Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar – Edgar Rice Burroughs (1918)
In this fifth installment of the Tarzan series, Edgar Rice Burroughs plunges his iconic hero into a whirlwind of greed, betrayal, and forgotten memories. The story finds Tarzan in financial ruin after a failed investment, compelling him to return to the lost city of Opar—the crumbling Atlantean outpost first discovered in The Return of Tarzan—to reclaim its vaults of gold. But Opar’s high priestess, La, still burns with obsessive love for the ape-man, and her jealousy ignites a deadly trap.
After an earthquake strikes during Tarzan’s raid on Opar’s treasure chambers, a blow to the head leaves him with amnesia, reducing the civilized Lord Greystoke to a primal, near-mute version of himself. As Tarzan wanders the jungle in this feral state, three factions converge on Opar: his devoted Waziri warriors, the treacherous European Achmet Zek and his band of raiders, and the vengeful Albert Werper, a Belgian officer who steals Tarzan’s wife Jane (mistakenly believing her to be a hostage).
Burroughs masterfully intertwines these threads, delivering sword fights, lion attacks, and a thrilling climax where Tarzan—still bereft of memory but not instinct—rescues Jane in a torrential rainstorm. The novel stands out for its psychological depth, exploring identity and resilience as Tarzan’s raw instincts triumph over his civilized persona.
“A glittering caper where gold buys only trouble, and love outshines even Atlantis’ treasures.”
