This book wasn't bad, a little on the boring side but that's okay. It's good for book reports on the salem witch trials.

"Tarzan and the Madman" was the second to last of the twenty-four Tarzan novels written by Edgar Rice Burroughs. The twist this time around is that the jungle drums are telling all the tribes that Tarzan is suddenly stealing and enslaving their women. Among the women who have disappeared is Sandra Pickerall, heiress of the Thos. Pickerall's Ale fortune of Endinburgh, Scotland. Sandra's father offers a kingly reward for the return of his daughter and the death of Tarzan. However, Sandra has not been kidnapped by the read Lord of the Jungle but another one of those look-alikes who pop up in these ERB novels periodically. Although he tells Sandra he is Tarzan, this madman is known as "God" by the Alemtejos. Tarzan is following the trail of these two, not so much to return Sandra to her father as to destroy the madman who has made his name reviled throughout the jungle. "Tarzan and the Madman" has all of the traditional ERB elements, from big game hunters who do not really understand the jungle to yet another lost African kingdom and one more tribe of great ape who have to learn to respect Tarzan's dominion as the Lord of the Jungle. Burroughs has played this Tarzan look-alike card before (e.g., "Tarzan and the Lion Man"), so this book clearly goes in the pot-boiler category. The more Tarzan novels you have read the less you will be impressed with this one. Burroughs knows how to tell a ripping adventure yarn, but there is really nothing new here

"Tarzan and the Lost Empire" is a typical Edgar Rice Burroughs story about the Lord of the Jungle where somebody disappears and Tarzan goes off into some uncharted part of Africa to rescue them from a lost city. This basic plot describes most Tarzan novels starting with the lost Atlantis colony of Opar in "The Return of Tarzan." What makes "Tarzan and the Lost Empire" rather different from the rest is that the lost city this time around happens to be a couple of outposts from the Roman Empire, still up and running almost two thousand years later.

The person who needs to be rescued in this 12th Tarzan novel is Erich von Harben, the son of a German medical missionary who is one of the Ape Man's old friends. Tarzan tracks Erich to a lost valley where he discovers the Roman outposts. Castra Sanguinarius is ruled by Sublatus, the cruel Emperor of the West, while Castrum Mare is ruled by the tyrant Validus Augustus, the Emperor of the East. Of course Tarzan ends up in the arena of Castra Sanguinarius fighting for his life, while young Erich faces a similar fate in the arena of Castrum Mare. the ape-man was seeking to rescue him. This is standard ERB fare but the idea that all Roman outposts set up despotic emperors is laying it on a bit thick. Still, there are a few noble Romans running around for Tarzan to bond with during this adventure.

Burroughs did write a few historical adventures along with those set on exotic worlds or lost lands, so it would have been interesting to see him do a tale set in Ancient Rome, but this was as close as he got. As always with these pot-boilers, the principle is that the less of them you have read the more likely you are to be impressed by this one (and visa versa).

"Tarzan and the Castaways" is really a collection of three novellas regarding the Lord of the Apes written in 1940-1941 by Edgar Race Burroughs. This was essentially the 24th and final Tarzan book and takes it title from the first and longest of the three stories. Tarzan is stranded on one of those uncharted Pacific islands with a colorful collection of English aristocrats, a Dutch officer, and Janette Laon, the beautiful French companion of big game hunter Fritz Krause. Going back to the beginning of the series in one respect, the castaways end up on the island when the crew of the "Saigon" mutinies (which is how Tarzan's parents ended up stranded in Africa way back when). Meanwhile, the castaways also have to deal with a lost colony of Mayans who are always looking for new human sacrifices. If Tarzan was not there, all of these people would be dead meat, but although he might have second thoughts about some of them, Tarzan does save the day.

"Tarzan and the Champion" has Lord Greystoke encountering "One-Punch" Mullargan, the heavyweight champion of the world, and his manager Joey Marks. Tarzan has Nkima the little monkey on his side, so the champ does not stand a chance in this little one-joke trifle from ERB. Finally, "Tarzan and the Jungle Murders" continues the basic formula, albeit with a nod towards world events as the references to the "Great Man" in the story turn out to be about Benito Mussolini. The story is simple: there is a downed English plane and a RAF colonel, the American inventor of an ignition disruptor device, a Russian exile, cannibals, and a safari of yet more English aristocrats. Think of this one as "Clue" set in the jungle with Tarzan trying to figure out who did in who and whey (how, when and where are always obvious).

"Tarzan and the Castaways" is a collection of minor efforts by Edgar Rice Burroughs, to be read by the Tarzan fan out of a sense of completeness once everything else has been devoured (including the juvenile effort, "Tarzan and the Tarzan Twins"). The formula here was certainly tried and true once upon a time, but after two dozens novels is now tried and tired.

During World War II the American bomber the "Lovely Lady" crashes in the jungles of Sumatra, which is being held by the Japanese. Captain Jerry Lucas and his crew are stunned when the Royal Air Force Colonel who had been flying with them on the mission strips down to a loin cloth and goes off into the jungle with just a knife. Of course, Colonel John Clayton, Lord Greystoke, is better known to the world as Tarzan of the Apes, which causes confusion with the Americans who do not think he looks anything like Johnny Weismueller in a nice wry little comment from author Edgar Rice Burroughs. Basically, "Tarzan and the Foreign Legion" finds Tarzan going after the Japanese the same way he dealt with the Germans in World War I in "Tarzan the Untamed" (actually he is a lot tamer this time around because in that 1919 novel he thought the invaders had killed Jane and so he was out for mondo blood). The title refers to the motley crew of allies from many lands that Tarzan leads to the coast for a rendevous with an Allied submarine. Along the way they have to take on not only the Japanese, but Sumatran collaborationists, Dutch outlaws, and the tribe of Ourangatan's led by Uglo. Corrie van der Meer is the young daughter of a the family on a rubber plantation who serves as the requisite damsel in distress and Keta is the little monkey that befriends Tarzan. "Tarzan and the Foreign Legion" is a standard Tarzan potboiler from ERB and fits the standard formula that the author pretty much could do in his sleep by this point at the end of his storied career. So this is an old story dressed up with new allies, new villains, and even new apes given it takes place in Asia rather than Africa. But you had to know that Tarzan was going to take part in the war effort, even if it was his second world war.

"Tarzan and the Foreign Legion" was published in 1944 and the novel is interesting more for how it reflects Burroughs' adventures during World War II. ERB was playing tennis in Hawaii on the morning of December 7th when Pearl Harbor was bombed. At the age of 66 he served as the oldest war correspondent in the Pacific theater (his son Hulbert became a war photographer). At one point he went on bombing runs with the 7th Air Force, an experience which clearly served as the basis for the opening sequence of this novel. Burroughs came up with a more dangerous mission for Tarzan in this novel and besides from the great Weismueller joke, it is the characters of the American bomber crew that stand out. Knowing what ERB did during the war explains why this would be the case.

"Tarzan and the Madman" was the second to last of the twenty-four Tarzan novels written by Edgar Rice Burroughs. The twist this time around is that the jungle drums are telling all the tribes that Tarzan is suddenly stealing and enslaving their women. Among the women who have disappeared is Sandra Pickerall, heiress of the Thos. Pickerall's Ale fortune of Endinburgh. Sandra's father offers a kingly reward for the return of his daughter and the death of Tarzan. However, Sandra has not been kidnapped by the read Lord of the Jungle but another one of those look-alikes who pop up in these ERB novels periodically. Although he tells Sandra he is Tarzan, this madman is known as "God" by the Alemtejos. Tarzan is following the trail of these two, not so much to return Sandra to her father as to destroy the madman who has made his name reveiled throughout the jungle. "Tarzan and the Madman" has all of the traditional ERB elements, from big game hunters who do not really understand the jungle to yet another lost African kingdom and one more tribe of great ape who have to learn to respect Tarzan's dominion. Burroughs has played this Tarzan look-alike card before (e.g., "Tarzan and the Lion Man"), so this book clearly goes in the pot-boiler category. The more Tarzan novels you have read the less you will be impressed with this one. Burroughs knows how to tell a ripping adventure yarn, but there is really nothing new here.

Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote twenty-four novels about Tarzan of the Apes, but "Tarzan and the Tarzan Twins" is not included on that list because it was written by ERB specifically for a juvenile audience. Actually, this is a pair of novellas, "The Tarzan Twins" and "The Tarzan Twins with Jad-Bal-Ja, The Golden Lion." The title twins are Dick, who was born in England and has black hair, which is why he is called Tarzan-go; Doc, born in America, is blond-haired and called Tarzan-tar. The twins are introduced in a story where the boys encounter Chief Galla Galla and his Bagalla cannibals, including the evil witch doctor Intamo. Fortunately, Tarzan and his friendly Waziri warriors are around to help save the day. The second story features not only Tarzan's friend the Golden Lion buy the fun gang back in Opar, ERB's favorite lost African city. Actually the key character here is Gretchen von Harben, the daughter of a missionary, who is taken by the denizens of Opar and named Kla (i.e, the "new La" of Opar). Both stories are relatively tame, especially when compared to the stories of the young Tarzan or his son Korak the Killer. If at all possible try to find a copy of "Tarzan and the Tarzan Twins" with the illustrations by Roy G. Krenkel. Of course, today there is nothing really objectionable in the Tarzan novels that make them in appropriate for children (remember the furor when some librarian mixed up the movies with the novels and pulled the Tarzan books form the shelves because Tarzan and Jane were not married?). These are minor efforts, but for young kids who might light the idea of being out there in the jungle trying to make like Tarzan, they might find these of some interest. For adults working their way through the ERB library these will be a couple of super quick reads and you do get an appearance by Jad-bal-ja, which are always worth while.

One of the surprises as you read through the Tarzan novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs is that at one point the author killed off Jane; it prove not to be the case, but John Clayton's wife certainly disappeared from the latter novels. The story is that ERB did not think that Jane was really a worthy consort to the Lord of the Jungles and that he thought his creation would be better off with La, the High Priestess of the Flaming God in Opar, the lost colony of sunken Atlantis. La was introduced in "The Return of Tarzan," the first sequel to "Tarzan of the Apes," and reappeared in the fifth novel "Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar." She makes her third appearance in this fourteenth Tarzan novel, "Tarzan the Invincible."

The story is that La had been imprisoned by her own people and Tarzan resuces her. But it does not make any sense for her to stay in Opar so he brings her to his neck of the woods. He then runs into the jungle on another errand, which gives a group of Arab slave traders the opportunity to capture her. Meanwhile, Tarzan's land is invaded by a group of international communists (are there any other kind?). The idea of bringing La out of Opar was decent enough, since there is only so many times (three apparently) that Tarzan can go there to rescue somebody and have the high priestess have those fits of heaving bosoms she always has when he is near. But by this point more than halfway through the two-dozen Tarzan novels Burroughs is working pretty much from formula. Once again Tarzan has to rescue someone while dastardly outsiders, like this lunatic Peter Zevri who wants to become the czar of Africa, make some inane power play. "Tarzan the Invincible" is a standard ERB pot-boiler, which makes it a decent adventure yarn. The problem is that the more of these you read, the less you will be impressed with any given yarn.

"Tarzan the Magnificent," the 21st book in the Tarzan series by Edgar Rice Burroughs, consists of two novellas: "Tarzan and the Magic Men" (1936) and "Tarzan and the Elephant Men" (1937), the latter of which is a minor sequel to "Tarzan and the City of Gold." In the first novella the American travel writer Stanley Wood tells a fantastic story of another one of those lost cities in the heart of Africa, where women warriors are ruled by an evil magician and there is a great diamond called the Gonfal with hypnotic powers. Tarzan dismisses the story until he sees the Gonfal at work. The result is a standard ERB adventure yarn: Tarzan goes to the lost city to rescue another lost Englishman, resists the charms and powers of a savage queen, so on and so forth. Burroughs has been using this formula since "The Return of Tarzan" when the Lord of the Jungle first encountered La, the beautiful high priestess of the flaming god of Opar. The second novella returns us to Cathne, the City of Gold, and Athne, the City of Ivory, where Tarzan takes on Phoros, the dictator of Athne. This means more political intrigue in the effort to put Zygo on the throne of Athne and another gladiator fight in the arena between the Lord of the Jungle and Hyrack. The second story really has nothing to do with the first and really constitutes little more than ERB tying up some loose ends from "Tarzan and the City of Gold" (which was also something of a misnomer of a title since all the action is in the City of Ivory in both stories).

Tarzan orders Arab slave traders to leave his jungle and follows them to make sure they obey. They all end up in the lost Valley of the Sepulcher, where there is a community of Knights Templar who have been isolated for over seven centuries. The slavers want to loot the place, the Knights want to resume their Holy Crusade to free Jerusalem, and Tarzan wants to rescue the lost James Blake. Despite the title, this 11th Tarzan novel spends more time in the Lost Valley than it does in the Jungle, which is its major problem. Having success with the fabled Lost City of Opar and its beautiful high priestess La, Edgar Rice Burroughs did several Tarzan novels where the Lord of the Jungle discovers other lost cities. This time around it is Crusaders, in two more novels it is Romans, so on and so forth. When Tarzan starts jousting with knights, you know that this is a below average novel in the series