The Thousand-Headed Man

This is an interesting one, because this shows both an interesting side to the Doc Savage stories, as well as showing exactly how racist they could get.

Now, I have to bear in mind that this book is 91 years old, originally published in the completely different world of pre-WW II America, 1934. So, the Asian stereotypes presented here...from the "velly sorry" and "chop chop" dialogue, to the casually tossed out references to "slant" eyes, to the weirdly described yellow skin tone "akin to an egg yolk" are absolutely awful to me. I cringed throughout the entire book. So...yeah, that hasn't aged well.

Yet, on the other hand—and I am in no way trying to imply that this makes up for the stuff mentioned above—this book does something I show more don't think I've read in a Doc Savage book up to now...Doc is actually surprised and debilitated on a couple of occasions. The guy who is always thinking ahead, who could see 20 moves ahead, like Bobby Fischer, was caught off-guard a couple of times. Gotta say, that was a pleasant surprise.

The other, more refreshing aspect was the fact that this adventure had a young, beautiful female...who did NOT fall head over heels for Doc, and moon over him throughout the entire story.

So, while it had some horrible negatives, it held a couple of surprising positives, as well. Let's hope, in the hundreds of adventures to follow, there's less of the former and more of the latter. show less

Doc is fun and it is fun to read. It is pulp, you are not going to get a mind bending epiphany out of these books, But you are going to meet some interesting characters. How you view them and what you take from them is up to you. Not as good as Conan, Richard Blade or Even Tarzan and John Carter. But still consistently entertaining. What causes things to fall off is the fact that you know. Nothing, no how, no where is going to going to hurt the man of bronze.

This is the second Doc Savage book I've read to date and, as of yet, I don't completely understand the love for the series. The character is a complete cypher and is, essentially, the Terminator. He's smarter than everyone, stronger than everyone, knows more than everyone...add in some really poor dialogue, cardboard cut-out supporting characters and you've got the Doc Savage series so far. A very weak entry in the pulps. No clue how this stuff stood up in a world where RE Howard, Clark Ashton Smith and HP Lovecraft were all writing. Perhaps the modern knock-off novels are more well written? Here's hoping.

Ah classic pulp!

It's not a deep read, but fun. Don't pick this up if you are looking for a life changing, mind altering experience. However, if you want some light, fast paced, action and adventure, well Doc is your man.

A side note, these do show the difference in modern sensibilities as opposed those of days gone by. In truth, some might find them offensive in their treatment of race and gender. If a person can look past this, they can be quite enjoyable.