Warriors of Gor

Gor #37

by John Norman

The Saga of Gor continues as Tarl Cabot attempts to save a beautiful prisoner from a terrible fate.

The daughter of Marlenus, the Ubar of Ar, is now a fugitive sought for betraying the Home Stone of her city. The price on her head could build fleets and hire armies. For years she has been hunted by legions of guardsmen and bounty hunters. Now, tricked by a former colleague, Talena has been captured and delivered to Lurius of Jad. Once her esteemed ally, Lurius is now eager to sell Talena’s blood for the gold of Ar. But the reward cannot be claimed until the prisoner is delivered.

Between the port of Jad and the mighty gates of Ar lie dangerous waters and harrowing wildernesses, the threats of beasts and the menace of men. Tarl Cabot, a seaman and warrior of Port Kar, once the free companion of Talena, chooses to risk everything to save his former companion.

In this rousing adventure, we encounter the steel of warriors, the stealth of Assassins, the savagery of monstrous Kurii, the passions and beauty of needful, vulnerable, collared slaves, the subtleties of Scribes of the Law, and the ambition and ruthlessness of men who want nothing less than the throne of Ar itself.

Genres: Fantasy

628 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 30, 2022

About the author

Librarian 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.

Reviews

[Pandit · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hopefully you know what you are getting into by now - this is book 37 since the late 60's.

More of the same - that quirky dialogue, linear plots, swords and slaves - stay away if you are 'woke'.

[AmbushPredator · Rating 5 out of 5]

So, we finally come full circle and the author appears to have finally (after some 36 books - admittedly not all of which featured his main character) drawn a line under the long-running saga of Tarl Cabot, as this volume (no37 - there's another published after this, but it's a standalone) follows our doughty hero in his quest to retrieve his old flame, Talena, from her trial in Ar. Along the way he collects a party of characters to assist, the disgraced Saramides who plotted with Talena in previous novels, and a chap who may well be not the simple Cosian oarsman he claims to be. There 's a welcome return for the comedy sidecick duo of Thurnock and Clitus and of course, Ar's intemperate ruler, Marlenus.

I will miss this saga, the occasional sly asides to the reader and the humour that the author packs into his saga. While I do read the standalones stories, they never seem as good somehow. And it's probably time I started again right from the very beginning and re-read them.

One thing I will say, though - the modern Kindle editions cover art is nowhere near as good as the older books, at least, certainly not the UK paperback covers, with artists such as Chris Achilleos.

[Jimm O'Donnell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the good ones, mostly. Things are coming full circle, pretty much. the action and adventures of our hero read like the earlier ones did. I must say, though, the transformation of that particular major character isn't handled with much depth- unless it's all tongue-in-cheek, perhaps.

This book could conceivably wrap the series. Mr. (Lange) Norman is 92 now. One might suppose that he could leave this one at a reasonable stopping point; but there are also (of course) a couple of new twists- as well as cyclical revisiting's- that could certainly keep it going, but we could stop here.

I could imagine one more Tarl Cabot story to really bring it to a resolution, as much as possible; and I could also see where another writer could pick up the series from here... like the Oz books and so many others have done.

And I wish I could write John Norman's biography. What would we call it- "Author of Gor" -sensible but perhaps mundane... how about "Creator of Gor" ...oooooooh you know you love it!

And what ever happened to Rama the sleen???

[Lizzy DeMarco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the fact it brought the story full circle