Tarzan and the Valley of Gold

By: Fritz Lieber

Narrated by: Ben Dooley

Length: 12 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's summary

The burning wreck of a passenger jet with a missing cargo of gold and a desperate plea from a friend lead Tarzan of the Apes deep into intrigue in the jungles of Brazil. Soon the ape-man finds himself facing his most deadly nemesis yet: a criminal mastermind named Vinaro, whose enemies perish in mysterious explosions of gold and flame. But that may be only the beginning of Tarzan's challenges. For if he is to defeat Vinaro, Tarzan must confront him in the legendary golden city of Tucumai, from where no outsider has ever returned.

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©1966, 2019 Fritz Lieber (P)2020 Oasis Audio

Narrator Sings His Words

Not quite the Tarzan I grew up with, but nice to hear new stories. However the narrator "sings" his words, modulating his tone to such fanciful extremes it makes it almost unlistenable. I hope these are redone with another narrator sometime. Just plain reading would have been better.

Not ERB but still quite good

Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc approved this adaptation as Canon to the Burroughs universe. This was a novelization of the film of the same name. The author is the noted science fiction and fantasy writer of the 1940's, 50's, and 60's.

Okay. We've gotten all that out of the way now. This is a distinctly modern Tarzan story talking place in the 1960's. Tarzan is still in peak physical condition, despite being well into his second half century. The story mentions this as well as Tarzan himself not knowing precisely the how or why of this. Tarzan is called via mysterious message to come to Brazil. Along the way Tarzan makes time to participate in a Mexican bullfight to protest the senseless killing of the animals. Gets bombs thrown at him, nearly run over by a private jet, and subject to a gang of killers in two cars. This is all before he even gets to his destination to see why he was summoned there. After that we have Tarzan crossing the South American jungle, fighting a guerilla war (so to speak), and finding and eventually defending a lost Incan settlement.

The story is very 1960's, James Bond, style. The villain is suitably psychotic and gets more deranged as the story progresses. Some of that is what makes this not quite ERB like with a bit too much exposition and mustache twirling. But when we are in the action sequences, THIS IS Tarzan.

Bottom line. If you like Tarzan, you will want to read this book. It reads a bit differently than original stories, but in the end, you won't let that bother you much. You will have spent time with an old friend.