Looking For a Good Book

GOR WEEK

Tarl Cabot of Earth is back on the counter-earth, known as Gor. His beautiful Gorean wife, Talena, is missing. The enigmatic Priest-Kings who rule from high atop their mountain keep are the most likely suspects to have taken Talena.

Tarl needs to know if the priest-kings took Talena, and if there’s any chance she might still be alive. To do so, he’ll make the journey to the mountain-top, knowing full well that no one who’s ever made the journey has ever returned.

Some time back, I decide that I would slowly read through the Gor series.  I read the first few books back in the early 1970’s (the covers by Boris were the biggest appeal for this teenage boy), but other than the basic premise of Tarl of Earth being on Gor, I don’t remember too much (and admittedly, I sometimes confuse the stories of Gor and Barsoom [though I’m aware that the Gor books are considered much more sexist]) and honestly can’t remember if I’d read this book or not.

The story is pretty straightforward – Tarl goes to get his wife back from the powerful, nasty priest-kings – who turn out to be an odd insect-like race of beings. He’ll do some fighting in the process, and he’ll meet a few female slaves who pretty much beg for him to take them.  Hmmm, I wonder why nerdy teenage boys liked these books so much….

Of the three books I’ve now read in this series, this was maybe my least favorite just because there was really so little story. Of course, the meeting of the priest-kings was quite entertaining. They are aliens to this world (which is already pretty alien to us) and have an unusual amount of technology (‘unusual’ given the lack of technology elsewhere on Gor). And perhaps part of what I didn’t like here – this has been outrageous fantasy (in more than one sense of the word) which is what has made it fun. But now it’s become science fiction, and the blend doesn’t work all that well for me.

The books get a lot of flack for their outright sexism and if you really wanted you could probably get in to some pretty heated discussion about it.  This is a world where women are slaves. Sex slaves. And the women here, knowing nothing else, expect it. They want to be with Tarl – not because he’ll free them (in fact, when he does, they feel lost), but because he seems to be a better master than the Gorean men.

But let’s be clear – this is not erotica or porn. There is not a lot of intimate moments. The tantalizing moments for teen boys is that the women are all described as scantily clad, often tied or bound in some way, and desire to be owned. Yeah, that’s not going to win many feminist fans. But honestly, the covers are the sexiest things about these books so far.

Looking for a good book? Priest-Kings of Gor by John Norman, the third book in the Gor series, has a strong science fiction element to the ‘normal’ fantasy story and has the most direct storyline, making it a bit of a dull read until the actual clash with the priest-kings.

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Priest-Kings of Gor

author: John Norman

series: Gor #3

publisher: Del Rey

ISBN: 9780345295392

paperback, 317 pages