Possibly the best Gor novel, and rather ambitious in its plot and worldbuilding. The theme of sexual slavery, which was not so central in the first three books, became more so in the fourth and fifth novels, but still this is a very reasonable sword and planet novel, rather than the soft porn the series will become later. Pulp fiction that reads like fantasy, although it's actually science fiction. Quite enjoyable, this one, and the only reason I don't give it five stars is the frequent digressions that make the story slower and longer than it needed to be. ( )

Tarl Cabot el guerrero de Gor ha sido condenado a muerte por la temible y siniestra Casta de los Asesinos. encubriendo su identidad como un miembro más de la Casta es contratado para encontrar a Cabot y darle muerte.

Another great read from John Norman. This one has Tarl Cabot pretending to be an assasin. It's a swift page turner, the story being helped along a good deal with the usual vignettes of slave-girls being used and abused to varying degrees. He falls for yet another girl, Elizabeth Cardwell, who was abducted from Earth by 'The Others', a rival group to 'The Priest Kings' and whom he eventually frees(of course).

His original love, Talena, gets but a passing mention at the very end along the lines of 'damn, I still didn't find her', which is no great surprise really when you consider he wasn't looking for her in the least. Still, at least he's got himself another little (ex)slave-girl in Elizabeth, or Vella as she's called on Gor.

Very easy to read. Can't put them down once I've started, even though there's stuff mixed in there that should really be considered quite important but is simply glossed over or mentioned as an afterthought at the end(see above).

Looking forward to #6 - Raiders of Gor now.
( )

In Volume Five our hero is softening on the owning and training of slaves, encouraged no doubt by the insights of Earth woman Elizabeth Cardwell. Having said that, he still remains notably less evil than main villain, the slave trader Cernus of Ar.

In a relatively interesting sub plot, Assassin Kuurus scours Ar for the murderer of Tarl Cabot. ( )

The Gor series quickly degenerated into, well, seriously erotic fiction fine tuned (?) to the male dominant school. I did not pursue this series to its end, even in the fantasy-starved 1970's. Sadly even the Horseclans books were more interesting. ( )