Customer Reviews

When the Green star Calls

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If you loved Burroughs's Mars, the romantic setting for John Carter and Dejah Thoris, then give the "Green Star" series a shot. It's Lin Carter's open tribute to the illogical excitement and confused affections of those earlier greats.

This meets all the demands of the genre. First, Our Hero launches himself to a distant star using mysterious methods. Instead of a dry and dying Barsoom, however, this turns out to be a vast forest of mile-high trees and a whole menagerie of bugs the size of volkswagens. Carter creates the Kaloods, an ancient and winged race, now down to one near-immortal survivor, an update to the rainbow-hued peoples of Burroughs's fantasy lands. As required, there are plenty of chivalrous swordsmen, saveable princesses, ancient death-cults, evil priest-lords, and wildly fortuitous coincidences to go around. And, just to get things off on the right foot, Our Hero starts his adventure in one of the last surviving towers of an ancient city, the guest and captive of a scientist-mage who mines its ancient technology with the goal of dominating the world of his own time. You know, the usual.

If you don't take it too seriously, it's great swashbuckling fun. The recipe has been around for years: mix bad science with bold adventure, bake it under an alien sun, finish it off with over-heated romance, and serve it up with a squeaky-clean good guy in a white hat. With just a little effort, it always comes out well - and Carter does it very well, right down to the cliff-hanger that gets us ready for the next installment.

-- wiredweird