Tarzan the Terrible

Tarzan the Terrible was published in 1921 and continues directly from Tarzan the Untamed. Jane is now confirmed to be alive but has been taken captive into a previously unexplored region of central Africa. Tarzan tracks her into the lost land of Pal-ul-don, populated by two related humanoid species with tails: the smaller white-skinned Ho-don and the taller black-skinned Waz-don, who have been in a long mutual war.

The lost-world setting is one of Burroughs’s most fully developed. Pal-ul-don has its own language, religion, geography, and prehistoric fauna. Tarzan gains the local name Tarzan-jad-guru, meaning Tarzan the Terrible. The book is essentially divided between Tarzan’s quest to find Jane and a complex political plot involving the High Priest Lu-don and the rightful religious authority. Korak appears in the late chapters to assist his father. As lost-world adventures go, this is one of the more anthropologically detailed Burroughs ever wrote. Best read directly after Untamed.