Rating: 
Summary: E.R.B. lives forever
Review: Tarzan and John Carter were my heroes of adolescent summer. Edgar Rice-Burroughs has no better in literature. And check out the red-skinned hottie on the cover of this edition! She was my dream girl as a lad. I think maybe she still am.wa
Rating: 
Summary: A GREAT STORY, BUT WITH CARELESS WRITING
Review: As most of the world already knows, "A Princess of Mars" is the first of 11 Burroughs novels that tell of John Carter's adventures on the planet Barsoom (Mars, to we Earthlings). This was Burroughs' very first novel, and one of the first books in the swashbuckling space-opera vein; perhaps the very first. It is a marvel of fast-moving action and imagination; indeed, practically every page offers some new marvel or piece of outrageous spectacle. Unfortunately, the book also displays some of the weaknesses of the novice author, but these weaknesses are more than counterbalanced by the pace, color and detail of the story. Burroughs' imagination seemed to be working overtime in this first book. The descriptions of alien life-forms, dead cities, Barsoomian customs and battles are very well drawn, although those battle scenes could have lasted a little longer, for me. (Burroughs might have learned a thing or two from, say, H. Rider Haggard about presenting detailed battle scenes.) There are occasional flashes of strangeness, too; e.g., the ability of Barsoomian psychologists to read the minds of murdered soldiers, and the celibate tax imposed by the Barsoomian government on confirmed bachelors! The book reads more like a fantasy/fairy tale than sci-fi, and the characters are pulpy in the extreme. There are hissable villains, noble warriors, a beautiful princess who needs saving, good and bad monsters, and the like. This book has been so influential that it is amusing, while reading it, to think of all the modern variations. For example, has anybody else been reminded of Princess Leia trapped by Jabba the Hutt of "Star Wars" fame, when reading of the beautiful Princess Dejah Thoris being leered at by the monstrously huge Thark jeddak, Tal Hajus? So many scenes resonate like that, and the book is almost prototypical in this respect. This is a true classic of the genre.
However, like I said at the beginning, there are some problems. Besides the outrageous pseudoscience (I refer here to the "8th and 9th rays" that make possible antigravitation and oxygen manufacture), which I don't mind at all, there are some real discrepancies. For example, in one scene, Carter is said to be riding in his assigned position at the rear of a troop of Tharks; then he is mentioned as being at the very front! Carter is on Barsoom for only a few days before he picks up the Barsoomian vocabulary, which is said to be a simple one. However, he speaks very grandiloquently, as in this sentence: "I understand that you belittle all sentiments of generosity and kindliness, but I do not, and I can convince your most doughty warrior that these characteristics are not incompatible with an ability to fight." Pretty good talking, for one who has just learned "simple" Barsoomian a few days before!!! Another problem I had was the scene in which a body of 150,000 Tharks sneak up on the city of Zodanga, unnoticed and unheard. Does this seem possible? As for the scene in which Carter and Kantos Kan fight in the arena...doesn't all the fighting seem a wee bit too easily accomplished? And then there is the matter of Burroughs' writing itself. I mentioned the common mistakes of a tyro writer. By this, I mean repetitive phrases such as "I stole stealthily" and "essayed...to attempt," as well as endless mistakes of punctuation. I wonder if anybody ever copyedited this book. "A Princess of Mars" first appeared with the title "Under the Moons of Mars" in "All-Story Magazine" in 1912, and I'm not sure whether these magazine stories were edited and proofread or what. The book would not have suffered for a professional once-over. But you know what? In the end, all these little nitpickings matter not a whit, because all the minor problems, as I said, are swept away in the drive and excitement of the great story. And that story is as compelling as they come.
Rating:
Summary: A Princess of Barsoom
Review: "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. 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". The forward to the book alone will capture your imagination.
Rating: 
Summary: You Had To Be There
Review: Virginian John Carter is mysteriously zapped from the Arizona desert to the planet Mars. Adventures ensue. I'd definitely lump this book into the Fantastic Fiction category. The word "Mars" in the title tempted me to think that Burroughs was making an early attempt at sci-fi. However, the location just allowed him to make his technology, character physiology, and sociology more outlandish. The story is colossally silly. If that were it's only fault I would be more understanding, but the book (especially the first half) is quite boring. "Tarzan of the Apes" is also quite absurd, but it never becomes boring. My key objection is that Burroughs spends far too much time on anthropological exposition. I could forgive him if the verbose explanations of Martian culture truly added something to the story. They don't. Admittedly, the book becomes more action-oriented in the second half. Burroughs does have a knack for writing action but unfortunately that's about all the book has going for it. The book uses a ludicrous plot, uninspired setting and cardboard cutouts for characters. I'm in my mid 20s and I just read this book for the first time. I have a very strong feeling that I would have enjoyed A Princess of Mars much more if either (1) I had I been younger when I first read it, or (2) I had read it closer to its original publication date. Yes, it's a classic, but from my perspective, that doesn't make it a good read. I'm perfectly happy to read books for mindless entertainment. This one just isn't entertaining. If you want to read it for nostalgic purposes or to gain a historical perspective of sci-fi, go for it. Otherwise, skip it. If you'd like to try another Burroughs book, read "Tarzan of the Apes". I found it infinitely more entertaining.
Rating:
Summary: Ripping you off
Review: This is a good book - I've read it several times before...BUT, somebody is ripping us off with the Microsoft Reader eBook version. After all, this book has been in and out of print since 1912. You can get the paperback edition from Amazon for less than downloading it. A realistic price for an ebook version of a novel that was first published NINETY years ago would be in the $1-$2 range
Rating:
Summary: Red star rising
Review: "A Princess of Mars" is perhaps the best adventure yarn Burroughs ever spun (and he was responsible for a great many). It's got it all: an exotic setting; a sympathetic hero; a feisty heroine; dastardly villains; weird critters; wonderful pulp science; narrow escapes; swordplay aplenty; a touch of humor; a sprinkling of romance; and a cliffhanger ending to beat them all.
Set on a Mars that never was, this novel, along with the rest of the "Barsoom" books, are not science fiction as such (for example, the hero, the possibly immortal John Carter, travels to Mars not by spacecraft, but by a form of astral projection), but more like fairy tales transplanted to another planet. These stories have inspired countless imitations, most of them awful and mercifully forgotten, some of them (like Leigh Brackett's "The Sword of Rhiannon", Philip José Farmer's "The World of Tiers" sequence and Jack Vance's "Planet of Adventure" series) even surpassing Burroughs in both style and sheer audacity of imagination. But "A Princess of Mars" was there first. This is THE original planetary romance. Read it. You owe it to yourself.
Rating:
Summary: Mars Attack
Review: An excellent sci-fi action novel, written (and read) at breakneck speed. It instils heroism and the love of beautiful princesses where these values may be lacking.
Rating:
Summary: The intro book to the first and greatest sci-fi series!
Review: "Princess" was ERB's first book, in 1912, when he was already nearly middle-aged and didn't even know he was an author, but he spins a story to match Homer's Odyssey -- one that sets the stage for sci-fi's greatest series. It's probably not the best of that series, but a must-read if you want to see how modern sci-fi began. The best thing about the Mars series (and Tarzan, and Venus, and Pellucidar) -- and what makes it so important in sci-fi -- is its efforts to rationalize all sorts of outlandish things through scientific and cultural explanation (I'm convinced!). "Princess" has a few "feeler"-type occurrences, with ERB putting sci-fi stuff out there in print for the first time, making sure to expand on the whys and hows for the virgin readership -- but after he sets up the whole genre of modern sci-fi, the series takes off in a run of books that stab at his Mars idea from all sorts of crazy angles. You can read the Mars series in order, but after reading the first two or three books to understand the world ERB created, I especially recommend jumping to "The Synthetic Men of Mars" (cool! headless man-like beasts being farmed by body-less head-only men, for self-evident reasons) And "The Chessmen of Mars" which kept me up all night when I was 16. Yes, all the women are beautiful and to die for, although they have pretty much no personality, and all the heroes are bombastically and genetically heroic in a medieval way with, likewise, no personality (and anything related to sex with ERB is bizarre, unconsummated and usually requires drawing of swords and the author's ambivalent but feverish avoidance of innuendo, despite everyone always being naked, it seems -- kinda freaky), but minor characters steal the story from the cardboard protagonists -- and hell, it was 1912, after all, and ERB had never written a book before.....
Rating:
Summary: This story was made to be read aloud.
Review: This is the most mystical of all of Edgar Rice Burroughs novels. The hero, Captain John Carter of Virginia, can remember no childhood. As far back as he can recall he has always been a fighting man of about 30. While called "Uncle Jack" by the Carters, his exact connection to the family is uncertain. As a soldier of fortune, he has traveled the world in the service of "an old and powerful emperor and several lesser kings." He has fought with distinction in the War between the States, as well as, lived and fought with the Plains Indians on the frontier.
It is while prospecting in the Arizona Territory that he runs afoul of Apaches and finds himself in the cave of a shaman. Here he undergoes what is obviously an out-of-the-body experience and transport to Mars, "god of my vocation." This is a Mars of majestic dead seas and dead cities, as well as, warring city states and aerial dreadnought fleets. It is a Mars of many races and species, some honorable and some monstrous. Above all, it is a Mars of high adventure.
Inspite of the fact that it was written in 1912, this story holds up. My mother, who was born in 1915 (right before the world started to go to hell) remembered my great aunt reading from this book ,aloud, on the front porch on summer evenings. That is why this audio version is such a great idea- this is the sort of tale, like Homer's, that demands to be told out loud on a quiet evening. Really, I do not think that a modern writer could recreate the style of this narrative. The themes of honor, loyalty, duty, courage, and friendship run too strong and too true. There is no modern cynicism and soul rot here.
Rating:
Summary: The first and best of the Mars books.
Review: The word 'classic' isn't one that should be thrown around lightly, but I think that it's safe to say that _A Princess of Mars_ meets all the criteria of a classic. This book was the start of a series which defined what science fiction has since become and is very readable and enjoyable apart from its historic significance. Some of the best naming of all time goes on here-- Dejah Thoris and Tars Tarkas and Barsoom-- the adventures of an adventurer, pulled into another world and made a part of its life. Featuring gravity differences and BIG green men and nearly-naked girls, there's something for nearly anyone.
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