Customer Reviews

A Princess of Mars (Modern Library Classics)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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" novels 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 and Civil War veteran who found himself looking down at his dying body in an Arizona cave after an encounter with some Indians. Opening his arms to the bright planet Mars beckoning in the night sky, 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 Tarkas 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 volumes in the Martian Series by Burroughs, most of which involve a hero fighting his way across Barsoom to rescue the woman he loves. 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 Burroughs's finest creation while Tarzan was finding lost civilizations in the interior of Africa. 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. Not in terms of science, of course, but rather in terms of adventure fantasy.

There is a story by John Steinbeck called "The Leader of the People," in which a grandfather tells his grandson how he used to be the head of a wagon train. The train was a kind of a "great beast" that was "westering." But then the train reached the edge of the sea, and it stopped. The grandson, Jody, asks whether there might not be lands beyond the sea where one can wester. The grandfather sadly shakes his head. No, there aren't any more lands, he says. But what is worse, westering has gone out of people today. Nobody _wants_ to wester anymore. The story is at once a marvelous mythical farewell to the Old West and a comment on the nature of the modern world.

When Edgar Rice Burroughs serialized his first novel, _Under the Moons of Mars_, in _Argosy_ in 1912 under the pseudonym of "Norman Bean," the American frontier was, for all practical purposes, closed. Not everybody knew it yet, but the westering movement was over. A number of American pulp writers known as the scientific romance writers were looking for new frontiers to explore: lost valleys and cities, underground caverns, distant planets, the interior of the atom, the jungles of Africa, the inside of the Earth or the Moon, a city lost in time, another galaxy. These settings were intended to be colorful new worlds where lurid and romantic adventures could occur-- at least in the reader's imagination.

The scientific romancers -- A. Merritt, Ray Cummings, H. Bedford-Jones, Otis Adelbert Kline, Austin Hall, Homer Eon Flint, Garrett P. Serviss, Charles B. Stilson, and Burroughs--were essentially popular writers. My personal candidates for the two best American scientific romancers are Merritt and Bedford-Jones, but none can seriously be considered underrated literary geniuses. Burroughs has certainly proved to be the most popular over time, and _A Princess of Mars_ ( the book title of _Under the Moons of Mars_ )may be taken as almost the archetype of the scientific romance.

It starts in the American west in 1865, right after the Civil War. Captain John Carter of Virginia, C.S.A. and a friend are prospecting for gold. They have good luck with the gold but bad luck with Apache warriers. The friend is killed and Carter enters a cave and is transported to Mars. In effect, he leaves the old frontier for the new. There he finds a new collective beast on the other side of the ocean of space. It is not a westering wagon train; rather, it is a tribe of green Martian warriers. The Martians look very much alike. Their young are hatched in incubators and are raised communally, without knowing their parents. Weak or deformed young are promptly shot. The green Martians are taught at an early age to use weapons and to scorn weakness and sentiment. A typical Martian woman tells the kindly female Sola:

"It is sad, Sola, that you were not born a million years ago...when all the hollows of the land were filled with water, and the peoples were as soft as the stuff they sailed upon. In our day, we have progressed to a point where such sentiments mark weakness and atavism." (49)

But in spite of the unified values of the beast, there are signs that it may change. The tender Sola, the faithful watchdog Woola, and even the formidable warrier Tars Tarkas seem poised to lead the way to something else. When John Carter and Dejah Thoris become prisoners of the tribe, they speed up a change in the values of the beast. It will retain its unity, but its head will become different.
There is much in the book that is silly. But there is a certain amount of color and good fun as well.

Retired confederate soldier and southern gentleman John Carter is pursued by Indians, and through unexplainable circumstances finds himself transported to Barsoom, known to us earthlings as the planet Mars. There he finds a dying planet of brutal and untamed savagery, contrasted sharply with the rich cultures of its ancient races. Arriving alone, naked and friendless, "A Princess of Mars" tells the tale of how John Carter, with the aid of his earthly strength and agility, sets forth on an incredible adventure against enormous odds to rescue the beautiful Dejah Thoris, the incomparable Princess of Helium.

One of Edgar Rice Burrough's earliest works, the first chapter in the Martian series is also one of his finest. A page turning adventure with lots of action make John Carter one of Burrough's most beloved heroes. His imagination ran wild in creating the martian landscape, and this is a delight to read for all ages.

as a new fan of early American pulp fiction (ie. Howard's Conan saga), i heartily recommend to anyone the John Carter series, especially the first trilogy.

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 sci-fi 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.

First of all, let me say I am biased. I read these books 15 years ago in grade school and there is an element of nostalgia for me. With that said, I really enjoy these books. I have frequently come back and re-read the first several in the series because no matter what age, they always let my mind wander. Don't expect "hard" sci-fi like Peter Hamilton, Stephen Baxter, or Kim Stanley Robinson. This was written in the early 1900s and it shows in some parts of the story. It is obvious to us now that Mars was never occupied and the Sun's light does not have 9 rays.

This shouldn't take away from a wonderful series. Burroughs does an excellent job of narrating a story full of details that bring to life the world of Barsoom, which is full of danger, love, and a lot of Deus ex Machina. The action in the story is always exciting and you are always rooting for the Earth-born superman as he uses his skills, cunning, and luck to best opponents while trying to maintain his Virginian honor.

If you decide to start reading this series I only ask that you suspend your disbelief and enjoy!

"I have never told this story nor shall mortal man see this manuscript until I have passed over for eternity. I know that the average human mind will not believe what it can not grasp......"

Written in 1912 this book is well written for its time and has intrigued countless generations of readers. I get the feeling that this story is being told over a campfire.

Captain Carter is telling the story form memory as an old man of his adventures here on earth and on the planet of Barsoom (Mars). There are encounters with many strain creatures, situations, and yes even a "Princess of Mars."

This is a part is a series by the writer that brought us "Tarzan." The intro to the book alone will capture your imagination.

The Great Book of Tarzan