Kur of Gor (Gorean Saga Book 28)

This book could be rated in many different ways. I've rated it simply as I enjoyed it, as what it meant for me. 5-stars.If you're not a John Norman fan, don't want to know about all the history nearly 30 books in a series can provide, the idea of females as slaves turns you off, or simply hate books with words you need to look up (Mr. Norman loves finding/using obscure words) not the book for you.But, if you like any or all of those things (learning new words alone could recommend this book) then this is a book for you.I'm not going to spend a lot of time going over history or how I am one of those people who like John Norman's work and have followed it over the last 30 years. I read my first Gor series book back in the mid-eighties when there were just 12 books. I tore through those as fast as money allowed. Once caught up, I followed each release with excitement. Then... a long wait. I'm just glad that wait is over and his old characters, his old style, are all back and honestly as good as ever.Over the series the books there have been taken from many different angles. In this one, from the point of apparently the Kurii (read the book...) which is something so few authors ever try. This makes for a very interesting read to see how such a story could have been translated (at least that's the idea) from an alien mind into English. While I'd love to have seen more lose threads tied up (pun sort of intended...) the starting of new threads was exciting to believe there is more to come. If that new stuff keeps up what this book throws down, then I'll add this to one more reason to own a Kindle!Anyway, I'm a fan and I truly enjoyed this book.

I liked this book. Tarl Cabbat, in the steel worlds. If, you know the Gor series. You know what I mean.

Been a LONG time coming. Not only do we have a Tarl Cabot book, but we have a book that focuses on the story and action, rather than on the endless lectures of women really being slaves at heart.Oh, there is still that ongoing lecture, done both in dialogue and simple musings by the omnipotent 3rd person narrator. But it is only about 1/3 of the book, rather than 3/4 or so as in the later books in the series. If you are like me, and got adept at skimming the page after page of lecture, then you can apply that easily with this book. If you LIKE the lectures, and view the story as an unwanted diversion, well, there is plenty of the slave stuff to chew on. Something for everyone, I guess.Norman returns to the story of Tarl Cabot, the warrior of a generation, once of Ko Ro Ba, now of Port Kar. Tarl, though Norman never just comes out and says it, is probably the baddest human in existance. He has been through a litany of "trainings" as he visited place after place in the Gor series, assimilating and learning the cultures and fighting styles of varied peoples. Gorean versions of Native Americans, Vikings, and Nomadic Wagon Peoples, among others, have all donated to his training. I think Norman has an ultimate plan for Tarl, and this visit to the Kur worlds adds to his expertise in all things Gorean. Marlenus of Ar, once Ubar or king of Gor's largest city, may be his match, maybe not.Anyway, welcome back, Tarl Cabot. The wait was worth it....Norman can do violence and mayhem as well as anyone.

I am a great fan of the Gor Books. Norman has created an in-depth world and cultures. I just started reading book 26 of the series and find the Mass Market paperback to be a little unwieldy to read in bed. Volumes 28 and 29 have great cover art. I will of course buy all 32 books like this if I can get the books with this kind of artwork as I am a collector. The world and cultures of Gor are worth the reading of the entire series. The artwork on the old pulp versions and this volume are worth owning as well.

This installment of the Gorean Saga is just a little bit better than the previous few novels in that it is not nearly as bloated and the story moves along at a much quicker pace. Still, there are numerous wastes of space, wastes of words, sentences and paragraphs.From a sci-fi perspective, the "steel worlds" are quite interesting to imagine as Norman describes them. Giant engineered habitats tucked away in the asteroid belt and each world serves a specific purpose and each one is controlled to provide the most natural environment as possible. I enjoyed this part.I am hoping the next novel continues with the trend of a faster paced story.

Perhaps the only TRULY insightful novels John Norman did or Kurii. I enjoyed the book. I would never feel I truly knew Torvaldsland without reading this book as well as Marauders Of Gor. Buy it.

I love the Gor sagas! I don't care if they are campy and the author rambles on sometimes, they are just fun. I've been reading them for over 35 years and am so glad to see there are still more to read.

if you have read the Gor books 26 & 27 you will find a refreshing switch from Norman's unceasing misogynistic tirades back to the great and imaginative stories that we all continue to read him for. Make no mistake, misogyny is still rampant but there is actually a story line mixed in much like the earlier books. Sad that he can't get it thru his head that we, his ardent fans GET IT, and still feels the need to fill page after page with the needless rhetoric about women. I wonder if he gets paid by the word....hahahaha

Glad to have and add to the rest

John Norman war mal ein sehr guter Geschichtenerzähler, doch auf seine alten Tage verwendet er mehr Zeit und Seiten darauf, seine Philosophie in unerträglicher Breite zu erläutern als aufs Erzählen. Diese Philosophie wird durch endlose Wiederholung weder wahrer noch überzeugender, schafft es dafür jedoch erfolgreich, jeglichen Fluss in der Erzählung zu unterbinden. Gefühlt taucht er auf jeder zweiten Seite in seine Philosophie ein und ich kann mich nur an eine - nicht sehr lange - Passage erinnern, in der die Handlung ohne Unterbrechung vorangetrieben wird.Die Geschichte zwischen den Philosophiepassagen ist gar nicht so schlecht. Es kommen sogar ein paar Science-Fiction-Elemente vor und der Leser erfährt mehr über die Kultur der Kur, die monströsen Gegenspieler der Priesterkönige.Das ganze Geschwafel hat mir den Lesegenuss gründllich vermiest. Das Buch braucht dringend einen Lektor, der solche Passagen drastisch zusammenstreicht. John Norman Fans sollten seine Philosophie im 28. Band bereits bestens und ausführlich kennen und Gegner wird die nervtötende Wiederholung sicher nicht überzeugen. So ist es nur Hardcore Fans und Komplettsammlern zu empfehlen. Schade, da wäre mehr drin gewesen. So reicht es nur für2 von 5 Sternen

John Norman books are part of my ever growing collection and I really find the reading great and it paints a picture of what its about

This is the 28th book in the lengthy "Gorean saga" of SF/Fantasy novels. Up to now these have been set mostly on the planet Gor, which supposedly shares the orbit of Earth but on the opposite side of the sun so that our astronomers cannot detect it.And at long, long last, after a wait of about 21 years, we finally get the next major installment in Tarl Cabot's story.Tarl Cabot is the main hero of the series, but this is the first book since 1988 which has concentrated on the story from his perspective. BTW, his surname is presumably pronounced "Cabbo" as he was born in Bristol and seems to be related to the famous Bristol family of explorers. I used to live in that city, and "Cabbo" is how Bristolians pronounce the name of their greatest explorer.This book differs from the previous books in the series in two respects: first, it is told in the third person by a narrator who is never identified. Secondly, none of the action of this story takes place on either Earth or Gor: this book is set entirely in space. It starts on the "Prison Moon" which is an artificial satellite of the planet Gor. As the name suggests this used as a prison by the rulers of the planet. But the action soon moves to one of the "Steel Worlds" which are artificial habitats in this system's asteroid belt.This was the first "Gor" book for about thirty years which in my humble opinion came anything close to the standard of the first thirteen or so books in the series.The first 25 books in the saga were published between 1969 and 1988. Then after a long gap, John Norman published two more novels in the "noughties" but both " Witness of Gor (Gorean Saga) " and " Prize of Gor " are narrated in the first person by slave girls whose sufferings and experiences were incidental to the wars, revolutions, and inter-species conflicts which the story arcs of the previous books described. And frankly, both are indifferent 700 page books, inside which a moderately good, much shorter book is struggling to get out and which will have disappointed most mainstream fans of the Gor series."Kur of Gor" is an entirely different kettle of fish, resuming the story of Tarl Cabot as the major character. Apart from being narrated in the third person, this is much like the last half-dozen or so Tarl Cabot books and has some of the flashes of brilliance which characterised books like " Priest-Kings of Gor " and " Tribesmen of Gor ." I found the third person style a distinct improvement on the immediately previous books, and indeed the last dozen published before 1988 because it reduces the temptation for John Norman to go off into long discursions about what the central character is thinking.In fact this is almost a reprise of "Priest Kings of Gor" with the Kurri replacing the Priest Kings, but the two alien races and their environments are sufficiently different that this is not just a carbon copy of the earlier book.In all the Gor books from number fourteen to number thirty-two, you have to wade through page after page of male supremacist lectures about how all women should be slaves to get to the heroism, courage and action of the story. But at least, unlike the last two efforts, "Kur of Gor" is back to the situation where the story is most of the book.To understand what is going on in "Kur of Gor" you really need to have have read a good chunk of the previous 27 books in the series. If you haven't, do not touch this with the proverbial barge-pole. To give a basic introduction I will have to refer to a number of places, characters and races with which we share this solar system according to John Norman's narrative, e.g.PLACESGor (or "Counter Earth") - an artificial earthlike planet which shares Earth's orbit but on the opposite side of the sun. Apparently maintained in this position by the rulers of the planet, a high-tech nonhuman race called "Priest-Kings."The Prison Moon - third satellite of Gor, which as the name suggests is used by the Priest Kings as a (supposedly) maximum-security prison.The Steel Worlds - a series of artificial habitats in the system's asteroid belts, built and maintained by a rival high-tech nonhuman race called the Kurri.Ar - greatest city on Gor, recently conquered and as at book 27, still occupied.Ko-Ro-ba - a city on Gor where Tarl Cabot's father is administrator. Razed to the ground by order of the Priest-Kings between books one and two: subsequently however they allowed it to be rebuilt.Port Kar - a coastal city: main "industries" are piracy and slave trading. Tarl Cabot made this city his home from books 6 to 20.Sardar - a mountain range near the city of Tharna where the Priest Kings have their nest and centre of power.CHARACTERSTarl Cabot - narrator and anti-hero of the majority of books in the series, central character (but not narrator) of this one. Originally from Bristol, then Ko-Ro-bar on Gor. Also known as Bosk of Port Kar, where he made his home from books six to twenty, but has been an outlaw since then because someone seems to have persuaded the Priest-Kings (see below) that he had betrayed them.Zarendargar (which means "Half-ear") - a war general of the Kurri. Was commander of a Kurri invasion base in book twelve,  Beasts of Gor . Lost power and became a hunted fugitive for a time after getting the worst of an encounter with Tarl Cabot. However, Zarendargar and Tarl Cabot regard one another as worthy enemies, to the point that both have paid a price for treating the other honorably. Zarendargar is now rumoured to have returned to the steel worlds and to be back in a position of power.SPECIESPriest-Kings - reclusive rulers of Gor, and apparently also creators of the planet. They live in the Sardar mountain range and rarely allow themselves to be seen by humans. Have promulgated laws banning certain forms of technology, for example "forbidden weapons" such as guns. Worshipped as gods by most of the human population of the planet. Some others wrongly assume that they are mythical: if this leads them to break the laws of the Priest-Kings by using forbidden technology, this may be the last mistake they make. The Priest Kings are very cerebral, passionless and highly intelligent creatures with a preference for working through others, who they often move around like pieces in a game of "Kaissa" - the Gorean equivalent of Chess.Kurii or "Others" - another space travelling race, who are large, furry, warlike and extremely fierce carnivores. Cruel and bloodthirsty but capable of honour. Appear to have blown up or otherwise destroyed their original home planet, possibly in a civil war, and now looking for a replacement. Consequently plotting to conquer Gor, but often divided among themselves: for example, one Kur, at the cost of his own life, worked with Tarl Cabot to frustrate a plot by others of his kind to blow up the entire planet in book ten. The polar opposite of Priest-Kings, the Kurri are proud, hot-tempered, and often suicidally brave: this book confirms that a major part of their self-image is the perception, and often the reality, that they are by their own standards a highly honourable race.This book also shows the Kurri for the first time as having a sense of humour, or at least a capacity for irony. Some of the exchanges between Tarl Cabot and his Kur companions in this book made me laugh out loud, which was another first in this series.At the start of "Kur of Gor", Tarl Cabot wakes in a glass cell on the Prison Moon. He appears to have been captured and imprisoned there by the Priest Kings, shortly after the events of " Magicians of Gor " and "Prize of Gor". Tarl Cabot was warned by a friend in book 20 that the Priest Kings think he has turned traitor: the narrator offers an opinion in the first chapter of this volume about which of the events of books 12, 16, and 17 might have caused the rulers of Gor to suspect Tarl of treason. It's made clear that this is only the opinion of an unidentified narrator (and might be entirely wrong).Two human females are then placed in Tarl Cabot's cell: one is from Earth, the other has been stolen from the "Steel Worlds" where she was the "pet" of an important Kur.The reader who has read enough of the previous books to have any idea what Priest Kings and Kurri are like will not be surprised when the Kurri react rather vigorously to the abduction of their property. Such readers may also suspect that this could be exactly what the Priest Kings have planned all along, and the suggestion that Tarl Cabot had been kidnapped and detained because he was suspected of treason may have been a deliberately planted cover story.Whether this was what the Priest-Kings planned or not, an old friend and enemy, General Zarendargar, drops in to see Tarl Cabot. Our hero soon finds himself on one of the "Steel World" asteroid belt habitats of the Kurri - and caught up in a very bloody civil war ...The next books in the series are "Swordsmen of Gor" which continues Tarl Cabot's story when he returns to Gor immediately after the events of this book, and "Mariners of Gor" which tells of a voyage over the ocean which began in "Swordsmen of Gor."The 31st book in the series, "Conspirators of Gor" is another slave girl book which continues the story of two of the major characters of this book ("Kur of Gor") - I won't say who because that would inevitably be a significant spoiler. Book 32, "Smugglers of Gor," is set at the same time as "Swordsmen of Gor" and tells the story of two people caught up in the same major event as that book, but from their perspective rather than Tarl Cabot's and he does not appear as a character in that book, though he is mentioned once or twice. The 33rd and apparently final book in the series, and arguably the best in the entire 33 book saga, is "Rebels of Gor" which completes the story arc which begins with Tarl Cabot's return to Gor at the end of this book and ties up a few loose ends which had been left hanging for a quarter of a century.If you don't follow the references in this review, don't buy the book because you won't understand "Kur of Gor" either. I would advise anyone who is thinking of reading any of John Norman's "Gor" books to start at the beginning with " Tarnsman of Gor " and work through until you reach this one, lose interest, or lose your temper. And there is a good chance that it will be the latter.For me the first book was good, numbers two through six were excellent, but then the series gradually goes downhill. With the exception of book 33, "Rebels of Gor," to get to the flashes of imagination and excitement which made the first few books fun to read, you have to wade through ever longer and more interminable male supremacist lectures calling for the enslavement of all women.Yes, you really did read that correctly. The endless repetition of the case for making women slaves eventually gets quite boring and almost makes you wonder if Norman actually means it. But at least compared with the last two books, "Kur of Gor" is back to the situation where the story is two-thirds of the book and you only have to wade through a couple of hundred pages of "women belong naked in a slave collar!" This is a big improvement on two hundred pages of story buried in five hundred pages of "women belong naked in a slave collar."For reference, the full series in sequence is1) "Tarnsman of Gor" - Tarl Cabot first comes to Gor2) "Outlaw of Gor" - Tarl returns to Gor to find his home city destroyed3) "Priest-Kings of Gor" - Tarl meets the alien rulers of the planet4) "Nomads of Gor" - a search for the stolen last egg of the Priest-Kings5) "Assassin of Gor" - a plot to restore Marlenus as Ubar of Ar6) "Raiders of Gor" - Tarl Cabot becomes known as Bosk of Port Kar7) "Captive of Gor" - Elinor Brinton from Earth meets an alien monster (K)8) "Hunters of Gor" - Tarl hunts for his lost love Talena in the forest9) "Maurauders of Gor" - of Viking raiders and the monstrous "Others"10) "Tribesmen of Gor" - of a Doomsday weapon in the deserts of Gor11) "Slave girl of Gor" - with a warning of invasion hidden in her head (K)12) "Beasts of Gor" - of an invasion base at the North Pole of Gor13) "Explorers of Gor" - Tarl Cabot explores the equatorial jungle14) "Fighting Slave of Gor" - part one of the Jason Marshall trilogy15) "Rogue of Gor" - part two of the Jason Marshall trilogy16) "Guardsman of Gor" - part three of the Jason Marshall trilogy17) "Savages of Gor" - the Kurii stir up trouble on the plains, part one18) "Blood brothers of Gor" - trouble on the plains, part two19) "Kajira of Gor" - Tiffany is brought to Gor to impersonate a Queen (K)20) "Players of Gor" - of Gorean chess, drama, and war between Cos and Ar21) "Mercenaries of Gor" - the invasion force from Cos moves against Ar22) "Dancer of Gor" - a librarian from earth is caught up in a war on Gor (K)23) "Renegades of Gor" - Ar's war against Cos begins to go badly wrong24) "Vagabonds of Gor" - Ar's soldiers meet disaster in the Vosk Delta25) "Magicians of Gor" - Ar has been conquered - but resistance begins26) "Witness of Gor" - a girl planted in Treve to look out for a prisoner (K)27) "Prize of Gor" - Cos's puppet regime in Ar starts to look shaky (K)28) "Kur of Gor" - Tarl Cabot is taken to one of the Kurri "Steel Worlds"29) "Swordsmen of Gor" - Tarl trains an army back on Gor, Tersites builds his ship30) "Mariners of Gor" - continues the voyage of the great ship of Tersites31) "Conspirators of Gor" - Allison Ashton-Baker from earth is a captive on Gor (K)32) "Smugglers of Gor" - Another perspective on the outfitting of the great ship of Tersites (M/k)33) "Rebels of Gor" - a swashbuckling adventure for Tarl Cabot brings the saga to a much improved conclusionBooks with (K) at the end of the description are "Kajira" novels, e.g. they are stories told from the perspective of slave girls, (Kajira is Gorean for slave girl.) Book 32 has (M/k) to indicate that alternating chapters are told by a slave girl from earth and a Gorean master - specifically in this case the slaver who kidnapped her and brought her to Gor. Books 14 to 16 are told in the first person by a man from earth called Jason Marshall and tell his story. Book 30 is mostly told by a spearman from Cos who sails with Tarl Cabot on a voyage over the great ocean, Thassa, to the far side of Gor. All other books have Tarl Cabot as the central character.Norman's greatest strength is not that he is a particularly good writer: the prose in this work is sometimes quite impenetrable. His strength is the breadth of his imagination; for example the way he brings to life creatures like huge birds (the tarns of Gor, which sadly do not appear in this novel) which can be trained to carry a warrior on their backs; and in particular his ability to set your own imagination off. In quite a few places this book does do that. I particularly like some of his battle and fight scenes. This is the first "Gor" book for 21 years in which he actually makes decent use of that imagination, for which I, and I suspect most of the rest of his readership, read the books. Witness of Gor (Gorean Saga)Prize of GorPriest-Kings of GorTribesmen of GorBeasts of GorMagicians of GorTarnsman of Gor

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