle of the sexes.
Tarl Cabot is a bit like Richard Rahl — effortlessly subduing evil, fighting oppression, and spreading nobility wherever he goes. He loves and serves his fellow man ("How could I be free when others are bound?"). He spends a lot of time talking about how he reveres women and hates those Gorean cultures which capture women and consider them useful only as pleasure slaves.
Yet, for all of Tarl's assurances that he's a feminist, it's a bit hard to swallow when his only descriptions of the women he meets are their stunning beauty and how he admires their spirit. (Spirit is shown by a woman saying things like "No, never!" to men who want to subdue her.)
And the reader knows it's just a matter of time before one of these beautiful and spirited women, with her dress ripped to shreds, will be on her knees with her arms raised and wrists crossed and begging Tarl to enslave her. Even women who were previously powerful are anxious to know if Tarl finds them beautiful and pleasing and when he insists that he doesn't want to purchase them, they pout. He buys one of them as "an act of sentiment"! (There is no sex of any sort in these books so far, by the way.)
This is all fine for a little bit of fun and fantasy roleplay, but when Tarl suggests that women don't really want freedom, but actually want to be men's full-time pleasure slaves.... that's a little much for me. One ruling woman says that slave girls have it better because their skimpy clothes are easier to walk around in. Okay, I'll give her that point, but when she says that being chained is the only way that many women can learn to love...? And that she really would rather be a slave than to take up her former ruling position?... yeah, right.
Tarl goes on to explain why matriarchies don't work: men lose their self-respect and then the women lose respect for the self-loathing men and "hating their men, they hate themselves." This is a point I'm willing to consider, but he goes too far with his next point: "I have wondered sometimes if a man to be a man must not master a woman. And if a woman, to be a woman, must not know herself mastered." Unfortunately, "mastered" seems to mean that men are free and ruling and women are collared, leashed, scantily clad, and serving and dancing for men. How can Tarl Cabot, the feminist, justify this? Easily: the women say they like it this way.
But for all of this, I must admit that I've got a strange fascination with this series and I plan to read the next book. However I think that it wouldn't work for me if I was reading it in print instead of listening to it on audio. I believe that it's the reader, Ralph Lister, who manages to "fix" what otherwise I'd read as just plain sexist masculine fantasy. Lister gives Tarl a voice that's innocent and enthusiastic enough to deceive me into believing that he's not really as shallow as he demonstrates that he is.
www.fantasyliterature.com
Outlaw of Gor is the second novel in John Norman's cult classic Gorean Saga. After languishing on Earth for seven years, Tarl Cabot is finally returned to the Counter-Earth where he hopes to find his father and the woman he loves. Instead, he finds that things are not at all as he left them. After a bit of roaming, he winds up in a city he's never been to before and gets tangled up in a battle of the sexes.
Tarl Cabot is a bit like Richard Rahl — effortlessly subduing evil, fighting oppression, and spreading nobility wherever he goes. He loves and serves his fellow man ("How could I be free when others are bound?"). He spends a lot of time talking about how he reveres women and hates those Gorean cultures which capture women and consider them useful only as pleasure slaves.
Yet, for all of Tarl's assurances that he's a feminist, it's a bit hard to swallow when his only descriptions of the women he meets are their stunning beauty and how he admires their spirit. (Spirit is shown by a woman saying things like "No, never!" to men who want to subdue her.)
And the reader knows it's just a matter of time before one of these beautiful and spirited women, with her dress ripped to shreds, will be on her knees with her arms raised and wrists crossed and begging Tarl to enslave her. Even women who were previously powerful are anxious to know if Tarl finds them beautiful and pleasing and when he insists that he doesn't want to purchase them, they pout. He buys one of them as "an act of sentiment"! (There is no sex of any sort in these books so far, by the way.)
This is all fine for a little bit of fun and fantasy roleplay, but when Tarl suggests that women don't really want freedom, but actually want to be men's full-time pleasure slaves.... that's a little much for me. One ruling woman says that slave girls have it better because their skimpy clothes are easier to walk around in. Okay, I'll give her that point, but when she says that being chained is the only way that many women can learn to love...? And that she really would rather be a slave than to take up her former ruling position?... yeah, right.
Tarl goes on to explain why matriarchies don't work: men lose their self-respect and then the women lose respect for the self-loathing men and "hating their men, they hate themselves." This is a point I'm willing to consider, but he goes too far with his next point: "I have wondered sometimes if a man to be a man must not master a woman. And if a woman, to be a woman, must not know herself mastered." Unfortunately, "mastered" seems to mean that men are free and ruling and women are collared, leashed, scantily clad, and serving and dancing for men. How can Tarl Cabot, the feminist, justify this? Easily: the women say they like it this way.
But for all of this, I must admit that I've got a strange fascination with this series and I plan to read the next book. However I think that it wouldn't work for me if I was reading it in print instead of listening to it on audio. I believe that it's the reader, Ralph Lister, who manages to "fix" what otherwise I'd read as just plain sexist masculine fantasy. Lister gives Tarl a voice that's innocent and enthusiastic enough to deceive me into believing that he's not really as shallow as he demonstrates that he is.
www.fantasyliterature.com
November 12, 2016
I'm in the middle right now of reading as many of the "Gor" S&M erotic fantasy novels as I can stand; see my review of the first book, Tarnsman of Gor, for more on the reasons why. Like that one, this second book in the series has yet to start getting into the bizarro sexual-torture poetry-filled rituals that are what make this series so infamous (I've been told not to expect that until book 6 or 7); although this one does at least give us our first glimpse at one of these rituals, as our hero Tarl Cabot fondly thinks back one night to how enjoyable the "First Night of Slavery" rituals are in his "counter-world" home of Gor (a planet that's supposed to be on the exact opposite side of the sun as Earth but that mimics the same orbit, so that we here never actually get a glimpse of it), a night of public ritualistic humiliation for the woman in question, that is celebrated by the men sort of like a wedding reception.
Instead, the misogyny here is mostly of the kind we see in the first book as well, the age-old kind that male writers have been getting away with for centuries now and still counting, where our lead villain is a haughty female leader who goes around constantly screaming, "How DARE you presume to speak to me, scum commoner!" until she's finally shown the light by the firm hand of a man's man who's unafraid of her, at which point she realizes how much she actually likes the traditional submissive gender role she's finally been showed by the one guy in her life masculine enough to give it to her. It's a troublesome attitude to be sure, but at least one that's no different than a thousand other genre projects that have been written over the years (including the work of Edgar Rice Burroughs, which "Gor" author John Norman is still liberally ripping off here in the second volume); but I have to say, I'm looking forward to getting through these slogs and finally reaching the weirdo '70s S&M psychoterror fantasies that this series is best known for.
Instead, the misogyny here is mostly of the kind we see in the first book as well, the age-old kind that male writers have been getting away with for centuries now and still counting, where our lead villain is a haughty female leader who goes around constantly screaming, "How DARE you presume to speak to me, scum commoner!" until she's finally shown the light by the firm hand of a man's man who's unafraid of her, at which point she realizes how much she actually likes the traditional submissive gender role she's finally been showed by the one guy in her life masculine enough to give it to her. It's a troublesome attitude to be sure, but at least one that's no different than a thousand other genre projects that have been written over the years (including the work of Edgar Rice Burroughs, which "Gor" author John Norman is still liberally ripping off here in the second volume); but I have to say, I'm looking forward to getting through these slogs and finally reaching the weirdo '70s S&M psychoterror fantasies that this series is best known for.
March 19, 2012
Wow this book was great as well. Not predictable at all, except one tiny part with a bird which I wont spoil. It too was action-packed, and a really exciting read.
Contains adult sexual themes not for children, such as nudity and S&M. Based on the entertainment value of the rest of the book, I felt it could be looked past. In my personal opinion it is more humorous than anything else, because it is so ridiculous a concept. It is definitely a barbaric depiction of an alien world, but sometimes it seems as though these may be Norman's personal opinions of how society should behave in real life on Earth, which is somewhat disturbing. Even So I would read it again. The book itself was great despite some of the weird sexual themes.
Contains adult sexual themes not for children, such as nudity and S&M. Based on the entertainment value of the rest of the book, I felt it could be looked past. In my personal opinion it is more humorous than anything else, because it is so ridiculous a concept. It is definitely a barbaric depiction of an alien world, but sometimes it seems as though these may be Norman's personal opinions of how society should behave in real life on Earth, which is somewhat disturbing. Even So I would read it again. The book itself was great despite some of the weird sexual themes.
November 23, 2014
Outlaw of Gor begins with hero Tarl Cabot on a mission and it ends with the same mission looming before him. This book, then, is nothing but a long distraction. But it is a clever distraction, an adventure more enjoyable than his first.
Indeed, the gravity of his quest -- to confront the dreaded and feared Priest-Kings of Gor -- benefits from this sort of anticipatory development. The likelihood of his death (from his perspective, if not the reader's) is very high: no one who has ventured into the mountains of the Priest-Kings has ever returned. That's enough to give a man pause. But Tarl, whose courage is unquestioned, will not willingly hesitate when his mind is made up. So John Norman holds him back himself, with an adventure Tarl cannot possibly resist.
Not that he has any choice, at first. When he discovers that his Gorean home city has been wiped off the face of Gor, that his friends and family -- his wife -- have been scattered to its four corners, all courtesy of the Priest-Kings, he sets off for the mountains in search of whatever retribution he can exact. On the way, he enters Tharna, a city unique on Gor, for it is ruled by women. There, he is betrayed, arrested, and sentenced to death.
This, of course, is just the beginning, and it's fun to watch as Tarl, eager to get to the mountains, keeps finding that all roads instead lead fatalistically to Tharna. We are told that the Priest-Kings, who are the gods of Gor, don't do anything without a reason. So it follows that if Tarl was brought back to Gor, it was to serve a purpose. But if he is a puppet of the gods, he is also a slave to his own sense of justice. A small nudge from the gods and Tarl is off risking his life again.
Norman's prose flows smoothly and confidently, as if, with this second book, he is more comfortable on Gor and with Tarl and his other characters. It helps, too, since these books are a one-man show, that the story is more localized. Norman had a lot of ground to cover in his first book; here he can focus his (and Tarl's) energies on the fate of a single city.
As you might expect, this installment has more to say about women and their place in Gorean society than the last one. But if you think, because it features a city ruled by women, that it is more fair-minded, you'd better think again. Tarl himself, being a man from Earth of the late 1960s, is all about women's rights (up to a point, anyway), but on Gor, free love means buying a slavegirl.
Tharna itself is a dismal place, where women wear long robes and silver masks (the ruler, or Tatrix, wears a golden mask). Men of Tharna, who aren't allowed to touch the women, are considered beasts. As Tarl observes, turnabout is fair play, but either way it makes for a dysfunctional society.
Who, then, can blame him if his prefers to be on top? So far, there's nothing in these books to warrant their reputation. But I've a long way to go.
Good fun fantasy - 2
Sadomasochistic sexism - 0
Indeed, the gravity of his quest -- to confront the dreaded and feared Priest-Kings of Gor -- benefits from this sort of anticipatory development. The likelihood of his death (from his perspective, if not the reader's) is very high: no one who has ventured into the mountains of the Priest-Kings has ever returned. That's enough to give a man pause. But Tarl, whose courage is unquestioned, will not willingly hesitate when his mind is made up. So John Norman holds him back himself, with an adventure Tarl cannot possibly resist.
Not that he has any choice, at first. When he discovers that his Gorean home city has been wiped off the face of Gor, that his friends and family -- his wife -- have been scattered to its four corners, all courtesy of the Priest-Kings, he sets off for the mountains in search of whatever retribution he can exact. On the way, he enters Tharna, a city unique on Gor, for it is ruled by women. There, he is betrayed, arrested, and sentenced to death.
This, of course, is just the beginning, and it's fun to watch as Tarl, eager to get to the mountains, keeps finding that all roads instead lead fatalistically to Tharna. We are told that the Priest-Kings, who are the gods of Gor, don't do anything without a reason. So it follows that if Tarl was brought back to Gor, it was to serve a purpose. But if he is a puppet of the gods, he is also a slave to his own sense of justice. A small nudge from the gods and Tarl is off risking his life again.
Norman's prose flows smoothly and confidently, as if, with this second book, he is more comfortable on Gor and with Tarl and his other characters. It helps, too, since these books are a one-man show, that the story is more localized. Norman had a lot of ground to cover in his first book; here he can focus his (and Tarl's) energies on the fate of a single city.
As you might expect, this installment has more to say about women and their place in Gorean society than the last one. But if you think, because it features a city ruled by women, that it is more fair-minded, you'd better think again. Tarl himself, being a man from Earth of the late 1960s, is all about women's rights (up to a point, anyway), but on Gor, free love means buying a slavegirl.
Tharna itself is a dismal place, where women wear long robes and silver masks (the ruler, or Tatrix, wears a golden mask). Men of Tharna, who aren't allowed to touch the women, are considered beasts. As Tarl observes, turnabout is fair play, but either way it makes for a dysfunctional society.
Who, then, can blame him if his prefers to be on top? So far, there's nothing in these books to warrant their reputation. But I've a long way to go.
Good fun fantasy - 2
Sadomasochistic sexism - 0
August 1, 2015
I'm wondering if I might have been a little hasty in questioning this authors writing style last time. It seems to me that there are too few authors that make you want to immediately start the next book and in fact almost instill in you an intense desire to read them all as quickly as possible just so that you can begin again from the start. The funny thing is, it's clearly not just me and neither is it just male readers either. I've read many reviews that close with something along the lines of 'Jesus, WTF? but I'm definitely going to read the next one straight away.', or something to that effect anyway. I'm thinking it may be something to do with the simplistic writing style and that isn't meant as a criticism but rather as a compliment. It's extremely effective in drawing you into the story and you find you simply can't put the book down. It's a very deceptive style and one which works almost too well.
Excellent stuff, especially given the fact that it really shouldn't be!
Excellent stuff, especially given the fact that it really shouldn't be!
July 18, 2008
This is actually the first Gor book I read, when I was probably 16, and I thought it was excellent. Tarl Cabot is back and becomes a slave himself. This is the one that started me looking for anything else in the series. (In those days before the internet, it would be years before I found Tarnsman, the 1st in the series.)
Not sexist.
Not sexist.
September 3, 2011
I read this whole series in a marathon session, while stationed in England. The depth and volume of the stories is humbling for any writer and I consider this series very influential in my own approach to writing and world building in general; generic post for all the books in this series as I am finally getting around to recording my reading list in Goodreads.
December 26, 2014
Oh, Outlaw of Gor. You were fun. You really were. But in the end, there were some things that I just couldn't overlook in regards to your execution.
Take, for instance, your approach to world building and exposition. It's good to want to build on the lore and science of your world, book...but there are ways to do that without stopping the entire narrative to describe (in depth) the time system of Gor.
And you know, while I didn't care about the Gorean system for time, I was willing to give the random lecture a pass. Until the story was stopped again to describe how months and seasons work.
Tarl's random, plot-stopping bits of exposition were strange. They threw me out of the story every single time he decided that he had to tell the reader about how something else on Gor worked. And don't think that just because Tarl stops the story's progression to explain how time works in Gor, that that's the only bit of information you'll be getting. In the space of a few paragraphs, Tarl goes from talking about time, to introducing several animals who you'd think would have been mentioned in the first book, given how big of a deal Tarl makes them out to be.
The information about Gor would have been interesting if it had been handled better. There are ways of weaving world building into your narration, and stopping everything to randomly talk about breeds of snake is not it.
(I exaggerate a bit - I assume that the lecture on Gorean breeds of snake is so that the reader can immediately spot Ost for a traitorous villain, since he's named after the most treacherous type of snake. And that it's not, you know - a waste of time.)
Then, you have what I have decided to call "deus ex Tarn" - a phenomena where Tarl is thrown to/picked up by a "random tarn" that, big surprise! ends up being his tarn - the Ubar of the Tarns.
(That's my condensed version of "Ubar of the Skies, tarn of tarns", which is how Tarl usually addresses the tarn. That entire thing. Every single time. My way is faster than typing the entire thing out every time the damn tarn gets mentioned.)
I think that, at this point, I was up to three on my "Deus ex Tarn" counter -
1 - Tarl is strapped to a rack and pushed into a river, then gets picked up by a tarn, only to have the Ubar of the Tarns intervene. Tarnsman of Gor.
2 - Marlenus calls for Tarl to be fed to a tarn, which turns out to be the Ubar of the Tarns. Tarnsman of Gor.
3 - Tarl must fight a tarn in the arena, and - shocker - it turns out to be the Ubar of the Tarns. Outlaw of Gor.
My biggest issue with the book, though, is that it's essentially just a repackaging of the plot from the first book.
Tarl has a mission, but is sidetracked and he kidnaps a woman of power. The woman is scornful, and treacherous, but is ultimately tricked by the villain, who the woman assumed was a friend. Tarl narrowly escapes one predicament after another - and is saved several times by the unlikely appearance of the Ubar of the Tarns - until he eventually runs across the woman from earlier, who is now humbled and offers herself to be Tarl's slave because she is in love with him. Tarl refuses to officially enslave her, and then fights to restore the balance of power to her city. The villain manages to escape, vowing revenge on Tarl.
Now, granted, it's never explicitly stated that Parkur survived the ending of the first book. But come on. You know he did.
I am now eagerly awaiting the eventual team up between the two - Parkur and Donna, Tarlslayers.
Take, for instance, your approach to world building and exposition. It's good to want to build on the lore and science of your world, book...but there are ways to do that without stopping the entire narrative to describe (in depth) the time system of Gor.
The Gorean day is divided into twenty Ahn, which are numbered consecutively. The tenth Ahn is noon, the twentieth, midnight. Each Ahn consists of forty Ehn, or minutes, and each Ehn of eighty Ihn, or seconds.
And you know, while I didn't care about the Gorean system for time, I was willing to give the random lecture a pass. Until the story was stopped again to describe how months and seasons work.
Tarl's random, plot-stopping bits of exposition were strange. They threw me out of the story every single time he decided that he had to tell the reader about how something else on Gor worked. And don't think that just because Tarl stops the story's progression to explain how time works in Gor, that that's the only bit of information you'll be getting. In the space of a few paragraphs, Tarl goes from talking about time, to introducing several animals who you'd think would have been mentioned in the first book, given how big of a deal Tarl makes them out to be.
Perhaps I most dreaded those nights filled with the shrieks of the vart pack, a blind, batlike swarm of flying rodents, each the size of a small dog. They could strip a carcass in a matter of minutes, each carrying back some ribbon of flesh to the recesses of whatever dark cave the swarm had chosen for its home. Moreover, some vart packs were rabid.
The information about Gor would have been interesting if it had been handled better. There are ways of weaving world building into your narration, and stopping everything to randomly talk about breeds of snake is not it.
(I exaggerate a bit - I assume that the lecture on Gorean breeds of snake is so that the reader can immediately spot Ost for a traitorous villain, since he's named after the most treacherous type of snake. And that it's not, you know - a waste of time.)
Then, you have what I have decided to call "deus ex Tarn" - a phenomena where Tarl is thrown to/picked up by a "random tarn" that, big surprise! ends up being his tarn - the Ubar of the Tarns.
(That's my condensed version of "Ubar of the Skies, tarn of tarns", which is how Tarl usually addresses the tarn. That entire thing. Every single time. My way is faster than typing the entire thing out every time the damn tarn gets mentioned.)
I think that, at this point, I was up to three on my "Deus ex Tarn" counter -
1 - Tarl is strapped to a rack and pushed into a river, then gets picked up by a tarn, only to have the Ubar of the Tarns intervene. Tarnsman of Gor.
2 - Marlenus calls for Tarl to be fed to a tarn, which turns out to be the Ubar of the Tarns. Tarnsman of Gor.
3 - Tarl must fight a tarn in the arena, and - shocker - it turns out to be the Ubar of the Tarns. Outlaw of Gor.
My biggest issue with the book, though, is that it's essentially just a repackaging of the plot from the first book.
Tarl has a mission, but is sidetracked and he kidnaps a woman of power. The woman is scornful, and treacherous, but is ultimately tricked by the villain, who the woman assumed was a friend. Tarl narrowly escapes one predicament after another - and is saved several times by the unlikely appearance of the Ubar of the Tarns - until he eventually runs across the woman from earlier, who is now humbled and offers herself to be Tarl's slave because she is in love with him. Tarl refuses to officially enslave her, and then fights to restore the balance of power to her city. The villain manages to escape, vowing revenge on Tarl.
Now, granted, it's never explicitly stated that Parkur survived the ending of the first book. But come on. You know he did.
I am now eagerly awaiting the eventual team up between the two - Parkur and Donna, Tarlslayers.
September 12, 2017
I almost can't believe someone wrote this thing. Its offensive. Seriously offensive. And repetitive. A man could read many books before they found anoter book that emits this much stench. See what I did there? OK. Srsly. Its not offensive because of nudity or sex. Its offensiove because of the philosophy. Sure people will tell you thats its just meant to entertain, and its not really about how the writer feels about women, but that thinking fails the show don't tell rule. No matter what anyone tells you, when you read the book the misogyny just leaps off the page, and you know its real. In fact what you are told nev er matches what you are shown in these nbooks. Can giant falcons be trained like that? No. We are told the magority of women on Gor are free. Only about two percent are slaves. Meaning that your chance of encountering a slave girl would be about the same as encountering a red haired, gay, and left handed photographer. Only very, very few people would have ever known of one, much less met one. So how could there be an entire culture with set rules, and set laws that everyone knows for such a tiny fragment of the population that almost no one would have seen first hand? How would people all know about colars, and positions if they are so rare? Much less how would there be so many slave girsl around? How could you havepaga taverns? Lies. For any of that to be right, nearly 50 percent of the female population at the vbery least would have to be slaves. Thats what makes the books so gross. It tells lies, ugly ones. And no, its not just a bit of fun.
August 28, 2014
Call me weird, but I liked this book a lot. I'm not much of one for super high fantasy books but I was involved in a Gorean role play once and thought I should read the books to get more info on the source material.
Tarl Cabot's story hooked me and it was actually quite fun to read. I enjoyed it all. Mr. Norman's ability to world build is awesome.
I do disagree with some "when women are in charge everything goes to pot" reviews the story didn't give me that feel. More so it gave me a feeling that the women of Tharna were forced to act and behave that way because of the rest of the world's chauvinistic ways. Overall it was a fun read and I'd read the rest because I do want to know what happens to Tarl. I had the 3rd book but I lost it :(
Tarl Cabot's story hooked me and it was actually quite fun to read. I enjoyed it all. Mr. Norman's ability to world build is awesome.
I do disagree with some "when women are in charge everything goes to pot" reviews the story didn't give me that feel. More so it gave me a feeling that the women of Tharna were forced to act and behave that way because of the rest of the world's chauvinistic ways. Overall it was a fun read and I'd read the rest because I do want to know what happens to Tarl. I had the 3rd book but I lost it :(
November 11, 2025
If it was possible to mark this half a star, then it would be.
For the first half of this book it feels like a good bad b-movie. A standard, typical story with characters that are not anything but what their roles within the story should be.
The first chapter is really good, the descriptions are very good, there isn't anything pretentious about it, makes sense.
However, the second half of the book happens, and everything goes downhill.
There is a lot wrong with the book, especially the second half.
For the first half of this book it feels like a good bad b-movie. A standard, typical story with characters that are not anything but what their roles within the story should be.
The first chapter is really good, the descriptions are very good, there isn't anything pretentious about it, makes sense.
However, the second half of the book happens, and everything goes downhill.
There is a lot wrong with the book, especially the second half.
February 4, 2016
this book reminded me of the movie Sparta with Kirk Douglas to some degree. the book held my focus and I finished this one in a few short days...only reading it a few hours each night. one's imagination has to be opened to fully appreciate and understand its hidden meanings. ❤️it.
March 25, 2022
Continuing my Gorean reading
Book 2 is done onward to book 3, I hope you pick these books up if you have an interest in a Dom/sub or BDSM relationship as there are folks who devote themselves to a Gorean relationship lifestyle
Book 2 is done onward to book 3, I hope you pick these books up if you have an interest in a Dom/sub or BDSM relationship as there are folks who devote themselves to a Gorean relationship lifestyle
March 12, 2024
Love the series
So far I am hooked on this series. I read it every night. It was first introduced to me by a friend and I had searched for it off and on for years. Now I get to read it again.
So far I am hooked on this series. I read it every night. It was first introduced to me by a friend and I had searched for it off and on for years. Now I get to read it again.
March 5, 2012
I am unashamedly hooked on the Gor series
January 27, 2024
An easier read than the first novel, though it does doddle in background information that interfered with the plot unnecessarily.
This second book, like the previous, apes the format of Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter series. The book opens with the protagonist giving a chronicle of his adventures (the contents of the first book) to a friend before disappearing from Earth and returning to Gor. Once there he discovers Ko-ro-ba is wiped from the world and all he knew are gone. Looking to learn what happened, he comes upon Tharna, ruled by a woman called a Tatrix. He is made a slave...and you can guess what happens next.
This is by the numbers fantasy adventure and it's enjoyable for that.
This series is infamous for how women are treated and it delves more into that, sadly, and that did take me out of the book when it occurred, which was often. The story would work without it, but it is there. There is no sex, but it is heavily alluded to in this world.
I bought this a paperback festival last year and would continue to follow this series if I can find more for only $2. I read the book in two hours.
This second book, like the previous, apes the format of Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter series. The book opens with the protagonist giving a chronicle of his adventures (the contents of the first book) to a friend before disappearing from Earth and returning to Gor. Once there he discovers Ko-ro-ba is wiped from the world and all he knew are gone. Looking to learn what happened, he comes upon Tharna, ruled by a woman called a Tatrix. He is made a slave...and you can guess what happens next.
This is by the numbers fantasy adventure and it's enjoyable for that.
This series is infamous for how women are treated and it delves more into that, sadly, and that did take me out of the book when it occurred, which was often. The story would work without it, but it is there. There is no sex, but it is heavily alluded to in this world.
I bought this a paperback festival last year and would continue to follow this series if I can find more for only $2. I read the book in two hours.
April 15, 2019
Diese Serie habe ich mir als "Lückenfüller" ausgesucht, um Zeiten zwischen zwei Büchern zu überbrücken, wenn ich noch nicht weiss, was ich lesen soll.
Der zweite Teil entpuppte sich überraschenderweise als kleine Rahmengeschichte. In der aktuellen Welt der 60er/70er Jahre wurde ein geheimnisvolles Manuskript gefunden, das auf geheimnisvollem Weg über einen Freund von Tarl zum Autor kam und die Geschichte von Tarls zweitem Abenteuer auf GOR beinhaltet, damit diese veröffentlicht werden kann.
Die Story auf GOR ist mal wieder sehr kurzweilig und schlüssig. Es lies sich klasse schnell lesen. Irgendwie versucht die Serie in die Sphären der High Fantasy vorzustoßen. Bei dem Versuch bleibt es aber, da es mE nur kleine und flache Einzelgeshichten sind, die für sich nicht das große Ganze brauchen, auch wenn immer wieder auf Aspekte des großen Ganzen verwiesen werden.
Daher gibt es von mir 3 von 5 Sternen und die Beurteilung "netter Zeitvrtreib für zwischendurch"
Der zweite Teil entpuppte sich überraschenderweise als kleine Rahmengeschichte. In der aktuellen Welt der 60er/70er Jahre wurde ein geheimnisvolles Manuskript gefunden, das auf geheimnisvollem Weg über einen Freund von Tarl zum Autor kam und die Geschichte von Tarls zweitem Abenteuer auf GOR beinhaltet, damit diese veröffentlicht werden kann.
Die Story auf GOR ist mal wieder sehr kurzweilig und schlüssig. Es lies sich klasse schnell lesen. Irgendwie versucht die Serie in die Sphären der High Fantasy vorzustoßen. Bei dem Versuch bleibt es aber, da es mE nur kleine und flache Einzelgeshichten sind, die für sich nicht das große Ganze brauchen, auch wenn immer wieder auf Aspekte des großen Ganzen verwiesen werden.
Daher gibt es von mir 3 von 5 Sternen und die Beurteilung "netter Zeitvrtreib für zwischendurch"
March 18, 2017
The second of the Gor books by John Norman is in many ways superior to the first, and to my surprise I found it a very enjoyable read.
Norman has a knack for world building that is probably overlooked due to the more controversial nature of his books. He takes the time to create a different environment, filled with fauna and flora. He talks about different politics in different cities and spends time creating a culture that is alien to our own but familiar enough to relate to. Apart from one thing which I will come to later.
After seven years back on Earth Tarl Cabot, hero of the first book, is once again transported to the counter Earth of Gor, a world hidden from us on the other side of the sun. At first he is elated to be on the world he feels is more his own, but things start to unravel when he discovers that the city he calls his own, Ko-ro-ba is gone, raised to the ground, it’s people – including Cabot’s wife, father and friends – scattered across the world.
It seems that the only beings responsible must be the mysterious and god-like Priest-kings. Why would they have brought Cabot back to Gor only to destroy everything he wants to return to?
There is only one answer Cabot determines to travel to the Sardar mountains where they are said to live, the only problem being everyone who travels there never comes back.
Of course, things don’t go smoothly and Cabot is distracted as he gets pulled into the intrigues of a city ruled by a woman, something unheard of on Gor.
There are some excellent set pieces – the gladiator like battles, the escape from the mines but as always there is the elephant in the room, that of slavery something that is a fundamental theme running through the Gor novels.
In some ways, if you want to be open minded it is an interesting idea. Could it be that Norman is trying to show us that life and the way it is lived is down to perception. For us in our ‘enlightened’ society it is easy to look at the one of Gor and claim that it is wrong. Is that just us thinking that our way of life is the correct way, the best way. Are we subjected and functioning and working society to our own ideas of what is right onto them? Maybe.
But there is also the danger that Norman is getting off on some machoistic kick playing out his fantasies in a world of his own creating. Slavery, particularly female slavery, is a fundamental part of the Gor books, it is not as ‘in your face’ as it will become in later books, but it is still stronger than in the previous novel. There is not just a hint but a definite statement declaring that women actually prefer the collar and brand and want to be owned by a strong master. This feels more than a little uncomfortable, but at the same time I tried to see it as though I was imprinting my world view on theirs.
There is reference to male slaves, and reasons given for them not being so overt, but the damning thing about the book is, in a city a run by women where things are pretty much the opposite to the rest of Gor, all it takes is the Tatrix – female leader to have a brush with slavery and to be subjected to the whims of a ‘real’ man to change her view and turn the city into something more like a normal Gorean city. (As a side note she remains in charge of the city, so it might be considered that it is a better, fairer place than the rest of Gor because of it.)
Cabot, unfortunately, seems to have grown into a bigger hero than ever. Being able to turn the eyes of queens, to easily best everyone, to lead rebellion and…. Well he’s the hero of the book let’s let him have this one.
There are, however, an awful lot of the coincidental meetings and reuniting to drive the plot forward.
In the end though, an enjoyable, easy read that builds on the first novel nicely.
Norman has a knack for world building that is probably overlooked due to the more controversial nature of his books. He takes the time to create a different environment, filled with fauna and flora. He talks about different politics in different cities and spends time creating a culture that is alien to our own but familiar enough to relate to. Apart from one thing which I will come to later.
After seven years back on Earth Tarl Cabot, hero of the first book, is once again transported to the counter Earth of Gor, a world hidden from us on the other side of the sun. At first he is elated to be on the world he feels is more his own, but things start to unravel when he discovers that the city he calls his own, Ko-ro-ba is gone, raised to the ground, it’s people – including Cabot’s wife, father and friends – scattered across the world.
It seems that the only beings responsible must be the mysterious and god-like Priest-kings. Why would they have brought Cabot back to Gor only to destroy everything he wants to return to?
There is only one answer Cabot determines to travel to the Sardar mountains where they are said to live, the only problem being everyone who travels there never comes back.
Of course, things don’t go smoothly and Cabot is distracted as he gets pulled into the intrigues of a city ruled by a woman, something unheard of on Gor.
There are some excellent set pieces – the gladiator like battles, the escape from the mines but as always there is the elephant in the room, that of slavery something that is a fundamental theme running through the Gor novels.
In some ways, if you want to be open minded it is an interesting idea. Could it be that Norman is trying to show us that life and the way it is lived is down to perception. For us in our ‘enlightened’ society it is easy to look at the one of Gor and claim that it is wrong. Is that just us thinking that our way of life is the correct way, the best way. Are we subjected and functioning and working society to our own ideas of what is right onto them? Maybe.
But there is also the danger that Norman is getting off on some machoistic kick playing out his fantasies in a world of his own creating. Slavery, particularly female slavery, is a fundamental part of the Gor books, it is not as ‘in your face’ as it will become in later books, but it is still stronger than in the previous novel. There is not just a hint but a definite statement declaring that women actually prefer the collar and brand and want to be owned by a strong master. This feels more than a little uncomfortable, but at the same time I tried to see it as though I was imprinting my world view on theirs.
There is reference to male slaves, and reasons given for them not being so overt, but the damning thing about the book is, in a city a run by women where things are pretty much the opposite to the rest of Gor, all it takes is the Tatrix – female leader to have a brush with slavery and to be subjected to the whims of a ‘real’ man to change her view and turn the city into something more like a normal Gorean city. (As a side note she remains in charge of the city, so it might be considered that it is a better, fairer place than the rest of Gor because of it.)
Cabot, unfortunately, seems to have grown into a bigger hero than ever. Being able to turn the eyes of queens, to easily best everyone, to lead rebellion and…. Well he’s the hero of the book let’s let him have this one.
There are, however, an awful lot of the coincidental meetings and reuniting to drive the plot forward.
In the end though, an enjoyable, easy read that builds on the first novel nicely.
February 6, 2024
My second experience with the Gor series. I enjoyed this in my own way, a lot of out loud laughter.
This is really just the authors personal fantasy of women who love being slaves.
I read this as a palette cleanser in between books, and I have to say palette has been thoroughly cleansed!
This is really just the authors personal fantasy of women who love being slaves.
I read this as a palette cleanser in between books, and I have to say palette has been thoroughly cleansed!
June 12, 2014
In Outlaw of Gor, Tarl Cabot fights to free a city, Tharna, from the clutches of a totalitarian regime. In Tharna, an oppressive social system has developed over the generations in which women occupy the highest governmental offices and generally impose their will over men throughout society, from market to hearth. By the time Tarl Cabot arrives, Tharna has become a dull, glum place for everyone, presumably because women are naturally ill suited to leadership.
After many adventures, Tarl Cabot triggers a civil war that eventually restores an allegedly more natural social order to Tharna, a social order in which men control most of Tharna's social and political institutions, even though the queen remains the titular head of state. Thus, the basic thesis of Outlaw of Gor is simple enough: When women are in charge, life is worse for everyone.
As an adventure yarn, Outlaw of Gor is loaded with swashbuckling action. As social commentary or gender theory, Outlaw of Gor is less compelling, but its basic tenets are held dearly enough by some BDSM practitioners to make the read worthwhile, at least for me.
I am better informed now, so I will probably enjoy my conversations with Goreans more from here forward.
After many adventures, Tarl Cabot triggers a civil war that eventually restores an allegedly more natural social order to Tharna, a social order in which men control most of Tharna's social and political institutions, even though the queen remains the titular head of state. Thus, the basic thesis of Outlaw of Gor is simple enough: When women are in charge, life is worse for everyone.
As an adventure yarn, Outlaw of Gor is loaded with swashbuckling action. As social commentary or gender theory, Outlaw of Gor is less compelling, but its basic tenets are held dearly enough by some BDSM practitioners to make the read worthwhile, at least for me.
I am better informed now, so I will probably enjoy my conversations with Goreans more from here forward.
July 20, 2017
"Outlaw of Gor" was, in theory, written for fans of "Tarnsman of Gor" who had, in theory, read that first book. If this is true, why does this book drag on and on and on recapping things from the first book? We just got done reading "Tarnsman of Gor", now we're here to read a fresh installment in what is, in theory, an intriguing science-fantasy adventure, not to absorb dreary padding that tells us what we already know!
The only redeeming moments in this sequel are the ones that recall moments from the Edgar Rice Burroughs Barsoom series. Tarl Cabot can't hold a candle to John Carter, or even Dray Prescott for that matter.
As before, I really wanted to like this since it is a sword and planet book. The first one was a moderately okay reading experience, which I guess got my hopes up too high...
"Outlaw of Gor" contains less action and escape than the first book, and considerably more misogyny and woman-enslavement. The inclusion of a city run by women is evidence that John Norman was less content with adventure and more interested in pushing his "philosophy".
Sorry, Goreans, I'm gay and so the whole woman-enslavement thing was just boring to me. What's so bad about sword play and romance?
The only redeeming moments in this sequel are the ones that recall moments from the Edgar Rice Burroughs Barsoom series. Tarl Cabot can't hold a candle to John Carter, or even Dray Prescott for that matter.
As before, I really wanted to like this since it is a sword and planet book. The first one was a moderately okay reading experience, which I guess got my hopes up too high...
"Outlaw of Gor" contains less action and escape than the first book, and considerably more misogyny and woman-enslavement. The inclusion of a city run by women is evidence that John Norman was less content with adventure and more interested in pushing his "philosophy".
Sorry, Goreans, I'm gay and so the whole woman-enslavement thing was just boring to me. What's so bad about sword play and romance?
January 22, 2016
Noin neljäsosan luettuani aloin ihmettelemään että miksi ihmeessä edes luen tätä roskaa (ja että mitä teen niillä neljällä muulla kirjalla jotka kindlessä on vielä lukematta)? Kirjan tarinan (spoilerivaroitus!) kun voidaan lyhentää seuraavasti: kaikki mitä naiset saavat tehtyä on väärin, ilotonta sekä miehiä sortavaa ja tästä syystä naisten pitää alistua orjan asemaan jotta he (siis naiset!) olisivat iloisia ja rakastavaisia miehiä kohtaan. Kirjassa naiset vielä ymmärtävät tämän kun ensimmäisestä kirjasta (Tarnsmen of Gor) tuttu "sankarimme" Tarl orjuuttaa vapauttamalla Tharna nimisen kaupungin laillisen naishallitsijan ja ottaa hänet sidottuna teltan lattialla.
Kirja on lyhyesti sanottuna naiivia, naisvihaa kumpuavaa roskafantasiaa. "Counter-earth" on vielä tarinan sisäisessä maailmassa totaalisen rikki ja vaatii aikamoisen uskonhypyn, sekä huomattavat määrät päänsärkyä, että se pysyy kasassa.
Summary in English: Misogynic and broken fantasy. Keep away, don't read, because i'm sure not even sad or rabbid puppy will enjoy this piece of literary garbage.
Kirja on lyhyesti sanottuna naiivia, naisvihaa kumpuavaa roskafantasiaa. "Counter-earth" on vielä tarinan sisäisessä maailmassa totaalisen rikki ja vaatii aikamoisen uskonhypyn, sekä huomattavat määrät päänsärkyä, että se pysyy kasassa.
Summary in English: Misogynic and broken fantasy. Keep away, don't read, because i'm sure not even sad or rabbid puppy will enjoy this piece of literary garbage.
September 28, 2013
For a full review, see here:
http://bookswithoutanypictures.wordpr...
I read the book in one sitting, and it worked wonders for my mood. This series has become one of my guilty pleasures. I should probably be outraged by the treatment of women, but I’m not. Strangely, I think it adds to the books’ charm, and let’s face it, the male characters are no less objectified in sword and planet books and movies. That being said, these books aren’t for everyone, and readers should know what they’re getting into. Pretty much every female character is a happy sex slave (or discovers she’d be happier as a sex slave, as in the case of Lara, the ruler of Tharna).
http://bookswithoutanypictures.wordpr...
I read the book in one sitting, and it worked wonders for my mood. This series has become one of my guilty pleasures. I should probably be outraged by the treatment of women, but I’m not. Strangely, I think it adds to the books’ charm, and let’s face it, the male characters are no less objectified in sword and planet books and movies. That being said, these books aren’t for everyone, and readers should know what they’re getting into. Pretty much every female character is a happy sex slave (or discovers she’d be happier as a sex slave, as in the case of Lara, the ruler of Tharna).
November 28, 2014
Well, obviously this book is nothing like the film of the same name. As a matter of fact, after reading this book I find that the movie makes even less sense than it did before! Some of the names are the same, but that's about it. No matter, though, as I'm not here to review the film.
I liked this book! It had lots of things: mystery, adventure, romance, action, and a terrific ending that makes me itchy to pick up the third book. It has a slave uprising as exciting as Spartacus and Norman really shines descriptively in this sequel to Tarnsman.
I most definitely recommend this book to any literate person.
I liked this book! It had lots of things: mystery, adventure, romance, action, and a terrific ending that makes me itchy to pick up the third book. It has a slave uprising as exciting as Spartacus and Norman really shines descriptively in this sequel to Tarnsman.
I most definitely recommend this book to any literate person.
December 8, 2024
Amazing sequel. I was impressed by how much of the story, world and characters was in complete continuity to the previous equally amazing entry. I expected this series to be episodic James Bond style but for these 2 at least it's a seamless continuation. You could read it as a stand alone but you'd have to fill in the previous events in your mind.... The story is filled with adventure, excitement and unique colorful characters. Really amazing!
August 4, 2018
I like fantasy and the book is very well written. Those who do identify as lifestyle would probably have difficulties with the slave references but one should keep in mind, it is a fantasy book. The reading level is pretty high, mainly due to the vocabulary and structure. I read this more aloud which was challenging, it would be much easier reading it to oneself.
March 15, 2016
Ever read the old John Carter of Mars books? Well here is the more adult version of a man transported to a more savage world. Great adventure reads, but not for the faint at heart. Very adult material dealing with sex. Recommended
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