A review by gengelcox
Slave Safari by Richard Sapir, Warren Murphy

adventurous fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

The Destroyer series always had an element of fantasy to it, what I’ve called in previous books the superhero element. But in this book, that element turns into more straight fantasy, as Chiun and Remo engage in a Ruritanian adventure in a non-existent African nation. Part of the plot is about a prophecy of how the master from the East and the dead man from the West will come back and the tribe will once again be the leaders, and the specific nature of that is part of the fantasy. The other is a bit of demonstration of firewalking on Chiun and other characters’ part. 

Because of their nature as men’s pulp novels, the amount of violence described isn’t surprising. There’s a couple of scenes in this one that were a lot more graphic than earlier: descriptions of violence against women in particular. I hope this is not going to be a trend for future books. 

Finally, where these books really shine is in the depiction of the relationship between Remo and Chiun, and this one has some excellent banter and surprises, especially with regards to the reason why Chiun feels an obligation to fulfill an ancestor’s promise. It takes the whole novel to set up, but it’s worth the payoff.