Swordsmen of Gor (Gorean Saga) [Paperback]

This is the 29th book in the lengthy "Gorean saga" of SF/Fantasy novels. These stories are set mostly on the planet Gor, which supposedly shares the orbit of Earth but on the opposite side of the sun so that our astronomers cannot detect it.

Last year, (2010) after a wait of about 21 years, John Norman finally published another installment in the story of the main character in the series, Tarl Cabot: that book was called "Kur of Gor." This book, "Swordsmen of Gor" follows directly on from that one, and in this volume John Norman

* continues Tarl Cabot's story
* introduces a new group of Gorean humans, the Pani, who are obviously descended from Japanese Samurai
* describes at one remove what has happened in Ar while Tarl was off-planet
* starts a new series of wars and intrigue, and ...
* finally, 38 years after Tersites, the master shipwright, first started looking for a sponsor to create a huge ship of radically new design, he actually gets to build it!

You would think that this material would be quite enough to cover a substantial book, but in fact the plot I have just described only takes up what seems like about 40% of the text, the other 60% of the book is made up of - you guessed it - "women belong naked in a slave collar."

"Kur of Gor" was set in space, mostly on one of the "Steel Worlds" in the asteriod belt. At the conclusion of that book Tarl Cabot was about to hitch a lift back to Gor on a spaceship owned by a slaver called Peisistratus. The "Priest Kings" who rule the planet Gor had indicated that they no longer regarded him as an outlaw or traitor, and had given permission for him to return to Gor at a spot of their choosing some miles north of his current home in Port Kar, on "a remote beach, far from civilisation, in the vicinity of the Northern forests."

This book, "Swordsmen of Gor" begins as Peisistratus's ship is taking off again after delivering Tarl Cabot to that beach, accompanied by a girl called Cecily. Like most of the books in the series, this book is narrated in the first person by Tarl Cabot. BTW, his surname is presumably pronounced "Cabbo" as he was born in Bristol and seems to be related to the famous family of explorers by that name who sailed from Bristol. I used to live in that city, and "Cabbo" is how Bristolians pronounce the name of their greatest explorer.

The first 25 books in the Gorean saga were published between 1969 and 1988. Then after a long gap, John Norman published two more novels in the "noughties" but both "Witness of Gor (Gorean Saga)" and "Prize of Gor" are narrated in the first person by slave girls whose sufferings and experiences were incidental to the wars, revolutions, and inter-species conflicts which the story arcs of the previous books described. And frankly, both are indifferent 700 page books, inside which a moderately good, much shorter book is struggling to get out and which will have disappointed most mainstream fans of the Gor series.

"Kur of Gor" was an entirely different kettle of fish, resuming the story of Tarl Cabot as the major character. It was full of action, although like all the Gor books from about number fourteen onwards, you have to wade through page after page of male supremacist lectures about how women should be slaves to get to the heroism, courage and action of the story.

This one carries that story forward, and has more flashes of brilliance, but the amount of "women should be slaves" material seemed a lot higher than the previous book.

To understand what is going on in any of the recent books including "Swordsman of Gor" you really need to have have read a good chunk of the previous 28 books in the series. If you haven't, do not touch this with the proverbial barge-pole. To give a basic introduction I will have to refer to a number of places, characters and races with which we share this solar system according to John Norman's narrative, e.g.

PLACES

Gor (or "Counter Earth") - an artificial earthlike planet which shares Earth's orbit but on the opposite side of the sun. Apparently maintained in this position by the rulers of the planet, a high-tech nonhuman race called "Priest-Kings."

The Steel Worlds - a series of artificial habitats in the system's asteroid belts, built and maintained by a rival high-tech nonhuman race called the Kurri.

Ar - greatest city on Gor, recently conquered and as at book 27, still occupied by mercenaries employed by the cities of Cos and Tyros.

Ko-Ro-ba - a city on Gor where Tarl Cabot's father is administrator. Razed to the ground by order of the Priest-Kings between books one and two: subsequently however they allowed it to be rebuilt.

Port Kar - a coastal city: main "industries" are piracy and slave trading. Tarl Cabot made this city his home from books 6 to 20.

Cos - an island, long-standing enemy of both Ar and Port Kar: maintaining an increasingly precarious occupation of Ar with the help of mercenaries

Tyros - another island ubarate, allied to Cos.

Sardar - a mountain range near the city of Tharna where the Priest Kings have their nest and centre of power.

CHARACTERS

Tarl Cabot - narrator and anti-hero of the majority of books in the series, central character and narrator of this one. Originally from Bristol, then Ko-Ro-bar on Gor. Also known as Bosk of Port Kar, where he made his home from books six to twenty, but had been an outlaw from books 20 to 28 because someone seems to have persuaded the Priest-Kings (see below) that he had betrayed them.

Marlenus - sometime Ubar (Emperor) of Ar. Has been both ally and enemy to Tarl Cabot, who helped overthrow him in book one and restore him to power again in book five. Father of Talena, and hence formerly the Gorean equivalent of father-in-law to Tarl Cabot: and boy, was he the father-in-law from hell.

Marlenus mysteriously disappeared a few books ago, which is one of the reasons Ar was defeated and conquered in books 21-25. When last heard of in book 27 he had apparently returned to the conquered city, but had lost his memory.

Talena - daughter of Marlenus. Tarl Cabot carried her off and married her in book one, and then lost her when Ko-Ro-Ba was destroyed. There is a lot of history between them since then. After Cos and her allies conquered Ar in book 25 they appointed Talena as puppet ruler of the city. In that book Tarl Cabot tricked her into becoming his slave again, but kept the fact a secret and left her on the throne, apparently intending to claim her at some future stage.

Tersites - a brilliant but half-mad and half-blind shipwright who Tarl Cabot previously met in book six "Raiders of Gor" which was first published in 1973. Back then he tried to persuade the Council of Captains in Port Kar to commission him to build an enormous ship of a radically new design. At that stage hardly anyone took the idea seriously. But at the very end of book six a character with strong links to the Priest Kings told Tarl Cabot that they wanted Tersites ship built for a mission over the oceans, "beyond the edge of the world" and outside the reach of existing sailing ships and galleys. Thirty-eight years must be a record for an author to follow up on a hint about the plot for a future book, but in "Swordsmen of Gor" it finally starts to happen ...

SPECIES

Priest-Kings - reclusive rulers of Gor, and apparently also creators of the planet. They live in the Sardar mountain range and rarely allow themselves to be seen by humans. Have promulgated laws banning certain forms of technology, for example "forbidden weapons" such as guns. Worshipped as gods by most of the human population of the planet. Some others wrongly assume that they are mythical: if this leads them to break the laws of the Priest-Kings by using forbidden technology, this may be the last mistake they make. The Priest Kings are very cerebral, passionless and highly intelligent creatures with a preference for working through others, who they often move around like pieces in a game of "Kaissa" - the Gorean equivalent of Chess.

Kurii or "Others" - another space travelling race, who are large, furry, warlike and extremely fierce carnivores, a bit like 600 pound sentient bears. Appear to have blown up or otherwise destroyed their original home planet, possibly in a civil war, and now looking for a replacement. Consequently plotting to conquer Gor, but often divided among themselves: for example, one Kur, at the cost of his own life, worked with Tarl Cabot to frustrate a plot by others of his kind to blow up the entire planet in book ten. The polar opposite of Priest-Kings, the Kurri are proud, hot-tempered, and often suicidally brave: percieve themselves to be, and sometimes actually are, highly honourable by their own standards. But those standards are not identical to those of humans.

Tarns - giant birds which can be trained to carry a warrior on their backs. Gor's tarn cavalries are the most powerful fighting arm of the human cities on the planet.

Having explained all that, let's say a few more words about this book ...

When the spaceship deposited him on the northern beach, Tarl was expcting to meet a messenger from the Priest Kings, but the message appears to have gone astray. He does meet two people claiming to carry such a message, but suspects them of being impostors.

Tarl also meets refugees from recent events in Ar, and learns that some fairly major changes have happened in the city while he was off-planet. Some of those events involve the puppet ruler of the city, his sometime free companion (wife) and sometime slave Talena. It also appears that certain people who don't realise that Tarl has been off-planet are looking for him in the belief that he had a lot more to do with events in Ar than he actually did.

In the forest Tarl Cabot finds a military camp run by the Gorean equivalent of Samurai, who call themselves the Pani. He's never met this nation before, as they live in a part of Gor which is unexplored by the Gorean peoples he is familiar with, but someone has given the Pani an excellent briefing about him. In fact they are very familiar with his military exploits both under his real name and from the period of his life when he called himself Bosk of Port Kar.

The Pani are training a powerful army and Tarn cavalry (air force) made up of some of their own people and some mercenaries. They ask Tarl Cabot to take charge of the training of the Tarn cavalries they are building for some unspecified war which they expect to break out imminently. There is considerable doubt whether the Pani are acting as proxies for the Priest-Kings, the Kurri, both or neither, but they appear to be chess/Kaissa pieces in a game for which the stakes are the future of Gor. Tarl is fascinated, and agrees to take the job.

If you don't follow the references in this review, don't buy the book because you won't understand "Swordsmen of Gor" either. I would advise anyone who is thinking of reading any of John Norman's "Gor" books to start at the beginning with "Tarnsman of Gor" and work through until you reach this one, lose interest, or lose your temper. And there is a good chance that it will be the latter.

For me the first book was good, numbers two through six were excellent, but then the series gradually goes downhill. As I have mentioned, to get to the flashes of imagination and excitement which made the first few books fun to read, you have to wade through ever longer and more interminable male supremacist lectures calling for the enslavement of all women.

Yes, you really did read that correctly. The endless repetition of the case for making women slaves eventually gets quite boring and almost makes you wonder if Norman actually means it. The last book, "Kur of Gor" dialled this back a bit compared to the previous two, but there was rather more of it in "Swordsman of Gor" and, for my taste, far too much.

Those people who read the Gor books for the "women belong naked in a slave collar!" stuff will probably love this book, but those who don't like it, find it silly, or would have got a thrill out of it but only in moderation, will get very fed up with the hundreds of pages of propaganda for enslaving women which they have to wade through to get to the story.

For reference, the full series in sequence is

1) "Tarnsman of Gor" - Tarl Cabot first comes to Gor
2) "Outlaw of Gor" - Tarl returns to Gor to find his home city destroyed
3) "Priest-Kings of Gor" - Tarl meets the alien rulers of the planet
4) "Nomads of Gor" - a search for the stolen last egg of the Priest-Kings
5) "Assassin of Gor" - a plot to restore Marlenus as Ubar of Ar
6) "Raiders of Gor" - Tarl Cabot becomes known as Bosk of Port Kar
7) "Captive of Gor" - Elinor Brinton from Earth meets an alien monster (K)
8) "Hunters of Gor" - Tarl hunts for his lost love Talena in the forest
9) "Maurauders of Gor" - of Viking raiders and the monstrous "Others"
10) "Tribesmen of Gor" - of a Doomsday weapon in the deserts of Gor
11) "Slave girl of Gor" - with a warning of invasion hidden in her head (K)
12) "Beasts of Gor" - of an invasion base at the North Pole of Gor
13) "Explorers of Gor" - Tarl Cabot explores the equatorial jungle
14) "Fighting Slave of Gor" - part one of the Jason Marshall trilogy
15) "Rogue of Gor" - part two of the Jason Marshall trilogy
16) "Guardsman of Gor" - part three of the Jason Marshall trilogy
17) "Savages of Gor" - the Kurii stir up trouble on the plains, part one
18) "Blood brothers of Gor" - trouble on the plains, part two
19) "Kajira of Gor" - Tiffany is brought to Gor to impersonate a Queen (K)
20) "Players of Gor" - of Gorean chess, drama, and war between Cos and Ar
21) "Mercenaries of Gor" - the invasion force from Cos moves against Ar
22) "Dancer of Gor" - a librarian from earth is caught up in a war on Gor (K)
23) "Renegades of Gor" - Ar's war against Cos begins to go badly wrong
24) "Vagabonds of Gor" - Ar's soldiers meet disaster in the Vosk Delta
25) "Magicians of Gor" - Ar has been conquered - but resistance begins
26) "Witness of Gor" - a girl planted in Treve to look out for a prisoner (K)
27) "Prize of Gor" - Cos's puppet regime in Ar starts to look shaky (K)
28) "Kur of Gor" - Tarl Cabot is taken to one of the Kurri "Steel Worlds"
29) "Swordmen of Gor" - Tarl trains an army in the forest, Tersites builds a ship

Books with (K) at the end of the description are "Kajira" novels, e.g. they are stories told from the perspective of slave girls, (Kajira is Gorean for slave girl.) Books 14 to 16 are told in the first person by a man from earth called Jason Marshall and tell his story. All other books have Tarl Cabot as the central character.

Norman's greatest strength is not that he is a particularly good writer: his prose is sometimes quite impenetrable, although this novel isn't too bad on that front. His strength is the breadth of his imagination; for example the way he brings to life creatures like huge birds (the tarns of Gor, which make a welcome return in this novel) which can be trained to carry a warrior on their backs; and in particular his ability to set your own imagination off. In quite a few places this book does do that. I particularly like some of his battle and fight scenes. But, as with most of his recent novels, I felt that a much better and much shorter book was struggling to get out.

Anyone expecting Norman to start wrapping up some of those loose ends that have been waving in the breeze for, oh, ten or twenty books or so, can think again. This episode in the continuing adventures of Tarl adds more and resolves none.

However - it has one major plus factor - it resumes the exploration of the different peoples of Gor, adding a major new dimension - The Pani of Nara - read that as Japanese of the Samurai era. Unfortunately, for a book entitled "Swordsmen of Gor" there is very little actual swordplay.

Their sudden appearance in Known Gor is not explained, although it is alluded to - draw your own conclusions until yet another subsequent book might explain more.

For those with an interest in the different Gorean social positions available to women, there is the introduction of a new womens' role - somewhere between a Free Woman and a slave - the Contract Woman - read Geisha/Concubine - perhaps best explained as an equivalent to a pleasure "slave", but one who is free. In this case the woman is not property and is not merchandise to be sold - it is her contract that is property and merchandise which can be sold - so she holds the status of a Free Woman, but has some of the "advantages" of a slave, in the realm of sexual liberation.

As a read it holds the usual Norman "Boys' Own" rollicking tale when it addresses the narrative of Tarl's adventures. Unfortunately, it also suffers from the usual Norman tedious and highly repetitive clap-trap droning on and on about his views on the institution of slavery and the social order of Earth. The phrase "cut to the chase" seems to have evaded Norman. His pretentious and pompous explorations of the nether reaches of the Thesaurus also get annoying at times.

Definitely a read for the fan of the genre.

I have read all (28 or so) Gor books, but instead of comparing them to each other, I will limit my comments to the new Gor reader. To a degree, we live in an era where men are allowed to be weak. These books are a great tonic to the man who wants to be strong, determined, and strong-willed. Before women's liberation, there were a lot of these types of books in the fantasy section of the bookstore, but they have been set aside for fantasy books that empower young women to be strong. No problem with that, but I would recommend these books for men wishing to become more empowered and less weak.

Finally, the book isn't a bad beginning book for readers new to Gor as there is a lot of explanation of the world of Gor. Those that are most interested in the male dominant/female submissive aspects of Gor may be dissappointed as that emphasis was not as strong as in most of the books. For those (esp. women) interested in these issues, I would recommend the POV (female point of view) books as they have a female narrator. (Captive, Dancer, Witness, Slave Girl, Kajira, Prize, Dancer). Of these, Slave Girl and Dancer are my favorites, but to each his own. The female point of view books, for the most part, stand alone, and can be read in any order.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 3 reviews  3.7 out of 5 stars