Well that escalated...not at all.

Suffice to say I came to this book with expectations. They were not at all met. I was pretty puzzled when I'd made it most of the way through the book without a single sex scene, and when I hit the 80% mark I resigned myself to it being merely an adventure story with occasional female nudity. As that, it was pretty entertaining. The hero is not at all compelling, but the world has aspects that are startlingly fresh, like the talking spiders who will harm no rational creature. It's clear that Norman had a much grander vision for Gor than he could cover in this one book (I'd be curious to find out the circumstances around which it was written - and perhaps more interestingly, published), and I'm tempted to pick up a few of the later books to see if he delivers on the promise he's set up in Tarnsman.