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S**R
Stories of High Adventure
"A Princess of Mars" got the series off to a 'leaping' start when it first appeared in the pulp magazines of the day in a series of monthly magazine installments. In "Gods of Mars" John Carter returns to Barsoom just in time to save 'the incomparable' Dejas Thoris from a fate worse than death at the hands (or whatever) of the false Gods of Mars. "Warlord of Mars" rounds out the opening trilogy of the series with John Carter finally reunited with his beloved Barsoomian bride, 'the incomparable' Deja Thoris, after fighting his way across Barsoom from one pole of the Red planet to the other.In the 4th book in the series, "Thuvia, Maid of Mars", the focus shifts from John Carter to his son Carthoris and his quest to rescue the beauteous Barsoomian princess, Thuvia. Book 5, "The Chessmen of Mars", follows the adventures of Princess Tara of helium, impetuous daughter of John Carter and his beloved, 'the incomparable' Deja Thoris, as she is first rescued from the Crab-like Kaldanes who breed headless semi-human Rykors to serve as their interchangeable bodies, and later from the Martian Chessmasters who play Barsoomian chess (an unworkable, in real-life, variant of conventional chess) using living chesspieces. Her rescuer - a nameless Martian soldier-of-fortune or pathan - who is in reality Gahan of Gathol, whom Tara had previously spurned as a royal suitor.In book 6, "The Mastermind of Mars", relates the adventures of a new, and unrelated hero, Ulysses Paxton, another man from Earth. Like John Carter, Paxton arrives on Mars via astral projection and ends up being trained by mad scientist Ras Thavas, the titular Mastermind of Mars, in the techniques of mind-to-body transfer. Paxton uses these techniques to restore his beloved Valla Dia's brain into her own beautiful body after Valla's brain had been swapped with that of the hideous and evil Xaxa of Phundahl.Book 7, "A Fighting Man of Mars", the story of Tan Hadron (as related by Ulysses Paxton, the hero from "Mastermind of Mars"), and Tan Hadron's quest to rescue the beautiful but shallow princess Sanoma Tora. In the course of his quest Tan Hadron befriends Tavia the slave girl who assists him in rescuing Sanoma Tora. When the princess of his desire proves herself unworthy of his love, Tan Hadron accepts Tavia's love instead, and she (surprise-surprise) turns out to be a princess herself.John Carter returns to the series in the 8th book of the series, "Swords of Mars", about his personal war against the Guild of Assassins, which takes John Carter to Thuria, one of the moons of Mars, and back. The cliff-hanger ending leaves John Carter separated from 'the incomparable' Deja Thoris who remains a captive on Thuria. ...Book 9, "Synthetic Men of Mars", although not generally well-regarded compared with other ERB stories set on Barsoom, is a personal favorite of mine (aside from the opening trilogy of John Carter books). How can you resist a character grown in a culture vat, whose name Tor-Dur-Bar means four-million-eight, and whom the hero first encounters as a severed head which complains about not being able see from where it is being carried in a net strapped to the back of a giant man-carrying bird?!?Especially, when later on our current hero Vor Daj has his brain transferred into Tor-Dur-Bar's repulsive body in order to rescue the Barsoomian princess Janai, the story's damsel-in-distress, after first transferring the loyal Tor-Dur-Bar's brain into the well-built and handsome physique of their erstwhile opponent, Gantun Gur. All of this in aid of finding and retrieving the Mastermind of Mars, Ras Thavas, whose skills are required to heal John Carter's beloved, 'the incomparable' Deja Thoris, who lies at death's door following an injury.Meanwhile, back at Ras thavas' laboratory, things have gone horribly wrong with the culture vats, and the resulting immense, multi-headed & -limbed monstrosity breaks free from confinement and threatens to engulf the entire planet aas it grows beyond all constraints to overwhelm Ras thavas' entire island base. Fortunately Helium's fleet of flying battleships is up to the challenge of fire-bombing the repulsive, oozing mass of protoplasm, and turning it into a stinking, festering, char-broiled cinder.Book 10, "Llana of Gathol", is the weakest of the Barsoom series, as Edgar Rice Burroughs resorts to a bit of parody of his own earlier stories by casting John Carter's granddaughter, Llana, daughter of Tara & Gahan of Gathol, in the damsel-in-distress role originally reserved for her grandmother, 'the incomparable' Deja Thoris.Book 11, "John Carter of Mars", is a collection of short-stories published after ERB's death. One story is an incomplete effort toward resolving the cliff-hanger ending of "Swords of Mars", in which John Carter confronts the 'Skeleton Men of Jupiter'. It would have been interesting to see ERB explore more of Barsoom using the short-story format, and also tie up some loose ends from the novels in the process; too bad he didn't!These stories are not high art, or even good Sci-Fi/Fantasy; but they are terrific, well-written yarns featuring exotic Barsoomian locales, fantastic beasts, flamboyant princesses, dastardly villains, and cliff-hanging adventures in which the hero gets the girl and the bad guy meets his (or her) just deserts.
R**S
A Burroughs Masterpiece
I had only previously seen the Movie "John Carter" prior to reading Burroughs' 7 novels featuring John Carter and his adventures on Mars. Even though we now know that no life (as we know it) can be sustained on Mars, the idea about life on other planets has been bolstered in recent years through astronomical discoveries. According to many astrophysicists, the number of planets in our galaxy that could sustain biological life could number in the millions. NASA is even planning to launch a new telescope that is purposely designed to seek out habitable planets. As I was reading Burroughs' novels, I could not help but think that human-like life similar to his characters could exist, albeit on planets far distant from our own solar system; thus, overcoming what many might think of this work as having been made redundant by science and thus not worthy for a new generation of readers.As a rocket propulsion scientist, I tend to be somewhat critical of science fiction writers who base their work on spaceflight vehicles and propulsion systems that defy the basic laws of physics. Yet, I found in the world created on Barsoom (Mars) some rather interesting ideas about atmospheric propulsion and the construction of air vehicles. Forms of energy that we currently are only just now starting to investigate and understand more fully, i.e., antimatter, anti-gravity, dark matter, etc., could one-day work in similar fashion to Burroughs' "8th ray" enabling reaction-less propulsion. All this to say that Burroughs' Mars, and the technology he invented or imagined is deliciously appealing even to a contemporary rocket scientist.More important than the technology of Barsoom are its characters, and how Burroughs was able to develop them such that after awhile, we feel we know them just like we would know our own family, friends, and business associates. He was, in short, the consummate novelist of his time. The motivations he wove into his stories are ageless, based I am sure on his views of the human condition, our values, our emotions, and even those his understanding of lesser intelligent life on planet Earth. I am sure his thought was that what we know about ourselves is universal, and thus, the idea that people from Mars should love, hate, and suffer from the same shortcomings of greed, jealousy, and need for power over others, is not only universal, but would be readily acceptable to his readers.I also greatly enjoyed the notion that an alien transported to another world, even one with a culture that could be millions of years in the making could be affected and even transformed. John Carter, being a typical southern, educated gentleman of his time introduced many ideas into the Barsoomian landscape: friendship, loyalty, and dedication to name a few; and yes, even love for a woman that would take him from one danger to another across an entire planet. This idealism about humans may seem out of place in today's world where many believe that people are the source of pollution bringing great calamity to our planet's ecosystem and the breeder of endless conflicts. In his works, Burroughs rejects the idea that humans and their natural bent to self-destruction must be curtailed by an enlightened few, even at the expense of personal liberty.In summary, the Barsoom Series of novels is one heck of a great yarn told by a master storyteller and worthy of reading, and even contemplation.
L**Z
Damaged cover
This book which is 7 novels in one is not cheap and arrived damaged. I am returning it as it is a gift..even if it wasn’t I don’t see why customers are expected to accept damaged items., asked for replacement and its damaged too., have asked for another replacement, if this one is damaged then I’m likely to get angry. The problem is that this is a very thick and heavy book and the packaging is too flimsy.
J**N
Book
Giant slab of a book. Would be lovely if it hadn't been slapped into a non suitable box and creased all to hell.
B**E
a little rough around the edges
Arrived a little later than expected and the pages were slightly damaged but otherwise a good read so far
W**N
Long read
It is a really big and heavy book but all the Barsoom stories are in it
B**N
Five Stars
Great book! It arrived in good condition!
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