Tarzan’s Quest – Edgar Rice Burroughs (1936)
In this 19th installment of the Tarzan series, Edgar Rice Burroughs weaves together jungle adventure and supernatural intrigue as Tarzan stumbles upon a deadly secret: a band of European explorers searching for the fabled “Kavuru”—a mysterious tribe rumored to possess an elixir of immortality. The expedition includes the headstrong Nancy Brown, a pilot with a hidden agenda, and Esteban Miranda, Tarzan’s old foe posing as the ape-man himself. Their quest takes a dark turn when young women from local villages begin vanishing, snatched by the Kavuru for sinister rituals.
Tarzan’s investigation leads him to the Kavuru’s cliffside stronghold, where he discovers a grotesque truth—the tribe’s immortal “angels” are actually aged men and women sustained by the glandular secretions of sacrificed virgins. With his allies Nkima the monkey and Muviro the Waziri chief, Tarzan battles both the Kavuru’s scientific horrors and Miranda’s treachery in a race to save Nancy and dismantle the cult.
Burroughs blends pulp action with uncharacteristic body horror here, while subtly critiquing Western obsession with youth and power. The novel stands out for its strong female characters (including Buira, a courageous village girl) and its haunting finale, where immortality’s cost is laid bare.
“A jungle Gothic—where the real monster isn’t a beast, but the human hunger for eternal life.”
