Monday, December 26, 2016

King Kong vs. Tarzan - Will Murray


Okay, picture this: Tarzan . . . riding an elephant . . . leading a herd of elephants . . . fighting King Kong.

If that doesn't get your blood racing, you're probably not the target audience for Will Murray's excellent new novel, KING KONG VS. TARZAN. This top-notch adventure yarn fills in a gap in the original King Kong movie and tells the story of how Carl Denham, Jack Driscoll, Ann Darrow, Captain Englehorn, and the crew of the Wanderer get the captured King Kong from Skull Island back to New York. Turns out they have to stop in Africa along the way to take on supplies, and Kong escapes, and Tarzan shows up to help corral the big ape.

This is a great idea, and Murray tells the story in his usual fast-paced, exciting prose. There are some spectacular scenes in this one. Murray does a fine job of capturing the characters. I really hope there are more Tarzan novels to come from him. For me, a book like this really makes me feel like I'm back on my parents' front porch on a warm summer day with nothing to do but read. Well, maybe a break to play baseball later, but most of the day I'd spend happily lost in Africa with the Lord of the Jungle and the King of Skull Island. Highly recommended.

6 comments:

August West said...

Two of my childhood favorites. I can't let this one slide by.

Adventuresfantastic said...

I will have to get this one. Thanks for the heads-up.

Adventuresfantastic said...

I will have to get this one. Thanks for the heads-up.

Scott D. Parker said...

The title is enough for me, but your opening paragraph is the bow on the Christmas present.

Rick Robinson said...

I'd like it better if he had escaped and Tarzan had let it happen. I never liked that Kong went to New York and was killed. But then I was almost always sympathetic to the "monsters" and wanted them to escape. There were exceptions: the radiation-grown spiders, crabs ants and such.

James Reasoner said...

Yeah, I've always kind of rooted for Kong, too.