Jongor of Lost Land
Series: Jongor 1
Reviewed date: 2021 Feb 26
Rating: 2
126 pages
Overall it’s a decent effort at a Tarzan pastiche, but Robert Moore Williams has none of the writing skill of Edgar Rice Burroughs. This is pulp fiction and a hack job. It’s all right, but there’s a reason everybody remembers Tarzan and Jongor is only known on obscure corners of the internet. Jongor doesn’t even have a cult following to my knowledge. And that’s as it should be.
Chapter I: The Voice from the Jungle
Ann Hunter is in Australia, looking for her brother Alan who is missing in the Lost Land region. The native Bushmen and Blackfellow natives who she hired as carriers turn on her and her two companions. After a brief gun battle the natives are about to win when Jongor appears and drives them off. Jongor: a giant of a man, brown-skinned, clothed in skins and carrying a deadly bow. Tarzan of the Outback, one might say.
Chapter II: Jongor
Ann, Hofer, and Richard Varsey continue into Lost Land. Jongor follows and watches them. Jongor is John Gordon, the son of Captain Robert Gordon and his wife, whose plane crashed in Lost Land years ago. Jongor was born in Lost Land. Teros killed his parents when he was twelve. Jongor sees that Ann and her companions are unsuited to survive; they do not notice the dinos or the teros. A tero attacks Ann.
Chapter III: The Dino Rider
Jongor rides a dino and rescues Ann, Varsey, and Hofer from the pterodactyls. We learn that Jongor hates the teros and has waged a war of extermination against them since they killed his parents. Jongor also speaks English. Also we learn that Hofer is German and his accent slips out when he’s excited or stressed. I suspect he’s a Nazi, and he knows more about Lost Land than he admits to.
Chapter IV: "The Shaking Death"
Jongor warns that Lost Land has dangers greater than dinos and teros. Ann says she will stay and search for her brother Alan. Night falls, and a new danger approaches: a localized tornado picks up sand, debris, and even boulders, then it chases them into the trees. Jongor calls it the shaking death and claims it’s controlled by the Muros.
Chapter V: Land of Sub-humans
Jongor guides them to safety among the trees. Distraught and in shock, Ann accuses Jongor of inciting the Blackfellow attack, of controlling the teros and the dinos, and of being responsible for the tornado. Jongor angrily denies it, and leaves. At dawn an airship floats above the forest. Monkey-like creatures leap from the airship into the treetops, then swarm down and capture Ann, Hofer, and Varsey.
Chapter VI: Bride of the Sun
Ann awakes in a cell. They are all prisoners of the monkey men. A monkey soldier named Alcan escorts them to their Great King, who examines Ann closely. Hofer surmises that these monkey-men are Muros, descendants of the ancient Murian civilization. They are the missing link between man and monkeys. Ann is to be the bride of the shining god, that is, offered as a living sacrifice to their sun god.
Chapter VII: Life--for a price
Attendants prepare Ann to be sacrificed. Rifle shots panic the Murians. Varsey has escaped and killed the Great King. Ann is grateful to be rescued, but it turns out Varsey has conspired with the Murian Alcan: in return for help in escaping and killing the King, Varsey promises Ann to Alcan. Ann slugs Alcan across the nose and runs out of the city. Jongor rescues her.
Chapter VIII: The Fight on the Ledge
Ann and Jongor are caught between teros on one side and the pursuing Muros and Varsey on another. Jongor spears Varsey, then runs down Alcan and steals a jeweled amulet that allows him to mind-control the teros, which he uses to drive the Muros away.
Chapter IX: Escape
Jongor agrees to take Ann out of Lost Land back to civilization. On the way they find Alan, who reveals that Varsey stranded him in Lost Land. Varsey is only after the jewels and gold of the Murians. Alan also reveals that Hofer is an anarchist and a would-be Genghis Khan. In the confusion after the Great King’s death Hofer has gained control of the Murian technology, and he sends a tornado to kill the others.
Chapter X: The Charge of the Dinos
Jongor, Ann, and Alan escape the tornadoes but cannot leave Lost Land: Hofer has blocked the pass with a permanent tornado. Back at the Murian control tower, Hofer and Varsey converse, then Hofer shoots Varsey through the head.
Chapter XI: The Wages of Hate
Jongor attacks Hofer with an army of dinos. Hofer tries to escape in the Murian airship but Jongor kills him with arrows. Ann, Jongor, and Alan leave Lost Land.