Rating: 
Summary: Tarzan Dies!
Review: As a long-standing fan of Philip José Farmer, I was extremely disappointed with The Dark Heart of Time. Without question, it is the worst-written, most poorly-concieved book Mr. Farmer has ever produced. The plot is silly and contrived, the action mundane, and the writing sloppy. Throughout the book, Tarzan is determined to save the love of his life, Jane. This is his all-consuming passion, but this book is not about Tarzan trying to save Jane. She doesn't appear anywhere in these pages! Instead Tarzan is dragged into a peripheral "adventure" (and I use the word loosely, because adventures are supposed to be exciting). So, Tarzan's whole raison-d'etre, to save Jane, is pre-empted by a weak, rambling plot filled with empty characters and one-dimensional villains. Why on Earth did Farmer keep harping about Jane if he didn't intend Tarzan to save her?! At least then there would have been some dramatic tension (something which is noticeably absent from The Dark Heart). If you want to read Farmer, I suggest To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Flesh, or Dare. But please, stay away from this drivel.
Rating:
Summary: Tarzan Dies!
Review: As a long-standing fan of Philip José Farmer, I was extremely disappointed with The Dark Heart of Time. Without question, it is the worst-written, most poorly-concieved book Mr. Farmer has ever produced. The plot is silly and contrived, the action mundane, and the writing sloppy. Throughout the book, Tarzan is determined to save the love of his life, Jane. This is his all-consuming passion, but this book is not about Tarzan trying to save Jane. She doesn't appear anywhere in these pages! Instead Tarzan is dragged into a peripheral "adventure" (and I use the word loosely, because adventures are supposed to be exciting). So, Tarzan's whole raison-d'etre, to save Jane, is pre-empted by a weak, rambling plot filled with empty characters and one-dimensional villains. Why on Earth did Farmer keep harping about Jane if he didn't intend Tarzan to save her?! At least then there would have been some dramatic tension (something which is noticeably absent from The Dark Heart). If you want to read Farmer, I suggest To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Flesh, or Dare. But please, stay away from this drivel.
Rating:
Summary: Tarzan Dies!
Review: Having grown up in the Tarzan revival of the late sixties and early seventies, I had read all of the novels as a boy. Looking back now, I am still made uncomfortable by the level of racism in much of Burroughs' work (said statement may cause many to be angry with this review, but the evidence is overwhelming). I also came to Philip Jose Farmer's pastiches of Tarzan as an adolescent, and fell in love with his Tarzan even more than the original (especially when he connected them with Doc Savage, another revival my preadolescent mind had devoured). A few years ago, Farmer wrote a brand new "Doc Savage" novel, and it, like this new Tarzan novel, also fell curiously flat when compared to the originals. In both cases, they started off with a bang, and I felt like I'd found my way back to those worlds. But Farmer, I have to suspect, has grown too mature, and too sophisticated, to write what are essentially pulp novels meant for young boys. He twists this Tarzan novel into a bad science fiction cliche, and it just doesn't work well. While it is left open for a sequel, that opening only made the novel that less enjoyable. What I really wanted to see is Farmer wrap up the war, and reunite Tarzan with Jane, and give us a proper end to the original series. Unfortunately, whether due to the profit motive (which is possible, given the way Farmer milked the Riverworld books to death), or due to the desire to keep coming back to the well for personal reasons, we got a very truncated visit to the jungle. In Farmer's defense, he very deftly avoids much of the racism of the original novels (though not so completely as the Disney movie, which solved the problem by leaving out Africans completely -- which may be even more racist when you think about it: a movie set in Africa populated entirely by apes and white people!), and for the first half of the book, he keeps the tension taut. It just reads like he ran out of steam halfway through. Having said that, I'm glad I read it, if only because it sent me back to the originals for another look. And it is obvious that this master of speculative fiction is enjoying himself immensely -- and that alone is worth the price. Just don't expect perfection, and you'll enjoy this novel.
Rating: 
Summary: An interesting failure
Review: Having grown up in the Tarzan revival of the late sixties and early seventies, I had read all of the novels as a boy. Looking back now, I am still made uncomfortable by the level of racism in much of Burroughs' work (said statement may cause many to be angry with this review, but the evidence is overwhelming). I also came to Philip Jose Farmer's pastiches of Tarzan as an adolescent, and fell in love with his Tarzan even more than the original (especially when he connected them with Doc Savage, another revival my preadolescent mind had devoured). A few years ago, Farmer wrote a brand new "Doc Savage" novel, and it, like this new Tarzan novel, also fell curiously flat when compared to the originals. In both cases, they started off with a bang, and I felt like I'd found my way back to those worlds. But Farmer, I have to suspect, has grown too mature, and too sophisticated, to write what are essentially pulp novels meant for young boys. He twists this Tarzan novel into a bad science fiction cliche, and it just doesn't work well. While it is left open for a sequel, that opening only made the novel that less enjoyable. What I really wanted to see is Farmer wrap up the war, and reunite Tarzan with Jane, and give us a proper end to the original series. Unfortunately, whether due to the profit motive (which is possible, given the way Farmer milked the Riverworld books to death), or due to the desire to keep coming back to the well for personal reasons, we got a very truncated visit to the jungle. In Farmer's defense, he very deftly avoids much of the racism of the original novels (though not so completely as the Disney movie, which solved the problem by leaving out Africans completely -- which may be even more racist when you think about it: a movie set in Africa populated entirely by apes and white people!), and for the first half of the book, he keeps the tension taut. It just reads like he ran out of steam halfway through. Having said that, I'm glad I read it, if only because it sent me back to the originals for another look. And it is obvious that this master of speculative fiction is enjoying himself immensely -- and that alone is worth the price. Just don't expect perfection, and you'll enjoy this novel.
Rating:
Summary: Good, but not the classic it could have been
Review: Having read most of Farmer's pastiches, I had high hopes for this, his first official Tarzan novel.It's an interesting story, but ends far too abruptly, and is not quite up to the par of Farmer's earlier works. Still, it's a fun, exciting read, and nobody alive does this kind of stuff better than Farmer. If you're a fan, it's definitely worth a look.
Rating: 
Summary: Very Disappointing
Review: I had high hopes for this book, and expected a first rate Tarzan adventure, like Farmer's "Lord of the Trees". Instead, the book wanders all around with no focus. Tarzan goes through earthquakes, floods, uninteresting lost cities, encounters with weird little half-men, etc etc etc. None of these are important to whatever story there is, and after awhile, I got tired of trying to make my brain believe there was a story there. As an attempt at a Tarzan story, it falls flat. Even Tarzan's character is off-kilter. Tarzan is completely reactive through the whole story, instead of the proactive hero we are used to. Well...I will keep The Lord of the Trees and A Feast Unknown, but The Dark Heart of Time is going straight to the used bookstore.
Rating: 
Summary: Good effort
Review: In "Tarzan Alive", Farmer writes: "During the two year's search for Jane, [Tarzan] had found himself in the neighbourhood indicated on the map by the bones of the sixteenth-century Spaniard. [...] Unfortunately, we don't know of this adventure. While I could easily make up a story to fill the gap, I am sticking stricly to biographical facts." Well, it seems that almost 30 years later, Farmer has decided to tell that story after all. It all starts very promising. There are a lot of mysteries that make this a very compelling page-turner: how is Helmson able to track Tarzan so well; what is this mysterious creature Tarzan calls the Ben-go-utor; and why is the old businessman Stonecraft so obsessed by capturing Tarzan alive? But once some of those mysteries are solved (a bit too soon for my taste) Farmer seems to lose the thread of the story a bit. Not that it's bad, but it's nothing more than a slightly above-average action/adventure novel. The climax is a bit chaotic and the ending is very abrubt. Quite good, but after brooding on it for God knows how many years, we might have expected Farmer to produce something a bit more special. Let's hope this is just the first of a whole series of new Tarzan novels. A couple of good writers could make up interesting stories, that would keep Tarzan alive, in a much better way than recent products have (Lost City, Epic Adventures,...). Tarzan needs to be recognized by a new audience; the recent Disney adaptation makes this a good time for new and exciting adventures to appear. The audience is there... now all we need is new adventures. Let's hope they don't waste that opportunity... BTW, it is true that Farmer's timeline concerning Korak is not correct (as one reviewer noted) but then this was a mistake Burroughs himself already made - Farmer is only working in Burroughs' timeline.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent reading
Review: It's hard to continue other authors' works with honor, but Philip Jose Farmer has a better track record than most. This is the exciting sequel to the loose threads in Burroughs' TARZAN THE UNTAMED, and I eagerly read it in one sitting. For the record, Farmer does not characterize Tarzan the way Burroughs did, but rather treats him as the infrahuman that Farmer believes him to be. Farmer's use of collective ape language nouns (like "Kando" for ants) with plural verb conjugations was a bit unBurroughsian (for example, "Kando were..."), but that's probably nit-picking. Also, the end of the book contained more science fiction than any previous Tarzan story by ERB. But the book is quite entertaining, and surprisingly, Farmer DID surpress a bit of his own style in favor of more Burroughs-like dialogue and plot devices. If you liked this one, find copies of Farmer's Opar books and TIME'S LAST GIFT and wonder if there's a double meaning behind Tarzan's moniker as "the Uncaused Causer"...
Rating:
Summary: Noble effort to add to the legend of Tarzan
Review: Mr Farmer's effort in The Dark Heart of Time is not wasted. I, too, wondered what story was represented by the dead Spanish giant. Its nice to see that story told...Perhaps the Spanish giant will *live* out his story in another of Farmers works. Mr Farmer also presented some very good answers to questions such as "Tarzan couldn't swing on vines, they are covered with biting insects." Tazan is a little more real in this work...and unfortunately, realism can be a little frustrating...but I liked it. Its a good, non-ERB Tarzan. This work, like most of the recent Tazan series and things seems to have been influenced by an as yet unpublished, underground book that was written in the 50's called "Tarzan on Mars" that was written under a pen name (That and the authors real name escape me at the moment..Blood, Bloodstone perhaps?). I spoke to the author of "Tarzan on Mars" in June at the 38th annual DumDum in LA (Tarzan con) and got to handle and look at one of the only two official copies that exist. The book is beautiful and strewn throughout with wonderfull artwork...that alone will be worth the cost, and if "The Dark Heart of Time" does well, "Tarzan on Mars" will be published next. "TOM" has Jane kidnaped to Mars and Tarzan follows...A great number of loose ends on Mars and (In) Earth get tied up in this one.
Rating:
Summary: Inconsistant with ERB storyline
Review: Pathetic. Mr. Farmer didn't even get the timeline right. If Tarzan lived among the apes until 20 and was 30 in this book (stated twice) then Tarzon's son was a maximum age of 9 years old. In the ERB books, Jack was full grown and rescued Tarzan & Jane at the end of the Pal-ul-don book. It doesn't work. I read this thing to the tedious end- hoping for some time travel explain this blatent error. No such luck. I also got really tired of three and four word sentances. This manuscript is dumbed down to the 3rd grade reading level. "Tarzan never shivered" "Tarzan was surprised" "He became dizzy" Yuck. This book is an imposter! NOT a real Tarzan novel.
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