Tarzan the Terrible

Tarzan the Terrible is the eighth story in the 24-piece Tarzan series written by Burroughs. First published in series in Argosy All-Story Weekly in February and March, 1921, the serialization was followed by the publication in book form very soon, in June the same year.

The previous story ended with Tarzan wandering in Africa, seeking to avenge the alleged death of Jane. At the beginning of this installment, he is still pursuing the tracks of his love and that is how he gets to Pal-ul-Don, a remote valley teeming with dinosaurs and also the home of two humanoid races, one of them hairless and white, the other black-skinned and hairy, at war with each other. Tarzan becomes friends with members of both tribes, then he is taken hostage, but his skills and his behavior impress his guards and earn him the name of Tarzan, the Terrible.

However, this is hardly the last surprising turn in the story. It soon turns out that Jane is held captive in the same valley. Tarzan continues his quest to find her, but he encounters difficulties that even he finds impossible to solve - a new and unusual element in Tarzan stories - and he seems to be unable to rescue her beloved until their son, Korak comes to their rescue and saves both of them. Though Tarzan is determined to take revenge on his wife's captors, the novel ends without the vengeance - an aspect of the plot that brought about a lot of criticism.

Tarzan the Terrible stands out among all Tarzan stories by featuring the most complex and most elaborate lost civilizations in the entire series. Other than that, the story features the complexity and the eventfulness that readers are used to with all Tarzan stories, features that have made these novels so popular for so long.