Post by PMP Webmaster on Apr 25, 2006 9:48:02 GMT -5
So, I have to admit, I read Nomads of GOR by John Norman over the last couple weeks. I had picked the book up at a used book store, mostly because of the buzz I've caught over the years regarding this infamous series. After reading the Richard Blade book The Jade Warrior, and seeing Django's comments on the board about the comparison, I thought I'd give it a try.
In the end, I'd say the book isn't all that bad. If you cut out all the weird bondage slavery stuff, mainly the more detailed, intimate bits of it, the book would be a pretty decent fantasy novel. The world of Gor is extremely well realized as a setting, and Norman does a good job of defining the traits and customs of the various people involved. The writing is dense, but fair, and overall it was an enjoyable book.
However, there's the bondage/slave stuff. Gorean culture pretty much dictates that women are slaves, and even free women can be made slaves fairly easily. It appears that any woman who you can physically collar and get away with collaring, becomes your property. Most slave women are "prized possessions", and highly regarded, but often in the way you'd regard a well made weapon or a fine steed. Some men fall in love with their slave women and vice versa, and these women are occasionally freed, but a freed woman can be made a slave again just as easily as she was enslaved the first time around. In fact, most Goreans believe that only when fully enslaved is a woman truly free.
In the end, if the bondage stuff was more a background issue, as it is through a lot of the book, it wouldn't be so bad. However there are whole chapters dedicated to master-slave interactions, and while very little of it is physically sexual, the subtext running through it is somewhat nauseating. In fact, it's not so much that I am appalled at the idea of slavery in a fantasy novel (a common enough staple in many works), but it's just the creepy BDSM subtext that puts me off. Norman is obviously latched on to this fetish, and from what I gather it just gets worse as the series goes on.
I think I'd be willing to read the three novels before Nomads of Gor, to flesh out what I've read so far and see if the slavery thing is more or less prevalent in the earlier books. However, I don't think I'd read any further than where I am.
In the end, I'd say the book isn't all that bad. If you cut out all the weird bondage slavery stuff, mainly the more detailed, intimate bits of it, the book would be a pretty decent fantasy novel. The world of Gor is extremely well realized as a setting, and Norman does a good job of defining the traits and customs of the various people involved. The writing is dense, but fair, and overall it was an enjoyable book.
However, there's the bondage/slave stuff. Gorean culture pretty much dictates that women are slaves, and even free women can be made slaves fairly easily. It appears that any woman who you can physically collar and get away with collaring, becomes your property. Most slave women are "prized possessions", and highly regarded, but often in the way you'd regard a well made weapon or a fine steed. Some men fall in love with their slave women and vice versa, and these women are occasionally freed, but a freed woman can be made a slave again just as easily as she was enslaved the first time around. In fact, most Goreans believe that only when fully enslaved is a woman truly free.
In the end, if the bondage stuff was more a background issue, as it is through a lot of the book, it wouldn't be so bad. However there are whole chapters dedicated to master-slave interactions, and while very little of it is physically sexual, the subtext running through it is somewhat nauseating. In fact, it's not so much that I am appalled at the idea of slavery in a fantasy novel (a common enough staple in many works), but it's just the creepy BDSM subtext that puts me off. Norman is obviously latched on to this fetish, and from what I gather it just gets worse as the series goes on.
I think I'd be willing to read the three novels before Nomads of Gor, to flesh out what I've read so far and see if the slavery thing is more or less prevalent in the earlier books. However, I don't think I'd read any further than where I am.
