Rating: 
Summary: Mr. Norman's very active fantasy life
Review: I started reading the gor novels in 1980 & read ALL that had been written to that point. In fact, being a science fiction reader anyhow, I read them back-to-back. I am also a rabid feminist(yeah, I belong to NOW!!)--but I found Norman's ideation fascinating. I would LOVE to ask the guy a few questions!
That said, and feminist objections aside, these are marvelous, sword-swinging, in-your-face adventure stories, cleverly realized and full of detail. If a desert is the setting, Norman makes you taste the grit and feel the sand and heat. Total escapism. The male counterpart to the trashy romance genre! SO...hide those embarrassing covers and enjoy a good read. (But remember to put away the animal skins and slave manacles and act like a gentleman when you take your nose out of the books!
Rating: 
Summary: Just about one of the best series ever
Review: I have enjoyed fantastic novels and fantastic series for decades. Yes the LotRings is one of the best well written series ever. No argue with that. However fantasy novels got dull for the past two decades. The same {stuff}thrust to the readers again and again. Like I was drowning in bad writing and bad world systems and bad characters.Not with John Norman. He is one of the best, seriously, writers to ever throw out a fantasy novel. He has strong characters that have meaning behind them (male or female), realistic antiPolitically Correctness in the world, and intriguing situations and action and adventures. John Norman is magnificent. He deserves so much credit for creating a fantasy world...fP>Now to the book itself, the book is wonderful. It has action and adventure, it has romance and mystery. Tarl Cabot is summoned by his father (who was and is of Gor) and the mysterious Priest Kings to come and become a Tarnsman of Gor. A tarn is a gigantic bird that looks like an eagle. Spreading its wings wide, a sharp, dangerous, but if bound to a rider who deserves respect...it is fiercely loyal. The hub of the story for the most part is Tarl seeing and viewing this world, this counter-urth, for the first time. He looks at a strong male society, which is the best form of society, from an Earthman's view. Soon he, however, starts on to become one of the best Gorean men. He then is thrust into the problems between the city of Koroba and Ar. Wonderful writing style, wonderful literary mind...
Rating:
Summary: One of the greatest series ever known
Review: Yes I am involved in the D/s scene, and I am also a firm believer in the Honor and Truth codes of life. Thus my firm interest in the Gor series. Still you dont have to be a major D/s explorer to enjoy the Gor series. As someone who has studied history, philosophy, and sexuality, I have found that the Gor series has it all. John Norman is probably one of the most intelligent and in my eyes respectable writers in today's society. You can have your oprah books, you can even have your Dragonlance books. Both contains how "people" should be and "adventures" of all kinds. Yet Gor makes you face yourself as a Man, a real man, not some bleeding heart wimp who shudders at fearing a woman's scorn. Gor will make you hold your head up high and for once in today's post modern, feminist cursed society, be the man you should be. This book speaks honestly, a man needs to be strong, a true man, and a woman should be at his side, not leading him not pushing him, but supporting him as either a mate/marriage or a slave/submissive (to the Man/Master). Gor is an exciting thrilling adventure, still. It goes on and on from book after book with excitement, sensuality, and suspense. The stories of the men and women who are brought to Gor come in many different views, from Free to slave. ALl having a say, all having a fresh consideration toward what Gor is. Gor is not your Dungeons & Dragons, Dragonlance, or whatnot. In my opinion, compared to today's fantasy novels and novelists, such as Robert Jordan, he pales in comparison to JN's world creation. Even women will if they truly read and see what JN says, be able to strive to be the best they are...to be the woman they were meant to be spiritually, evolutionary wise, and mentally. Dont be afraid of being a woman, whether Free or a slave to a Man, a true Man, instead of a drum beating fool. Read JN's work, be inspired, and live your dreams...
Rating:
Summary: Essentialism vs. Constructionism
Review: First and foremost, whether fiction or not, John Norman has an agenda here. He clearly does not like the government and presents women as either slaves or wanting to be slaves. While there are women in positions of power in these novels, they are always secondary to those of the men. Norman is clearly writing from a "natural order" or "essentialist" perspective. While I enjoyed the adventure aspects of the first five of these novels, the continual portrayal of women as being somehow inferior to men continues to be deeply disturbing. The fact that there is no questioning of "natural order" politics is also distressing. As a basis of seeing a point of view on the extreme opposite from my own and because I enjoy the heroic fantasy aspects of the books, I would recommend them. However, it is my considered belief that Norman has never analyzed any politics other than his own and that "believers" tend to follow his lead. Read them, but keep in mind the underlying ideologies and what the implications of them are..............or is that Ar...
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining with Flaws
Review: It was a well-written work for the most part but there are some flaws that may cause a reader to scratch his or her head and wonder what the author was intending. Some of the characters, the females in particular, are painted in such a way as to be almost demeaning. While it must be understood that this is a fantasy work in a fantasy world the reader will be hard pressed to keep 'real humans' and 'Gor Humans' apart in his/her mind and this could cause some problems with the text, especially if the reader is female. While it is a unique method of storytelling to create a male dominated society (although some books in the series do have female-dominated cities) the method by which it is carried out leaves some to be desired. Overall, however, the work is clearly entertaining and is worth reading if the reader is able to clearly remember that it is fantasy.
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Summary: A world of perpetual violent competition among elites....
Review: This was the first of the Gor series- a series that stretched over 20 years and well over 20 books. Briefly, this is not a typical "sword and sorcery" book or series. Except for a little advanced alien technology, it is a world of ordinary (but archaic) technology- and extreme violence, brutality, and sexuality. The story starts with Tarl Cabot, a well educated but cronically bored professor at a small east coast college. He finds himself transported by advanced alien beings to Gor, a world very much like earth, but on the opposite side of the sun. Here he finds out that he is part of a collossal alien breeding experiment to produce a super-race of humans in an environment of constant "survival of the fittest" warfare. Human technology is kept limited to classical or medieval levels to ensure that the humans aren't too efficient at slaughtering each other. The only consistently fantastic element are the giant birds that are used as saddle mounts- and very simular birds have now been found in the fossil record, so maybe they aren't that fantasic after all. The society is purely one of might makes right. The governments are essentially tyranical- if there are assemblies, then only the upper classes have a say. The societies are rigidly class based (warrior class on top, then priests, scribes, artisans, farmers, slaves.) As for the slaves, there is more and more thinly disguised sadomasochism as the series progresses. In fact, that, and variations on the warfare and violence, are the main constants as the books move from various earth-like cultures from classical Greco-Roman, to Mongol, to Norse, etc., etc., etc. John Norman was clearly a well educated man. I think he originally planned this series around a variation of Aristotle's ideal state. In the early books there are some inspiring scenes of heroism and nobility against extreme odds. However, there is a developing theme of social Darminism and survival of the fittest, and submission of the inferior, that is just pure Fascist pornography.... I'm sure if most parents would have known what was really in these books they would never have allowed them in their homes.
Rating: 
Summary: Tarl Cabot is brought to Gor to become a Tarnsman
Review: I abandoned the Gor series around volume 20, mainly because Tarl Cabot was often being replaced as the main character in the novels, although I was never a fan of the Gorean philosophy, which is essentially that women can only enjoy true freedom by totally submitting to the strong will of a male master. John Norman's series has certainly achieved much notoriety because of this philosophy and I have had a few encounters with true believers on the internet who try to live out the Gorean lifestyle as much as possible. However, I came to the series as a fan of Edgar Rice Burroughs' novels about John Carter of Mars, and clearly "A Princess of Mars" is the template for "Tarnsman of Gor." Both novels tell of someone who is transported to a more primitive planet where fights are resolved with swords and our hero falls for a beautiful woman whose station rises high above his own. Yet Norman's novel clearly creates its own world, which is what attracted it to me in the first place. Gor is also known as Counter-Earth because it is on the far side of the sun always blocked from view. Gor is slightly smaller than Earth, which works in Tarl Cabot's favor when he accedes to a cryptic message from the father he has not seen for decades and enters a space ship in the woods of New England, bringing with him a handful of earth. After all, Cabot is a college professor (like John Lange, the professor of philosophy who wrote these novels under the John Norman name), and has not been living the life of a warrior. But on Gor he is trained to be a Tarnsman, a rider of the great war birds. His mission is to capture the Home Stone of Ar, the great city-state that is the "Rome" of the Gorean world. The effort is an attempt to end the power of Marlenus, who had been given the power of "Ubar" (essentially the war chief) to handle an emergency, but who refused to give up power afterwards and is building an empire. This 1966 novel is relative short, a little over 200 pages long, and ultimately it functions more aa a prologue to the rest of the series rather than an introduciton. In the first half of the book the reader, like Tarl Cabot, is introduced to many key concepts that are developed in the future novels, from the practice of slavery and the joys of paga to caste-bound Gorean society and the technological restrictions imposed on the people of Gor by the mysterious Priest-Kings. When you go back and reread "Tarnsman of Gor," after you have gotten deeper into the series (i.e., "Slave Girl of Gor"), you will recognize the embryonic form of the Gorean philosophy as well: the concept of honor, the independence of men, the respect for the environment, the dangers of technology, and the great "truth" of female slavery." However, at first glance, the sword and sorcery elements are what hook the reader into this opening novel. The parallels between Marlenus of Ar and Julius Caesar of Rome are obvious, but Gor is a much more barbaric world than that of the Roman Empire and one of the fun aspects of reading these books is recognizing the bits and pieces of different warrior cultures Norman has brought to his creation. "Tarnsman of Gor" ends in the same manner as "A Princess of Mars," which means the series effectively offers a second beginning in the next novel, "Outlaw of Gor," which is the first novel in what I think of as the Priest-Kings trilogy. I think that the fifth novel, "Assassins of Gor," is the high point of the series, after which it starts transforming itself into something significantly different. But those first five novels are certainly worth reading for those who like the Burroughs school of grand adventure and Norman improves greatly as a writer, creating memorable supporting characters and unique actions scenes.
Rating:
Summary: Very Enjoyable
Review: Wonderful book not just for those teenaged, D&D playing, Dreaming of girls- and what they can do for them types. A very well constructed world, with alot of believable characters, and populations. John Norman does tend to drag on a bit with descriptions- I didnt need to read a 3 page description of a Tuchuk wagon in NOMADS - but they are easily skimmed through. One bad point- Tarl Cabot does tend to come off as superman- always successful at every turn- BUT he is weak willed, falling pray to bouts of weeping and insecutrities while acting disdainfully of the female slaves- "she was after all, just a slave". John looses himself in the greater glory of the dream of BDSM- and even a small amount of people participating in the BDSM lifestyle practice "Gorean". usually a small ritual of female worshipping the male, and declaring him her Master as she drops into the "pleasure slave" submission pose. Beautiful- but hey guys! It's Fiction- bear that in mind when you are swinging around your Conan swords!
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Summary: for johnnyreb100
Review: Ok first off jonnyreb YOU ARE NOT GOREAN Gor is a made up world by one hell of a writer in John Norman. I myslef own the books and I would recomend it to anybody who is into science fiction and MAKE BELEIVE roleplay ect. ect. It deservs the 5 stars im giving it... johnny seek professional help. For all of our sakes. just for the record...when the giant cockroaches came and took you away in their silver space ship did you meet superman wonderowman and the green goblin ? :>
Rating:
Summary: Ok let's really look at Gor
Review: Tal to those of you reading this review. I have been reading many of the reviews of the Gorean books. I am seeing the same things again and again "that its mysogenistic" and that its "sexist". though I do have to admit there are some good reviews toward this book. so let me see. let me give you all my own humble opinion as someone who lives the lifestyle of Gor. first and foremost Gor is not sexist nor is it mysogenistic. if you really look at what John Norman is saying, he is really trying to defend what it means to be a real Man and a real woman (not something that the feminists try to impose on people along with the Christian right who tries to impose on people). his view is an honest to god consideration toward what it means to have specific gender roles in society...in the good, the bad, and the ugly. secondly, Americans should LIKE what Gor has to say. if you read in the news and you see on the tv, there is a rise in how one has pride in one's country. John Norman speaks highly of this in how he talks about homestones for people. just like those who live in Ar or those who live in Koroba, we as Americans should have pride in who we are and in our country. ok. let's look at John Norman as a writer himself. ok, you all are correct. he is NOT Shakespeare nor is he Hemingway. BUT. for crying out loud. does he have to be? I mean really. look at all the crap that has been covered by the Oprah club... John Norman is a good writer for his genre. I think one of the best writers for the fantasy/sci fi genre. he has good decriptions, good use of the English language, and a good story telling ability...enjoy the fiction why dont you. its really well done.
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