Tarzan and the City of Gold

Tarzan and the City of Gold was published in 1933 and is one of the most beloved books in the later Tarzan canon. The plot involves two cities, the gold-rich Athne and the gold-rich Cathne, both lost civilizations in a remote African mountain valley, who have been at constant war with each other for centuries. The civilization that produces the title is Cathne, the City of Gold, ruled by the cruel Queen Nemone.

Tarzan is taken captive in Cathne and becomes Nemone’s prisoner-favorite. Queen Nemone is one of Burroughs’s most memorable female antagonists, mentally unstable and obsessively attached to Tarzan in a way she cannot acknowledge. The political maneuvering between the two cities is more developed than usual. A secondary plotline involves a young American named Stanley Wood, who is in love with the Cathnean noblewoman Doria. The novel ends with a major war between Athne and Cathne and Nemone’s spectacular death. A strong mid-1930s peak in the series.