RED MARTIAN BARSOOM FULL
RED MARTIAN BARSOOM SERIES

There’s plenty of swashbuckling, daring rescues, fights to the death… heck, there’s even a section where Carter finds himself at the mercy of another horde of Green Martians and is forced to be a gladiator. In the beginning, he even considers it his lucky star.

This isn’t to say that the novel itself delights in gore and violence, but it’s simply a fact of life, and there’s a reason that Carter, a mercenary, ended up on Mars. It says something when the triumphant kiss between the leads occurs during a bloody siege and surrender involves captains committing suicide. The residents of Mars are equally as warlike-while the Green Martians are particularly degenerate, what with a society that stamps out all human (or Martian) connection, they’re still fundamentally capable of being rounded and loving people, and the idealized Red Martians glorify war just as much. Carter is refreshingly honest about the fact that he is, ultimately, a killer, and does it with little compunction.

RED MARTIAN BARSOOM FULL

While the Wikipedia page dismisses it as full of black and white morality, I didn’t find that to be the case at all. It’s short, brimming with swashbuckling, and actually a little complex to boot. But when the Green Martians kidnap the Red Martian princess Dejah Thoris, Carter determines to rescue her and take her back to her own people, an intention that might change the politics of Barsoom forever. Discovered by the alien Green Martians, Carter uses physical prowess (which improves on Mars’ surface) and his brains to eek out a position for himself in their society. After a terrifying night, he finds himself transported to Mars-or Barsoom, as the natives call it. When the two are set upon by Indians, Carter takes shelter in a cave. A mercenary to his core, John Carter was a little lost after the American Civil War and went West to prospect with a friend of his.

RED MARTIAN BARSOOM SERIES

And guys, I think I have a new series to follow.Ī Princess of Mars is framed as a manuscript written by Burroughs’ uncle figure, John Carter, and published by Burroughs after his death. Plus, it was in the public domain, so there was really no reason not to pick it up and give it a shot before the film comes out. Before that, I only knew Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan, but A Princess of Mars interested me for much the same reason the more traditionally fantasy elements in Star Wars interested me-it’s sci-fi that hits a little closer to home for fantasy-addicted me.

I think I first discovered Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Barsoom novels when the first few discussions about the upcoming Disney adaptation (HA!) were circulating around io9. A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Red martian barsoom