Tarzan and the Ant Men

The plot is unusually preposterous, the science is magic. It's a sequel to "Tarzan and the Golden Lion", with some of the characters introduced in that novel still persisting in this one. There is the usual lost civilization, and as usual Tarzan ends up a prisoner. At the end, when he's back to the normal world, I was waiting for the deus ex machina to facilitate his next escape, but he is his own deus ex machina. There is some remarkable slapstick. As always, I enjoyed it.

Part of this book was a tight and interesting adventure with a well-developed sci-fi aspect, but the other half was a dragging and predictable trudge with some pretty ugly views on gender roles. I love Burroughs and I can accept that my modern eyes are going to be stung a bit by the casual racism and sexism that trots through all his books (and particularly his Tarzan books), but the sub-plot of the Alali was a little too much, even for a mega-fan. Still, the good stuff is super good and if you can power through the cringeworthy parts, this is a pretty great example of the power of Burroughs.

[full review here: http://spacebeer.blogspot.com/2014/06/tarzan-and-ant-men-by-edgar-rice.html ]

A "Gulliver's Travels" sort of adventure in which Tarzan finds himself among the Minunians, knee-high warriors who ride miniature African deer. More amazingly, Tarzan is captured and through their strange science, is reduced to their size. One of the most outlandish adventures, but none the less entertaining for it.

When his plane crashed deep inside the impassable Great Thorn Forest, Tarzan became the first man to set food in the dark wilderness tainted with fearsome tales of ferocious female giants and armies of minuscule warriors. Ahead lay countless perils as Tarzan strove to outwit the ruthless she-brutes and strange ant men who doomed him forever to slavery. Against these invincible odds, it would take all Tarzan's power, savagery, and jungle cunning to carve his way to freedom.

Another good adventure with a lost civilization.

Also have as Grosset & Dunlap hc ed.

Další příhody slavného Tarzana.