The Thumbnail Book Reviews
by John Q McDonald --- 31 July 1999
by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Most famous for the Tarzan stories, Burroughs was a most prolific author who created several worlds, on each of which he based several novels. In 1911, he started his John Carter of Mars series, which eventually included eleven novels. This book is the first of that series. John Carter, gentleman of Virginia, and experienced soldier (of the Civil War) is mysteriously spirited to the planet Mars where ensue a number of life-threatening adventures. This book fits squarely in the swashbuckling vein, as Carter slices his way into the violent culture of the six-limbed green Tharks, and later into the world of the Red Men of Helium. The book reads a lot like some of Swift's Gulliver's Travels, but the convenient rapidity with which Carter works his way into Martian (Barsoomian) culture serves adventure rather than the pointed satire found in Swift. The book is pure adventure. There is a high body count among the people of Mars. There are battles and romance with the only human-like woman Carter finds there, the beautiful (and entirely unclothed) Dejah Thoris, princess of Helium. Don't expect to find depth of character here. The book is most valuable, perhaps, as a document of that genre early in the 20th century. Carl Sagan, in Cosmos even commented that his youthful exploration of the bizarre world of Barsoom helped inspire his interest in life on other worlds.
Also by Burroughs: [The Gods of Mars]
[Other Science-Fiction Reviews]