NOMADS OF GOR [Mass Market Paperback]

"Nomads of Gor" has two great strengths, both of which are rather unique to the series. First, Norman does a masterful job of creating the civilization of the Wagon People, which consists of four tribes. I suppose he might be basing his research on some nomadic tribes of Earth, but I did not sense any strong parallels as I did, for example, with the "Viking" like "Marauders of Gor." We get a sense of the culture of the Tuchuks, one of the four tribes that Cabot stays with as he searches for the egg, which goes well beyond what we have seen up to this point in the series. The customs, especially the competitive games the Wagon Peoples play, are much more detailed than what we had seen in the towered cities of Ar and Ko-ro-ba.

Second, this is the funniest of the Gor books, with the humor coming mostly from conversations that involve the character of Harold the Tuchuk, although Kamchak, also of the Tuchucks, has his moments as well. It is not far fetched to say that these are two best-developed supporting characters in the Gor series, and I would contend that this is due in large measure to their sense of humor. But the humor is clearly Norman's, who has this style of using short sentences to develop his droll wit. This is character driven humor, where who says what in which situation makes all the difference; none of the lines that tickle your funny bone would ever evoke a laugh by themselves, because context is everything in Norman's humor.

I always wondered why Norman did not return to the Tuchuks later in the series, but maybe he did not think he could pull off a return visit that equaled the success of this effort. This is also the novel that introduces Vella, the former Elizabeth Caldwell of Earth, who becomes one of the key continuing characters in the Tarl Cabot novels. Of course, this opens up the giant can of worm regarding Norman's Gorean philosophy that "slavery" is the natural state of women, who can only be truly "free" when they totally submit to a master. I have to admit that I never took this idea beyond the fictional level and that as the series progressed I flipped through the long philosophical discussions between masters and slaves in later novels (Norman is the pseudonym of philosopher Professor John Lange). I also know that there are people who take the Gorean lifestyle very seriously. I could quote Abraham Lincoln in response to this topic, but I would probably be closer to the mark if I just said different strokes for different folks and went my own merry way.

The bottom line for me is that I enjoyed Norman's early Gor novels in the seventies the same way I had enjoyed reading Edgar Rice Burroughs' Mars novels in the sixties (when I discovered them). The first six novels of the Gor series standup well against the Burroughs novels that obviously inspired Norman in part (there are strong parallels between the first work in each series). If you find the philosophical aspects of these books offensive, then do not read them.