Tarzan: The Greystoke Legacy by Andy Briggs

Tarzan: The Greystoke Legacy by Andy Briggs
Buy Tarzan: The Greystoke Legacy by Andy Briggs at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: Confident Readers
Reviewer: Robert James
Summary: Thrilling 'reboot' of the Tarzan character plunges him and Jane into modern Africa amongst loggers, rebels and the usual dangerous animals. Fantastic, both for newcomers and established fans.
Buy? Yes	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 304	Date: June 2011
Publisher: Faber Children's Books
External links: Author's website
ISBN: 978-0571272389
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Robbie Canler is on the run. From what, it takes us a while to find out, but it's clear that it's something bad when the alternative is working for an illegal logging team in the jungle of the Congo. The work is tough at the best of times, and when things start going wrong for the team, it's definitely not the best of times. And then Jane Porter, his boss's daughter, disappears... Can she be found? And why do all these strange things keep happening to the loggers? It's almost as if there was a weird presence in the jungle.

I should admit straight away that I'm not particularly familiar with Tarzan. I know the very very basics, including the famous line Me Tarzan. You Jane. being a misquote, but that was about it before reading this book. Thankfully, Briggs has made it very accessible to novices like myself, while a quick check of reviews of the original Edgar Rice Burroughs novels shows that he's stuck firmly to the spirit of those books.

On that note, I have to say that the decision to set this in modern times as a 'reboot' rather than do a prequel as various authors have done with other classic characters recently works really well. It's easy to identify with Robbie, the villains - loggers, poachers and rebels - are completely believable products of our times, and Jane is a great modern-day heroine.

So, good choice of setting, but even more impressive is the way Briggs introduces his lead character. Right at the start of the novel the lord of the jungle dispenses summary justice to a group of posters, killing them brutally, and it's clear that this is a no-holds-barred read with a really wild star. Having said that, it's not particularly gory - the violence is present but never overly explicit, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this to mature primary school readers as well as secondary school students. I really enjoyed Briggs' fast-paced writing style, the characters were well-developed, with the subplot of just what Robbie was running from being intriguing, and I'm definitely looking forward to the next in this series.

High recommendation to fans of thrilling adventures! It's also got enough about the destruction of the jungle to be genuinely thought-provoking and open younger readers' eyes to the problems some countries have with these kind of activities.

I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to the Bookbag.

Further reading suggestion: For another really exciting read for young teens and more mature confident readers I love the Artemis Fowl series - I'd highly recommend starting at the beginning, although Artemis Fowl and the Lost Colony is perhaps the best of them.

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Andy Briggs is appearing at the Ilkley Literature Festival on 13 October 2012.

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