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Summary: This series begins like a tribute to "John Carter of Mars"
Review: Like many of your other reviewers, I have read most of the 25 books in the Gor series. The series starts seemingly as a tribute to the "John Carter" books by Edgar Rice Burroughs. For readers who liked those books, I recommend this series. Although its been over ten years since I read most of these books, they still rank as some of the most entertaing action books I've ever encountered. Be warned, however, the later books in the series treat women in such a negative way that my own mother forbid me to read any further books (She said my behavior toward her and my sister would change markedly for days). Although I did sneak around & finish the series, the constant repitition that women are only truly happy as the slaves of men gets extremely old. Unfortunately, the author's obsession with this subject only grows during the series (Skip books 11 and 19 entirely). Still, the vivid action scenes and exquisite detail (Tom Clancyesqe) of people, places, customs, and equipment make this series quite remarkable. The best books are: 3,4,6,9 (best overall) ,10,12, and 13, 14, 15, 16 (1st half only). I cannot recommend any after 16 due to the rantings and ravings (sometimes for 30 or 40 pages) about the happiness of female slaves.
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Summary: Tis the best of the begining....
Review: I am not a person to read books, ever. I started reading, and could not tear myself away, from the excitment of Tarl's first taste on Gor, or his becoming is the caste of Warriors, to the Greastest, battles, in Ar, and over himself, I lost myself in the writings... Tis the greastest begining of all beginings!
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Summary: The first volume of the Gor Chronicles
Review: Popular rumor has it that John Norman, a college professor, wanted to show a writing class that practically anything can be published and so in 1967 came up with this light sci-fi novel. This is no disjointed, _Naked Came the Stranger_, however. _Tarnsman_ has structure and modest character development. The protagonist, Tarl Cabot, is brought to the vaguely Greco-Roman counter-earth of Gor to undertake a perilous mission to assure the delicate balance of power among city-states. Along the way, the reader gets a quick over-view of caste structure, social systems based on discipline and honor, and the place of males and females in the natural order. Surprised, perhaps, by the popularity of a counter-earth in which women are submissive and where masculine, assertive men live in a structured Greco-Roman society, Norman (or, purportedly, any number of ghost writers) subsequently turned out no less than 25 novels in this series. Despite intense and censorious pressure from feminists and the politically correct which saw an end to the series in the mid-1980s, these novels simply will not go away. They do not stay long on the shelves of used book stores, and they are being re-published, no doubt to the horror of those who would have us believe that men and women are the same. Persistent rumors of a 26th novel and continuation of the series are avidly received by devotees. Having read the series as it was originally published, volume by volume, I find that _Tarnsman_ is much more cartoon-like than succeeding volumes, but it is entertaining nonetheless. As other reviewers correctly point out, there is a marked change in tone with the sixth volume (_Raiders of Gor_) which sees the protagonist, Tarl Cabot, fall from his Code as a Warrior in order to grovel and save his life. Thereafter, the Chronicles are considerably more brutal and much more negative, both in their general tone and vis-a-vis male/female relations. Underlying the central plot of the Chronicles, which focuses on the struggle for planetary dominance by competing alien races who use humans as pawns, there is a continuous, erotic, but misogynistic diatribe about male dominance and female submission. This gender war/gender theory theme gets rather tedious as it wears on through volume after volume. If, by the seventh or eighth volume, one does not understand the dominance/submission principles espoused by Norman, then a reader must be (to use Norman's own words) "an inert dolt." Non-compliant females are apt to be back-handed (at best) and to, "taste blood in their mouths." It is not surprising that Gor has been enthusiastically adopted--- and corrupted-- by one subset of the leather/BDSM crowd (bondage, discipline, sadism, masochism). One can find ample reference to Gor on the internet, but surprisingly few of those "Gor" devotees have read any of the Chronicles or understand any of its themes beyond S&M (of which there is actually quite little)! This is rather a shame as the novels have some thought to offer in their own right, rather than as a pseudo-justification for flogging sex-slaves (whether male or female). Gor is fantasy. The latter volumes tend to be a dark fantasy. There is some thought behind these novels, however, and they should not be dismissed out-of-hand. I read the Chronicles both for their theories and the plot. I was quite disappointed when Norman abandoned (or was compelled to abandon for lack of a publisher) an interesting plot line. I, for one, would like to see the adventures of Tarl Cabot resolved.
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Summary: Not a book, or a series, that everyone will like
Review: As someone who has read all but perhaps two books from the series back when the series was published and hasn't read them since, I still recall a lot of the specifics. These books cover a whole series of different storylines, not just the Tarl Cabot saga and Chronicles. I actually preferred Chronicles, but followed Tarl Cabot as he fell from a proud Warrior, explored the deepest foundations of Gorean society, rebelled against the Priest Kings, then fell Slave and abandoned his Warrior Code to become a renegade warlord in Port Kar. I liked almost all of the series, with a few exceptions where Norman tried to make Cabot fit into situations he wasn't suited for. Great character development, but there are times when expanding a character too far only makes the stretch seem that much worse.
Rating: 
Summary: Norman WAS terrific
Review: I agree that Norman degenerated into slave claptrap, women's place, etc. But, he actually carried the SciFi fantasy pretty well through the first 20 or so books (ignoring Kajira, Rogue, Slavegirl, etc which do not bother to mention Kurii, PriestKings, etc) One reviewer said only the first five were good. Check out Marauders (my favorite), Explorers, Hunters, Players. If you ignore the social diatribe, they still have plenty of action
Rating:
Summary: Great!
Review: This novel begins a great series of 7 books, then Norman begins this strange descent in sexual submission. Avoid the last 18 books of the series.
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Summary: THE HIDDEN WORLD
Review: Earth could never know of Gor, the world always on the opposite side of the sun. But Gor somehow knew about Earth, as Tarl Cabot soon discovered. Taken by force to that savage world, Cabot was forced to become a tarnsman--a warrior who could control the great warbirds of Ko-ro-ba. Gor was a world of slaves and beautiful women, of human domination by the alien, secret Priest-Kings. And it was also the world of Talena, tempestuous daughter of the greatest warlord of Gor. She waited for the man who could subdue her--the man who could be her master. But was Tarl Cabot that man?
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Summary: FOR SOMETHING A BIT DIFFERENT........
Review: This series has been around for some time now. I suppose they can be compaired somewhat to the Burroughs' John Carter of Mars series, anyway they are sort of set up that way. As one reviewer pointed out, these are not actually true SiFi stories, but rather fantasy adventure. The writing style is more Victorian than anything, with many convoluted and run-on sentences. Many, I note, do not care for this. Myself, I find it sort of charming. I do note that a couple of reviewers felt the grammar, sentence structure, etc. were, as they put it, "horrible." While I cannot disagree with this completely, I do have to admit that when I pick this sort of work up, I am not expecting to read a Shakespearean level of work. Hey, I want to be entertained. These books do that. You should be warned though. Mr. Norman's view of sex, i.e. the relationship between male and female, is laughable at best, sick at worst. Sexual content throughout the whole series is quite explicit (as each book goes by, it gets more so) and deals with sadomasochism with the view that that is what all women really want. This is not something I would give a young reader. This is a fun book to read. The story line is as good as most of this ilk. While I do not feel it is for everyone, it is amusing and I do recommend it. I don't recommend taking to heart Mr. Norman's views on interpersonal relationships. Read it and have fun!
Rating:
Summary: THE HIDDEN WORLD
Review: Earth could never know of Gor, the world always on the opposite side of the sun. But Gor somehow knew about Earth, as Tarl Cabot soon discovered. Taken by force to that savage world, Cabot was forced to become a tarnsman--a warrior who could control the great warbirds of Ko-ro-ba. Gor was a world of slaves and beautiful women, of human domination by the alien, secret Priest-Kings. And it was also the world of Talena, tempestuous daughter of the greatest warlord of Gor. She waited for the man who could subdue her--the man who could be her master. But was Tarl Cabot that man?
Rating:
Summary: To Tame
Review: I enjoyed reading norman's books as far as easy reading is concerned. But after a while their message gets to sound the same: women are captured, sold and used (but they really want it) yawn, BORING, throw in a few monsters and equally boring sword fights and there you have it. Actually his books are to tame, lets have some hard hitting whippings and eroticism; and how about the market places where these girls are displayed, what happended to abit of erotic torture and pain...
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