Book Review: Tarzan and the Cave City
It’s been a while since a book review, so let’s take a look
at one of the rarer-and unauthorized-adventures of the lord of the jungle!
Receiving word from an old friend, Lord “Freddy” Pembroke,
Tarzan sends Jane off to England to visit their son while he heads back to his
home to get ready for Freddy and two other guests, Professor Norton and his fiancée
Marcia. Their quest: To find a 100 pound emerald, which in usual Tarzan fashion
is belongs to a hidden tribe of Ondo, which is ruled by King Nanda and Queen
Nirva. Well if you ever read a Tarzan novel you can figure out the rest. There
is another race called the Bamos that worship the emerald, some gladiatorial
combat, an evil safari headed up by a villainous Wong Feng and his chief killer
Magra Taask and the usual captures, escapes and an army of apes on the rampage.
If you’ve never heard of this one well you’re probably not
alone. Back in the early 1960s when Edgar Rice Burroughs’ work was being
republished, several publishers assumed that the rights to his work and
characters had lapsed into public domain. One of these publishers, Gold Star
Books, went a step further and hired a husband and wife writing team, Peter and
Peggy Scott to pen a new series of Tarzan adventures under the name “Barton
Werper.” They had turned out five books when the Burroughs estate stepped in
and through legal action forced the series to end and remaining copies to be
destroyed. That hasn’t stopped the books from popping up from time to time for
a cost (I lucked into this book for only 12 bucks) but there isn’t much
information about the series , even on sites like ERBZine.
OK we got the history, the question is the book any good?
Not really. Part of the problem is that it seems the Scotts only read the
later, more formulaic books with their lost civilizations, squabbling safaris,
Tarzan doing hero duty reluctantly, etc without much new or different. It also
doesn’t include Burroughs’ trademark humor or sense of action as the sequences
basically just happen with little to remember them afterwards. Even a huge ape
siege led by Mangani ape “Jedak” (someone got their Barsoomian mixed up there)
fails to excite as the story shambles along to its climax. Also the supporting
characters fail to register with Pembroke, Marcia, the Queen and King being
bland non-entities in the story.
Is there any redeeming qualities? Some occasional humor pops
up here and there, mostly in the opening with Jane where Tarzan tells her to
get “into your leopard skin” for some private time in the trees but sadly that
fades away as Jane makes her quick exit from the story to head off and visit
son Jack. There is also some comic asides from Jedak the Ape, who comes across
as smarter than most of the humans in the story.
I guess the curiosity and rarity factor is the only thing
that made Tarzan and the Cave City interesting but beyond being a collector I
can’t see it appealing to anyone outside of die-hard “have to read every Tarzan
story” fan. Still maybe at some point ERB Inc will republish the series if for
nothing else the historical value. Until next time faithful readers, keep
practicing the bull ape cries.
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