The Moon Men

Rating:
Summary: Not for the squeamish
Review: As a child I wallowed in ERB, as an adult I pretty much dismissed him as the Slave To Formula he was (one might argue that he invented or refined the the formula but that does not make it a particularly good formula, and even a quick comparison with Dumas or Stevenson will suffice to blow this particular Mr. Burroughs out of the water) - however, something about the darkness and savagery of The Moon Men has always remained with me. His vision was here was uncharacteristically, studiously pessimistic and deeply cthonic - the narrator describing his own throat being slit, the dregs of humanity in the wake of the lunar invasion being raised like beef-cattle, and the wonderful evil of the "electric guns" which can be set at the frequency of bone, say, and thus dissolve all the bones of anyone coming within range of the rays (which is actually quite conceivable today, but rather innovative for Burroughs' era) - all in all, this book (and to a lesser degree its predecessor, The Moon Maid) seems ERB's darkest yet most advanced.

Rating:
Summary: A Good Overall ERB entry
Review: This is actually two books in one. The first, describing the exploits of Julian 9 was the better of the two, in my opinion, due to the great struggle to lead a downtrodden people up from the dregs of existence and begin the revolution. The second book, taking place more than 300 years after the first book, is more of the typical ERB; i.e. hero gets captured, makes escape, gets the girl, and wins the war. There was some character development here and I found it interesting that the hero's brother was the "enlightened" one. The hero makes some progress towards changing his world view but in the end, remains the action-oriented adventurer. That doesn't mean its bad, just typical ERB. When I read ERB I am always amazed that he wrote his stories so long ago and yet had amazing insight on problems of today and tomorrow. An amazing feat. Enjoy reading the Moon Men.

Rating:
Summary: A Good Overall ERB entry
Review: This is actually two books in one. The first, describing the exploits of Julian 9 was the better of the two, in my opinion, due to the great struggle to lead a downtrodden people up from the dregs of existence and begin the revolution. The second book, taking place more than 300 years after the first book, is more of the typical ERB; i.e. hero gets captured, makes escape, gets the girl, and wins the war. There was some character development here and I found it interesting that the hero's brother was the "enlightened" one. The hero makes some progress towards changing his world view but in the end, remains the action-oriented adventurer. That doesn't mean its bad, just typical ERB. When I read ERB I am always amazed that he wrote his stories so long ago and yet had amazing insight on problems of today and tomorrow. An amazing feat. Enjoy reading the Moon Men.

Rating:
Summary: My First ERB Book
Review: This was my First ERB book and I think that it is one of his finest and accompanied by the "Moon Maid", which I believe is the first book of this duet, makes this a very good ERB story.

Rating:
Summary: My First ERB Book
Review: This was my First ERB book and I think that it is one of his finest and accompanied by the "Moon Maid", which I believe is the first book of this duet, makes this a very good ERB story.

Rating:
Summary: Edgar Rice Burroughs's allegorical anti-Communist novel
Review: With Mars now closer to the Earth than it has been for hundreds of thousands of years, some of us are given pause to think about how all the stories of spaceships going to Mars have never really been concerned with the actual logistics involved. Such practical considerations are a minor part of "The Moon Men" trilogy of pulp fiction yarns from the master of adventure, Edgar Rice Burroughs, in which a spaceship headed for Mars is sabotaged and ends up on the Moon instead. Unlike John Carter, who made his way to Mars simply by raising his open arms to the red planet, the adventures in this story, the first in ERB's Moon trilogy, actually take a spaceship.

It is interesting that Burroughs played a bit more attention to the science in his pulp novel this time around, even in terms of the fanciful Eighth Ray, given that the Moon books are his most political. Burroughs began working on a story, "Under the Red Flag," at end the First World War, which voiced his concerns over the Communist takeover of Russia, albeit in slightly dramatic form. However, with the war over pulp magazine editors were not interested in ERB continuing to fight the war, even in his Tarzan novels. Over the course of the next several years, while he worked on other projects, the prolific Burroughs turned his grim prediction of a world under the yoke of a communistic government into a space adventures that would allow him to make the points he felt needed making. After all, the man who created Tarzan was obviously a big believer in personal freedom.

However, the first volume in the trilogy turns out to be a rather standard ERB romantic adventure. "The Moon Maid" is the first book in the Moon trilogy and takes place after the end of the Great War (1914-1967). Captain Julian commands "The Barsoom," the Earth vessel that ends up on the Moon. Once there he and his companions discover flora and fauna, including small horse-like creatures with human features. The title creature is Nah-ee-lah, human type known as U-ga, who comes from the city of Laythe where she is the daughter of it's Jemadar (come on, this is an ERB yarn: you knew she would be royalty). The godless Kalkars prove to be the biggest threat to both Julian's survival and his chance of a romantic relationship with the Moon Maid. The first time around saving the girl becomes the prime objective. Saving the rest of the Moon people from a fate worse than death happens in the next set of stories,

In the second book, "The Moon Men," which was actually written before "The Moon Maid" but was not published first, we learn that since the United States and Great Britain have essentially disarmed now that they rule the world together the Earth is easily conquered by Orthis when he returns in 2050 with an army of Kalkars. The story picks up in 2120 with Julian 9th in a totalitarian world where intellectuals get executed, education is prohibited, and the infrastructure of the world has collapsed. Julian 9th has a love interest, Juana, and a desire to resist the occupation. There is a flag that is a key symbol of rebellion, the flag of Argon, and the climax of the book is the beginning of the revolution.

The final volume, "The Red Hawk," jumps ahead to the year 2430, at which point the main character is now Julian 20th, who is known as the Red Hawk. The revolution that began in "The Moon Men" has driven the Kalkars all the war to the western part of the continent, where they now hold a pass that leads to their last stronghold. The Kalkars are now led by the sixteenth Or-tis and of course there is a love interest for Red Hawk, a woman named Bethelda. However, there is a twist in that she turns out to be an Or-tis and the novel heads for the end of the Great Feud. One sign of the times in this story are the Nipons, a race of Japanese pygmies, that is a bit disconcerting.

Taken all together, "The Moon Men" trilogy is an odd mix. The writing suffers in comparison to his best work, such as the Barsoom series, but that is balanced by the political arguments inherent in the stories. In the wake of the First World War and the Communist revolution in Russian it is clear that Burroughs was worried about the fate of the world. "The Moon Men" attacks communism, authoritarian rule, and disarmament, warns against dictators and politicians, while arguing for the sanctity of marriage, friends and family, and love of country. For the most part these are serious subjects dressed up in the standard ERB mixture of romance and adventure. But if you keep in mind the times in which ERB wrote these stories there is an added dimension to these standard pulp fiction yarns.