A Princess of Mars

Books that were popular years ago are frequently disappointments, particularly when they're so influential in shaping genres. Too often, the books that follow them exploit all of their novelty, so coming in late to the story means we already have the aftertaste in our mouth from all the most delicious bits; there's nothing left that's noteworthy or original (or rather, original-seeming). A Princess of Mars, however, has aged particularly well; a fact which is evidenced by the film adaptation due for release in 2012. Perhaps Burroughs' Mars series was thoroughly exploited by the pulp sci-fi of the 20's and 30's and I just had the good fortune to miss out on all that - I don't know. I just know that after I finishing the story (it didn't take long - it's a short book and reads quickly) I had a hunger for all things Martian. The story follows John Carter, a captain on the defeated side of the American side of the Civil War who goes out West to find a new fortune. Through methods not important, he finds himself transported from near-death on Earth to deathly danger on Mars (there known as "Barsoom"). John Carter is a man of courage, a man of no mean martial skill (no accidental concept-pun, that), and a man of honor, and through the force of these qualities (and the nifty feats his terran-trained muscles allow him to perform in Martian light gravity), he wins his fortune, along with the love of the most perfect woman of Barsoom. What works: the story is raw, unashamed pulp adventure, and captures every bit of the daring, excitement, despair, and thrill of unbelievable escapes that you could hope for. John Carter is the archetypal adventure here - brave, earthy, honest, quick to rise to any challenge that stands in his way. In that sense it's the pinnacle of the genre. It reads quickly, and rarely gets bogged down in lists of actions that can frequently hamper action scenes. Our chest swells vicariously for Carter's courage, and even an abundance of superlatives thrown at Dejah Thoris, the titular princess of Mars, seem to work because Carter sounds so sincere. If he says she's the most beautiful creature to walk any planet, we believe him. What elevates the novel from simple pulp, though, is the way it paints Mars. There's a sense of deep, extensive history, a sense that the planet and its inhabitants are thoroughly "other", but within the context of their otherness there are both generalizations (just as we can apply to ourselves), and widely variant individuals. The green men of Mars never really feel like humans with an extra pair of arms. The descriptions of the planet fit the Mars we can easily imagine until science reminds us that along with the lack of atmosphere and water (Barsoom's atmosphere is artificial and continuously replenished, and the planet is as dry as any desert), there is indeed no large-scale life on Mars. What doesn't work: While there are philosophical interludes, the pulp adventure of the story is it's primary - and nearly singular - note. If deeds of bravery and strength don't appeal to you and after the first few pages you don't think this book is your thing, you won't find any hidden redeeming qualities 100 pages in. The Takeaway: I read the second book by accident before the first, but the third is certainly in my book queue. If you have a Kindle, you can download the books for free from Amazon. If you don't, a paperback collection of the first several paperbacks is relatively cheap. If adventure (think Indiana Jones hybridized with the Grail Quests of the knights of the Round Table) appeals to you, you will love this book.

“As I gazed upon it I felt a spell of overwhelming fascination—it was Mars, the god of war, and for me, the fighting man, it had always held the power of irresistible enchantment. As I gazed at it on that far-gone night it seemed to call across the unthinkable void…” It seems quite a few readers have already plunged into the world of Edgar Rice Burroughs and are familiar with this series. I came into this one a rookie, this my first exposure to this author or series and can say after reading the first installment in the Barsoom series that it was an enjoyable ride. Burroughs creates an imaginative, exciting and engaging premise and plot with his lead hero, John Carter. I’m sure many are familiar with the basic outline and premise: John Carter, a gentleman from Virginia during the late 1800s is transported from Arizona to Mars, and once there, has to perform many heroic feats and encounters various battles and conflicts in order to survive, but protect those close to him that he becomes acquainted with or befriends on the red planet. During his experience, he becomes acquainted with Dejah Thoris, beautiful Princess of Helium, when the craft of her people is captured. Carter becomes transfixed with her, and many of his journeys and adventures concern saving her or trying to defend her or her honor. While maybe certain elements and scenes in A Princess in Mars fell in a little too favorably in place for our hero (as he is the nearly infallible physically) and there are some slightly favorable coincidences plot wise, I don’t think these sour what was otherwise a high-paced, enjoyable read. What Burroughs creates is a nice blend and balance of science fiction, romance (maybe slightly on the cliché side, but forgivable), fantasy, action and adventure. For some reason I was reminded quite a bit of both Flash Gordon and Star Wars while reading, and I think there are some similarities both visually and thematically. Through Carter’s quest, we see themes such as loyalty, honor, courage, struggle, friendship, and romance displayed. I also think that A Princess of Mars definitely ends with enough intrigue to whet the appetite for reading on and seeing what happens in the second installment in the series, The Gods of Mars. Over all, a very fun sci-fi and look forward to the next one.

Because of the expiration of their copyrights many excellent books are available in various formats for a very low fee, or even free from amazon, as it does for this book. Amazon also offers the entire set of all Edgar Rice Burroughs’ seven Jack Carter books about his experiences on Mars for only ninety-nine cents. Burroughs is famous for writing the Tarzan books. This book is totally unlike the movie that was made about it in virtually every way, as I show in my review of the film on amazon. The following is some highlights about the book, but I am careful not to include a host of details that make the book interesting, clever, and suspenseful. Jack Carter of Virginia was a captain in the Confederate Army. He had served previously in various countries as a soldier of fortune and was well-adapt in military affairs and was very strong. After the Civil War, he and a fellow officer went west prospecting for gold. They found a large vein of gold, but while attempting to lay claim to the strike, his partner was killed by Indians and Carter lay wounded in a cave. He awoke naked and discovered that somehow he had been transferred to Mars. Because of the low gravity on the planet he found he could jump extremely high. Later he realized he had also developed some telepathic powers. Mars had many nations but they were of two types. There were the fifteen feet tall somewhat primitive green people who did not look human. There were also people who looked like humans and were of human size, but were red. Carter establishes relations with both groups even though the two groups are fighting each other. Several people and a creature stand out. There is the princess who is the granddaughter of one of the human-like people. Carter falls deeply in love with her and occasionally has problems because he fails to act with her according to Martian customs. There is a green leader of his people who strongly dislikes the supreme leader because of something that man did to him. There is a female green person who likes Carter; she has a secret that can change the green society. She teaches Carter the Martian language. There is another green female who dislikes Carter and causes him many problems. And there is a ferocious looking beast that falls in love with Carter, like a faithful dog. Carter remains in Mars for ten years and has many adventures until something significant happens. This is an enjoyable book that contains many unusual clever ideas that readers will find interesting, such as the children of both the green and red people being hatched from eggs that must remain in an incubator for five years.

At the close of the Civil War, Confederate cavalryman John Carter found himself to be a man without a country -- and so he bid farewell to his native Virginia and headed west in search of gold. While attempting to save his prospecting partner from an Apache attack, Carter seeks refuge in a cave -- a cave with mystical properties as he soon finds himself transported to Mars, otherwise known as Barsoom. The variances in the Martian atmosphere gift Carter with a preternatural speed and strength. Carter's newly-discovered gifts allow him to survive among the Tharks, a nomadic, six-limbed tribe of fierce Martian warriors, winning him the hard-won respect of Tars Tarkas, one of the tribe's premiere chieftains. Carter gives little thought to his long-term future on Mars until the Tharks capture Dejah Thoris, the beloved Princess of Helium, one of the Red -- or humanoid -- Martians centers of power. In a life or death struggle to safeguard Dejah from the warlike Tharks and restore her to her people, Carter falls in love -- and in losing his heart finds a reason to fight for a future on this planet so different from his own. I cannot remember the last time I indulged in the luxury of re-reading a book, so to read A Princess of Mars twice in four months? That's something special indeed. A Princess of Mars is my first experience with early 20th-century classic pulp fiction, and it has proven to be a memorable one indeed. Burroughs's first drafted John Carter's first adventure after a series of failed business ventures. The behind-the-scenes featurette on the recently released film, "100 Years in the Making," posits that John Carter was birthed out of an existential crisis in the author's life -- and taken as such it is fascinating to watch Carter's journey from outsider to Martian hero unfold. A Princess of Mars is in many respects the first space western, with the arid Martian climate standing in for the American west. If Mars is the western frontier, the various tribes of warlike Tharks are stereotyped Native Americans -- but what is fascinating is that Burroughs does not rest on stereotypical divisiveness. Carter moves from an attitude of superiority and frustration with his Thark captors to respect and admiration from their battle prowess and code of honor exhibited by warriors such as Tars Tarkas. This eventually helps birth an unprecedented alliance between the once sworn Green and Red Martian enemies, perhaps pointing to Burroughs' own belief in the inherent possibility of new beginnings symbolized by wild frontiers. First published in 1912 in serial form, Princess is told wholly from John Carter's point-of-view. The first time I read the novel I was a bit put-off by the sheer amount of information "dumping," exacerbated by the fact that all of the action is related as Carter's reminiscences of his Martian adventures. For a good part of his time on Mars Carter is observing and learning, concealing the fact that he's learning the language and customs of the Tharks. This narrative style made the first third or so of the novel a bit of a slow-go on my first read-through -- but on my second, knowing what to expect, I couldn't put the book down. I relished Burroughs's imaginative world-building and richly-drawn characters. This is an intelligent adventure, articulately-told, with a cracking pace and a finely-honed sense of adventure and heart. While the non-stop action and breath-taking fight sequences make this a page-turning read, by far my favorite aspect of the novel is romance -- perhaps something I relish all the more because, in a novel of this ilk, a romance this passionate seems unexpected. I'm a complete and total sucker for an old-fashioned romance, and Carter's character possesses an inherent nobility and chivalry that I just adored. And while Dejah isn't quite the warrior the film version introduces (at least not yet), her nobility, self-sacrificing spirit, and intelligence mark her as a ground-breaking character -- every inch the lady, strong-willed, and willing to fight for what she believes. I loved the way Burroughs's develops their relationship. He seems to relish in their cross-cultural misunderstandings, but doesn't shy away from ages-old male/female archetypal behavior that lends their budding romance humor and spark. Princess is an old-fashioned adventure novel that becomes an increasing page-turner the more Burroughs lets us see Carter adapt to his new environment, gradually opening himself up to friendships and relationships with people whose appearance and customs are so different from his own at first blush. John Carter's first adventure on Mars is the rare type of novel that improves when revisited, giving me a deeper appreciation for Burroughs's work as a pioneer in the realm of science fiction and fantasy. A Princess of Mars is a ground-breaking, thoroughly entertaining adventure that holds up to this day -- a sterling example of Burroughs's imaginative prowess, a classic from the pen of a pulp fiction master. I adore this book. Bring on the sequels!

I read these stories when I was in high school, and I quite enjoyed them. ERB's Barsoom tales are a wonderful series, and make fantastic escapist entertainment, but have to admit, even back when I first read the books, I never entirely warmed to the character of John Carter himself, or of Dejah Thoris, and I enjoyed far more the books in the series where these two were not the primary characters (e.g. "The Mastermind of Mars," "A Fighting Man of Mars," "Llana of Gathol). Not only were those later books written after Burroughs was a bit more polished as a writer, the real problem is that JC and DT are, to put it bluntly, appallingly one-dimensional characters. They have NO flaws whatever. John Carter in particular, is what people call, in modern parlance, a "Mary Sue" character -- an overly idealized character, lacking any significant flaws or weaknesses, and constituting a pretty obvious a wish-fulfilment fantasy for the author. (The name comes from a story written as an intentional parody of this type of character, which is especially prevalent in amateur fan fiction.) In "A Princess of Mars," John Carter lands amongst the savages, but immediately impresses them with his prowess at absolutely everything. In no time at all -- mere days -- he's learned their language, defeated several of their best warriors, taught them new and better ways to control their domestic animals, and won the status of a high mucky muck among them. His origin on Earth, with three times the gravity of Mars, makes him superhumanly strong, he's immune to the natives' telepathy (but can read their minds at will), and is literally (according to a passage in chapter one) incapable of feeling the emotion of fear. He never does anything that even sails withing shouting distance of being selfish, self-serving, or dishonorable in any way whatever. And since the story is told from the first person perspective, it makes him sound like a truly insufferable braggart. He never makes a serious mistake through the entire series (his worst one, unintentionally offending Dejah Thoris, out of ignorance of Martian customs, is soon put right), Before the end of the third chapter, it has been fully conveyed to the reader that, no matter what, Carter is not at risk of serious injury, failure or death. This makes it really hard to care about the character; after all, it's not like Carter is going to ever have to overcome a failing or character flaw (he doesn't have any), and there's no sense at all that his plight might be the same as yours would be if you could somehow be put in his place, because there is never ANY feeling whatever that he will make a bad decision, even by accident or out of ignorance. And this aspect of the character never improves in subsequent novels; in fact it gets worse, on more than one occasion he states -- it's first person, remember -- that he is unquestionably the greatest swordsman who has ever lived. Not just of his era, or in living memory, or anything like that, but EVER. The result is that there is no sense of challenge, no credible threat that ever seems to genuinely endanger the character, and likewise, there is no sympathy for the reader to feel with a human character, no need for character development and no sense that the character will ever grow as a person through adversity, after all, he's perfect already. And all this is real pity, because other aspects of this book, and the subsequent volumes, are first rate. Sure it's a scientifically ludicrous fantasy, but it's entertaining, and if you suspend disbelief, you may lose yourself in one of the all time great settings for exciting, adventure fiction: lots of ancient ruins, warring city-states, vast stretches of unexplored wilderness, different races, exotic locales, etc.. Of course, it's still pulp writing, so one shouldn't be expecting anything other than escapist entertainment. The best installments in the series supply this, but the sheer weight of John Carter's one-dimensionality drags down the books which feature him as the main character.

I got the Kindle version and I am reading that version now. Originally, I found an old paperback book which I found was a fascinating read and I knew I would reread the story. There are movies of the story out there, but they lack something. The book version is so much more that the movie John Carter (which had the best visual effects over previous movies by the way) and there are other lacking B-Movies I have seen, but they have cheap effects. One's mind can have very imaginative visions of what happens in a story, and for that reason I think the book version is more entertaining than any movie, as it has more details, give you time to dwell in the story longer and is an escape to another fantastic world. This is the first of about ten books in this Mars (Barsoom) series. I found it difficult to find all the other books as used books for sale. I had managed to get some audio book version of up to five stories, but I did not find the actually books, and I did not experience the entire series yet. Happily I found that many are of the stories are available on Kindle, and I am excitedly looking forward to experience the Kindle version of the stories and hopefully I will locate all ten books, which are as follows: 1) Princess of Mars (1912), 2) The Gods of Mars (1914), 3) The Warlords of Mars (1918), 4) Thuvia, Maid of Mars (1920), 5) The Chessmen of Mars (1922), 6) Mastermind of Mars (1928), 7) Fighting Man of Mars (1931), 8) Swords of Mars (1936), 9) Synthetic Men of Mars (1940), and 10) Liana of Gathol (1948). {I'm not sure if the last one is actually related since the author calls Venus Gathol. I guess I will have to read the story to verify that information, also another note, I think these dates are more accurate than mentioned in the description of the Amazon page}. One has to realize that these stories are groundbreaking stories in a time before Star Trek, Star Wars and modern science-fiction. In fact, I think these stories had a profound influence on the writers of those movies and other great science-fiction writers of the past few decades. Anyway, my points are it is better than any movie, a great read, and I hope we all can find the entire Mars series.

Previously Published at TheQwillery.com This is the second book I've read and reviewed by Edgar Rice Burroughs. I'll be honest I was a little nervous to read it. I wanted to like it and I've heard so many people say how wonderful it was that I was afraid it wouldn't live up to my expectations. So, for you, dear readers, I conquered my fears and read A Princess of Mars. Burroughs does a splendid job of developing characters for a such a short book and considering its time frame. John Carter is a man of principles and doesn't falter from standing up for what's right. He also shows tact and patience in his affections towards Dejah. Even the green martians show depth and evolution as the story progresses. Tars Tarkas and Sola show very little in their relationship at the beginning of the story, but their relationship becomes much more complicated as secrets are revealed. The world building shows depth and is revealed in such a way that it truly makes the world feel old and on the brink of extinction. Burroughs introduces several different alien flora and fauna. He also takes time to explain the differences between the green and red martians by color and within their own respective groups. It shows a great deal of detail for such a short book. The pacing was a lot faster than I expected but not as fast as modern books. However, I wasn't bothered or bored since Burroughs did a wonderful job keeping my attention through the story. The fact that there's so many different genres within one book, like western, science-fiction, romance, and adventure, also helped to keep my attention. A Princess of Mars lives up to all it praise and history. I would call it a foundation stone to the genre. It made me giddy and happy as I became immersed in the pulp. I'd recommend this book to youth and adults. There is minor violence. I'd recommend you buy a copy. It truly is one of the pioneer texts in the science fiction genre and should be read and owned by anyone who professes a love of science fiction.

I was a teenager when I first read A Princess of Mars. I knew of Edgar Rice Burroughs as the author of Tarzan, and I had heard of John Carter of Mars before, but only in passing. When I finally had the opportunity to check out this book at the library - the school library, at that - I read it voraciously. I went to school 3 days running, heavy-eyed and yawning half the day because I had stayed up the night before, practically till dawn, reading. Once I was able, I read the rest of the series and purchased them in paperback when I had the chance. I cannot express enough how much the world building and the rather space opera-like feel of these books, particularly this first one, sparked my imagination. I know the language is a little outdated and perhaps difficult for some, but it is so worth the struggle - if it's a struggle for you - for the story and the concepts within it that were new and unique, in some cases, at the time. Many of the things in this book have been "borrowed" by writers and filmmakers in the years since, but this was one of the first to bring some of these things to life. Edgar Rice Burroughs was an amazing author, in his time and now, at least in my opinion. TL; DR: this is an amazing book from an older time and well worth the time it will take to read, and I'm sure you'll be hooked, like I was, and want to read more of the series. I recommend this as 10 out of 10, will definitely read again.