The Beasts of Tarzan

The third Tarzan novel, originally published as a serial in 1914, sees our hero brought back to the African jungle from his London home when his wife, Jane, and their son, Jack are kidnapped by his familiar Russian enemies. A truly impressive number of twists, double twists, mistaken identities, racial stereotypes, and use of the word "thews" (I had to look it up!) ensues. Jane refreshingly gets chapters all to herself and manages to do a great job taking care of herself. Tarzan builds himself a pack of giant apes and a ruthlessly adorable panther to assist in his quest of rescuing Jane and Jack and getting them all back to civilization. If you can set aside the racism endemic to the early twentieth century adventure novel (especially show more ones set in Africa) this is a page turner with just the kind of florid style and cliffhangers you'd expect from Burroughs. show less

What a lot of twists, turns, and reversals of fortune! Jane gets far more agency than ever before; for a well-brought up Baltimore girl, she is awfully handy with a pistol, rifle, and paddle. It is charming how literary the thrillers of yore were. Burroughs could really turn a phrase.

As always, improbable coincidences, mostly of the spatial sort, occur. The west coast of Africa is really a bit larger than his novels would make it appear.

I had read books 1 and 2 but stopped. I wanted more Tarzan in the jungle. Finally finished book 3 and got what I wanted. Lots of jungle. Even included a wild wrestle with a crocodile. Tarzan is facing same bad guys he faced in first books but this story resolves that danger. Sort of. Tarzan's quest in this book is to find and save his kidnapped son but ends up finding his wife in danger also. Tarzan faces many dangers but another alone. He has befriended and sort of tamed a panther and tribe of apes. They leave a bloody trail. Good book. I am on to book 4.

I'm working my way through the whole EGB collection in chronological order and I'm considering cheating and moving ahead to the next Tarzan book. These stories are just so freaking fun!! Yeah, there's some stuff that isn't particularly "PC" anymore, but surprisingly little given the time period in which it was written. In any event, fast-paced story and tons of action. If you're able to suspend a little disbelief, buckle up and go!!

The Beasts of Tarzan is the third book in the Tarzan series. In this book, Tarzan and Jane seem to have settled into comfortable domesticity in London and had a child. This idyllic life is upset when the evil Rokloff escapes from the French prison he was sent to at the end of the last book. Rokloff immediately begins to set his plans for revenge in motion (as he clearly has nothing better to do than plot revenge against Tarzan) by arranging to kidnap both Tarzan and his son. Jane is kidnapped as well, as a sort of lucky bonus to Rokloff's plans. Once in custody, Tarzan becomes passive as he (and his wife and son, although Tarzan doesn't know this) are whisked away on a steamship to Africa where Tarzan is marooned. Rokloff then details show more his plan to have Tarzan's child raised by cannibals.

Tarzan, as usual when dumped in the wild with his loved ones at risk, becomes passive. Tarzan takes up with a band of apes, tames a wild panther, and hunts until a group of natives show up in canoes. With the help of his animals, Tarzan kills all but one native, who then becomes his ally and servant (since the natives are just waiting for a strong European to guide them I suppose). He gets his apes and panther to paddle him and his black friend to the mainland where he learns that Jane and a baby passed through a month before, chased by a band of nasty white men. Finally, after sitting on his butt for weeks, Tarzan decides he should rescue his spouse and progeny.

Tarzan then pursues Rokloff through the jungle. His animal companions are improbably competent and loyal through his various adventures. Through a series of increasingly improbable coincidences, Tarzan finally rescues Jane, recovers his baby, and Rokloff is killed. Tarzan then has to commandeer a ship of mutineers (mutiny seems to be the norm in Burroughs' version of the world: One wonders why anyone ever hires a crew for a ship to begin with), abandons his animals and returns to England safe and sound (with his native companion and a serendipitously found spouse for him).

Tarzan's character in the first two books is best described as a cartoon figure with improbable strength, skills, and intelligence. In this book, he becomes even more of an unbelievable character - taming a wild panther by smacking it on the nose a few times, talking a gang of apes into paddling a canoe, and a collection of other over-the-top accomplishments. Tarzan is, by a wide margin, the most unbelievable of all Burroughs' creations. The adventure is adequate, although there are far too many improbable coincidences for it to be truly satisfying. Even so, as pulp action goes, it is a classic of the genre, and worth the brief investment of time that reading it will take.

This review has also been posted to my blog Dreaming About Other Worlds. show less

This third book of Edgar Rice Burroughs’s Tarzan series takes up the story soon after book two.Old enemy Rokof tricks Tarzan, resulting in the ape-man being left stranded on a jungle island. Of course, his being raised by chimps means this is a situation that Tarzan can not only deal with but can command.

The Beasts referred to in the title are, with one exception, fearsome apes that Tarzan manages to befriend after a contest with their leader. The other beast is a panther who injects terror into the hearts of Tarzan’s enemies.

In all, the book was fast paced with few lulls, but for me it lacked depth on the whole, falling short of the first two in the series. Certain aspects were a little bit too unbelievable as well.

Oh no! Jane and Tarzan junior get kidnapped! Again! Jane continues in her brave but dim-witted role. Tarzan gets lots of sidekicks, including Sheeta the murderous leopard.