Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle

In a hidden valley deep in the heart of Africa is an army of Crusaders. Sent forth from Britain in 1191, two shiploads of Crusaders were shipwrecked in Africa and were lost seeking their way to Jerusalem. Now their descendents--who speak remarkably good Elizabethan English--live in a secluded valley, ever on guard against the Saracen army they think must be all around them.

It's great fun. Tarzan doesn't feature much in the book (or at least not in the most exciting bits) but an American wildlife photographer, James Blake, finds his way into the Crusaders' valley and becomes a knight, wins the heart of a beautiful maiden, and the whole thing is just loads of fun.

It's not a great book but it's a book I enjoyed very much.

The Boris Vallejo cover art, though! I love the titanic struggle the scene depicts, I love the ape's fangs, the python's struggle, and Tarzan's knife and the spray of crimson blood. But Tarzan himself! Oh. His twisted, ugly face and his misshapen hunchbacked body. Ouch. It's the ugliest Tarzan I've ever seen. He reminds me of a hormad from the flesh vats of the Toonolian Marshes.