The Warlord of Mars

Rating:
Summary: A little something for everyone
Review: Edgar Rice Burroughs covers vast expanses of Barsoomian territory in John Carter's whirlwind pursuit of his beloved Dejah Thoris. The gentle pokes in the eye at religion, evolution, science, and even racism continue but do not impede the readability of the story. Burroughs demonstrates his superb grasp of story-telling and the construction of adventure settings with a flair unsurpassed by any other writer of the 20th century.

Carter finds himself charging headline into a myterious northern world where ancient and legendary yellow men have survived in the harshest Barsoomian environment imaginable. Coincidentally, in classic Burroughsian fashion, Carter uncovers an incredible weapon which could destroy the fragile alliance of Barsoomian nations he has assembled in his long battle with the evil Therns.

The first three books of the John Carter series (A Princess of Mars, The Gods of Mars, and The Warlord of Mars) foreshadow the most breath-taking adventures that role-playing gamers could imagine three generations after ERB wrote these stories. These books also provide a glimpse into one of the most amazing and detailed worlds of fantasy and space opera ever to see publication. It's hard to imagine how anyone who loves action adventure, swashbuckling stories could go wrong in purchasing these books.

Rating:
Summary: John Carter fights across Barsoom for Dejah Thoris
Review: Edgar Rice Burroughs did not intended to write a trilogy, but his 1914 pulp novel "The Warlord of Mars" completes the story begun in "A Princess of Mars" and continued in "The Gods of Mars" and finally brings John Carter and his beloved Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium (i.e., no cliffhanger this time around, boys and girls). The story picks up six months after the conclusion of "The Gods of Mars," with our hero not knowing whether she is dead or alive in the Temple of the Sun of the Holy Therns where he last saw here with the blade of Phaidor was descending towards her heart as the evil Issus, queen of the First Born, had locked his mate in a cell that would not open for another year. However, it turns out that the exiled leader of the Therns has reached the trapped women to rescue his daughter and to seek revenge on Carter for exposing his evil cult.

The focus of "The Warlord of Mars" is on Carter's relentless pursuit of the villainous Thurid who have taken his beloved princess from the south pole of Barsoom across rivers, desert, jungles, and ice to the forbidden lands of the north in the city of Kadabra where the combined armies of the green, red and black races attack the yellow tribes of the north, thereby justifying the book's title. It is interesting to note that Carter's heroics in this novel have the same sort of over the top implausibility we find in contemporary Hollywood blockbusters as ERB pours on the action sequences one on top of another. Whether he is scaling towers in the dark of night or surviving in a pit for over a week without food and water, John Carter is a manly hero in the great pulp fiction tradition of which ERB was an admitted master. Overall, the Martian series is Burrough's best work, avoiding the repetition that overwhelmed his Tarzan series and providing a lot more creativity (ever play Martian chess?). There is also, Dejah Thoris, one of the great names in science fiction history.

Rating:
Summary: The Epic Trilogy Concludes
Review: The Warlord of Mars is significant to ERB fans in that it concludes his original Martian Trilogy. The story itself is a step down from the adventure that is The Gods of Mars and fails to come close to the excellence of A Princess of Mars. That being said, this is still a fun story.

Burroughs concludes his trilogy with a chase across Mars. The story picks up 6 months after The Gods of Mars. John Carter follows the kidnappers of his wife across river, desert, jungle, fortress and ice. The story itself is, as with all the Martian Trilogy, quite entertaining. However, this book cuts almost all the human interaction out that made the first two books the classics they are.

I have read this book some ten times, and I still enjoy it. As I've grown older I have discovered many Sci Fi authors and stories, but none that enrapture my imagination like the original Martian Trilogy by Edgar Rice Burroughs. This is a must read for anyone who enjoyed the first two books, as it actually has a final conclusion.