Manly, manly, gorean man of Gor

The comic isn't entirely accurate. The manly Gorean Tarl Cabot doesn't have an actual slave until later books. Still. If you ever heard of the series' name, you would know what to come.



When I first heard of the infamous fantasy series 'Gor', which wasn't so long ago, I was curious. Why would a feminist-oriented mind reader be interested in a series that is scandalous for its philosophy of how women are natural slaves and men are natural leaders? Well, my taste hardly discriminate and I am always more than ready to read any kind of books. It also helps that my sense of humor can be quite politically incorrect. So, I got my hand on the first Gor book; Tarnsman of Gor.

(Despite how comfy I am with reading politically incorrect books, I do feel a little weird reading Gor together with romance novels. Hopefully, this won't manifest into a weird dream. A chick-lit Gor just doesn't work for me.)

In a nutshell, Gor series is about Tarl Cabot, an English professor who is brought to Gor, a planet on the opposite side of the sun by its ruler, the priest-king. He is then made into a Tarnsman, a warrior who command a darn big grumpy bird. The series is about his adventure on Gor,

As I have read from many pro/con reviews, 'Tarnsman' doesn't really get into the realm that has set the series to become (in)famous yet. There are slave girls, but they are portrayed as a part of Gor's rough sci-fi medieval culture rather than social commentary. Some violence against women ALMOST happened, but Tarl, who is still humbled by the ‘weak’ earthman attitude, prevents it. 'Tarnsman' isn’t that offensive. I even find the relationship between Tarl, a soft heart warrior, and Talena, his troublesome proud faux slave, to be cute (in a Gorean way).

The book is fast-paced and fun. It isn't one of the better dude-ish fantasy series I have read though. The first half of the book went way too fast. Many events are solved too easily. However, it would do if you want a manly fantasy quickie.