Priest-Kings of Gor : (#3)

Rating:
Summary: Tarl Cabot learns the startling secret of the Priest-Kings
Review: "Priest-Kings of Gor" is the third novel in John Norman's Counter-Earth sage focusing on Tarl Cabot. At the end of the first novel, "Tarnsman of Gor," Cabot found himself unwillingly returned to Earth after his first adventure. Seven years later he returns to Gor in "Outlaw of Gor," only to find that his city has been destroyed and his people scattered by the order of the Priest-Kings. Refusing to submit, Cabot begins a journey to the Sardar Mountains, the legendary home of the Priest-Kings, to confront them. After being diverted by encountering a town ruled by women, Cabot finally reaches the Sardar as this novel begins; for this reason I always think of "Outlaw" and "Priest-Kings" as being two halves of one giant novel and would not want to finish the former without having the latter on hand.

The success of this novel comes down to one thing: how Norman answers the mysteries of the Priest-Kings. For me coming to this point in the saga is like "Apocalypse Now," when we finally come to the end of the trip up the river and about to meet Kurtz. In that film I am not sure there is anything that would have been a good enough payoff for the great set up that was provided, but that is not the case with this novel. I was speculating about a lot of different possibilities as Tarl Cabot made his way into the Sardar Mountains, but I guarantee you that I never expected what turns out to be the truth. Even better, Norman builds upon this revelation throughout the novel. Consequently, having said this, I will refrain from discussing the novel in more detail.

"Priest-Kings of Gor" is far and away the most traditional "science fiction" novel in the Gor series, which is another way of saying that it deals the least with the Gorean philosophy that has made this series notorious. This is not to say that it is not touched upon, for Cabot encounters Vika, a slave girl, inside the Sardar; but this is a minor sub-plot when it comes to the mystery of the titular beings. This 1968 novel is the most pivotal in the series because it redefines Tarl Cabot's mission on Gor for more than the next dozen novels. What follows are the two best of Norman's novels, "Nomads of Gor" and "Assassins of Gor" (my preference is for the latter, although I know that is a minority opinion among fans of these early books). For those who enjoy the adventures involving swords in the tradition of the Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter novels or Robert E. Howard's Conan stories, these first half-dozen Gor novels are worthy successors.

Rating:
Summary: Tarl Cabot learns the startling secret of the Priest-Kings
Review: "Priest-Kings of Gor" is the third novel in John Norman's Counter-Earth sage focusing on Tarl Cabot. At the end of the first novel, "Tarnsman of Gor," Cabot found himself unwillingly returned to Earth after his first adventure. Seven years later he returns to Gor in "Outlaw of Gor," only to find that his city has been destroyed and his people scattered by the order of the Priest-Kings. Refusing to submit, Cabot begins a journey to the Sardar Mountains, the legendary home of the Priest-Kings, to confront them. After being diverted by encountering a town ruled by women, Cabot finally reaches the Sardar as this novel begins; for this reason I always think of "Outlaw" and "Priest-Kings" as being two halves of one giant novel and would not want to finish the former without having the latter on hand.

The success of this novel comes down to one thing: how Norman answers the mysteries of the Priest-Kings. For me coming to this point in the saga is like "Apocalypse Now," when we finally come to the end of the trip up the river and about to meet Kurtz. In that film I am not sure there is anything that would have been a good enough payoff for the great set up that was provided, but that is not the case with this novel. I was speculating about a lot of different possibilities as Tarl Cabot made his way into the Sardar Mountains, but I guarantee you that I never expected what turns out to be the truth. Even better, Norman builds upon this revelation throughout the novel. Consequently, having said this, I will refrain from discussing the novel in more detail.

"Priest-Kings of Gor" is far and away the most traditional "science fiction" novel in the Gor series, which is another way of saying that it deals the least with the Gorean philosophy that has made this series notorious. This is not to say that it is not touched upon, for Cabot encounters Vika, a slave girl, inside the Sardar; but this is a minor sub-plot when it comes to the mystery of the titular beings. This 1968 novel is the most pivotal in the series because it redefines Tarl Cabot's mission on Gor for more than the next dozen novels. What follows are the two best of Norman's novels, "Nomads of Gor" and "Assassins of Gor" (my preference is for the latter, although I know that is a minority opinion among fans of these early books). For those who enjoy the adventures involving swords in the tradition of the Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter novels or Robert E. Howard's Conan stories, these first half-dozen Gor novels are worthy successors.

Rating:
Summary: INTO THE MOUNTAINS OF TERROR
Review: Once Tarl Cabot had been the mightiest warrior of Gor, the strange world of Counter-Earth. But now on all the planet, he had no friends except the tarn, the mighty bird on which he flew. He was an outcast, with every hand against him. His home city had been destroyed, his loved ones scattered or killed. And that was at the orders of the Priest-Kings, those mysterious beings who ruled absolutely over Gor. No man had ever seen a Priest-King. They were said to dwellsomewhere in the mountains of Sardar. And none who entered that forbidden land ever returned alive. Nonetheless, Tarl Cabot headed into the Mountains of Sardar!

Rating:
Summary: INTO THE MOUNTAINS OF TERROR
Review: Once Tarl Cabot had been the mightiest warrior of Gor, the strange world of Counter-Earth. But now on all the planet, he had no friends except the tarn, the mighty bird on which he flew. He was an outcast, with every hand against him. His home city had been destroyed, his loved ones scattered or killed. And that was at the orders of the Priest-Kings, those mysterious beings who ruled absolutely over Gor. No man had ever seen a Priest-King. They were said to dwellsomewhere in the mountains of Sardar. And none who entered that forbidden land ever returned alive. Nonetheless, Tarl Cabot headed into the Mountains of Sardar!

Rating:
Summary: Don't judge a book by its...reputation
Review: This is the first Gor book that I have read. I have known about them for decades but had dismissed them as trash without ever having read one because of their reputation for misogyny and the promotion of bondage. During a recent trip to a used book I came across a copy of Priest-Kings of Gor with a cover by Boris Vallejo that intrigued me. It showed a barbarian standing over a slave girl with what I took to be a golden idol of a gigantic insectoid creature in the background. (As it turned out, the "idol" was a living Priest-King!) I was in the mood for "guilty pleasure" so I bought it. I expected to get slam-bang action, lurid writing, a no-brainer story, and lots of politically incorrect pornography. Boy, was I wrong! The story has its share of action but it also has a fair amount of exposition and character development. The writing is far from lurid. It actually has a somewhat stilted feeling to it that I associate more with Victorian prose than with modern writing. The story was reasonably complex and the cultural background was surprisingly detailed. What impresses me most about this book, however, is the convincing presentation of an alien with a truly ALIEN perspective, the Priest-King of Gor, an intelligent creature whose sensorium is based on olfaction rather than vision. I've been reading science fiction for more than 40 years and I can't think of a book that has done it better. Oh, yeah, the bondage stuff. It's there but not as prominent as in the other Gor books, I'm told. And there is no pornography...whatever sex there is in this book (I don't remember any!) occurs offstage. Nevertheless, anyone with feminist views is advised to stay as far away from this book as possible. For everyone else it's a hell of a good read!