Reviews for Princess of Mars

The average rating for Princess of Mars based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2012-04-02 00:00:00 Mateo Garcia Some years back David Bowie asked the musical question, "Is there life on Mars?" Had he read A Princess of Mars he might have known the answer. Back in the early 60's I fell in love. Not with a girl, (well, there were one or two cracks opened in that young heart, but we do not speak of that now) but with reading. And the brazen hussy that led me down that path was none other than Edgar Rice Burroughs. Of course there were others, all vying for my immature attention, Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, H.G. Wells, Robert Heinlein, Jules Verne, and plenty more from that gang of idiots. I remember the glee I felt when a parcel would arrive, the soft packaging that sprinkled to the floor if you opened the pull-tag a little too energetically. Lift the treasure to your nose and inhale deeply. No, wiseass, no glue involved. No glue actually needed. Paperbacks, Ace and Ballantine mostly. This was the way I got one of my first scents of the lifetime of reading that awaited. It was intoxicating. Prime among the treasures to be found in those bags were the Barsoom novels of ERB. I followed the adventures of John Carter the way readers of a certain detective followed his exploits in issues of The Strand. Reading ERB as a kid was one of the best things about being a kid. So one might imagine the anticipation bubbling up when I learned that a film was in the offing. Good, bad or mediocre, this was must-see territory. And to prepare it seemed that, fifty years after having first encountered Barsoom through books, it was worth giving at least some of the books a second look. Taylor Kitsch as John Carter in the film John Carter, a soldier (Civil War veteran), mercenary, and apparently occasional miner, begins on Earth. He is trapped in a cave by hostile forces, when he wishes himself, pretty much, to Mars, the god of his profession. The film of course had to come up with a better excuse than that. He is taken prisoner by a group of Tharks, a race of six-limbed, twelve-to-fifteen foot tall green warriors (think taller, thinner, ancestors of Klingons), led by one of their less bloodthirsty sorts, a fellow named Tars Tarkas. Tars Tarkas - from the film TT was most impressed by JC's fighting prowess and his ability to leap tall building in a single bound, a benefit of having muscles adapted to the much higher gravity on a different planet. (ERB's hero appears twenty years before that Kal-el character, and Jerry Siegel has said that JC was indeed influential in the creation of that better known super-guy.) Tarkas and Carter find common cause eventually and thus begins a beautiful friendship. TT had put a guard dog (actually a Shetland-size, many-tusked critter called a calot ) in charge of JC. But as the locals treat their gigantic ferocious domestic critters rather harshly, it turned out to be receptive to JC's kinder treatment, so we add a loyal-to-death pet, with the blood-curdling name "Woola" for our hero. Can the girl be far behind? Not a chance. Woola - from the film. What a cutie! After the Tharkian horde does battle with a race of human-like sorts, they take a prisoner, a female. Dejah Thoris is princess of the city-state of Helium (and no she does not speak with a silly-high voice) and of the book title, and is notable for her regal bearing, smokin' looks and courage under duress. (The film pads her resume with some science credits) Having established his warrior cred by kicking several Tharkian butts, JC has some wiggle room among Thark society and manages to learn a fair bit. He is, naturally, curious about the new resident. Lynn Collins as Dejah Thoris - from the film Oh, there is one other item missing from the checklist, the baddie. Well, there are several, a crude Thark leader, monsters aplenty, but most of all a professional sneak-thief-liar-betrayer of a Thark named Sarkoja, who does all she can to foil TT and JC in whatever they might want to do. All she lacks is a broom and some striped socks. [The film includes her, but substitutes a different evil-doer for many of the story's later intrigues.] Ok, so this is not exactly great literature. Sweden will not be calling any time soon. Carter finds himself in a seemingly endless series of battles, large and small. People are captured. People fight. People flee. Friends help friends. Baddies behave badly. No one really changes much. Oh, they rise in rank and esteem, and prove their mettle, and some character is revealed in time, but really, nothing is told about these people that we did not know very early on. There is silliness and many shortcuts are taken. ERB makes use of deus ex machina so much he must have had a mechanic on call. Carter learns that a large amount of Martian communications occurs via telepathy and bingo, he is telepathic too. What luck! Also, Martian language has devolved to mostly a single tongue. No, really. And he learns it in a twinkling, with the help of a kindly female Thark named Sola. Whenever someone needs a rescue there is always a rescuer, either now or eventually. The cavalry comes riding over the hill a bit too often to avoid eye-rolling. The fights are pretty much pro-forma, with almost mandatory nods to the honor and skill of the thousands of opponents, after, of course, Carter knocks them out or kills them with a single blow to the chin. Puh-leez. Edgar Rice Burroughs - image from Britannica In between, Burroughs offers bits and pieces of his vision of life on Mars. We learn how Thark children are joined with parents, get some info on Barsoomian visions of death and afterlife, consider a bit the problem of scarce air, and may wonder at the ancient human ruins now occupied by other species. They have some nifty tech on Barsoom as well, having discovered a special 9th ray of light that is used for energy. Radium is a useful power source as well. Airships of all sizes speed about, but seem to function mostly as boats with negative draft. There will be swashbuckling. There are some elements in the book that do not travel well through the years. The women have some wonderful qualities but there is little equality to be found. Also, slavery is still a very active element of Martian society, and while ERB shows sundry characters shackled to those chains, and does his best to free those, he does not seem all that upset about the institution. In one commentary on communistic elements of Tharkian society, ERB notes Owning everything in common, even to your women and children, has resulted in your owning nothing in common.This was published in 1912, so a quote like this might not have stuck out so much back then. Of course there are many much more ancient items that seem quaint today, such as You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant, or his maidservant, or his ox, or his ass, or anything that is your neighbor's.I guess ownership is in the eye of the beholder. Social systems seem to be widely of the royal persuasion, although combat figures large in determining leadership in some groups. And just as girls have been led to hope for a prince to come to the rescue, so here our hero is not panting after any ordinary female. Dejah is a bona fide, card-carrying princess. Then, there are some elements that might stand up rather well. Carter applies his knowledge of animals to persuade the locals to treat their beasties much better. The moral superiority of races is not at all determined by color, or in this case, even sentient species. Honesty, motherhood, and I am certain that if the ingredients grew there, apple pie would come in for some ERB support. Courage is also a highly valued trait. Physical prowess in battle is paramount here. Frank Schoonover's cover illustration for the first book version-from Wikipedia Ok, so bottom line. This is a very dated book. It is, after all, over one hundred years old. It contains antiquated, sometimes offensive notions. Many of the characters are pretty thinly drawn. But this was not intended to be a thoughtful, adult novel. It is pulp fiction, literally, as Barsoom made its first public appearance in All-Story Magazine in 1912, and its focus is on three things, action, action and action. Burroughs was appalled that people got paid to write the trash that appeared in such publications and said, "I could write stories just as rotten." If that is ok with you, then A Princess of Mars is a fun read, a buddy movie with a bit of love interest, (no real sex, although a fair bit of nakedness) a lot of fighting, capturing and being captured and escaping, a nifty vision of a faraway place. Overall, good fun. It helps to be a ten-year-old boy. Look at those cavemen go. =============================EXTRA STUFF The home page for Edgar Rice Burroughs, the corporation, where you will learn that A Princess of Mars was originally published as "Under the Moons of Mars" under the pseudonym Norman Bean in All-Story Magazine as a six-part serial, February through July 1912. He had first submitted it to All Star as Dejah Thoris, Martian Princess You can read A Princess of Mars on Gutenberg Here is another, hyper-texted version, which includes links to other such volumes in the Barsoom series. Or listen to an audio version here 10/25/16 -National Geographic is producing a documentary series about our favorite red-tinted neighbor (no, not the lady across the way who got too much sun. Put those binoculars away NOW). Coverage in the latest issue includes a whole passel of things Martian. Enjoy. Mars: Inside the High-Risk, High-Stakes Race to the Red Planet From the August 2017 National Geographic - This Is What a Martian Looks Like'According to Carl Sagan - By Natasha Daly Painting by Douglas Chaffe - from the above NatGeo article

Review # 2 was written on 2008-09-07 00:00:00 Robert Gilchrist 2.5 stars. I know, I know. I can hear you out there saying "2.5 stars for one of the ALL TIME PULP SF CLASSICS" and looking at me like I just made a mess on the floor. Rest assured, I'm not trying to drop gastronomical "leftovers" in the PULP SF punch bowl and my rating does not indicate a dislike for the book. As mentioned below, I was probably between 3 and 4 stars on the book EXCEPT FOR ONE THING THAT DROVE ME BAT SHIT NUTSO. So please let me explain my rating before you begin planning to hoist me on a very large petard. PRELIMINARY COMMENTS In order to give my comments below some context, I want to have the following on record before I begin: 1. I am a fan of sword and sorcery, sword and planet, pulp SF and planetary romances and so this book is certainly in my strike zone. Thus, I don't feel like I need to cut this book any slack in my rating as I might for a book that recognized may just not be "my kind of story." 2. I have not read a ton of the specific sub-genre "pulp planetary romance" of which the Barsoom series is the quintessential example. However, if you add in sword and sorcery and the other sub-genres mentioned above that deal with the same major plot elements (larger than life hero, exotic locations, strange creatures/aliens in a "pulpy" wrapper than I have read (and LOVED) quite a bit. 3. I have only read two other works by Burroughs, At the Earth's Core and Tarzan of the Apes and I didn't love either one of them so it is certainly possible that me and E.R. are not as compatible as I would like (though I am not ready to give up on our relationship yet as you will see below). BRIEF PLOT SUMMARY John Carter was an officer in the confederate army during the Civil War and is seemingly immortal in so far as he explains that he has no memory of childhood and has always appeared to be approximately 30 years old. Through an unexplained phenomenon he is transported to Mars where the weaker gravity gives him great strength and agility. From there the story is mostly a travelogue as Carter meets the various tribes of Martians and we learn their background. While mostly a travelogue, Carter does get involved in a political struggle among various Martian factions as a result of his becoming enamored with Dejah Thoris (the titular Martian Princess). THOUGHTS ON A PRINCESS OF MARS On the plus side, despite my lack of real positive ratings on the Burroughs books I have read, I think his writing is decent and I do not have any real problem with his prose. I say this not to imply that he was technically skilled so much as that he wrote well in the "pulp style" that his stories called for (i.e., flowery, descriptive language and an overly melodramatic tone). In that context, I think Burroughs' writing was just fine. I also like the character of John Carter who is a true blue virtuous hero in the grand tradition of Golden Age SF. I also liked the various Martian cultures and strange animals he encounters and thought the world-building was pretty good to very good and certainly interesting enough to get me to come back and try another one of the Barsoom stories before I decide how I feel about the series. So for, I would have been squarely between 3 stars and 4 stars. I don't think 5 stars was ever in the cards for this one as there was no element that reached the level of either Howard's Conan or Wagner's Kane, both of whom I hold in very high regard despite what my review of Darkness Weaves may indicate about Conan's inferiority to Kane (I would note that those results are still being validated). So what brings the book down to 2.5 stars. The answer is simple, there was one aspect of the story that drove me ABSOLUTELY GARY BUSEY CRAAAAAZY: This groan inducing aspect was John Carter having to describe his own AWESOMENESS because Burroughs chose to tell the story in the FIRST PERSON. I see this as a fundamental flaw because it meant that all of the wonderful, larger-than-life descriptions of Carter had to come from, uh, his own mouth. Sorry, NOT GOOD!!! Here are a just a few quotes from the book that illustrate what I am referring to: "….[t]he following of a sense of duty has always been a fetich of mine throughout my life; which may account for the honors bestowed upon me by three republics, and the decorations and friendships of an old and powerful emperor and several lesser kings." "My mind is evidently so constituted that I am subconsciously forced into the path of duty without recourse to tiresome mental processes. However that may be, I have never regretted that cowardice is not optional for me." "To a Red Martian, escape by this path would have appeared impossible, but to me, with my earthly strength and agility, it seemed already accomplished." "During the day, I was pitted against first men and then beasts, but as I was armed with a long-sword and always outclassed my adversary in agility and generally in strength as well, it proved by child's play to me." "So with the cunning of a madman, I backed into the corner…." "There is, there must be a way, and John Carter, who has fought his way through a strange world for love of you will find it." . . . .....It just made me want to scream at him: Now I had no problem with the sentiment expressed by the above quotes as all of them are classic pulp hero language. My problem was that due to the first person narrative Carter was forced to say all of these things about HIMSELF. I just found it to be the wrong style for this over the top hero tale and it hurt my head to have to listen to him explain his ultimate badassery while trying to avoid sounding completely pompous. Thus, I like the story concept and the world building and even teh character of John Carter. I just didn't like John Carter loving him so much John Carter.