Tarzan and the Dark Heart of Time

Edgar Rice Burroughs Universe

by Philip José Farmer, Mark Wheatley (Illustrator), Robert R. Barrett (Foreword)

One of the most famous heroes in literature is back! Tarzan, Lord of the Apes, returns with a vengeance in this action-packed adventure by Philip José Farmer, Hugo Award winner, Nebula Grand Master, and author of the incredible Riverworld saga. Tarzan's beloved mate, Jane, has been kidnapped, and the furious ape-man will let nothing stand in the way of rescuing her--not even a sinister safari whose target is Tarzan himself. With fierce Masai trackers leading the chase, a trio of white hunters are hellbent on capturing the Jungle Lord. But as the pursuers, and their uncanny half-human tracker, close in from behind, Tarzan races toward even greater danger ahead. For the trail leads to a bizarre, long-forgotten land boasting a multitude of strange and terrifying the City Built by God, the Hideous Hunter, the One to Avoid, and most shocking of all, the Crystal Tree of Time--whose seductive powers could ultimately spell Tarzan's doom . . . Philip José Farmer, a descendant of the actual Greystoke family, and a recipient of the prestigious Golden Lion Award, bestowed by the Burroughs Bibliophiles at the 1970 Dum-Dum, is famous for his adventure novels starring Tarzanic characters. Now, in Tarzan and the Dark Heart of Time, authorized by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., Farmer lends his vast imagination to the legend of the Lord of the Apes himself! In addition, this handsome new edition, which sports a gorgeous painted cover by well known Burroughs artist Mark Wheatley, a new Foreword by longtime Burroughs scholar Robert R. Barrett, and a new Introduction by Farmer expert Win Scott Eckert.

Genres: Fiction, Fantasy, Pulp, Science Fiction

234 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 29, 1999

About the author

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

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

Reviews

[Norman Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

Taking place between Tarzan the Untamed and Tarzan the Terrible, this is a rousing adventure fully in the spirit of Edgar Rice Burroughs. But why wouldn't it be -- it's by an award-winning writer who was steeped in the Tarzan mythos (Tarzan Alive: A Definitive Biography of Lord Greystoke). Probably my only complaint is that, as far as I know, there was never another authorized Tarzan novel by Farmer (he wrote a few pastiches which were thinly disguised Tarzan tales to avoid the wrath of the Burroughs estate). So, the endings of two of the subplots in this book are dealt with very quickly and abruptly when they could have been books in their own rights.

[Charles · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is an authorized novel of Tarzan written by Philip Jose Farmer. Farmer is a very fine writer and has written some great stuff. I loved his "Hadon of Opar" books, which were written in the Tarzan universe, if you will. However, I really just did not like this book. I thought the writing was hasty and although Farmer threw in all the words and language that Burroughs used, it seemed forced to me.

[Richard Guion · Rating 5 out of 5]

Philip Jose Farmer was a huge Burroughs fan and wrote some other novels (Lord of the Trees) featuring a Tarzan type of character. This is a straight run at Burroughs character, staying true to him. This takes place between the Burroughs novels Tarzan the Untamed and Tarzan the Terrible. He’s searching for Jane, kidnapped by Germans during the WW1 era. Unfortunately Tarzan is being hunted by a safari in the employ of an industrialist back in the United States. These people have an uncanny way of tracking Tarzan down through the jungle. Much of the novel is an exciting chase through the jungle; Farmer makes the natural environment come alive, the way Burroughs did. There is an exciting payoff at the end when Tarzan reaches “The Dark Heart of Time”. I read this both in paperback and Kindle version. The Kindle version is very affordable and has an interesting introduction about how Farmer came to write this authorized novel from the Burroughs estate.

[Glen · Rating 1 out of 5]

As a longtime fan of Edgar Rice Burroughs, this book was a waste of time. Philip Jose Farmer is a award winning author but you could not tell it with this book. I was very disappointed, was hopeful for another great Tarzan story but only ended up with something rather boring and drawn out. Would not recommend this book to anyone.

[Jerry James · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was excited to read this, the one and only approved non-ERB Tarzan novel, and it only cemented my impression of Farmer as not a great author. It barely captured the spirit of Tarzan initially, then just lost it in a silly plot. So disappointing. I was wondering about Farmer’s Riverworld series, but for now I’ll pass.

[Last Ranger · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Quantum Tree?:

“Tarzan and the Dark Heart of Time” is the first Tarzan novel I’ve read written by anyone other than Edgar Rice Burroughs and it seemed to have a good potential. What appealed to me about this particular novel was the author who did write it: Philip Jose Farmer. I was already familiar with Farmer’s work because of his “Riverworld” series that I read some years ago. Also, as far as I know, he is the only author authorized by the Burroughs Estate to write such a novel. The action in this book takes place between the original novels “Tarzan the Untamed” and its sequel “Tarzan the Terrible”. And, in continuing that story line, Farmer’s novel finds Tarzan still on the trail of his wife, the Lady Greystoke, Jane and the German officers who raided the Greystoke Estate, murdered his people and took Jane prisoner. But now Tarzan faces unexpected danger as he finds himself being stalked by an unknown adversary, a surly group of men determined to capture him, and capture him alive, if at all possible. There is also another unknown stalker on his trail, one that doesn’t seem to be connected to the first group. How all these people managed to track and find the Ape Man in the mostly trackless wilderness of the Ituri Rainforest is a big mystery to him, as are their reasons for doing so. But Tarzan is determined to learn their methods and motivations, whatever the cost! And once Tarzan has made a decision on his course of action, nothing short of death will stop him. So begins Farmer’s attempt to add his work to the Burroughs legacy. For me his novel definitely had its ups and downs. Some parts were fast paced and exciting while other parts were slow and boring. In my opinion it was mostly boring! Instead of focusing on the main story line and characters Farmer chose to include all kinds of strange people and cultures to his narrative, to the point that I got very impatient with many of the episodes. Time and again Tarzan finds himself captured by these cultures, but is able to make highly unlikely escapes leading to the next episode where it all starts over again. By the time I got to the novels’ end I was pretty much done with reading anything more by Farmer. To be fair there were some exciting parts that made good reading, like the earthquakes and floods sequences, but, in the end, they were not enough to save the novel. As for the “Dark Heart of Time”, well all that went in a direction that left me just shaking my head in disbelief. How the Burroughs Estate ever approved this novel is the real mystery to me.

Last Ranger

[Clark Day · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am a big ERB fan and have read the Tarzan series many times over, but have never read Farmer's interpretation of the Ape Man until now... and I see why. The story started out as a typical Tarzan adventure (hence the 2 stars) but digressed into something else when he encounters the City Built by God. Too much explanation of the City that really does nothing to contribute to the storyline, an earthquake that causes a flood to completely submerge a city, most of a valley and cover the tower holding the Crystal Tree of the book's namesake; let alone a giant frog with shark's teeth? That was just too much. I can say that I won't be reading this book again, I'll stick with the original.

[mabuse cast · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my 4th book by by Philip José Farmer I've read this year so far and even though its honestly the weakest of those 4 books I still think there is a lot to like about this!

Sure its a pretty straightforward pastiche of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan books that takes place in between "Tarzan the untamed" and "Tarzan the terrible" in the original Burroughs chronology during the final days of World war 1, but it has enough of its own identity to be fun standalone book!

This goes to some really wild and fantastical places towards the end of it too which is always nice!

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Farmer's last solo novel (I think), but not one of his best. It's a Tarzan novel with a bit of fantasy and science fiction thrown in. I've never read any ERB Tarzan novels, but I imagine this is fairly similar to those. I've had it for more than 20 years without reading it, and I wouldn't have missed not reading it.
Read it if you're a Tarzan or Farmer completist. If you're not, read To Your Scattered Bodies Go.

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am fairly sure I read this in HS, but have no memory of doing so! What does that mean? I am not sure, however, I did read or reread this novel now. It was... ok. There is a story (a plot somewhere), action, and some degree of resolution. The problem, it was all action with new bad guys entering and leaving continuously. Maybe I liked it more as a teenager? Interesting to read more as a reflection of my earlier taste in fiction.

[Tony Fecteau · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book definitely brought back memories of when I was reading all the Tarzan novels I could get my hands on. It looks like the story was a little formulaic which made it a little less of a treat for me. It was still amazing to read yet another Tarzan story.

[John Yelverton · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is very obvious that Philip Jose Farmer is a big fan of Tarzan; however, the science fiction element of this book came out of left field. Worse still, the ending just happened and everything was dropped like a hot potato with an unsatisfactory epilogue.

[Jeff J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great Tarzan book from novelist Farmer. The author is a scholar of Tarzan mythology and it shows. This is a savage Tarzan, not the milquetoast of film.

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

WOW...PJF did a terrific job writing this Tarzan adventure!

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really enjoyed it and very funny in places. Slightly different Tazan

[MB Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finished reading The Dark Heart of Time last night and overall I enjoyed it. I'll say upfront that I'm not particularly a Tarzan fan; I think I've only read the first seven books and most of those were at least 25 years ago.

I read this because I really want to read the new Tarzan book by Will Murray, Tarzan: Return to Pal-ul-don. I've read and enjoyed several of his Doc Savage Books and thought it'd be fun to see how he handled Tarzan. Unfortunately Return to Pal-ul-don is a sequel to Tarzan the Terrible, which is a continuation of Tarzan the Untamed so I figured I'd read those first. Then I discovered that The Dark Heart of Time takes place between the two so after finishing Tarzan the Untamed I thought I'd read it before going on to Tarzan the Terrible.

I'd be somewhat surprised if Murray expects us to have read Dark Heart of Time, but you never know...

Anyway, Farmer's Tarzan felt like I think Tarzan should feel. I think he did a better job of capturing the feel of Tarzan than he did of Doc Savage in Escape from Loki, but that's likely influenced by my more serious involvement with Doc Savage.

Two things really stood out to me.

First, early on Farmer makes reference to events in Tarzan the Untamed taking place four years earlier. That really set me back on my heels. I had to stop reading and dig out a copy of Tarzan Alive: A Definitive Biography of Lord Greystoke and see what he was talking about. As noted above, I had just finished reading Tarzan the Untamed and it had never occurred to me that it took place over a span of four years. I'd have guessed weeks, maybe months; but not years. Based on context I suppose it must have as WWI seems to winding down at the end and it has just barely started at the beginning, but still I was surprised.

And that brings me to the second point. Pacing. The pacing in Dark Heart felt glacial compared to Burroughs'. In a Burroughs book the pacing is frenetic. It's so fast that I often wonder how all his disparate plot lines can possibly come together (and of course they work because mostly there's no time to think about it and in a Burroughs' story coincidence is king).

With Farmer, I had lots of time to think about what was going on and even wonder about it. For example, I noticed that Farmer's Tarzan seems to have an extraordinary gift for languages. He manages to go from using sign language to convey simple things to using language to express complex emotions in a very short period of time. Certainly, Burroughs' Tarzan (or any of his other characters for that matter) is no slouch at languages but it seems even faster here. But not having your characters be able to communicate effectively is generally not very convenient.

Bottom line: Fun book, but I think I'm going to have to take a breather from Tarzan for be bit, and postpone Tarzan the Terrible and Return to Pal-ul-don. Too many books and too little time..

[Ralph Calhoun · Rating 3 out of 5]

If anyone should have been chosen to write another Tarzan book Farmer was the right one. I enjoyed this "new" Tarzan story. I've read all of Burroughs's and have read Many books by Farmer, (Including "Lord Tyger" which was in many ways a Tarzan attempt. I have also enjoyed "Mother was a Lovely Beast" a book edited by Farmer, full of feral man short stories. Also, greatly enjoyed Farmer's River World Series, though I felt the ending was very week.

In many places I felt I was reading a Burroughs book, though I felt there were odd holes in places. In the first half of the book Tarzan shoots a native with an arrow with great accuracy during the beginnings of a violent storm. In the Shelaba tree village ants attracted to Tarzans dripping blood are forgotten after Tarzan has left the nest where the blood has dripped on a sleeping female and her small child. It seemed to me the ants would still be attracted to the scent even after Tarzan walked away.

The final River World and Lord Tyger both end in mountain top locations, as does Dark Heart. So I felt like I'd been there before.
So, though I liked this book and enjoyed the ride I felt it could have been better and thus it only ranked a three.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun, action-packed Burroughsian Tarzan tale. It read much like a Burroughs novel with the exception of a chapter or so where it felt like Farmer wanted to shoehorn in his Time's Last Gift/Khokarsa ideas into the Tarzan mythos proper. It didn't really detract from anything, but that portion was less Burroughs-like, in my opinion. Still, it was a fun read and worth it if you're a Tarzan fan, especially now that it has been deemed official Edgar Rice Burroughs Universe canon.

[Octavio Aragao · Rating 3 out of 5]

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...#

A great concept and the usual strong action scenes but with a lack of the literary skills that I used to read in the other Farmer novels. It begins with a bang but finishes with a chaotic sequence of events. It´s a good ride, anyway.

[Sean Belt · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm a big fan of the Burroughs Tarzan books and had high hopes for this one. Unfortunately, about half way through, it started becoming aimless and lost my interest. The last straw was the completely improbable escape from man-eating pygmies. With Tarzan, I'm up for liberal suspension of disbelief, but the way that Tarzan escapes this one went too far.

[Travis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Farmer really captures the feel of Tarzan's world. Unfortunately, he writes a book that introduces some good ideas and then just meanders around and then wraps them up at the end too quickly.

Fun to see Farmer got to do one of his dream projects, just wish it had been a better written story.

[Preston Holden JR · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another Amazing Tarzan Story

Tarzan just does not disappoint. Especially when written by Philip Jose Farmer. He is the best in our times. Edgar Rice Burroughs started this fantastic world of super U.N.and and immortality. I just cannot get enough.