Edgar Rice Burroughs‘ electrifying sequel to Tarzan of the Apes thrusts the jungle-born lord into a sweeping saga of espionage, lost cities, and romantic reckoning. Having sacrificed his identity as John Clayton, Lord Greystoke, to preserve Jane Porter’s future with his cousin, Tarzan embarks on a global odyssey that tests his nobility, cunning, and primal instincts.
The narrative unfolds with Tarzan adrift in Europe, where his physical prowess and unpolished manners mask a razor-sharp intellect. After saving French diplomat Paul D’Arnot from Russian agents Nikolas Rokoff and Alexis Paulvitch aboard a luxury liner, Tarzan is drawn into a web of international intrigue—from Saharan sword fights to Parisian society balls. His journey crescendos with a fateful return to Africa, where he discovers the fabled ruins of Opar, a degenerate outpost of Atlantis ruled by the immortal high priestess La, whose obsessive love for Tarzan becomes as dangerous as the city’s trove of gold.
The novel’s second act delivers Burroughs’ signature pulp brilliance when Jane, believing Tarzan dead, ventures to Africa with William Clayton—only to face Rokoff’s vengeance and Opar’s horrors. Tarzan’s rescue mission culminates in a cathartic reclamation of both his jungle throne and his birthright, as the ape-man finally reconciles his dual nature.
Burroughs elevates his hero beyond muscle and vine-swinging here—Tarzan emerges as a philosopher-warrior, equally at home disarming bombs in Algiers or outwitting cannibals. The introduction of Opar and La seeded decades of sequels, while the lush prose (“The jungle was calling—that inescapable siren song of the wild”) cemented Tarzan’s place as myth.
“A masterpiece of identity and belonging, where civilization’s mask slips to reveal the untamed soul beneath.”
