This is my first time reading a book in the Gor series, but it is not the first book in that series. I buy my books in flea markets and used book stores mostly, and have not come across the first book yet, so I started with this, the second book in the series. I know there are some who will think this is an outrage. Oh well. The first thing that strikes me about this book is the similarities to the Barsoom series.Those are the books by Edgar Rice Burroughs where John Carter goes to Mars and finds a barbaric fantasy civilization. In the Gor books, it Tarl Cabot who goes to a perpetually hidden from view 'counter-Earth" named Gor and finds a barbaric fantasy culture. Apparently the first Gor book even had the same ending as the first Barsoom book, with the hero being returned to Earth and losing his beloved mate.
I will start by saying that I enjoyed the story of this book, even though it has many elements that made me initially think I would not. A thought I had while reading was "Gor sounds like Rush Limbaugh's paradise".What do I mean by that? Let me explain. One thing a reader has to be aware of when reading old fantasy and science fiction is that there tends to be a certain amount of misogyny baked in die to the cultural norms of the time the books were written. Even some books written by female authors have this trait. But I have to note that Gor takes this to a whole new level. Women on Gor fall into two groups, free women and slaves. But even free women may at any time be taken and made into slaves. And we learn that many free women yearn to be subjugated in this way and love nothing more than pleasing their maters in whatever way they can. The next thing is the political makeup of the world. Society is broken into castes, with everyone knowing their place and knowing to not try and reach above it. Everyone seems content with with they have fallen in this system. Also, instead of countries there is a system of city states. These city states are completely abolitionist, with no trade or immigration taking place between them. Of course the rulers are all men.
There is one exception to this, the city state of Tharna, ruled by a female Tatrix (her title, not her name). Men have a secondary place in Tharna's society, with women holding all the positions of power. "Manly" pursuits such as drinking are discouraged, as are poetry and such. Violence is still a part of the culture, but in Tharna it is men being put in an arena to fight for the amusement of the ruling women. At first we are made to believe Tharna is the only city state that welcomes visitors, but we soon learn this is a ruse to lure men in to become trapped in the arena and/or the mines. I'm not sure if this was a conscious expression of the old right wing trope "feminism may look good on it's surface but it's really bad underneath", but it is certainly an expression of that idea. One of the things that made me prepared to hate this book.
But Tharna comes later in the story. at first we have to follow the hero, Tarl Cabot, as he is transported back to Gor after a seven year absence. He finds his home city state destryed and it's people scattered and cursed. He decided to pay a visit to the all powerful Priest Kings of Gor to find the reason for this. And we are set up for this to be the story of the book. But Tarl stops in Tharna and is tricked into being taken prisoner and made a slave in Tharna. And this brings up another issue with the book. Tarl Cabot on Gor is of the warrior class, and thus stereotypically could be assumed to be a bit dull. But on Earth he is an academic, and thus should be at least somewhat intelligent. That intelligence is nowhere to be found in this story. A man who he has just had a confrontation with presses a sack of money into his hand and runs away. Instead of thinking this is suspicious Tarl is grateful and dutifully begins to spend the money. When, after being put into the arena to fight, a giant bird beast (they are called tarns) is released to kill the remaining combatants. It turns out this beast was one Tarl had previously owned and trained. Not only does it seem to remember him, it remembers the series of voice commands that he accidentally taught it (it's kind of a long explanation, but makes sense in the book). It also waits for him when he has to leave it at certain ares. It brings him food when they are stranded in the mountains with no way for him to procure it for himself. But when he allows himself to wonder of the tarn is more intelligent that he thought previously, he almost immediately dismisses the idea out of hand. He continually fails to see the obvious, and seems lulled into accepting that the norms of this world will prove true, even though he was not brought up on this world. He even fails to recognize that there is a coup brewing to replace the Tatrix of Tharna even though he is given most of the details before he is even embroiled in the action.
The Tatrix has a story arc that is played out in the most male fantasy way ever. Instead of learning that her heavy handedness as ruler was a weakness rather than a strength, she learns that what she really wants to to submit to and serve men, even as ruler. Again, a big hurdle in enjoying the book. I believe the sexual elements are supposed to be based in bdsm practices, but are done in a way that make 50 Shades of Gray look like a healthy relationship by contrast. And of course as the story plays out we learn that the real tale of this book is the coup of Tharna, the imprisonment of Tarl Cabot, and his resolution of both these crises. The visit to the Priest kings will have to wait until the nest book. But honestly I liked that the story took you to places you didn't expect. The surprises were all telegraphed so openly that you would have to be as dumb as Tarl Cabot to not see them. But in spite of the gross attitudes and the obvious plot points, I found the story in the end to be fun and engaging. And as someone who enjoys bdsm, in fiction and in life, I hope that these elements are handled better in later books in the series. Battle scenes and the escape from the mine prison were handled very well. By the last third of the book, which is not all that large and thus not a terribly hard read, I was all in on it despite my earlier misgivings. (Even if I did know exactly how it would end when I was still not quite half-way through it.)
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