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Gor #27
Prize of Gor
Ellen is a beautiful young slave girl on the planet Gor. Yet she was not always thus. For nearly sixty years she was a woman of Earth, but life had largely passed her by. Then, following an apparently chance encounter at the opera with a strangely familiar young man, an echo from her past, she finds herself transported from Earth to Gor. Here she discovers the true identity of her kidnapper and his sinister motives. She is given a strange drug that reverses the aging process, turning back time itself, and once again she's the beautiful young woman she remembers from years before, so long ago. Now her adventures really begin. Ellen finds herself a slave in the mighty Gorean city of Ar, where the harsh rule of the occupying forces of Cos and their mercenary allies is being challenged by the mysterious Delta Brigade. Surrounded by intrigue, rumors, plots, and betrayal, her adventures bring her face to face with strange and terrifying beasts, and sickeningly familiar weapons. Men challenge one another to own her. To the victor the spoils, but who will that victor be? Her fate is decided in this latest thrilling installment of John Norman's best selling Gorean Saga.
715 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2008
28 people are currently reading
534 people want to read
About the author
John Norman
99 books338 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 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 23, 2010
As a fan of the old Gor books as cheesy sci fi from the 60's and 70's, this book was a let down. Tooo long, it dwarves the others by about 500+ pages, while the older ones were quick cheesy fun reads, this had pages of bleh to get through for the little bits of plot. I did finish it though it took a month and a half....
August 10, 2020
This was a struggle and I am a fan of the series. The Gor series is distinguished by several things all of which appear in their worst aspect in this book.
Most people know it for is the author's extreme take on sexual dimorphism and the abstolute prevalence of gender based Dominant and submissive sexual roles. This attitude has seen his works disappear from the bookshops until the rise of e-publishing. That aspect is here in it's most extreme and vituperative. Norman seems to use the central character as an expy for every feminist and gender studies activist who has ever annoyed him. Therefore she spends the entire book lambasting her political colleagues for their short sightedness and pondering how they would look in a slave colar. When she is not doing that she is internally lambasting the politics of earth. She is not a character, she is a mouthpiece and an unengaging one at that. Even if you like the series as a whole this episode is pretty much OTT ranting. There is a noticeable change in later books as there is a return to more narrative based tales and though the politics is there is not the sole aspect to be drawn form it. In that sense perhaps Prize of Gor does serve some useful purppse;
Another thing people get from the series is the ongoing story of Tarl Cabot and the insurrection in Ar, now malingering under a quisling leadership and military occupation. If you read hard enough into this aspect, you can surmise a lot about this (far more interesting) narrative but it is all hints and although Tarl does cameo here it is purely as a a badass flittering in and around the central cast without actually adding much to it the story or enlightening us greatly on the bigger story. There is an axiom that authors should always show not tell. In this novel Norman hints ratthers than tells buit he does not show that much either. If anything this is a worse fault. Indeed this whole story is done in the backgrouond across several books where it desperately deserves it's own novel.
The cast of Gor novels can occasionally offer real entertainment but here we have a quite dull bunch. I have already explained what makes the POV character uninteresting. As a "Kajira" novel you should not expect much politiics as the girls are out of the political picture and being slaves are passive in the games of high politics being played out. This is a given and arguably narratively essential. Therefore you look to the free cast around her for insight and development. Prize is purely served in this. She falls in with a group of resistance fighters who are pretty inept and onlyu saved by Tarl whose link to them is never explained. The POV;s love master knows far more about things than he should but no effort is made to explain what his position and role is. That plus the usual everyone denies the possibliity of loving a save before falling in love with her, which is so passe, after so many books/
This, in my opinion is the worst of the series.
Most people know it for is the author's extreme take on sexual dimorphism and the abstolute prevalence of gender based Dominant and submissive sexual roles. This attitude has seen his works disappear from the bookshops until the rise of e-publishing. That aspect is here in it's most extreme and vituperative. Norman seems to use the central character as an expy for every feminist and gender studies activist who has ever annoyed him. Therefore she spends the entire book lambasting her political colleagues for their short sightedness and pondering how they would look in a slave colar. When she is not doing that she is internally lambasting the politics of earth. She is not a character, she is a mouthpiece and an unengaging one at that. Even if you like the series as a whole this episode is pretty much OTT ranting. There is a noticeable change in later books as there is a return to more narrative based tales and though the politics is there is not the sole aspect to be drawn form it. In that sense perhaps Prize of Gor does serve some useful purppse;
Another thing people get from the series is the ongoing story of Tarl Cabot and the insurrection in Ar, now malingering under a quisling leadership and military occupation. If you read hard enough into this aspect, you can surmise a lot about this (far more interesting) narrative but it is all hints and although Tarl does cameo here it is purely as a a badass flittering in and around the central cast without actually adding much to it the story or enlightening us greatly on the bigger story. There is an axiom that authors should always show not tell. In this novel Norman hints ratthers than tells buit he does not show that much either. If anything this is a worse fault. Indeed this whole story is done in the backgrouond across several books where it desperately deserves it's own novel.
The cast of Gor novels can occasionally offer real entertainment but here we have a quite dull bunch. I have already explained what makes the POV character uninteresting. As a "Kajira" novel you should not expect much politiics as the girls are out of the political picture and being slaves are passive in the games of high politics being played out. This is a given and arguably narratively essential. Therefore you look to the free cast around her for insight and development. Prize is purely served in this. She falls in with a group of resistance fighters who are pretty inept and onlyu saved by Tarl whose link to them is never explained. The POV;s love master knows far more about things than he should but no effort is made to explain what his position and role is. That plus the usual everyone denies the possibliity of loving a save before falling in love with her, which is so passe, after so many books/
This, in my opinion is the worst of the series.
August 4, 2016
I have read this entire series and this had all the basic elements: Masters, slaves, tarns, the usual.
However the most interesting thing about this particular book was the involvement of the Kurii, another species of intelligent life on Gor.
Like many of his previous books, this one is written from the perspective of a slave or kajira named Ellen. She has been physically regressed to her late teens and stabilized there. Apparently, stabilizing serums have been improved upon.
Much as I love John Norman, he does have 'Ellen' babble about being a slave, which is fine, but she does so almost constantly.
I am pleased that Bosk os Port Kar and Marlenus of Ar have small, but important roles.
However the most interesting thing about this particular book was the involvement of the Kurii, another species of intelligent life on Gor.
Like many of his previous books, this one is written from the perspective of a slave or kajira named Ellen. She has been physically regressed to her late teens and stabilized there. Apparently, stabilizing serums have been improved upon.
Much as I love John Norman, he does have 'Ellen' babble about being a slave, which is fine, but she does so almost constantly.
I am pleased that Bosk os Port Kar and Marlenus of Ar have small, but important roles.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews