The Beasts of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs

The Beasts of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

There are so many things wrong with this third book in the series. The racism everyone knows about. Though I continue to think that it's also generalized misanthropy because while the author's language is racist, the human characters are mostly all the same regardless of race. The animals are the noblest and most moral characters. Unfortunately, the animals might also be the most interesting character as all the other characters appear to be extremely one-dimensional. Also, the story dragged on so much. It could have ended several chapters before it did, but instead, the author created additional one-dimensional bad guys to oppose.

So what did I like? I liked the crazy troupe of animals. This is probably the book in the series that most inspired the cartoon Disney version of Tarzan (along with book #1). I liked that Jane gets the opportunity to be kind of bad ass in this one. I liked that there were additional good guys in this story, and I enjoyed their contributions. As for the action has everything- fighting, animals, ships, explosions.

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The Return of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs

The Return of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Very strange, very racist conclusion to part 1 of Tarzan. If you were unsatisfied with the ending of the first one, this will conclude the story more completely, so there's that. I know it sounds like I shouldn't be excited to read the third one, but the third one is called Beasts of Tarzan so I'm actually really excited to read it.

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Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was a fun pulp read. It's a perfect beach read with adventure, strange characters, and almost-but-not-quite Jane Austin-style romance.

A lot of reviewers are annoyed because, being a product of its time, the story was sexist and racist, which is true. Really though, it was also really just misanthropic. If you examine it carefully, the most moral, kind-hearted, and brave character is Kala, the great ape female that adopted Tarzan. The other animals are the most moral because they kill to eat or for dominance, but never for torture or pleasure as the humans do.

I'm trying to decide whether to read the second one in the series because there is a bit of a question at the end of the first.

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