Customer Reviews

A Princess of Mars

5 star:		(80)
4 star:		(24)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

John Carter, Dejah Thoris, Tars Tarkas, they are all here! This is the totally unbelievable story of a man who got transported to Mars basically, because he thought it would be cool to go, so he wished it, and POOF, he's there. Then, there's the fact that the planet itself and the life on it are also completely ridiculous. FORGET ALL THAT! Read it to be swept up in one of the greatest adventure series of all time. John Carter goes to Barsoom (Mars, to the Martians) rescues the most beautiful woman in the universe and (later in the series) conquers an entire world through the power of his will and the strength of his right arm. Handsome, powerful heroes, beautiful half naked captive princesses just panting to be rescued, Villians, so evil you want to go back in time to strangle their parents, Big ugly friends, (What are you laughing at, remember Chewbacca?) strange beasts, stranger aliens, wierd science, epic battles, betrayals, great reunions. This one's got it all. The best of Burroughs' body of work, the most action packed series from the true master of the action story. Edgar Rice Burroughs is the creator of Tarzan. Don't ever pick up his work expecting an intellectual workout. Just get in and hang on for the ride

Princess of Mars is a fantastic, wild ride. I think everyone makes a mistake though of saying it's just a guys book. I'm a woman, and it was my mother who recommended Princess to me! I think any girl who's interested in science fiction or fantasy would really enjoy this book. Yeah, it was obviously written with adolescent boys in mind but I think anyone can enjoy this wildly imaginative page turner.

The characters are all extremely likable. John Carter is the perfect southern gentleman. Honorable, loyal, incredibly brave, respectful to women, extremely handsome; a perfect hero who is never boorish or conceited. Then there's Sola, one of the few green Martians to show compassion and kindness, and Tars Tarkas(aren't these names so cool?)a ferocious green martian warrior with a tragic past who is also able to feel compassion and love. And I dare anybody to tell me that they wouldn't want a Woola of their very own! Dejah Thoris though is mainly for the guys. Carter's love and devotion for her was really sweet. I didn't even know that this was part of a book series until I read it on amazon and now I am really eager to read the other books of the series. And wasn't the end cool? I don't think I've ever read an ending quite like that before. What Carter found in the cave at the end was very creepy and intriguing. (I won't give out a spoiler)

Although this is pulp fiction and sort of like a comic book in a way,(I can see mothers in 1912 scolding their kids, "That Edgar Rice Burroughs is going to rot your mind if you keep reading it!") it's still light science fiction at it's best! (I'll warn you right off though, please don't expect something deep and complex like Dune or Darkover and post a review whining about it. Princess is purely for fun.) And am I the only one that thinks Princess would make a really awesome movie?

You want imagination?..adventure?..a few dabs of science(remember it was written in 1912)?..an ageless hero?..an absolutely beautiful damsel in distress?..a whole new world?..with a language all it's own?..inhabited with strange new creatures?.. friends and foes?..battles royal?..This book, and all 10 or 11 sequels, have it all! ER Burroughs was the early master of science fiction, adventure, and imagination; a man ahead of his time, and he gives the reader a roller-coaster ride of incredible adventures. Join with us now as John Carter meets, rescues,and captures the heart of the INCOMPARABLE Dejah Thoris, Princess of Mars!, and eventually, along with his friend Tars Tarkas, follows suit with the entire red planet, Barsoom to its wild and whacky inhabitants.

Is this intellectual literature?..of course not. Is it non-stop fun and enjoyment, the original page-turner novel?...You bet it is! Pick this book up, start reading, and I guarantee: you won't put it down until you're finished!..and then you'll run out the door and be hunting for the 2nd book in the series, The Gods of Mars, and then # 3, The Warlord of Mars, and on through the series. Be warned: make sure you have access to #'s 2 and 3 before you start The Princess...you'll be sorry if you don't!

I first read the Burroughs Martian novels(there were 10 known to me then) as a graduate student studying Physics, some 40 years ago. They provided the perfect escape from the rigors of courses like Quantum Mechanics and E & M. Now I reread them,and I continue to enjoy. You will too.

Edgar Rice Burroughs will always be remembered first and foremost for his creation of Tarzan, but it was the character of John Carter, who first appeared in "A Princess of Mars" who truly served as a template for other science fiction writers. From Lin Carter's "Green Star" series to John Norman's "Gor" books there are tales of the man from Earth traveling to a strange new world and having wondrous adventures. John Carter was a gentleman of Virginia who finds himself looking at his dying body in an Arizona cave. Opening his arms to the planet Mars, Carter is suddenly whisked to the Red Planet, where rival tribes battle while the planet's atmosphere continues to dissipate. Captured by a band of six-limbed giants, Carter soon earns their respect for his prowess as a warrior and forges a lasting friendship with Tars Tara’s of the Tharks. But then the Tharks attack a fleet of airborne vessels and capture Dejah Thoris, the Princess of Helium, the greatest city on Barsoom (as the Martians call Mars). Of course, they get off on the wrong foot, since Carter knows nothing about the culture of the red humanoid race. But the lovely Princess of Mars has captured the Virginian's heart. Abandoning dreams of returning to Earth, he wants nothing better than to win her love. In the meanwhile, he has to protect her from the amorous attention of the depraved ruler of the Tharks, bring some semblance of civilization to the barbarian tribes, and stop all out war between the green men and red men from ending Barsoom's last chance for survival.

"A Princess of Mars" is the first of eleven novels in Burroughs' Martian Series, which seemed to avoid the pitfalls of some of ERB's lesser Tarzan novels. If Dejah Thoris is not the most beautiful woman in the history of fantasy and science fiction, then she certainly has the all-time best name. John Carter is able to take advantage of the Red Planet's lesser gravity to do great feats of leaping about, but it is his innate intelligence and intense sense of personal honor that make him almost idealistically noble. When I first read every ERB novel I could get my hands on in Middle School, Tarzan was always Tarzan, but there was something about John Carter that somehow made him the greater hero in my eyes. Maybe it was the way he handled a sword or how he was always determined to make Barsoom a better place that made him seem Burrough's finest creation. Certainly you will find ERB's most imaginative work, including the great game of Martian Chess, in this series. Do not stop at the first book, because while these novels are fast approaching being a century old, they hold up much better than the writings of Jules Verne or H. G. Wells.

This is Edgar Rice Burroughs's first novel, and he obviously had some growing pains to go through first. But he got up to speed extremely quickly. "A Princess of Mars" is imaginative, far exceeding anything else written in science-fiction before it. H. G. Welles wrote allegorical and social-commentary science-fiction, and Verne concentrated on scientific prediction. But Burroughs essentially took an old-fashioned Knight-errant story and tossed it onto Mars. The result: a fastasia of plutonium guns, sowrd fighting, flying platforms, 15 ft green aliens, and fercious four-armed white apes. Outrageous, ridiculous, and oh so much fun!

But the series would get better in the later books. To fully enjoy "Princess", you must also read "Gods of Mars", and "Warlord of Mars", which complete an informal trilogy within the series. Burroughs has some difficulty structuring this first novel, and the events do not fit together as well as his later works. Escpeially in the first fifty pages, Burroughs appears to be just winging it. Also, some of the stodgy poeticisms of earlier fantasy and sci-fi haven't quite left his pen. In a few more novels, he would trim his style down even further and revolutionize popular literature. With only his next book, "Tarzan of the Apes" (you've probably heard of it), he would make vast improvements in plotting and characterization.

But if you want to read Edgar Rice Burroughs (and few authors are more enjoyable), there's no better place to start than the beginning, and you'll quickly forgive "Princess"'s faults and be able to enjoy it...and the best is yet to come!

I am yet another reviewer who first read the entire "Carter" series as a boy (in the 1960's). I rediscovered them recently after listening to a Coast to Coast radio interview where Richard Hoagland (ex NASA consultant) valiently defended his rather wild thesis that Mars indeed once hosted an incredible civilization, as evidenced by the infamous "face on mars", and the nearby pyramid and other ruins on the Cydonia Plains.

Whether such assertions have any validity will be resolved eventually by science. Nonetheless,I realized with a moment of existentialist mirth that Edgar Rice Burroughs might be right! Out of the mouth of pulp fiction writers come revelations that will elude science for almost a century!?!

Although there may be no glorious race of scantilly clad humans (for such prime and proper times as we assume 1912 to have been, Edgar relished describing the perfectly muscled and bronzed bodies of the martian warriers in their gleaming harnesses and the sumptous beauty of the semi-nude Martian maidens!) perhaps there was something similar, if you believe late night radio, eh? perhaps there are no barbaric 4 armed green warriers (is this where the proverbial "little green men from Mars originated?), but how about little Grey aliens, eh?

Edgar Rice Burroughs was certainly an influence on many subsequent sci-fi classics in the 20th century, including the much more clinical and psychologically focused Martian Chronicles. Others have noted the legacy he gave to the Star Wars series.

Now at the ripe age of 51, I have reread the series and find them still a ripping good yarn, even if the romantic undertones seem a bit quaint in this brutish "slam, bam, thank you maam" culture we have created since his time.

A final shocking revelation for me: As others have noted, the major protagonist in this book is the beautiful Martian Princess Dejah. Was there some bizarre subconscious bleed through here? You see, I named my daughter (now 30 years old) "Desha". I haven't the heart to tell her that she may be named after a pulp fiction heroine from 1912! At least I changed the spelling of the name!

Life can be banal and hard (like a Martian night outside the safety of city walls), so give yourself a break! Travel back in time to a Mars that might yet be found to be more real than we ever could have dreamed! A friend of mine has a 7 hour plane flight in a couple days. I am lending him the Mars books since they will make the time fly (no pun intended) in seconds.

Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875-1950) was a prodigy of imagination. He started his writer career quite late; his first work was published in 1912. From that point on a ceaseless flow of imaginary worlds & heroes poured from his pen: John Carter of Mars, Carson Napier of Venus, David Innes and Abner Perry on Pellucidar at Earth's center and the most famous of them all Tarzan of the Apes.

"Princess of Mars" is an astounding piece of fantasy. First story of ERB to be published it contains the seeds of lots of scfi and Fantasy novels to come in the following years. Also we may detect some traits of Tarzan in John Carter character. It's a pleasure to read so "fresh" adventures depicting a whole planet culture, interaction between different races, monsters, ecology, and inventions far ahead of ERB real world, as "rifles with explosive bullets guided by wireless sensors".

It amazes me how ERB can master in a not so extensive text (for our standards); a high paced action story. Even if this book is 90 years old, you will enjoy it from the first to the last page.
Reviewed by Max Yofre.

This is the first novel in the adventures of John Carter on Mars (#1 in the Barsoom series), where Mars is referred to as Barsoom. These novels contain great creations of flora and fawna. I first read all the books in this series when I was in high school in the early 1960s and they are just as much fun now as they were then. And, my Dad loved this series when he was a teenager as well. This book is regarded as a classic and landmark in the history of the science fiction novel. Any serious student of science fiction literature should be very familiar with them. The story opens up in 1865. The U. S. Civil War has just ended and the former Confederate officer John Carter has traveled west to Arizona with a friend to prospect for gold. Although successful initially, they are attacked by Indians. Carter's friend dies and he finds himself cornered inside a cave. Carter awaits the final attack but is perplexed when the Indians fail to do so. Moments later, Carter finds himself transported from Arizona to the desert sea bottoms of Mars, called Barsoom by its natives (this transportation to Mars via a type of astral projection or teleportation was an early example of such transportation methods appearing in science fiction literature). Carter soon finds that he has great leaping abilities and comes in contact with tall, green, nomadic warriors with six limbs. He also finds humans like himself, albeit with red skin and more advanced scientifically. Carter soon befriends a captive red woman, named Dejah Thoris, who is a princess of Helium. He takes on the task of returning the princess to her people. In the accomplishment of this task, Carter learns much about the world of Barsoom and much about Dejah Thoris. A great adventure tale that has remained popular for more than four score years.

I read this book when I was in 5th grade. I read it over and over and it ends with a cliff-hanger that tore at my pre-teen heartstrings for several years until a teacher said to me, "did you read the rest of the series?" WHAT??? Paradise!

I was lucky enough to have the hardbound edition illustrated by Frank Frazetta. The reviewer who said that the modern cover illustrations are too risque compared to the earlier covers obviously never SAW the earlier covers. This book is an early classic of pulp fiction and cheesecake/beefcake covers have always been a part of the deal.

Burroughs was part of a generation of creative brains who would have thrived in the computer era. Thank god they had the chance to make their mark in literature.

This tome of pulp, action, love, and in general the meaning of the romantic story has encaptured and entralled me as if I was John Carter. Now that's a book. When one can open your mind to the fantastic and make you apart of it. I could write on the same reviews as others, but I will tell you, the reader of this, that this book is a gateway you never want to miss out on, and if you do I am sorry you did.