Tarzan and the Ant Men

Fantastical and funny, Tarzan and the Ant Men is the tenth novel in Edgar Rice Burroughs’ series that features the hero of the jungle, Tarzan of the Apes. American author Burroughs, known for his speculative fiction and planetary worlds, was considered one of the most influential writers in history due to the fact that his science fiction inspired the real-life exploration of Mars. Not only that, but Burroughs inspired many important figures in the literature world, such as Rudyard Kipling and his “Jungle Books,” as well as James Edwin Gunn, who won the Huge Award for his science fiction.

While Burroughs’ “Tarzan” series is not a work of speculative fiction, rather a series of adventures, “Tarzan” is still considered a classic and Burroughs’ most renowned work. In Tarzan and the Ant Men, which begins a year after the end of the previous novel in the series, Tarzan comes across an ancient civilization known as Minuni, which is made up of a small, ant-like people who have built city-states and now constantly war against one another. Tarzan, after befriending the king of one of the Minuni city-states, joins them in war against the city-state’s neighboring region. The ape-man is captured and taken prisoner by the enemy, who then decides to experiment on Tarzan and successfully reduces him to the size of an average Minuni. Now, unable to escape and with no way to turn back time, what will Tarzan do?

Tarzan and the Ant Men is full of themes that deal with sexism, slavery, and politics, but with the entertaining voice of Burroughs and the lively character of Tarzan the ape-man, anyone will enjoy reading this daring tale of adventure.