Awesome Trashy Pulp Planetary Romance. A must read if you like Robert E Howard or Edgar Rice Burroughs and don't mind the sex that is often only mentioned barely in those works being a fixture. Plus any author who takes the piss at Radical Feminists and still has fans even with his books being banned is really cool.

I read this to understand Gorean BDSM. Didn't really help - it's a stretch - but surprisingly good sci fi anyway, and well written.

I had no idea up until a week or so ago that the author of these books was blacklisted by publishers because of them. I don't really see what the problem is to be honest. Oh I can see the rage building on the faces of various people and flame wars springing up all over the place, and that's really what I'd expect with a series of novels like this, but to blacklist the author? That baffles me.

The story itself isn't bad, and the characters are interesting to say the least, I mean, who wouldn't love a girl that begs you to brand her with a hot iron?, and that's par for the course on this planet it would seem,

"Call for the iron," she said. "Brand me, Master."

Fair enough, no need to ask twice. She does though,

"I want to be owned," she whimpered. "I want to belong to you, fully, completely, in every way. I want your brand, Tarl of Bristol, don't you understand? I want to be your branded slave."

To be honest, I'm late to the party with the whole Gorean phenomenon and those internet flame wars that blew up around it, but I'm loving what I've read so far and once again, am just glad there are so many more in the series. I'll be reading them as long as he's writing them.

It's down to you as to whether or not you pay much attention to the nay-sayers and those that seem to delight in tearing the world of Gor apart at the seams at every opportunity(even nowadays), I just think you'd be missing out on a whole lot of fun and something just that little bit different. And it is a fun read. There's no way the writing or the plot can be compared with some of the more modern fantasy series, but then again, there's something to be said for just sitting back and enjoying the ride. I am, and I'm loving it.

I remember really enjoying this when I was a lot younger, and I was quite excited to reread the series despite remembering that the later books get pretty problematic with regards to gender roles and other issues. What I'd forgotten - or perhaps not noticed the first time I read these books through nearly twenty years ago - was that the issues aren't confined to later books.

The problems with Gor have been written about at length in other places, so I won't go in to them here. I'l just say that I found the portrayal of women very hard to swallow - the only female character of any substance is manipulative and untrusthworthy, as well as being far too willing to accept and enjoy the role of servitude that is forced on her. Norman tries to spin this under the guise of a powerful love that takes both her and Tarl Cabot by surprise, but it's entirely unrealistic and without base.

The other problem I found is that this is simply a badly written book. There's very little organic development of character, and I found it very hard to believe that Tarl could become a fearsome warrior in such a limited space of time, or that he would be chosen for such an important mission having only been on Gor for a matter of weeks. The motivations of all the characters are unclear at best, and loyalties seem to switch with no real reason other than what Norman thinks would make a good story.

There is the potential for something good lurking beneath the surface here, but Norman utterly fails to bring it to fruition and if memory serves that trend continues throughout the rest of the series. I know there's an interesting world hiding in here somewhere, and there's certainly scope for a truly epic story, but based on this first novel and what I know of the later ones I won't be sticking around to find out if it develops as it could because I'm fairly certain it doesn't.

So, I finally read the first book of the infamous Gor series. It was not as fetish-laden as I had come to expect based on discussions of this series. Norman is more blatant with his sexism, but I've seen similar from other authors from the 60s. Niven, Heinlein, I think Norman is in illustrious company. But from what I hear the series gets even worse as it goes on, so I have little desire to continue.

All in all the book was OK mainly because it wasn't just as bad as I had expected. "Sexist pulp" sums it up pretty much.

There are some books that are simply intended to be entertaining. There is no higher message, it's just meant to be enjoyed. Tarnsman of Gor is one of those books. It is reminiscent of Burrough's John Carter of Mars books (which inspired stories like Superman), but is placed in a setting that is much more violent. Tarl is a British professor thrown into this environment, which very much makes him a fish out of water, but the smaller planet allows him the physical abilities to make his physique come up and match his intellect. Don't come here looking for some underlying message. Just enjoy the story, the world building, and the characters.

Picked this up after I learned about it. Kinda funny to read just for the pop culture knowledge of its existence, but not a best seller on writing/story telling merit for sure

Ow. I prefer people being people, really.