Book Review: The Son of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs

September 12, 2013

About:
The Son of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs is the fourth novel in the Tarzan series. The novel was published in All-Story Weekly magazine as a six part serial in 1915-1916 and published in March 1917.

  • Publisher: Ballantine Books
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0345241622

Book Review The Son of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs

My rat­ing for The Son of Tarzan4

Buy this book in paper or FREE in elec­tronic format

More Books by by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Thoughts:
The Son of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs is one of the better Tarzan books even though Tarzan is not in most of the book, making appearances only in the first and last chapters. While this book is certainly not great literature, it is a lot of fun, thrilling and gripping.

Burroughs talents as a writer are clearly improving with each book, the plot is much better and more interesting. The dangers which the protagonist faces (Tarzan’s son) are varied and not simply a rehashing of previous adventures. Burroughs’ views about anyone who is not white (read: good) are apparent throughout, as they are in the rest of his books.

I found it strange that when Jack, Tarzan & Jane’s son, disappears there was very little reaction from Tarzan, Jane was absent but the reunion at the end lacked any kind of emotional stronghold and was simply lackluster (it’s the 4th book of a long series, so we know they reunited – hence no spoiler). As in previous books, the coincidences which happen throughout are simply too convenient to happen so often.

The Son of Tarzan is still an entertaining book especially if you enjoyed the previous books or the action/adventure genre. While the novel seems out of place in the Tarzan universe continuity, it’s still one of the best in the series.

Synopsis:
Even though Nikolas Rokoff, Tarzan’s enemy from previous books, died, his henchman Alexis Paulvitch is very much alive and wants to even the score. Rokoff lures the son of Tarzan & Jane, Jack, away from London but the resourceful young man escapes with the help of Akut the ape.

The two new friends flee to the African jungle, the same place where Tarzan has been raised. Jack Clayton, like his father before him, builds his own reputation in the jungle as Korak the Killer. During his jungle adventure, Jack rescues a beautiful young woman from the clutches of slave traders who turns out to be the daughter of a Captain in the French Foreign Legion and also, hold on to your hats, a Prince (Prince de Cadrenet), named Armand Jacot.

Buy this book in paper or FREE in elec­tronic format

More Books by by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Zohar — Man of la Book
Dis­claimer: I got this book for free.
*Ama­zon links point to an affil­i­ate account

--- Please like and follow ManOfLaBook.com ---

One Comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

34 + = 39

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Social media & sharing icons powered by UltimatelySocial
RSS
Twitter
Visit Us
Follow Me
Post on X
Pinterest
Pinterest
fb-share-icon