The story of Tarzan of the Apes re-told from the point of view of Jane. The main character seems rather anachronistic, especially in the first half of the story. The action is fun and mostly follows the action of Burroughs original

library book read 6/12/2023 ( )

Everything an adventure should be. I love Jane's character: her ambition, her determination, her intelligence. Seeing her wild journey throughout the trials she faces and how she works through and triumphs over them was...so freeing for me as a reader, actually. It was immensely satisfying.

I cannot praise enough the description and complexity in this book. There are many character arcs and plotlines that converge and move each other along. The paradisaical "Eden" is portrayed so well that I felt like I was there and getting the same awed inspiration that Jane does. I got completely swept up in some of the scenes, like the fire dancing. So powerful, so enticing.

I had some minor quibbles with some of the story arc framing (e.g. a flashback from Tarzan's perspective somehow delving into another character's thoughts); the "I'm not like the other girls and therefore better" aspect Jane takes on (though she does work through this slightly); and a couple instances of sex happening after the characters are angry. However, none of these things last long, happen often, or detract from the excellent aspects of this story.

Note that I have not read the original Tarzan stories so I cannot make any comparisons, but this retelling from Jane's perspective is brilliant. ( )

This book is a first person narrative told by Jane Porter to Edgar Rice Burroughs, the author of the Tarzan books. The conceit is, of course, that Burroughs took the real story and adapted it for his reading public, perhaps already familiar with his "Princess of Mars". This allows the book to keep the main characters and yet to change the story quite a bit. The author doesn't have a gift for period language, and there was the odd malapropism, but I'ld say that it is rather clever in its retelling. Many fans of the original tales are likely to enjoy this one, as it is not wholly untrue to their spirit. ( )

Interesting premise, but a little too much feisty heroine, etc. for my taste, read about half.

Fun retelling of Tarzan from Jane's POV but laughably distracting in points; I didn't really need a half-page where Jane describes Tarzan's butt, to be brutally honest. ( )