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Khokarsa #2
Hadon of Ancient Opar
Opar...the Atlantean colony in the heart of Tarzan's Africa.
Opar...in the words of Edgar Rice Burroughs, a hidden city of "gold and silver, ivory and apes, and peacocks."
Opar...is the starting point of this fabulous novel of twelve thousand years past, when Africa had in inland sea and a high civilization bloomed along its forgotten shores, when lost empires flew their time-vanished banners, and deeds of daring were commonplace.
Opar...in the words of Edgar Rice Burroughs, a hidden city of "gold and silver, ivory and apes, and peacocks."
Opar...is the starting point of this fabulous novel of twelve thousand years past, when Africa had in inland sea and a high civilization bloomed along its forgotten shores, when lost empires flew their time-vanished banners, and deeds of daring were commonplace.
224 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published April 1, 1974
28 people are currently reading
304 people want to read
About the author
Philip José Farmer
620 books882 followersPhilip José Farmer was an American author, principally known for his science fiction and fantasy novels and short stories. He was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, but spent much of his life in Peoria, Illinois.
Farmer is best known for his Riverworld series and the earlier World of Tiers series. He is noted for his use of sexual and religious themes in his work, his fascination for and reworking of the lore of legendary pulp heroes, and occasional tongue-in-cheek pseudonymous works written as if by fictional characters.
Farmer is best known for his Riverworld series and the earlier World of Tiers series. He is noted for his use of sexual and religious themes in his work, his fascination for and reworking of the lore of legendary pulp heroes, and occasional tongue-in-cheek pseudonymous works written as if by fictional characters.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
June 16, 2020
DAW Collectors #100
Cover Artist: Roy Krenkel
Name: Farmer, Philip José. Birthplace: North Terre Haute, Indiana, USA, (26 January 1918 - 25 February 2009)
Alternate Names: Tom Wode Bellman, Cordwainer Bird, Paul Chapin, Charlotte Corday-Marat, Harry 'Bunny' Manders, Jeanette Rastignac, Jonathan Swift Somers, III, Leo Queequeg Tincroder.
In the distant land of Khokarsa (both spatially and temporally, as Opar and Khokarsa are fictional lands that were in the centre of Africa more than 12,000 years ago). The title refers to a 19 year-old man named Hadon, who goes through the Great Games Of Klakor in an attempt to ascend to the throne of Khokarsa. Unfortunately, he gets royally shafted for his efforts, as, rather than being granted the position that is rightfully is, he’s sent on a rescue mission by a petty princess and power-mad monarch. Cue what seems like your traditional epic quest: save the girl and meet all manner of beasties and savages upon the way.
The series:
Hadon of Ancient Opar (1974,
Flight to Opar (1976,
The premise of the novel is that the winner of the games will become King, if the Queen decides to accept him. She has the option of refusing to do so, however. Young Hadon does indeed win the games, but before he can become King he is sent on a quest to find a mysterious woman with violet colored eyes who was seen by a previous expedition of Khokarsans in the far north and who is under the protection of the even more mysterious aforementioned Sahhindar. At the point where Hadon and a group of warriors and priestesses set out for the legendary northern sea, the action picks up and Farmer is at his best.
The series:
Hadon of Ancient Opar (1974
Flight to Opar (1976,
Cover Artist: Roy Krenkel
Name: Farmer, Philip José. Birthplace: North Terre Haute, Indiana, USA, (26 January 1918 - 25 February 2009)
Alternate Names: Tom Wode Bellman, Cordwainer Bird, Paul Chapin, Charlotte Corday-Marat, Harry 'Bunny' Manders, Jeanette Rastignac, Jonathan Swift Somers, III, Leo Queequeg Tincroder.
In the distant land of Khokarsa (both spatially and temporally, as Opar and Khokarsa are fictional lands that were in the centre of Africa more than 12,000 years ago). The title refers to a 19 year-old man named Hadon, who goes through the Great Games Of Klakor in an attempt to ascend to the throne of Khokarsa. Unfortunately, he gets royally shafted for his efforts, as, rather than being granted the position that is rightfully is, he’s sent on a rescue mission by a petty princess and power-mad monarch. Cue what seems like your traditional epic quest: save the girl and meet all manner of beasties and savages upon the way.
The series:
Hadon of Ancient Opar (1974,
Flight to Opar (1976,
The premise of the novel is that the winner of the games will become King, if the Queen decides to accept him. She has the option of refusing to do so, however. Young Hadon does indeed win the games, but before he can become King he is sent on a quest to find a mysterious woman with violet colored eyes who was seen by a previous expedition of Khokarsans in the far north and who is under the protection of the even more mysterious aforementioned Sahhindar. At the point where Hadon and a group of warriors and priestesses set out for the legendary northern sea, the action picks up and Farmer is at his best.
The series:
Hadon of Ancient Opar (1974
Flight to Opar (1976,
July 1, 2013
Originally published at http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...
To most general readers of science fiction, Philip Jose Farmer is probably best known as the creator of the RIVERWORLD series, and possibly also as the Golden Age writer who brought sex into the Science Fiction scene through his stories “The Lover” (1952) and Flesh (1960). He also loved to dabble in other author’s created universes, to the extent that he wrote numerous pastiches and fictional “biographies” purportedly by and about such characters as Edgar Rice Burroughs’ TARZAN, Kurt Vonnegut’s KILGORE TROUT, and DOC SAVAGE, just to name a few. Fans of Burroughs’ Tarzan books will probably remember that the erudite “ape-man” visited a lost city known as Opar in several of the books, a last remnant of an ancient civilization, possibly Atlantis. The denizens of Opar are ruled by a beautiful Queen named La, who is high priestess of the Oparians and falls in love with Tarzan in The Return of Tarzan, the second book in the series. Since Tarzan is already in love with Jane Porter of Virginia (not Great Britain, as in the Johnny Weissmuller movies), the love of La is not requited, but the two have a mutual attraction and relationship that persists throughout the series in several of the novels.
In the 1970’s Farmer wrote a novel set in the prehistory of Burroughs’ Opar, entitled Hadon of Ancient Opar (1974) which was to be the beginning of a series. The eponymous hero of the novel is Hadon, a young warrior from Opar sent to represent his city at the Great Khokarsan Games, a sort of Olympic Games set to choose a new King every generation. At the time of the novel, roughly 12,000 years ago, Opar is actually a smaller less important city in the empire of Khokarsa, a civilization set in various cities around the shores of, and also on a large island in, a huge inland sea in the middle of the African continent. The kingdom or empire is matriarchal, with a Queen/High Priestess ruling the land, but also with a King/High Priest who controls the military. The ruling deity is Kho, a fertility Goddess whose female priestesses control all non-military aspects of society, while the male deity is Resu, god of the sun, whose male priests are subservient to the rule of Kho and her priestesses. At the time the novel begins however, there is a struggle going on between the patriarchal followers of Resu and the matriarchal followers of Kho.
Farmer has a lot of fun with the set-up of the history of the Khokarsan ancestors of the later day Oparians Tarzan will later encounter. He drags all kinds of literary antecedents and historical anachronisms into his novel, including homages to H. Rider Haggard’s ALLAN QUATERMAIN series, especially the novel Allan and the Ice Gods (1927) and also some possible links to Haggard’s other memorable character Ayesha of She: A History of Adventure (1987). There is also a mysterious off-stage character mentioned throughout the story, a seemingly immortal tall grey-eyed wanderer known as Sahhindar, possibly the god of Time, or possibly a human being who has discovered the secrets of time travel and long life. Sahhindar is responsible for having introduced the Khokarsans to many of their advancements in agriculture and military science over the preceding centuries, allowing them to achieve a Bronze Age culture while being surrounded by Stone Age neighbors. Astute readers of the book may deduce who this Sahhindar really is.
The premise of the novel is that the winner of the games will become King, if the Queen decides to accept him. She has the option of refusing to do so, however. Young Hadon does indeed win the games, but before he can become King he is sent on a quest to find a mysterious woman with violet colored eyes who was seen by a previous expedition of Khokarsans in the far north and who is under the protection of the even more mysterious aforementioned Sahhindar. At the point where Hadon and a group of warriors and priestesses set out for the legendary northern sea, the action truly picks up and Farmer is at his best.
Hadon of Ancient Opar is a fun read, and it is especially so for die-hard fans of Burroughs, but it may be a little confusing for those readers who aren’t familiar with the Tarzan books. Editor Christopher Paul Carey has written a forward to this Titan Books reissue of the novel, along with appendices of dates, maps and glossaries for this edition that help explain the tie-ins and context of the story. I enjoyed re-reading this novel almost forty years after the first time I read it, but there are a few things that I noticed this second time around that escaped me initially. There are parts of the novel where the anachronisms seem a little over the top, especially early on in the book when the contestants are competing in the games to determine who will be king. As just one example, I wish Farmer had taken time to call his running events something different than the “100-yd. dash” and the “2 mile run” as the modern terminology grates a little. While the society is matriarchal, with women priestesses being in charge both in relationships and government in the villages and cities Hadon and his group pass through, the essential passiveness of a couple of the major female characters may be off-putting to some readers. There is also a fair amount of blood and gore and an alleged off stage rape of a high priestess, resulting in the exile of a character who makes an appearance late in the book.
I recommend Hadon of Ancient Opar to anyone who’s a fan of Burroughs, and Haggard however. I also recommend it to anyone interested in reading up on Farmer’s diverse oeuvre and learning about his various forays into the works and creations of other authors. There are several related novels and stories in this series, including a direct sequel Flight to Opar (1976), and a couple of related stories started by Farmer and finished by Carey in The Song of Kwasin (2012). (These are all collected in Subterranean Press’s recent omnibus edition.) There is also a novella entitled “Kwasin and the Bear God” and Farmer’s time travel novel Time’s Last Gift (1972) can be considered a sort of prequel to the series as well.
To most general readers of science fiction, Philip Jose Farmer is probably best known as the creator of the RIVERWORLD series, and possibly also as the Golden Age writer who brought sex into the Science Fiction scene through his stories “The Lover” (1952) and Flesh (1960). He also loved to dabble in other author’s created universes, to the extent that he wrote numerous pastiches and fictional “biographies” purportedly by and about such characters as Edgar Rice Burroughs’ TARZAN, Kurt Vonnegut’s KILGORE TROUT, and DOC SAVAGE, just to name a few. Fans of Burroughs’ Tarzan books will probably remember that the erudite “ape-man” visited a lost city known as Opar in several of the books, a last remnant of an ancient civilization, possibly Atlantis. The denizens of Opar are ruled by a beautiful Queen named La, who is high priestess of the Oparians and falls in love with Tarzan in The Return of Tarzan, the second book in the series. Since Tarzan is already in love with Jane Porter of Virginia (not Great Britain, as in the Johnny Weissmuller movies), the love of La is not requited, but the two have a mutual attraction and relationship that persists throughout the series in several of the novels.
In the 1970’s Farmer wrote a novel set in the prehistory of Burroughs’ Opar, entitled Hadon of Ancient Opar (1974) which was to be the beginning of a series. The eponymous hero of the novel is Hadon, a young warrior from Opar sent to represent his city at the Great Khokarsan Games, a sort of Olympic Games set to choose a new King every generation. At the time of the novel, roughly 12,000 years ago, Opar is actually a smaller less important city in the empire of Khokarsa, a civilization set in various cities around the shores of, and also on a large island in, a huge inland sea in the middle of the African continent. The kingdom or empire is matriarchal, with a Queen/High Priestess ruling the land, but also with a King/High Priest who controls the military. The ruling deity is Kho, a fertility Goddess whose female priestesses control all non-military aspects of society, while the male deity is Resu, god of the sun, whose male priests are subservient to the rule of Kho and her priestesses. At the time the novel begins however, there is a struggle going on between the patriarchal followers of Resu and the matriarchal followers of Kho.
Farmer has a lot of fun with the set-up of the history of the Khokarsan ancestors of the later day Oparians Tarzan will later encounter. He drags all kinds of literary antecedents and historical anachronisms into his novel, including homages to H. Rider Haggard’s ALLAN QUATERMAIN series, especially the novel Allan and the Ice Gods (1927) and also some possible links to Haggard’s other memorable character Ayesha of She: A History of Adventure (1987). There is also a mysterious off-stage character mentioned throughout the story, a seemingly immortal tall grey-eyed wanderer known as Sahhindar, possibly the god of Time, or possibly a human being who has discovered the secrets of time travel and long life. Sahhindar is responsible for having introduced the Khokarsans to many of their advancements in agriculture and military science over the preceding centuries, allowing them to achieve a Bronze Age culture while being surrounded by Stone Age neighbors. Astute readers of the book may deduce who this Sahhindar really is.
The premise of the novel is that the winner of the games will become King, if the Queen decides to accept him. She has the option of refusing to do so, however. Young Hadon does indeed win the games, but before he can become King he is sent on a quest to find a mysterious woman with violet colored eyes who was seen by a previous expedition of Khokarsans in the far north and who is under the protection of the even more mysterious aforementioned Sahhindar. At the point where Hadon and a group of warriors and priestesses set out for the legendary northern sea, the action truly picks up and Farmer is at his best.
Hadon of Ancient Opar is a fun read, and it is especially so for die-hard fans of Burroughs, but it may be a little confusing for those readers who aren’t familiar with the Tarzan books. Editor Christopher Paul Carey has written a forward to this Titan Books reissue of the novel, along with appendices of dates, maps and glossaries for this edition that help explain the tie-ins and context of the story. I enjoyed re-reading this novel almost forty years after the first time I read it, but there are a few things that I noticed this second time around that escaped me initially. There are parts of the novel where the anachronisms seem a little over the top, especially early on in the book when the contestants are competing in the games to determine who will be king. As just one example, I wish Farmer had taken time to call his running events something different than the “100-yd. dash” and the “2 mile run” as the modern terminology grates a little. While the society is matriarchal, with women priestesses being in charge both in relationships and government in the villages and cities Hadon and his group pass through, the essential passiveness of a couple of the major female characters may be off-putting to some readers. There is also a fair amount of blood and gore and an alleged off stage rape of a high priestess, resulting in the exile of a character who makes an appearance late in the book.
I recommend Hadon of Ancient Opar to anyone who’s a fan of Burroughs, and Haggard however. I also recommend it to anyone interested in reading up on Farmer’s diverse oeuvre and learning about his various forays into the works and creations of other authors. There are several related novels and stories in this series, including a direct sequel Flight to Opar (1976), and a couple of related stories started by Farmer and finished by Carey in The Song of Kwasin (2012). (These are all collected in Subterranean Press’s recent omnibus edition.) There is also a novella entitled “Kwasin and the Bear God” and Farmer’s time travel novel Time’s Last Gift (1972) can be considered a sort of prequel to the series as well.
March 2, 2013
I first (and last) read Hadon of Ancient Opar in middle school. Obsessed with anything connected with Tarzan or John Carter of Mars, I picked the book up simply because it referenced Opar in the title. I hadn't read Farmer's Time's Last Gift, so I had no idea who the man/god Sahhindar referenced throughout the book was supposed to be. I remember enjoying Hadon well enough, but I never read the sequel (Flight to Opar) and in fact forgot about / lost track of the series for several decades. A few years back, I became reacquainted with Farmer's Wold Newton works (rereading Tarzan Alive, and moving on from there), and so I was excited when I heard Titan Books was reissuing several of them, including Hadon.
Perhaps it's just that I'm not the same twelve-year-old who read the book the first time ... but I've moved from "liked it well enough" to "love it." In Hadon, Farmer did everything I love about George RR Martin's first Game of Thrones book, and I find myself understanding where my love of those aspects first came from. In Hadon we have an ancient setting (more bronze age than medieval), an adventure-fantasy without the more fantastical features (yes, there's an Oracle, and some talk of gods walking among men, but otherwise the mystical aspect is so low as to be non-existant) and a veritable mountain of political intrigue and world-exploration. And Farmer does it with an economy of language that most modern fantasy writers can't be bothered with (unless we're talking about urban fantasy). That's not a surprise with Farmer coming very much from the Burroughs-Doyle-etal school of pulp adventure writing: move the story along, make things happen.
I enjoyed the fast pace of the book, even if there are occasional phrases so purple my eyes ache. I'll allow Farmer a few hyperbolic sentences here and there, because they don't slow the narrative down. We follow Hadon and his fellow contestants from Opar (which we see very little of, despite the back cover copy) to the capital city of Khokarsa; we endure the Great Games with him, and then his journey out to follow an Oracle's command to rescue three outsiders who had been under the protection of Sahhindar but lost along the way, and his journey back. Farmer shows us Hadon's growth from a youth obsessed with winning the Games and becoming King (but still worried over the prospect of having to face and kill his friends) to a hero more concerned with the safety of others than himself. Hadon is surrounded by a cast of colorful characters: his cousin, the giant exile Kwasin, particularly stands out, but so do the female leads Awineth and Lalila, the dwarf Paga, the scribe Hinokly, the soldier Tadoku, and the bard Kebiwabes. The two female leads could perhaps be a bit more fully developed (characterizationally, I mean ... it's clear that they are both absolutely beautiful physically) in comparison to the male characters, but they're still more well-rounded than a lot of the other fantasy and adventure fiction I read back in that period (and certainly more well-developed that most of the females in Burroughs' own work).
There are a ton of hidden connections in the book: to Tarzan, naturally, and to H. Rider Haggard's Allan Quartermain, but also to other works by Farmer and Burroughs and others. This is one of the things Farmer excelled at: building those connections into stories and novels for people to find, but not beating the reader over the head with them. I enjoyed Hadon well enough in 1978 without catching most of those references, and I enjoyed it again in 2013 both without and because of them. Despite what some folks will tell you, it is entirely possible to enjoy Farmer's Wold-Newton works as stories in and of themselves, without constantly searching for the winks, nods and hidden references -- but finding them sure does add a fun layer to the experience. If you enjoy pulp and adventure and/or light fantasy, you'll enjoy Hadon of Ancient Opar.
I have to mention the new foreword and afterword provided by my friend Christopher Paul Carey. Chris is THE expert on Farmer's Khokarsa works, even co-authoring the final book in the trilogy, The Song of Kwasin, with Farmer and writing other Khokarsa stories with Farmer's blessing. The foreword traces the "literary archaeology" of Hadon, providing the necessary context for how Farmer's work grows from and connects back to the work of Burroughs and Haggard. The afterword is a glossary of names and places and some events pertinent not just to Hadon but to the trilogy as a whole. Both enhance enjoyment of the book, whether you read them before the main text or after. They may this edition work purchasing even if you have an old dog-eared copy of Hadon sitting around waiting to be reread.
The second book in the series, Flight To Opar, is not currently slated for re-issue by Titan in their current slate of Farmer books, but one can hope that sales are good enough to justify a second round of re-issues and that Flight (and perhaps Song of Kwasin) will be included. In the meantime, I did find an old copy of Flight (and Hadon) in a used book store not long ago.
Perhaps it's just that I'm not the same twelve-year-old who read the book the first time ... but I've moved from "liked it well enough" to "love it." In Hadon, Farmer did everything I love about George RR Martin's first Game of Thrones book, and I find myself understanding where my love of those aspects first came from. In Hadon we have an ancient setting (more bronze age than medieval), an adventure-fantasy without the more fantastical features (yes, there's an Oracle, and some talk of gods walking among men, but otherwise the mystical aspect is so low as to be non-existant) and a veritable mountain of political intrigue and world-exploration. And Farmer does it with an economy of language that most modern fantasy writers can't be bothered with (unless we're talking about urban fantasy). That's not a surprise with Farmer coming very much from the Burroughs-Doyle-etal school of pulp adventure writing: move the story along, make things happen.
I enjoyed the fast pace of the book, even if there are occasional phrases so purple my eyes ache. I'll allow Farmer a few hyperbolic sentences here and there, because they don't slow the narrative down. We follow Hadon and his fellow contestants from Opar (which we see very little of, despite the back cover copy) to the capital city of Khokarsa; we endure the Great Games with him, and then his journey out to follow an Oracle's command to rescue three outsiders who had been under the protection of Sahhindar but lost along the way, and his journey back. Farmer shows us Hadon's growth from a youth obsessed with winning the Games and becoming King (but still worried over the prospect of having to face and kill his friends) to a hero more concerned with the safety of others than himself. Hadon is surrounded by a cast of colorful characters: his cousin, the giant exile Kwasin, particularly stands out, but so do the female leads Awineth and Lalila, the dwarf Paga, the scribe Hinokly, the soldier Tadoku, and the bard Kebiwabes. The two female leads could perhaps be a bit more fully developed (characterizationally, I mean ... it's clear that they are both absolutely beautiful physically) in comparison to the male characters, but they're still more well-rounded than a lot of the other fantasy and adventure fiction I read back in that period (and certainly more well-developed that most of the females in Burroughs' own work).
There are a ton of hidden connections in the book: to Tarzan, naturally, and to H. Rider Haggard's Allan Quartermain, but also to other works by Farmer and Burroughs and others. This is one of the things Farmer excelled at: building those connections into stories and novels for people to find, but not beating the reader over the head with them. I enjoyed Hadon well enough in 1978 without catching most of those references, and I enjoyed it again in 2013 both without and because of them. Despite what some folks will tell you, it is entirely possible to enjoy Farmer's Wold-Newton works as stories in and of themselves, without constantly searching for the winks, nods and hidden references -- but finding them sure does add a fun layer to the experience. If you enjoy pulp and adventure and/or light fantasy, you'll enjoy Hadon of Ancient Opar.
I have to mention the new foreword and afterword provided by my friend Christopher Paul Carey. Chris is THE expert on Farmer's Khokarsa works, even co-authoring the final book in the trilogy, The Song of Kwasin, with Farmer and writing other Khokarsa stories with Farmer's blessing. The foreword traces the "literary archaeology" of Hadon, providing the necessary context for how Farmer's work grows from and connects back to the work of Burroughs and Haggard. The afterword is a glossary of names and places and some events pertinent not just to Hadon but to the trilogy as a whole. Both enhance enjoyment of the book, whether you read them before the main text or after. They may this edition work purchasing even if you have an old dog-eared copy of Hadon sitting around waiting to be reread.
The second book in the series, Flight To Opar, is not currently slated for re-issue by Titan in their current slate of Farmer books, but one can hope that sales are good enough to justify a second round of re-issues and that Flight (and perhaps Song of Kwasin) will be included. In the meantime, I did find an old copy of Flight (and Hadon) in a used book store not long ago.
July 14, 2023
The second book in this series takes us to 10,000 BC when Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Opar was a vassal city to the Khokorsan Empire. Fun semi-Burroughs style read with plenty of mention of the god like Shaahindar aka Tarzan.
October 7, 2025
Taking place 12,000 years prior to the Tarzan books, we find a young strong Hadon competing in some grueling and dangerous jungle Olympic type games and a quest in the second half with many ferocious encounters that Farmer concludes with a cliffhanger. A rollercoaster read for sure.
October 3, 2020
I find myself really wanting to enjoy the Wold Newton Universe books of PJF more than I do. Tarzan Alive I found dry and poorly written. This tale has excitement, action, pulpy goodness; however, the last three chapters dragged their feet. I was ready for the book to end sooner, and not on the (somewhat) of a cliffhanger that it does.
Despite two PJF disappointments in a row, I am too stubborn to give up on the WNU...yet.
Despite two PJF disappointments in a row, I am too stubborn to give up on the WNU...yet.
March 15, 2021
An exciting adventure story, a fantasy despite the fact there is no magic. It reminds me strongly of the works of writers such as Rider Haggard and Cutcliffe Hyne (as it is supposed to do) but it was inspired by Tarzan's visit to the lost city of Opar in The Return of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs. It is set in Africa more than 10,000 years ago.
The tale moves at a furious pace (as most of Farmer's books do) and the main protagonist, Hadon, is a likeable fellow, a somewhat callow youth who is a great athlete but still has much to learn about the arts of politics and military strategy. Nonetheless he is a very quick learner. This plot propels him through a bout of gladiatorial games and then sends him on a dangerous expedition through the 'Wild Lands' to the shores of the 'Ringing Sea' and back again to the island city of Khokarsa. He has encounters with many opponents and makes both allies and enemies on the journey.
Farmer on several occasions describes the clothes that Hadon had on.
One of the secondary characters, Kwasin, is an extremely strong and powerful warrior, a sort of Hercules, headstrong and violent. Although he aids Hadon he is an unpleasant individual, a bully and racist, and often plunges into trouble without any consideration for his companions.
Although not as good as Lord Tyger or Venus on the Half Shell, the last two Farmer novels I read, this is certainly an enjoyable romp.
The tale moves at a furious pace (as most of Farmer's books do) and the main protagonist, Hadon, is a likeable fellow, a somewhat callow youth who is a great athlete but still has much to learn about the arts of politics and military strategy. Nonetheless he is a very quick learner. This plot propels him through a bout of gladiatorial games and then sends him on a dangerous expedition through the 'Wild Lands' to the shores of the 'Ringing Sea' and back again to the island city of Khokarsa. He has encounters with many opponents and makes both allies and enemies on the journey.
Farmer on several occasions describes the clothes that Hadon had on.
One of the secondary characters, Kwasin, is an extremely strong and powerful warrior, a sort of Hercules, headstrong and violent. Although he aids Hadon he is an unpleasant individual, a bully and racist, and often plunges into trouble without any consideration for his companions.
Although not as good as Lord Tyger or Venus on the Half Shell, the last two Farmer novels I read, this is certainly an enjoyable romp.
June 22, 2015
Thank you Titan Books, for giving us this truly wonderful adventure, narrated like a fable, accompanied by lots & lots of additional information and notes. PJF had envisioned this trilogy as a tribute to ERB as well as Ambrose Bierce, but with his distinctive style. As a result, in this book we have a new mythology getting constructed, without any fanciful elements, but all having the essential characteristic of a dynamic society according to PJF: equality between men & women, with practical sense and courage triumphing over all obstacles. Recommended, especially since the good folks at Meteor House are about to give us the 2nd book of this trilogy very soon, since this one had ended in a cliffhanger!
July 24, 2008
Philip Jose Farmer is a very fine writer. Here, he took the fabled city of Opar, created by Edgar Rice Burroughs, and takes us back into time to tell a story of its past. I thought the idea was very good, raising it well above the usual pastiche, and it was a fun adventure. I highly recommend this and the second volume in this series.
January 24, 2023
I have to thank Farmer for really respecting my time. The writing is not particularly amazing, the characters not particularly interesting, the world not quite as unusual as I'd hoped, but he moves the plot along quickly, and never lingers. Sometimes I wish books were longer (Stapledon, Golding), but more often the quality of books doesn't justify their length.
I picked this up because I love the idea of lost ice age civilizations, and I've heard interesting things about Farmer. In that respect I was a little dissapointed. Farmer clearly thought quite thoroughly about how the history, environment and geography of the world would affect the civilization he built up, but in the end it felt more like a pastiche of ancient civilizations - the blood sports of Rome, the massive stoneworks of Egypt and Mesopotamia, the mythology of Greece, etc. I'm sure he lifted something from China as well, but I wouldn't know. I suppose the idea is that Khokarsa, as the analogue of Atlantis, is the source of all of these things in the later civilizations. The semi-matriarchal element of governance and religion helped give Khokarsa some distinct identity, but it could have used more. Given how quickly the plot moves in this book, I could have lived with a little more worldbuilding. Altogether, the world was believable if not as interesting as it could be. The only thing inexplicable to me was the prohibition on archery among the Khokarsans. The mythological reason is the exile of Sahhindar (Apollo) angered Kho, the mother goddess of their religion, but I can't see any corresponding anthropological reason for it. Maybe that's the point.
Finally, Farmer's decision to populate his ancient African civilization with central Asian descended characters (according to the back matter) was a little puzzling. I had to search online for a justification, where Farmer elaborated that he was working off of then-current 70s polygenic human origins, so black Africans would originate in west Africa, then later expand across the continent. That doesn't actually answer my original question, since either Africans or central Asians being spread across central Africa 12000 years ago would mess with things according to the theory, but it answered it on a deeper level in that he's operating off assumptions alien to our current society (can't believe 1970 was 200 years ago).
Hadon as hero had more emotional range than I expected: he even cries at a few points. He was occasionally thoughtful, impatient, sarcastic, but always heroic. Certainly more than I expected from a pulp hero. Kwasin, on the other hand, was annoying as hell. He has no redeeming qualities as a person, and the only things he does are act rapacious and kill people. And apparently some of the later books centre on him as the protagonist? Yeesh.
That said, I'll probably read further, if only for the sheer economy of storytelling.
I picked this up because I love the idea of lost ice age civilizations, and I've heard interesting things about Farmer. In that respect I was a little dissapointed. Farmer clearly thought quite thoroughly about how the history, environment and geography of the world would affect the civilization he built up, but in the end it felt more like a pastiche of ancient civilizations - the blood sports of Rome, the massive stoneworks of Egypt and Mesopotamia, the mythology of Greece, etc. I'm sure he lifted something from China as well, but I wouldn't know. I suppose the idea is that Khokarsa, as the analogue of Atlantis, is the source of all of these things in the later civilizations. The semi-matriarchal element of governance and religion helped give Khokarsa some distinct identity, but it could have used more. Given how quickly the plot moves in this book, I could have lived with a little more worldbuilding. Altogether, the world was believable if not as interesting as it could be. The only thing inexplicable to me was the prohibition on archery among the Khokarsans. The mythological reason is the exile of Sahhindar (Apollo) angered Kho, the mother goddess of their religion, but I can't see any corresponding anthropological reason for it. Maybe that's the point.
Finally, Farmer's decision to populate his ancient African civilization with central Asian descended characters (according to the back matter) was a little puzzling. I had to search online for a justification, where Farmer elaborated that he was working off of then-current 70s polygenic human origins, so black Africans would originate in west Africa, then later expand across the continent. That doesn't actually answer my original question, since either Africans or central Asians being spread across central Africa 12000 years ago would mess with things according to the theory, but it answered it on a deeper level in that he's operating off assumptions alien to our current society (can't believe 1970 was 200 years ago).
Hadon as hero had more emotional range than I expected: he even cries at a few points. He was occasionally thoughtful, impatient, sarcastic, but always heroic. Certainly more than I expected from a pulp hero. Kwasin, on the other hand, was annoying as hell. He has no redeeming qualities as a person, and the only things he does are act rapacious and kill people. And apparently some of the later books centre on him as the protagonist? Yeesh.
That said, I'll probably read further, if only for the sheer economy of storytelling.
August 26, 2025
Hadon of Ancient Opar is the first of three adventures that Farmer planned set many thousands of years prior to Tarzan's adventures in that lost city-colony of Atlantis. It's followed by the equally enjoyable Flight to Opar, which continues the story fairly closely; he had not finished the third book at the time of his death, and it was completed by another writer and published posthumously by a different publisher. It's a pretty good pastiche of Edgar Rice Burroughs, with references to many of Burroughs works if you look closely and also serves as an homage to many of H. Rider Haggard's African adventures. Farmer adopted the Burroughs style and formula, though in my opinion the character of Hadon is not as likable as Burroughs'. (The book is copyrighted by Farmer, not the Burroughs folks.) Hadon of Ancient Opar was the one-hundredth DAW release and has a vibrant cover by Roy G. Krenkel and several of his nice interior illustrations.
March 26, 2024
Philip Jose Farmer, famous for his Wold Newton mythos writes about the glory days of the lost city of Opar, discovered by Tarzan. It's sort of like a cross between Burroughs and Robert E. Howard.
A lot of derring-do, but I think what most striking part is the way this is written like a between the wars novel, where we all know WWII happens, but the characters ( and even the author) believe and hope that the crisis can be averted.
Great neo-pulp.
A lot of derring-do, but I think what most striking part is the way this is written like a between the wars novel, where we all know WWII happens, but the characters ( and even the author) believe and hope that the crisis can be averted.
Great neo-pulp.
August 4, 2015
Fantasía veterana en el estilo de aventuras en África a cargo de un héroe típico de civilización perdida a base de espadas, mocetones con falditas de cuero y chicas macizas solo por dar el toque erótico.
La novela es del 74 y aquí no aparecen ni elfos ni enanos ni nada de la imaginería tolkeniana, así que os podéis imaginar por dónde van los tiros. El héroe –no podía ser menos- protagonista se enfrenta en un torneo a los mejores y los malos en vez de darle el premio esperado le putean.
Es entretenida y se puede leer, pero los personajes son planos (¡por supuesto!) y es como ver a un Conan en otro formato. De hecho esta novela y su segunda parte (que empieza donde acaba esta primera de forma abrupta) son un homenaje a Burroughs, ya sabéis, el de Tarzán, John Carter de Marte, Carson de Venus y esos. Y el estilo de la novela es el mismo de estos que os digo.
Farmer era uno de mis ídolos de juventud por sus héroes sin dobleces, por sus chicas ligeritas de ropa y por su CF original. Su serie Mundo Río me encantó y le debía leer estas dos novelas y alguna otra que no pude conseguir cuando el rastreo de un libro era casi imposible. Hoy, con la red … pues eso …
A los más puristas les horrorizaría tal vez las cuatro estrellas que le doy si lo comparan con el estilo actual, pero igual es que no han visto películas de Tarzán, ni leído a Conan, ni han sido absorbidos por el maestro Farmer allá en su juventud.
La novela es del 74 y aquí no aparecen ni elfos ni enanos ni nada de la imaginería tolkeniana, así que os podéis imaginar por dónde van los tiros. El héroe –no podía ser menos- protagonista se enfrenta en un torneo a los mejores y los malos en vez de darle el premio esperado le putean.
Es entretenida y se puede leer, pero los personajes son planos (¡por supuesto!) y es como ver a un Conan en otro formato. De hecho esta novela y su segunda parte (que empieza donde acaba esta primera de forma abrupta) son un homenaje a Burroughs, ya sabéis, el de Tarzán, John Carter de Marte, Carson de Venus y esos. Y el estilo de la novela es el mismo de estos que os digo.
Farmer era uno de mis ídolos de juventud por sus héroes sin dobleces, por sus chicas ligeritas de ropa y por su CF original. Su serie Mundo Río me encantó y le debía leer estas dos novelas y alguna otra que no pude conseguir cuando el rastreo de un libro era casi imposible. Hoy, con la red … pues eso …
A los más puristas les horrorizaría tal vez las cuatro estrellas que le doy si lo comparan con el estilo actual, pero igual es que no han visto películas de Tarzán, ni leído a Conan, ni han sido absorbidos por el maestro Farmer allá en su juventud.
October 31, 2009
Farmer takes us back into ancient history to show us what ancient Opar might have been like at the height of it's power and what happens when the warrior Hadon gets mixed up with local politics and plots.
Neat idea and lots of good fight scenes.
Neat idea and lots of good fight scenes.
May 7, 2019
Now I know I’m not a fan of Farmer, I guess. I barely made it 50 pages before giving up. A boat journey that takes forever (how many paragraphs begin with 3 days passed?) wiped out any enthusiasm I might have had. We hear every day, everything that everyone had for breakfast, how much of it was sacrificed to the gods, who those gods were and what their months were. Yet a rivalry with another youth is (I hate using this phrase) told and not shown. “His hidden barbs were getting to Hadon.” Want to mention a couple of them? He spends all night with a priestess and “she barely let him sleep.” Ooh, racy. Now let’s have another list of what we all had for breakfast.
Parts of the writing were downright clumsy. Hadon conspires to have said rival arrive late to rowing duty by having hot soup spilled on him. Guy sits down, and suddenly it’s all about a bad smell. I went back a few paragraphs to see if I missed something, and Hadon had just relieved himself in a bucket, was soup a euphemism? But no, there were burn marks on his thighs. Turns out the delay was so Hadon could smear pig shit on the oar. It wasn’t amusing, how is it a prank if you’re touching it too, and having to puzzle out what the hell was supposed to be happening ground everything to a halt.
My only other encounter with Farmer was the barely amusing Venus on a Half Shell, another based on someone else’s creation. If someone personally recommended an original creation of his to me, I might check it out. Otherwise, I’m done with him.
Parts of the writing were downright clumsy. Hadon conspires to have said rival arrive late to rowing duty by having hot soup spilled on him. Guy sits down, and suddenly it’s all about a bad smell. I went back a few paragraphs to see if I missed something, and Hadon had just relieved himself in a bucket, was soup a euphemism? But no, there were burn marks on his thighs. Turns out the delay was so Hadon could smear pig shit on the oar. It wasn’t amusing, how is it a prank if you’re touching it too, and having to puzzle out what the hell was supposed to be happening ground everything to a halt.
My only other encounter with Farmer was the barely amusing Venus on a Half Shell, another based on someone else’s creation. If someone personally recommended an original creation of his to me, I might check it out. Otherwise, I’m done with him.
February 29, 2024
A story set in the world of the city of Opar thousands of years before its discovery by Tarzan. Unlike many other tales, this one was approved by the estate of Edgar Rice Burroughs. The plot is a familiar ones to fans of ERB, but Farmer sets in an empire that is at its height, and not in the last stages of decay. This gives it a sense of hope not seen in the ERB tales.
The author clearly spent many days and weeks building on ERB's descriptions. This land of Ancient Opar is as beautiful as the world of Barsoom or the jungles of Caspak and Tarzan's Africa. Hadon is a young man in a young land, but there is still a sense of the doom to come.
My only gripe is that Hadon did not really inspire me to root for him. His opponents were evil people, so it was easy to cheer at their destruction, but that's not the same as reading breathlessly for the hero to triumph over his foes.
I'm going to leave the descriptions, anything else would be a spoiler, and readers should go into this book with an unobstructed view of the adventure that awaits them.
Recommended for fans of Farmer, ERB, fantasy or high adventure tales.
Find it! Buy it! READ IT!
The author clearly spent many days and weeks building on ERB's descriptions. This land of Ancient Opar is as beautiful as the world of Barsoom or the jungles of Caspak and Tarzan's Africa. Hadon is a young man in a young land, but there is still a sense of the doom to come.
My only gripe is that Hadon did not really inspire me to root for him. His opponents were evil people, so it was easy to cheer at their destruction, but that's not the same as reading breathlessly for the hero to triumph over his foes.
I'm going to leave the descriptions, anything else would be a spoiler, and readers should go into this book with an unobstructed view of the adventure that awaits them.
Recommended for fans of Farmer, ERB, fantasy or high adventure tales.
Find it! Buy it! READ IT!
January 11, 2024
Libro de aventuras típico sobre un héroe omnipotente, mujeres bellas y bastantes tajos y sangre. Lástima trama tan simple, de fáciles arreglos, donde sólo el cautivante escenario africano la sostiene, mas llega el momento en que la acción aventurera te atrapa y es entonces cuando Farmer te mata, con un final que no es tal y obliga sí o sí a leer su segunda parte. Ya caerá.
Por otra parte, destaca la Cronología de Kokharsa, interesante apéndice cronológico que va del 12.000 a.c. hasta el 10.000 a.c., que relata la historia de los imperios centrales del África. Otra gozada extra de Ultima Thule.
Por otra parte, destaca la Cronología de Kokharsa, interesante apéndice cronológico que va del 12.000 a.c. hasta el 10.000 a.c., que relata la historia de los imperios centrales del África. Otra gozada extra de Ultima Thule.
January 20, 2020
A very pulpy 'sword-and-sandal' epic set in Western Africa during the last years of the Ice Age. The story was a bit formulaic and I was bored throughout the first half were the world-building was fairly strong but the tale didn't really grab my attention. The book was short though and at times the setting made it enjoyable even after struggling with suspending my disbelief due to certain topics like its perception of race and its treatment of several characters which were mostly one-dimensional and bland.
December 27, 2020
Intriguing historical background for Opar in Burroughs' Tarzan series. Studying maps in appendix before I started would have made it more rewarding. In fantasy universes, chronlogies can make things Intriguing. If you're not looking for fictional anthropologies, plenty of action to keep you going.
October 16, 2020
Re-reading this novel after 40 years. A great rollicking adventure set in the Khokarsa. The background is the lost civilazations of Africa from ERB, Haggard.
August 1, 2022
When you start this book, make sure you have Flight to Opar as well.
They should've been published as one novel.
They should've been published as one novel.
January 16, 2013
This story is fun, but it's a bit of a mess. It has a few things going for it, such as fascinating and thorough world-building (it's set in a prehistoric ancient Africa, about a civilization based around several inland seas) and a neat plot (the hero is defending his city against a megalomaniacal king, who usurped the throne from his daughter, the rightful queen). Unfortunately, the characters are sketchily drawn and the story just... ends, like an old cliffhanger serial. There's a sequel called "Flight to Opar," but there were supposed to be still more more sequels after that that were never written. I now have no interest in reading the sequel, especially since I know the main plot is never going to be resolved.
There's so many unresolved plot threads too, like a half-baked love triangle with the queen and a priestess who comes from God knows where, and such queasy-making elements like the hero's big macho rapist cousin whose violence against women is played for laughs. There's also a time traveler too... He is discussed much but apparently never shows up. It's very strange.
So yeah. It feels more like an outline than a finished novel. Too bad, because I liked the world-building a lot.
There's so many unresolved plot threads too, like a half-baked love triangle with the queen and a priestess who comes from God knows where, and such queasy-making elements like the hero's big macho rapist cousin whose violence against women is played for laughs. There's also a time traveler too... He is discussed much but apparently never shows up. It's very strange.
So yeah. It feels more like an outline than a finished novel. Too bad, because I liked the world-building a lot.
April 13, 2015
It's a clever way to play in ERB's sandbox--take an established location (the city of Opar) and work backwards some ten thousand years, to the heyday of that empire.
It felt kind of drawn out. First there was the journey to the city of Khokarsa for the Great Games, then Hadon had to win the Great Games, and then he had to lead an ill-fated-by-design expedition to the Mediterranean and back, and finally upon his return he has to deal with the inevitable and obvious coup d'état. And this, I felt, is where the story actually starts. But I am not one for seemingly endless jungle adventure and indeterminable missions into the wilderness.
It felt kind of drawn out. First there was the journey to the city of Khokarsa for the Great Games, then Hadon had to win the Great Games, and then he had to lead an ill-fated-by-design expedition to the Mediterranean and back, and finally upon his return he has to deal with the inevitable and obvious coup d'état. And this, I felt, is where the story actually starts. But I am not one for seemingly endless jungle adventure and indeterminable missions into the wilderness.
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May 22, 2010This book is an explicit homage to Edgar Rice Burroughs. Farmer gets the flavor close to the original, except that he adds a lot more sex than the quasi-Victorian Burroughs. He could hardly add more violence, but he tends to be more graphic in that respect, as well.
August 8, 2013
The world-building is nicely detailed, and I actually enjoyed the matter-of-fact tone once I got used to it. The story is a little flat, which I expected from a book like this, and it has no real ending, which I didn't.
January 13, 2012
Grade D.
August 2, 2013
As always with PJF well written. But while Burroughs could carry off the formula, PJF does not do as well.
August 27, 2014
This is ERB If ERB were a good writer; all the energy and creativity, none of the awkward prose and dreadful plots. This is a perfect heroic adventure story.
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