Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Conversion Of An Earth Girl To Slavery, 14 Jun 2002
By A Customer
For those of you who already know of the Gor series, this is one of the must have texts.It focuses from beginning to end on the experiences of one earth girl - Eleanor. Starting with the typically Gorean-Style abduction from Earth, Eleanor rebels and manipulates in an attempt to resist the usual fate for an Earth girl on Gor. This particular book is the closest to romance it gets - Rask of Treve is the match she eventually meets. In his way, and rather unlike most Gorean males, he in turn demonstrates his love for her towards the last part of the book. However reader is left in no doubt that this is not the relationship of free companions.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
John Norman replaces Tarl Cabot with a slave girl, 4 Sep 2003
"Captive of Gor," the 7th volume in John Norman's Chronicles of Counter-Earth, was the first book in the series that I did not really enjoy. The reason was not because this is the first volume to be devoted primarily to Norman's Gorean philosophy of slavery/submission as the natural condition of women, but simply because Tarl Cabot (or Bosk of Port Kar as he is currently known in the series) is not the main character in this novel. In "Captive of Gor" we are introduced to Elinor Brinton, who was a wealthy and powerful woman on Earth, but who is brought to Gor and made a pleasure slave in the service of the slave merchant Targo. In other words, we have a modern "liberated" woman put into a condition of slavery where she is forced to learn the arts of providing pleasure to any man who purchases her for the night for a few tarn disks. The conflict between the Priest-Kings and the Others which is the major backstory of the Counter-Earth series is behind Elinor's abduction, but that is ultimately a minor point in this 1972 novel where the focus is on the nature of human sexuality. Norman tells essentially the same story in "Slave Girl of Gor" (1977) and "Kajira of Gor" (1983), but then for that matter the story of Elinor Brinton is not that much different from what happened to Elizabeth Caldwell, transformed into Vella of Gor in the fourth Gor book, "The Nomads of Gor." Consequently, there is really no surprise to what happens in this novel and the style is not enough this time around to overcome the lack of substance (i.e., Norman does not create any compelling supporting characters as he did in previous novels). Gorean philosophy aside, "Captive of Gor" is a major break in the developing narrative. There is nothing wrong with that, but Norman continues to abandon the epic story arc he created in the first six volumes in the ones that followed this volume as well. Consequently, "Captive of Gor" becomes a pivotal novel in the series, representing the end of the great adventures and the beginning of the sociological textbooks.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
John Norman replaces Tarl Cabot with a Slave Girl from Earth, 13 Jan 2003
By A Customer
"Captive of Gor," the 7th volume in John Norman's Chronicles of Counter-Earth, was the first book in the series that I did not really enjoy. The reason was not because this is the first volume to be devoted primarily to Norman's Gorean philosophy of slavery as the natural condition of women, but simply because Tarl Cabot (or Bosk of Port Kar as he is currently known in the series) is not the main character in this novel. In "Captive of Gor" we are introduced to Elinor Brinton, who was a wealthy and powerful woman on Earth, but who is brought to Gor and made a plesure slave in the service of the slave merchant Targo. In other words, we have a modern "liberated" woman put into a condition of slavery where she is forced to learn the arts of providing pleasure to any man who purchases her for the night. The conflict between the Priest-Kings and the Others is behind Elinor's abduction, but that is ultimately a minor point in this 1972 novel. Norman tells essentially the same story in "Slave Girl of Gor" (1977) and "Kajira of Gor" (1983); for that matter, the story of Elinor Brinton is not that much different from what happened to Elizabeth Caldwell, transformed into Vella of Gor in the fourth Gor book, "The Nomads of Gor." Consequently, there is really no surprise to what happens in this novel and the style is not enough this time around to overcome the lack of substance. Gorean philosophy aside, "Captive of Gor" is a break in the developing narrative. There is nothing wrong with that, but Norman continues to abandon the epic story arc he created in the first six volumes in the ones that followed "Captive" as well.
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