Tarl tends to describe things in a very straightforward, almost clinical manner. What struck me most about the writing (which is entirely in the first person) was the sense of distance that the author's tone conveys. It proceeds to tell the (slightly convoluted, but fairly standard) tale of an Earthman named Tarl Cabot, brought from Earth to Gor, where he has an adventure that sees him helping to destabilize the existing power structure among Gor's city-states, while at the same time meeting and falling in love with a beautiful woman. Rather, Tarnsman of Gor is a rather standard sword-and-planet adventure. What I found was that neither of those descriptions were entirely true. I knew that the series as a whole was famous for its focus on female sex slaves but I'd also heard that the first half-dozen or so books were much more muted in that regard, serving instead as thin veneers for the author's own thoughts on society. The most popular (or perhaps infamous) aspect of Gor, however, is its slave culture, particularly where female pleasure slaves are concerned. (As a quick aside, it seems silly to warn about spoilers for a book that's almost fifty years old, but I'll do so anyway for those who care: spoilers ahead.)įor those who don't know, a quick primer: the Gor books tell the tale of a sister planet to Earth, in the same orbital plane as us but on the opposite side of the Sun, where the mysterious "Priest-Kings" have been clandestinely bringing humans to live for millenia. I'd heard about Gor (and things "Gorean") for years, but this was the first time I'd gone straight to the source.
It was with that thought in mind that I ordered an old copy of Tarnsman of Gor off of Amazon. Far better, to my mind, to actually sit down and engage with a thing directly that's a large part of the difference between an opinion and an informed opinion. I dislike forming opinions about things based solely on second- and third-hand information. Tarnsman of Gor by John Norman (Published 1966)
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