Magicians of Gor

Gorean Saga, Book 25

By: John Norman

Narrated by: Ralph Lister

John Norman's epic Gorean Saga is one of the longest-running and most successful series in the history of fantasy. It is also one of the most controversial. Over the course of more than 30 books produced over a span of six decades, the series has sold millions of copies and built legions of fans unrivaled in their devotion. E-Reads invites you to rediscover this brilliantly imagined world where men are masters and women live to serve their every desire.

Magicians of Gor: Book 25 of the Gorean Saga: After the disaster of the delta campaign Ar is substantially defenseless. The forces of Cos, and her allies, are welcomed into the city as liberators. Ar's Station, which held out so valiantly against superior forces in the north, is denounced as traitorous. Veterans of the delta campaign are despised and ridiculed. Patriotism and manhood are denigrated. Lawlessness and propaganda are rampant. Marlenus, the great ubar, who might have organized and led a resistance, who might have rallied the city, is presumed dead, somewhere in the Voltai Mountains. Tar; is concerned with a warrior's vengeance upon sedition and treachery, and, in particular, with meeting one who stands high amongst the conspirators, a beautiful woman now enthroned as ubara, whose name is Talena.

©1988 John Norman (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Review

The general story is decent but there is a lot of useless filler. I understand that some filler is necessary but the first half of the book is the same filler used in every other book from the Gor series, very repetitive and redundant

No longer the End

DO NOT read Magicians unless you have read both Vagabonds and Renegades. Tarl's experiences in the Delta change him in subtle ways. Magicians is the only one of the books up to this point that I had only read once. I remember a totally different ending, and was content that that was the end of the story. Now that Norman is no longer blacklisted, and these books are ALL back in print including Dancer, I look forward to hearing what is going to happen. I bought Witness on Ebay as a self published print on demand book and have read about 1/3rd of it. I decided that I had to go back and start over. These audio books are the author's approved versions. I have no desire to look for differences in my versions, I'm sure they exist. These are the versions the author wanted to stand the test of time and I'm not going to argue with him.... I like the ending much better then the one I remember, and I know that I get to meet Tarl again in a couple of books. Revenge is a dish best served cold.... Tarl takes it in spades here. I think he's still in love with Vella though.... or at least I believe so. I wonder if he is ever going to figure out that the Black Tarn let her ride it. To me, that matters, but at least she is safe in Port Kar. I missed out on what happened to her the last 3 times around. Of course I'm a romantic. There are new Gor books to read. Hard to believe, but true. I wish you well.

getting homestone out of town

What did you love best about Magicians of Gor?

the fact that there was more then one lead in the story

What was one of the most memorable moments of Magicians of Gor?

the way the two main people played off each other

Have you listened to any of Ralph Lister’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

no this was the first

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

yes i laughted alot

Any additional comments?

can't wait to listen to the next book

Worst of the first 25

10% allegory, 90% bondage fetish. Pretty much unreadable. The audiobook performance by Ralph Lister was excellent but the skip forward was much used to get past the incessant bondage fetish the author seems so enamored of.

The story is a bit shallow considering the great lengths that are gone to to make it seem at a kaissa level.

The obvious allegory is startling prescient (c. 1988, Ronald Reagan) but much more applicable to modern political events (c. 2023, Biden) in America and the book would be worth a read on that basis alone if the reader could only find a version with the vast amount of bondage greatly reduced.

There are also homosexual themes and bondage introduced and somewhat explored, not at all in line with the expected audience of thoroughly heterosexual males into beautiful, alluring women and not into men at all, no matter how handsome.

The final confrontation with Talena as well as its surprising conclusion was quite a let down considering the build up.

One can readily understand why there was a long break from this book to the next and also gain insight behind #28 Kur of Gor, a much better read with imagination and the old Norman magic.

One last thing, the title and cover art are quite deceiving, a feeble bit of false advertising to entice Norman fans into a shabby counterfeit of what could be rather than what the reader actually gets. You could certainly skip this one and not be poorer for it in any way.