The Son of Tarzan

Tarzan #4

by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Alexis Paulvitch, one of Tarzan's enemies, wants to get even, so he draws Tarzan's son, Jack, away from London, but Jack isn't so easy to capture and kill. He escapes, and makes a home among the apes as his father did. He becomes known as Korak the Killer, and meets a lovely young woman named Meriem. Narrow escapes, fun action, and a definite sense of adventure in the wilds of Africa make this a must-read book.

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

222 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1916

About the author

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

Reviews

[Henry Avila · Rating 3 out of 5]

Opening scene: A small boat is floating leisurely on a stream in West Africa the crew of the vessel ...but first the name of the waterway, the Ugambi River , ( sorry friends not spelled right in book) to continue are understandably tired, after struggling hard going up, the long journey seemed perpetual. They can relax, coming down and letting the current take them to their ship. The Marjorie W anchored on the nearby coast of the Atlantic Ocean. They were seeking valuable products in the area you can imagine how startled the seamen are seeing a white man, emerging from the jungle, more skeleton than flesh and blood. Alexis Paulvitch is, after ten tortuous years lost . Still that's not the name he gives to the amazed sailors, of course , being an evil man both in the past, and the coming future too; a leopard cannot change his stripes as the saying goes. The criminal, has to give an alias.. .Taken to London, along with a big ape Ajax, real name Akut (a friend of Tarzan) who strangely takes a liking to Paulvitch, I mean Michael Sabrov. Revenge he seeks against Tarzan the respectable English Lord Greystoke , John Clayton. Everyone has different names, in this book. The Russian hates Tarzan for preventing him and his friend Rokoff from succeeding in their wicked plans. Paulvitch puts Ajax in a show and customers flock to view the intelligent ape do his tricks. So does Tarzan's curious son John," Jack". Sneaking out, without his parent's permission, they wanted to keep the sub teenager away from jungle things! Yet blood is blood and the smell of adventure lures the naive boy. The happy simian recognizes Jack, during the performance, however the suspicious Russian learns the identity of the kid , then an idea develops in the sick mind of Paulvitch, kill the son of Tarzan. Luckily Jack is saved by Ajax/Akut, the boy has to flee to distant Africa (Junior can't explain the mess). Eventually entering the rain forest when his money is lost (stolen) and a crook tries to harm him. The big ape prevented it, again and accompanies Jack, as a loyal and great friend. An 800 pound gorilla ...Nice...Trying to stay alive and get back to England but how , thinks the kid. Trouble follows the boy wherever he arrives (like flies to manure).It will not be any different in the interior of the continent. Quickly learning to swing from a tree and other uncivilized but necessary skills, Jack (Korak, his African handle) becomes an uncouth savage , kill or be killed the law of the jungle. Cruel villains, dangerous apes, hungry lions and even hungrier cannibals, crocodiles and elephants constantly threatening baboons. Not to mention your ordinary kidnappers, the land has it all... maybe even a girl (for Korak ?) , too much in fact for comfort. If you want adventure in the safety of your home this is for you, no heavy messages, just relax and read The Son of Tarzan imitate his famous father I did...and enjoyed very much...

[A.E. Chandler · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an enjoyable, fast-paced series, but book four almost wrecked it for me. Tarzan is raised by a “ferocious” gorilla, but still has a moral code to only kill when needed. His son Jack - who is raised in London and knows nothing about Tarzan’s past until he is ten and runs away to the jungle - is a sociopathic serial killer. This isn’t a subversive social commentary, because Burroughs leans heavily on nature over nurture to justify Jack gaining all of Tarzan’s abilities with no training as soon as he enters the jungle. Fortunately, about partway through the focus shifts to other, likeable characters.

Miriam busts Jane’s record of getting kidnapped three times in one book by getting kidnapped a whopping six times here.

Two stars for the first half, four stars for the second.

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

The Son of Tarzan is the fourth book in the ERB series of Tarzan novels and is really quite good for a sequel. It was published in novel form in 1917 by A. C. McClurg & Co. (who would publish the first ten of the Tarzan books).

I would give a caveat here that Burroughs wrote escapist fiction with an extensive vocabulary in lyrical prose designed to thrill, strike awe, and entertain. Burroughs used coincidence as a literary device so often that it became almost parodic of itself. I was and remain conscious of it; however, I forgive it as classic ERB.

Here, Alexis Paulvitch (one of the villains of the previous two novels) has had a tough ten years in Africa. He is rescued by a ship headed to Europe. In London, Jane has been overprotective of her son Jack. She has feared romanticizing Tarzan's time in the jungle, worried that in sharing the adventure, it might cause Jack to want to be more like his father.

Clearly, her fears become reality, and Jack begins his own adventure where he communicates with apes, rescues a young girl, teaches her jungle survival skills, and must protect her from all manner of predator in the jungle, including her own father.

Fantastic story, with wonderful characters that the reader empathizes with the protagonists and despises the antagonists. The tale has heart which caused me to get allergy attacks a couple of times reaching for tissues which is not what I would expect from Burroughs. I loved this a lot.

[Tharindu Dissanayake · Rating 5 out of 5]

" The symptoms of happiness and anger are often similar "

Fourth book of the series brings an entirely different narrative. There are many similarities with the first installment yet, there are many differences too.

And I have to special credit to the author, yet again, for another astonishing ending.

"It is a characteristic of the weak and criminal to attribute to others the misfortunes that are the result of their own wickedness. "

Numa, and Sabor his mate, feast upon those who descend first and look afterward, while those who look first and descend afterward live to feast themselves."

[Scott Rhee · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The Son of Tarzan”, Edgar Rice Burroughs’s fourth book in his popular series featuring the famous loin-cloth-clad-ape-man-who-discovers-he-is-a-wealthy-English-lord-but-still-likes-to-play-with-his-monkeys-in-the-jungle-with-his-woman-Jane, is a slight departure from the previous novels in that Tarzan himself only appears in about one-eighth of the story. Most of the story is devoted to Tarzan’s tween-age son, Jack.

In the book, via a crazy and unbelievable series of events (which is par for the course for these books), Jack finds himself on the run in London with an ape, hopping a boat to Africa, running naked in the jungle, becoming the new king of the jungle, rescuing a kidnapped Arabic girl that he takes under his wing and trains to be his queen of the jungle, angering an evil villain simply called the Sheikh, riding around on the back of an elephant, battling nefarious Swedes, and falling in love.

If any of that sounds infinitely better than the crap you can find on Netflix or Hulu, then you should definitely start reading these books, which are wonderfully silly and ridiculous good action/adventure yarns that were written over a century ago. Seriously, they’re awesome, and I want to read the rest of the books in the series, all 20 of them.

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was a mixed bag. All of the Tarzan books require some suspension of disbelief, but this one kept pushing it. I have a feeling if a child was really tossed into the jungle, they would more than likely die pretty quickly. In these books, they instead learn how to talk with all of the animals and move through the trees like a monkey and fight like the greatest warriors on Earth. I didn't have as much of a problem with it in the first book, but then to have a repeat of it kinda stretches things.

That being said, it's still a good jungle adventure. The title is spot on, because Tarzan himself only has a small supporting role and the majority of the book focuses on Korak, the son of Tarzan. He finds himself lost in the jungle for years (seems like everything takes years in these books too) but ends up being a King of the Jungle very much like his father. Even though he was raised in London for his early childhood. There's also a kidnapped female who Korak takes under his wing, and lo and behold, she ends up becoming almost like a female Tarzan. So when Grandpa always said kids were different back in his day, boy were they. Let's toss a few modern kids (or adults for that matter) out into the jungle with no iphones or wifi and see how they do. Well, maybe not.

Also, if there's one thing I've learned so far from the Tarzan series, if you are a refined gentleman in a love triangle with Tarzan or his son and a lovely lady, then you are going to die. Just seems to be the pattern to get rid of the pesky love triangles.

All the flaws aside, I do really enjoy the Tarzan books, and if you liked the others, you'll probably enjoy this one as well. If you think the whole idea of a human raised by apes is ridiculous, then skip this one because it doesn't exactly inject realism into the storyline.

[Warren Fournier · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are some great ideas here which are marred by the typical Burroughs haste and magical thinking... and because the author didn't know what to do with Tarzan anymore.

The first few chapters in themselves contain a very good story. Tarzan seems to have settled down with Jane as Lord Greystoke once again and is enjoying the family life. After Jane's horrible trauma that took place over the course of the previous book, "The Beasts of Tarzan", she does not want to tell their son Jack about Tarzan's past, for fear he may seek to emulate his dad and expose himself to a life of adventures in the jungle. But meanwhile, a Russian ex-patriot has escaped from Africa after ten years of imprisonment and torture, arriving in London with an intelligent ape whom he exhibits at a sideshow. Jack goes to see the show against his mother's wishes, and the ape immediately takes a shine to the young boy. The gorilla is none other than Tarzan's friend Akut, who has been searching for Tarzan these many years, and his Russian "trainer" is one of Tarzan's archenemies, Alexis Paulvitch. The Russian tries to kill Jack and frame Akut, but this backfires, leading to the Russian brutally slaughtered by the creature who is protecting Jack. Now a manhunt is underway for the murderous beast.

This presents many complex possibilities. The strange relationship between Akut and Alexis could have been more explored. The Russian seems to have a genuine fondness for the animal, but is also forced to exploit him because he has been left financially and physically ruined as a consequence of his evil decisions and long exile. It could have been an opportunity for some kind of redemption arc for the character, or at least to show some nuance of complexity to his personality. And when Alexis discovers that his ape friend has brought him unwittingly back to Tarzan, this could awaken old resentments and cause a real struggle for the character. He had been through a lot of trauma, as had been Jane and Tarzan, all of which is explored in this book, and it would have been great to see how trauma molded and changed these characters, while still providing plenty of opportunity for action and adventure.

But Burroughs was not interested in a psychoanalysis of his characters. It was 1915, and demand for his Tarzan stories was continuing. So the author was struggling with figuring out how he could keep the series going while staying fairly true to continuity. This was his fourth Tarzan book, and he had already brought his Tarzan saga to an end with an acclaimed trilogy. Little did Burroughs know that he would be writing a whopping 20 more entries after this one, and would eventually have to largely give up on continuity in the latter half of the series, simply creating a bunch of standalone science fiction / jungle adventure stories featuring Tarzan as a kind of superhero. But here, Burroughs was seriously considering replacing the aging and now domesticated Tarzan with a new character, his son.

And so the plot of this novel abruptly changes direction, setting up our new lead. The long feud between Tarzan and Alexis Paulvitch ends unceremoniously, and now Jack, terrified that he will be implicated in the Russian's murder, escapes with Akut to Africa, where they kill yet another unscrupulous scoundrel who tries to rob them, forcing the odd couple into hiding in the wilds. After years of living in the wilderness, Jack eventually becomes known by his own jungle hero moniker, Korak the Killer.

I have mixed feelings about Korak himself. Mostly, I don't particularly care for him. He is much more of an asshole than Tarzan, and an early example of a "Mary Sue". I don't think Burroughs understood how genetics worked at all. Jack/Korak was raised for twelve years as a spoiled upper class child, not as a survivalist, yet the kid knows almost instantly how to vanquish his foes with his bare hands and teeth and how to converse with apes in their own secret language. He has some token desires to return to his parents, but he quickly embraces the wild life, enjoying the thrill of killing and almost being killed. I guess the idea is that Tarzan was a special person to have survived in the jungle from a helpless little baby, and Korak inherited some of those exceptional qualities. But Tarzan had been raised and taught by animals from infancy in the wilds, whereas Korak just seems to already know it all magically. And he really earns his name of "Killer," murdering a villager, for example, just to steal his leopard skin. Tarzan may have been feral, but he had the genuine soul of a noble hero. His son was raised to be a gentleman and was a wild beast at heart.

Some fans may feel my assessment is a bit harsh, that people had tried to kill Jack so many times since the incident that drove him to leave London that he had to embrace the law of the jungle--might is right--to survive. That is true. But before he learned that humans were more dangerous than any animal, he was beating up his effete tutor, tying him up, and almost smothered him just because Jack didn't like that the guy was carrying out Jane's wishes.

Regardless, Korak does show some growth as the novel progresses, and his adventures are actually quite well done, in typical Burroughs fashion. Many fans of the series feel this is some of the best "Tarzan" material, even if we are not necessarily following Tarzan. I think that is also true, but my main issue is the same I have with a lot of Burroughs, which is that it sometimes gets hard to suspend disbelief through all the ridiculous plot contrivances. Want an example of ridiculousness? When Jack escapes London, he disguises Akut as an old lady. Yep. They take a cruise ship and check into a hotel in Africa together. Yep. And everybody is successfully fooled into thinking Akut is really Jack's frail grandmother. Wow. As brilliant as Burroughs was, he truly had the logic of a child sometimes.

Another weakness of this book is that there is just too much going on. Once Jack arrives in the jungles, we have multiple different conflicts at play here, and it draws things needlessly out with constant fighting while spreading characterization too thin. Most of the plots center around which jackass would be the next to abscond with Miriem, who is to Korak as Jane is to Tarzan. It gets repetitive--I mean REALLY repetitive and absolutely ridiculous. For various reasons, Miriem spends over a year of the narrative getting captured by or fleeing from an unscrupulous sheik, another random Arab not introduced until the last act, a Swedish trader, a British aristocrat, a tribe of cannibals, and Tarzan himself, sometimes more than once, while Korak does very little but sulk. As I have already argued, an opportunity was missed by Burroughs to do something very different with his series to keep it fresh.

However, maybe audiences didn't really want something different. If Burroughs had gone in the direction I suggested at the start of my review, maybe there would have been no more Tarzan books to enjoy after this one. As it stands, Burroughs tried to make a formulaic Tarzan novel with a new mini-Tarzan, but he failed to understand what made his own original hero resonate so well. As a result, "The Son of Tarzan" was a success, and even made into a 15-part film serial, but as a character, Korak did not have the lasting impact of his father. Readers wanted more of the genuine Tarzan.

Hey, I'm happy with that, because the 1920s era of Tarzan stories brought some great Radium Age classics, with the King of the Apes battling the Ant Men, conquering dinosaurs, and even going to Pellucidar (from "At the Earth's Core") in one of the first ever sci-fi series crossovers! Korak became largely forgotten or reduced to guest appearances in these later Burroughs-penned entires, though Korak would gain more popularity in expanded media such as comics and other authorized stories over the decades.

If you are interested in the Tarzan series, this is a tempting place to jump on, since it largely kicks off a new continuity. But it's Korak's show, not Tarzan's, and Korak is a far less sympathetic character. So I would reserve this for folks committed to reading the series in order. For those Tarzan completists, this will likely satisfy.

SCORE: 2.5, rounded up to 3 gorillas in drag out of 5

WORD OF THE DAY: Trituration

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had a lot of fun reading the adventures of Diet Tarzan.

The book is worth four stars, but it’s a head-scratcher for why Burroughs decided to jump the timeline ahead 10-15 years during the course of this tale to bring us the story of Tarzan’s son. Tarzan himself had only starred in three novels at this point; why was it necessary to bring in Korak?

That aside, this is a solid, action-packed tale. Korak does a great job as Diet Tarzan. His girl Meriem steals the show a lot of the time and is easily the best character here.

Another banger in this series, even if Tarzan is barely in it. Apparently Korak will return at some point, but the focus will remain on Tarzan from here on out.

[Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

to: ERB
re: THE SON OF TARZAN

Dear ERB

Nope. Sorry. This fourth book of the Tarzan series didn't work for me.
The plot was absurd (as always) -- but this time it was on the side of absurdness where I don't feel comfortable.
Inventing convenient plot devices en passant is not the way to go, Mr. ERB! I wish you did some more planning. Really. You could do better than that!?
An elephantus ex machina saves the day? Multiple times?? Come on!
And what about these abductions of the same girl over and over again by different villians?
I lost count and I lost track, and frankly, I lost interest fairly soon as well.
And while we're at it: Please, stop letting villians drag abducted woman to their tents (as in this volume and the one before) in order to proceed with the unspeakable and then let the woman glance at or even grab the "butt of the man's pistol". This joke wasn't funny the first time.
And what about the big mystery of who the "Bwana" might be that's only solved in the very last chapter?
You don't really believe anyone with any sense would spend more than the fraction of a second to find out, do you?
I could go on, but why bother. I doubt you'll ever read this, given the fact you are dead now for 68 years.
No hard feelings!

Matt

PS. I just realize the book was published during WWI, shortly before the USA entered the war. This might account for the book's "rush" as your thoughts were most likely somewhere else at the time.



This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

[Joseph · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the one that just breaks the timeline irredeemably.

So John Clayton, Lord Greystoke (Tarzan himself) was born in 1888 or 1889. He met Jane Porter 20 years later; let's call it 1908. Then they spent at least a year faffing around before finally tying the knot in The Return of Tarzan, meaning son Jack must've been born in 1910 at the earliest.

At the beginning of Son of Tarzan (first published in 1915), son Jack is about 10 years old. By the close of the book, he's more like 20. And in one of the subsequent volumes, there's an off-handed reference to Jack being away fighting the Germans elsewhere in Africa as part of the Great War. So clearly there were wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey things going on to allow a child born in 1910 to be in his 20s by 1916 or 1917.

All that aside ... I admit this has never been one of my favorite Tarzan books, mostly because it's Burroughs essentially recapitulating the plot of Tarzan of the Apes, just unto the next generation. At the beginning of the book, Alexis Paulvitch (one of the "Russian revolutionaries" who were the primary villains in the previous two books) crawls out of the jungle where he's been lost for the previous ten years and, through a concatenation of circumstances, makes his way to London in company of Akut, the island-dwelling "Great Ape" Tarzan had befriended in The Beasts of Tarzan, where he meets young Jack Clayton (whom his parents are trying to raise, unsuccessfully, as a Proper English Gentleman and from whom they're keeping his father's ... peculiar upbringing a secret). Through yet more concatenations of circumstances, Jack and Akut end up sailing to the west coast of Africa and running away into the jungle, where Jack will essentially retrace his father's journey down and up the evolutionary ladder (and where he will be given the name Korak, which means The Killer in "Great Ape" speak).

Oh, and also we're getting periodic chapters about the adorable young daughter of a French diplomat who is kidnapped by a villainous Arab ("The Sheik") and raised as his own under conditions of brutality and deprivation, and what are the odds that Meriam (as The Sheik names her) and Korak will eventually cross paths? And what are the odds that Korak will eventually reunite with his grieving parents, who assumed for the decade following his disappearance, that he was dead?

Spoiler: Those odds are pretty darned high.

So it's not that there's anything wrong with this (well, aside from the usual Burroughs reliance on coincidence, and the usual deeply problematic portrayals of African natives, Arabs and just about anybody else who's not blue-blooded English or French aristocracy displaying proper noblesse oblige); it's just that most of it is stuff that we've already seen in the preceding volumes in the series. (Which, I suppose, might have been less of a concern if I hadn't read four Tarzan books in just over a week's time.)

Oh, and there's also the lengthy bit at the end where Meriam and Korak are separated, and both think the other is dead, and Meriam ends up being semi-adopted by a couple with extensive estates on the west coast of Africa and that couple is only ever referred to as "Big Bwana" and "My Dear" even though it's INCREDIBLY obvious who they actually are ...

[Malum · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good adventure story that suffers from occasionally not knowing if it's a violent pulp tale or a Jane Austen coming of age romance. The fact that the hero vanishes from the story for huge chunks of time doesn't help either.

[Austin Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

My least favorite Tarzan book so far, but still not terrible, and I do plan to continue with the series; especially since I've been collecting them as of late, and almost have a complete collection (the Ballantine reprints with the black borders and awesome cover arts).

My main issue with this fourth book in the series is its very premise; Jack, The son of Tarzan, just so happens to be stranded in the African jungle (after being raised in civilization with his parents Tarzan and Jane), and is put through the same trials of survival as his father was, and just so happens to succeed in becoming "Korak" the killer / the king of the jungle... all because he inherited his father's traits and instincts. How convenient.

While all of these books are pulpy and require suspension of disbelief, this one just went a bit too far for me, and I also found the writing itself to be lackluster in comparison to the first three Tarzan books. From here on out it looks like the following adventures will be about Tarzan himself so hopefully they will be better than this entry in the series.

Son of Tarzan: 2.25/5
(For reference:)
Tarzan of the Apes: 4.5/5
Return of Tarzan: 2.75/5
Beasts of Tarzan: 3.75/5

[East Bay J · Rating 4 out of 5]

The fourth installment in Burrough’s Tarzan series finds young Jack Greystoke in the jungles of Africa via an attempt to return his father’s friend, Akut the ape, to his homeland. I’d say it’s every bit as good as its predecessors, even if the story has a remarkable resemblance to Tarzan Of The Apes. Burroughs has well perfected keeping an action yarn exciting and gripping and revels in descriptions of man, beast and nature. His theories on the hereditary nature of savagery are interesting and telling on the times. A really fun read.

[Kristen Thorley]

MY Favorite, more than the first, I think because of the little jungle man and the fact that there is a little jungle woman

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

At the conclusion of the third Tarzan novel, 1914's "The Beasts of Tarzan," the Ape Man's archenemy, Nikolas Rokoff, lies dead (and 3/4 eaten!) beneath the fangs of Tarzan's panther ally, Sheeta. But Rokoff's lieutenant, the equally dastardly Alexis Paulvitch, manages to flee into the African wilderness to escape. Needing to know more, this reader wasted little time diving into book #4, "The Son of Tarzan." As it had been with the first two Tarzan sequels, "Son" initially appeared serially in magazine form, in this case as a six-parter in the pulp periodical "All-Story Weekly," from December 1915 - January 1916. It would have to wait another 14 months before being released in hardcover book form.

The novel begins a full decade after the events of book #3, as we see Paulvitch, now a wreck of his former self after 10 years in the African jungle, finally being rescued by the crew of an English ship. By an astounding coincidence (and author Edgar Rice Burroughs' works are just riddled with these kinds of chance occurrences), before being returned to England, Paulvitch manages to encounter--and tame--the giant anthropoid Akut, who had played such a central role in book #3 as another of Tarzan's allies. Back in London, Paulvitch displays the giant ape before entranced crowds, and that is where Jack Clayton--the 11-year-old son of Tarzan--first discovers him. Thirsting for adventure, Jack decides to not only run away from home, but to bring Akut back to Africa, also (talk about spunky kids!). But once there, events conspire to make it next to impossible for Jack to return. Thus, like his dad before him, the lad goes native, and is soon seen swinging through the treetops, eating raw animal steaks and making enemies of the local tribes. It is a lonely existence for Jack (now called Korak, or The Killer, by his simian friends), until he chances to discover a little 10-year-old girl, Meriem, who had been kidnapped (as Jack had been in book #3) from her French parents three years before and is now a slave of sorts in an Arab village. And as it turns out, this is just the beginning of Korak's adventures with his new jungle companion, in a runaway saga that is to last over five years....

As for Paulvitch, author Burroughs deals summarily with him in the book's first three chapters, and the Russian villain's ultimate fate is a satisfying one. Tarzan himself is absent for at least 2/3 of the book's length, only appearing in the opening chapters and then disappearing completely until the novel's second half. The book rather focuses on "Tarzan, Jr.," his efforts to adjust to jungle life and his relationship with Meriem. Burroughs stuffs so much incident and plot convolutions into this entry that it is almost impossible to synopsize, but suffice it to say that the action never lags. As usual, the pacing is somewhat frenetic, the chapters always seem to end with a cliffhanger, and the reader is completely swept along; these books are true page-turners. Whereas book #3 had featured two nasty villains, this time around, we are presented with no less than four: Paulvitch, of course; the Sheik Amor ben Khatour, the kidnapper and abuser of little Meriem; and the Swedish hunters Carl Jenssen and Sven Malbihn. Malbihn is a particularly loathsome creation, especially when he takes a hot-blooded fancy for the teenage Meriem; he is almost comparable to one of the love-starved wretches in the H. Rider Haggard pantheon, only with far fewer scruples. As had book #3, "Son" goes far in disproving the charge of racism that has been leveled against Burroughs' work. In one telling passage, Korak regards a local tribe, and the author writes, "What if these were naked savages? What if their skins were black? Were they not creatures fashioned in the mold of their Maker, as was he?" (Too bad, then, that Korak becomes the enemy of this tribe, after being rebuffed by its members!)

Burroughs' writing at this point, it must be said, seems subtly improved since book #1, "Tarzan of the Apes" (which is celebrating its centennial this month, by the way, having been first issued in October 1912). Though no great shakes as a prose stylist, Burroughs was a natural storyteller, and his facility with pacing and sweep are much in evidence here. Book #4 contains some humorous asides as well, as when it is inferred that Sherlock Holmes (like Tarzan, one of the most popular and famous literary creations of all time) actually exists and is a person one can turn to for assistance! Typically, Burroughs invents some of his own words (such as "garmenture") and is guilty of an inconsistency here and there (such as when Jack recalls how Paulvitch had once had him tied up and Akut had successfully untied him; unfortunately, it never actually happened this way in the book). The bottom line is that "The Son of Tarzan" might not be anyone's idea of "great literature," but it sure is some thrilling, gripping stuff; a book that dishes out memorable action set pieces and that might even bring a tear to susceptible readers as it draws near to its conclusion. On a personal note, I might add that having just read the first four Tarzan novels to celebrate the big guy's centennial (out of a series that reached, ultimately, to some two dozen), I find that I now need to take a break. Lately, I have begun to entertain a hankering for raw lion steaks....

[Robert Cruthirds · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ordinarily, I'd be hesitant to rate a book like this at 5 stars. Burroughs is certainly not in the same league with Hardy, Hugo, Austen, Tolstoy, Hemingway, Twain, et al. But taken at face value, this novel far exceeds my expectations of the so-called "pulp fiction" genre. The storytelling, plot, and characters are superb, and this is the best of the four Tarzan novels I've read by now.
(And it's interesting this novel is really about Tarzan's son as the title implies, not much of Tarzan himself appears.)

I know all the crazies are gonna decry with self-righteous indignation and enlightened "morality" the stereotypes, racism, sexism, anti-whateverisms in novels like this. Yet Burroughs is a product of his generation with all its inherent contradictions just as we'll be viewed by future generations.

What's really fascinating is a recurring theme in the Tarzan novels - the natural law of the jungle versus the laws of modern "civilization?" Which system is really better in promoting the common welfare for both mankind and the environment we share with every living being?

[Joe Santoro · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd been holding on to this for a while waiting to get a chance to read the DC Korak comics, and then I forgot I had it until the awesome Neal Adams cover jumped out at me from the to-read pile.

When I first discovered ERB and read the John Carter books, I kinda scoffed at Tarzan.. the various and sundry TV adaptations are all pretty silly, after all. I've since come around on him... Tarzan is a far more interesting under his creator's pen than any adapations, and it turns out to be the same cast with Korak and Meriem.

Of course, if you're not a fan of the ERB adventure story model of manly men and weasely villains, then this isn't going to change your mind. It is a great installment in the series though, even if there are a few too many coincidences, and you'd have to be really, really unfamiliar with the genre (or literature in general) to not see the 'surprise' ending... it's a great read if you're in the mood for men's adventure.

[Kenneth · Rating 5 out of 5]

The 4th in the Tarzan book series by ERB, Tarzan himself is a minor character in this one, which is devoted to the adventures of his son Jack, who is kidnapped out of London by the dastardly Alexis Paulvitch and ends up in Africa where he has to survive in the jungle. In so doing he becomes a younger version of his father, acquiring the name "Korak". And he makes the acquaintance of a girl named Meriem. Lots of good adventures.

[Joy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can imagine Burroughs’ original pulp audience waiting anxiously for each new installment of the Tarzan saga. It’s always exciting when the next generation of characters comes along, and Jack, the son of Jane and Tarzan, and his friend Meriem are lovable from their introductions. They have adventures worthy of their lineages and will be fun to follow as the series continues.

[Little Timmy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even though the Tarzan stories are over 60 years old they remain timeless. These books are fantastic reading. These books make all the movies and cartoons seem meaningless. Highly recommended

[Cherise Boraski · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall this book was entriguing. Bringing in a female who lived like Tarzan brought in new perspectives and finally took the series away from the damsel in distress cliché. On top of that the twists and turns of the story were set up so nicely that you often did not see it coming while simultaneously being dissapointed in yourself for not picking up on it sooner. However, this is an older book that did not age well and there are many parts in it that are blatantly racist or show that Burroughs had little desire to see beyond his own social conversations.

[Abbi Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this a really long time ago (I think I was ten?). My grandma gave it to me, along with a few other dusty tomes. I haven't even seen a copy of it since then, but I remember enjoying the read, so I'm going to give it four stars.

[The Poor Person's Book Reviewer · Rating 5 out of 5]

So happy I got back into the series, ERB writing is action packed and keeps you on your toes. the way he brings it all together at the end reminded me of Charles dickens, a true master storyteller

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

As with the previous books in the series, “The Son of Tarzan” by Edgar Rice Burroughs is an improvement over the installments which came before. Originally published as a 6-part serial between December 4th, 1915 and January 8th, 1916, “The Son of Tarzan” introduces Tarzan’s son Jack (a.k.a. Korak) as a major character, as well as his wife Meriem.

The improvements are obvious over the earlier books, the plot is less transparent and more involved, and the dangers facing our heroes are a wider variety and thus there is much less repetition in the story. The weaknesses are still significant though as the unbelievable coincidences still occur much too often, and when Jack disappears the reaction of Tarzan and Jane is absent, and thus the reunion later on lacks any kind of feeling as the reader never is made aware of any steps made by the parents to find their son.

Burroughs for once doesn’t use a single main villain throughout the story, and this is another significant improvement in the story. Instead Alexis Paulvitch starts as the foil, but he is out of the story relatively early as many other factors come into play, which lead the story in the direction it takes, and the characters one faces are not quite as two-dimensional as they are in the previous books in the series, though they still are not fully-defined.

Despite its problems, the Tarzan series remains an entertaining one, especially those who enjoy action and adventure. “The Son of Tarzan” in my opinion is the best in the series up to this point, though it does create some problems later with the timeline of other stories, and I would also say that the Barsoom series after its first four novels was the better of the two series. Clearly, though, Tarzan triumphs as far as history is concerned, as he is an iconic figure in fiction while John Carter is remembered only by Burroughs’ fans.

[Bonnie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Through a series of strange events Tarzan's son, Jack, ends up back in the jungle alone with only an ape companion. The story is kind of Tarzan in reverse. Although raised as an Englishman Jack has no trouble surviving in the jungle seeming to have inherited all of his father's prowess, strength and agility and learning the language of the apes as easily as Tarzan taught himself to read and write English. However, his reversal to the wild apeman and his behavior that leads him to earn the name of 'Korak the Killer' didn't seem logical to me. On the whole Korak is not as likeable or interesting as Tarzan.

Much of the book deals with Miriam, Korak's jungle girlfriend. She is a stereotypical damsel in distress. I lost track of the number of times she was on the verge of losing her virtue to some lecherous villian only to be rescued in the nick of time.

In spite of my criticism of the book I still enjoyed reading it. There's just something so compelling about the way Edgar Rice Burroughs tells a story. It sucked me in and even with all it's ridiculous and silly twists and turns I couldn't put it down.

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

Next to the original two volumes, this is far and away the best book in the Tarzan series. I love Korak and Meriem, especially Meriem who is a very strong character for the author's time. She isn't a wilting flower (I'm looking at you, Jane) but a tough little sprite who holds her own pretty well. She's no amazon or Tomb Raider archetype, but she is amazing for the time in which she was written.

To be fair, none of this book makes much sense, especially the idea that Korak could evolve from Jack in such a short time and without the early training that Tarzan had, but reality has nothing to do with Tarzan, so I'm cool with that. I always read ERB with the idea that his books belong to an alternate universe with rules very different from our own. In that context, all of it makes sense. In ERB's magical universe, normal science doesn't apply.

[Mitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another terrific guilty pleasure. One of the books I shouldn't like. It has more evidence of Burroughs, Edgar Rice infatuation with 'culture Tarzan the noble savage has a son. A son who must also develop the muscle and jungle strength of his father. He inherited it in some way but it must be developed. He must fall in love, but it couldn't possibly be with anything less than a French Princess.

But I've got to say the romance in this one for a naive 13 year old was awesome, and I loved it just as much this most recent time.

[David B · Rating 3 out of 5]

Young Lord Greystoke follows in his father’s footsteps when an old enemy’s plot causes the boy to flee to Africa with the ape Akut. There he becomes known as Korak the Killer and strikes up a relationship with Meriem, a kidnapped French girl.

This story uses some fairly shoddy plotting to get Korak to Africa and it is difficult to imagine that any reasonably attentive reader won’t see the big reveal at the end coming from a long way off. Otherwise, there is plenty of solid jungle action, and the relationship between Korak and Meriem is much better realized than the romance of his mom and dad.

[Raimo Wirkkala · Rating 3 out of 5]

For the holiday season this old man returned to the stories of his youth. It was the books of the likes of James Fenimore Cooper, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Edgar Rice Burroughs that first fired my imagination and instilled in me a love of reading. The Tarzan-series was a favourite of mine and it was good fun to read this particular installment. Here is all the adventure, told in short chapters; all the familiar characters, both human and animal (I've missed Tantor!); all the patches of purple prose and, yes, the cringe-worthy, in some cases, references to non-white peoples that went unnoticed to me as a young boy. One of Burroughs' favourite turns of phrase, when it comes to villainous characters, is "putrid heart". If my heart be putrid for still enjoying these stories, let it be so. I still have a few old paperback copies of these adventures and may my putrid heart give out only after I have finished reading them.

[Peter Baran · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quality bounces back here, albeit because in many ways it's a rewrite of Tarzan. Tarzan and Jane's English nipper gets obsessed with Africa, one of Tarzan's enemies brings one of Tarzan's apes to England and before you can say 'yet another conveniently placed boat trip on the African Coast the Greystoke heir is living in the jungle, and calling himself Kolchak The Killer.

There's a solid rerun of learning the ways of the jungle, with a slight twist because the kid knows he's a man. But it's the presence of the co-lead, kidnapped Meriem and Kolchak's chum that makes SoT, as she's the first properly realised female protagonist in Tarzan, and rescues herself at least half the time.