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A Princess of Mars
A Princess of Mars
A Princess of Mars
Ebook241 pages4 hours

A Princess of Mars

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

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The first book of the Barsoom series introduces the reader to John Carter, a Confederate veteran of the American Civil War, who is mysteriously transported to Mars, where he finds that he has great strength and superhuman agility.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateJun 10, 2015
ISBN9781633840027
Author

Edgar Rice Burroughs

Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875-1950) had various jobs before getting his first fiction published at the age of 37. He established himself with wildly imaginative, swashbuckling romances about Tarzan of the Apes, John Carter of Mars and other heroes, all at large in exotic environments of perpetual adventure. Tarzan was particularly successful, appearing in silent film as early as 1918 and making the author famous. Burroughs wrote science fiction, westerns and historical adventure, all charged with his propulsive prose and often startling inventiveness. Although he claimed he sought only to provide entertainment, his work has been credited as inspirational by many authors and scientists.

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Reviews for A Princess of Mars

Rating: 3.58326026993865 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

1,141 ratings85 reviews

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Ignoring the fact that we've disproved some of the myths of "Mars," actually quite a good read.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    I gave it the old college try, I really did. It was just so godawful..
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I only hope the film can live up to it. Classic fantasy fiction. Never a dull moment. Loved it.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    A little over the top, but it's fun, and it's the original of its kind.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    A fun and refreshing blast from the past, there were still some things about it that were far too fantastical even for me. It's hard to explain. Honestly, I'm not sure I'll write a full review of this one, since so many people have already expressed their views. :)
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    After fleeing from Apache Indians while prospecting near their territory following the Civil War, John Carter finds himself transported to the planet Mars where he quickly impresses the violent Green Men with his earthly muscles and mad fighting skillz. His captivity overlaps with that of Dejah Thoris, princess of the Red Men - her beauty... and poise in the face of imminent torture decide his immediate devotion. Many escapes from peril occur. Makes me want to read Tarzan. Probably not more of this series though. Love that all the creatures are violent (with varying degrees) since Mars is the god of war - that's just what happens there.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    It was a lot of fun. It was very interesting to read a book where the hero is NOT flawed in some sort of way. Carter was this crazy super man who was devoted, loved and loved by the 'perfect woman,' strong, brave; everything one could cram into a character. It was completely unbelievable and way over the top, but was fun because this is what every modern hero is a reaction to whether they know it or not. But it is was very fun and ran exactly like the cover of the book looked.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The science in this hundred year old science fiction novel by the author more famous as the creator of Tarzan is obviously ludicrous. However, his imagination in describing alien cultures and ways of thinking draws the reader in and makes this for the most part an engaging read, though the literal "with one bound (in low Martian gravity) he was free" and many fight scenes become a bit repetitive. The final scene where John Carter returns to Earth is strange and haunting. I am sure I read at least some of the many sequels.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    A Princess of Mars is a pulp fiction space western. Filled with colonial ideology, the tale follows John Carter, a military American who escapes being chased by Native Americans only to find himself mysteriously transported to Mars. As he learns about the various cultures on the planet and tries to fit in, his American ways of living often prove better and more successful than the traditional methods of Martians. First captured by the giant green men of Mars, Carter finds his great strength (due to being used to Earth’s gravity) and abilities gain him power and prestige. Later, he attempts to aid another captive of the green men, a red woman similar in size and number of limbs to Carter, and to return her to her home city.The tale does have some fun and clever aspects (such as the description and personality of Woofa), but it is clearly a very old paperback, not focused on deeper-meanings or creating well-developed and explained societies. While the Martians live in an extreme environment, the detailed and sophisticated societies of Le Guin or Herbert are not to be found here. Overall, the book is a quick read, and it is fun to tag along with Carter through his adventures.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Not very good. I'll give the author a break because it was his first novel, but it lacked the quirky charm of the Tarzan books that I've read. I'll probably read the next in the series and see if I like it any better.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is the first of Burroughs Mars series, not as well known as Tarzan but fairly good. It is frankly pulp fiction and makes no pretense of serious science: John Carter, a Confederate veteran (but apparently immortal --he has no memory of his birth), while escaping from Indians in the southwest, wishes to be on Mars and is there, a Mars based loosely on Percival Lowell, with drylands stretching between canals on which are ancient cities. The first is captured by the barbaric nomad green martians, giants with four arms, but later wins the love of a red Martian princess, fully human aside from laying eggs. While they are waiting for their first child to hatch, the machine that maintains the Martian atmosphere breaks down; Carter saves it but loses consciousness ad wakes on earth, where he tells his story to a young Burroughs and then vanishes, presumably back to Mars (where the second volume picks up.)
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Wonderful pulpy goodness.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    For years I intended to read this novel. I heard over and over again how it's classic scifi, influencer of many books, movies, tv shows we love today. Published in 1917, it's the great-granddaddy of them all.

    Then Disney happened. 'John Carter of Mars' is Disney's film version of 'A Princess of Mars'. Dunno why they didn't call the movie by the book's title, unless it goes along with the company trying to get away from anything 'Princess' (thus titles like 'Tangled,' 'Brave,' and 'Frozen'). At first, I was happy a movie was being made of the book. I thought, maybe, it'd give me a taste of the novel, so I'd know what to expect. But then, I'll be honest, I didn't go see the movie because the reviews were so bad. Everyone seemed to be so mad at Disney for created something so stupid. I kept wondering if Disney didn't do the book justice or the reviewers hated the book, too. No one ever said. No one mentioned that it was classic scifi novel in the public domain...and although Disney lost money, it wasn't like it was an original Disney work they poured their hearts out over.

    Curious how bad the movie could be, the husband and I watched it. It's NOT that bad. I've endured much worse blockbusters. The pacing in the beginning is slow, but ultimately the film improves later on. Dunno if the pacing/bad editing in the beginning turned people away, or if they didn't like the mix of scifi and fantasy. In today's world, scifi can be very scientific. If the theories in the story aren't kinda maybe possible, people will pick them apart (Scientists on NPR covering Jurassic World for example). We want our scifi to be almost real.

    John Carter is a Civil War veteran who finds a cave that takes him to Mars. It's not extremely scientific, it's more magical. He suddenly finds that he also has super human powers on Mars. He befriends a local tribe of green people, gets caught up in politics (that are about as interesting as the Star Wars prequels), and falls in love with a captive humanoid princess. Like any super hero, he saves the day and gets the girl. The book ends on a sad note, but sets the story up for its many sequels.

    The story is told by John Carter and really shows its age. Indians are out to get you old-West-style. John Carter is a Confederate gentleman who never forgets his genteel manners no matter what's happening to him. Everyone is either super good or bad. The princess is objectified and needs saving. John Carter suddenly notices that she's humanoid and is instantly in love with her. He turns kinda "Me Tarzan, You Jane" on her. So, it doesn't stand the test of time. When reading (or watching the movie) you've really got to consider the time frame it was published. It's very imaginative for its time. The book rightly belongs on the shelf with other old timers like Tarzan (also by Burroughs) and The Prisoner of Zenda, Still not a bad read if you're a scifi nerd, into classics, or both.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    Really??? head-->desk
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Edgar Rice Burroughs' 1912 novel "A Princess of Mars" is a brilliant, wonderful piece of literature. That it is still just as good one hundred years after it was written is testament to just how good a writer Burroughs was. What would it be like to be transported to another planet without a spaceship, guns, or even clothes? What would it be like to be plopped all alone in an alien culture with nothing to rely on but one's wits, strength, agility, courage, and ethics? What would that world be like if it was dried up planet with mere canals to provide water and its mighty seas were dried up? What if that planet had an ancient culture that had vanished with the drying up of the seas and all that remained were dead seas and hordes of savages roaming the dead sea bottoms? What if these savages did not even give birth as we do but laid eggs and placed them in incubators for five long years? These are the questions Burrough must have asked before writing this terrific novel that spawned generation after generation of science fiction novels.

    At root, if you put aside the alien planet, it is a story of a mighty swordsman and a beautiful princess and the swordsman, blundering though he may be in the ways of women, has sworn to save this damsel in distress though a million swords be arrayed against him. It is a story of a gallant Virginia gentleman and his love story to rescue over and over again his princess, Dejah Thoris. It is at times chivalry like the knights of the round table or the three musketeers.

    Burroughs, back in 1912, gave his swordfighting warriors of Mars a few technological details, such as fliers that hovered above the seabeds and ray guns, but they preferred to fight with swords and fists and wear little but harnesses to hold their weapons. The people of Burroughs' Mars had an atmospheric plant that kept the thin atmosphere breathable and navigation systems on their fliers, but they were, even the red martians, in numerous little city-states forever at war with each other.
    Burroughs wrote this story of chivalry and derring-do for a readership that craved adventure, but he gave them far more than just adventure. He created mighty kingdoms and history and a whole culture that is just stupendous. No one before or since has created a sword and planet story quite as good as Burroughs did and this the first of the eleven Martian books was the best of all.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    A fast-paced book, narrated in a leisurely fashion. Not as imaginative as "Tarzan of the Apes", written a year later. Some things were known about Mars at the time this book was written and these find there way into the narrative, things like the ice caps and Mars's rapidly moving inner moon, Phobos. Enjoyable, and far better than the movie. However, as the love story unfolds and the fighting goes on John Carter becomes completely unscrupulous and doesn't even seem to notice. John Carter explicitly prizes the more tender emotions, and his more gentle actions always have good consequences, a positive, but unrealistic message.Like Rafael Sabatini, Burroughs derived a lot of his leisurely style from Sir Walter Scott. Unlike Scott he eschewed all humour and dialect.That John Carter can interbreed with a member of a species that lays eggs is hilarious.The narration was in a quite pleasant southern accent, appropriate since John Carter is a former Confederate officer.The cover images vary wildly. Some are pretty awful "Conan the Barbarian" style beefcake, but the "Vox Libris" cover is excellent.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    True Pulp Fiction! An really hero is transported to Mars, expedience many adventures, wins the heart ofa Martian Princess and generally saves the day! Good fun.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Fun space Opera. Burroughs knows how to keep a story moving. He is one of the early masters of the Space Opera. Great imagination.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Imaginative to say the least, it's easy to see how this tale became the precursor for the space operas and space Westerns we all know and love today.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The first three books of the series are in fact a complete trilogy. One that has endured for a century, and rightfully so, but if action and adventure novels are common enough, what is the lasting appeal of these books? Simple: Honour & loyalty. Essential qualities of character. I am finding in the home brood that the internet generation are missing, and lacking, these seeds. Books like these, themes like these, have shaped me. Read them. Put them into your kid's hands and no, they won't die if the iPod goes away for hours each day, forcing them to grow roots into self evaluation, meaning, and notions about character, loyalty, service.
    Okay and it's fun. Hot chicks, swords, wild landscapes and wilder humanoids. You gotta love it.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    For now, anyway, I'm just going to rip off something I already wrote in the comments below. Sorry, I know that's terribly lazy.

    "Princess of Mars" is a direct response to HG Wells' "War of the Worlds," in a lot of ways: in the latter, Wells talks about the effect of our heavier Earth gravity on the Martians, and in this book John Carter is basically Superman on Mars because of their lower gravity, and there are some other fun nods to WotW. But also ideologically: everyone knows Wells is a socialist, so when Burroughs says shit like this about the bad guys:Owning everything in common, even to your women and children, has resulted in your owning nothing in common. You hate each other as you hate all others except yourselves. (p. 54)it certainly seems like he's trying to engage Wells. But he's writing pretty simple wish-fulfillment stuff here: guy magically appears in magic place where he has magic powers and the hottest girl there is totally into him. At least on the evidence of this book, Burroughs just isn't a match for Wells.

    Still fun to read them both together, though.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I read a couple of the later books when I was a teenager.Burroughs knows how to mix high adventure and romance. A lot of the relationship interactions are very out dated but then again this was written in early 1900s. If you can get past that then you can sit back and enjoy a very action packed adventure. I'm looking forward to reading the second Barsoom John Carter book.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    audiobook - Pretty cheesy, but fun. My narrator had this really crazy old-school Southern accent which grated on my nerves a bit, but I knew it was appropriate. Due to the cheese-factor I expected a happy ending (but didn't get one), but then I remembered that this is old-school science fiction, so of course it has a true science fiction ending in which the main story is not actually resolved.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    First line:~ In submitting Captain Carter's strange manuscript to you in book form, I believe that a few words relative to this remarkable personality will be of interest ~Overall, I found this an interesting if not entirely enjoyable read. It was one of my first forays into pulp fiction and it is considered to be one of the best examples from that time. Edgar Rice Burroughs has a thoroughly gifted imagination and creates a very different world for the setting of this early science fiction / science fantasy story. This is also one of the first planetary romances.I did, however, find the characters a little hard to take. John Carter just a bit TOO good and the Princess - just a bit TOO in need of rescuing all the time! No feminism there!Would I recommend this? Probably if you are a true sci-fi fan and want to delve into the early history of the genre. And for a little light reading. Just don't expect modern sensibilities and you should enjoy the romp!3.5 stars
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    John Carter is a prospector in the US shortly after the civil war. He finds himself magically transported to Mars, and so begins an adventure with the 2 races of intelligent being, the red and the green peoples. The plot tends to support colonialism, where the white man has a civilising influence on other races and proves to be their salvation. The red people are even directly compared with Native Americans. The writing style is like much early science fiction, using many words where few would suffice. I found the love story a little too much, but then I don't really like romances. An good book, unashamedly copied by many later writers.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I was surprised at how well this book holds up considering it was written 95 years ago! I find the John Carter stories much more interesting than Tarzan. Brian Holsopple read the audiobook I listened to and he does a good job of making the older text more exciting. Good, classic sci-fi!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Having recently seen the John Carter film at the theater and on DVD it seemed like a good time to revisit a favorite book from my youth. Like a million other people I really enjoyed growing up with Edgar Rice Burroughs' adventure stories. I originally read most of the 11 Mars stories later than the Tarzan novels, finishing them up in my early 20's. Princess of Mars I have always recalled as a favorite. I'm glad I revisited the story. This was a very seminal novel for the genre. The film adaptation changed a number of things, many for the better for a modern film audience. However, the original story in "A Princess of Mars" has quite a different storyline and there is much that is missing in the film. Each version has it's strengths. For a story written 100 years ago, it is pretty imaginative and amazing. These were called "scientific romances" for good reason. For today it is still very enjoyable and I'd just say it was a very fun read. I know I shall be re-reading some more of these old stories in the coming years.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    In the post-Civil War era, John Carter enters an Arizona cave and is unexpectedly whisked away to Mars. There, he witnesses the depravity of a "highly developed" race of people who, because medicine helps them to live long lives, they perform population control by warring with each other. In some ways, though, they're happier than people on Earth, because they have no lawyers. John Carter takes Mars (and a Princess's heart) by storm. I'm not a huge fan of pulp fiction, so I expected very little out of this book. Because of that, I was impressed at how "not bad" it was. Actually, it was sort of interesting in a history-of-science-fiction sort of way. It did have some rather racist comments about Native Americans (an artifact of when it was written), and the Princess was a weak annoying little thing whose only virtues were rare beauty and a penchant for getting into trouble so that we could witness the excitement of her rescue (this is an artifact of being pulp). Overall, not too shabby. But not literature, either. I DID wonder whether John Carter was meant to be some sort of pulpy Christ figure. He was very good at saving people. And he had the right initials. ;)
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    A Princess of Mars is more of a swashbuckling adventure on Mars than a sci-fi story, at least as the genre is understood today. You can not deny its influence - the Barsoom series evidently inspired Bradbury, Clarke, Heinlein and Carl Sagan. Burroughs certainly has a way with words, but I found the plot patently ridiculous and would recommend it only to someone interested in exploring the history of the genre.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This was my first foray into any kind of classic sci-fi / fantasy and it was a breath of fresh air in regards to what I had been reading before hand. There is a frank, no-nonsense story telling to this novel which was easy to read and follow. Often times I would laugh out loud at the polar opposites of that stoic story telling that was then flip on its head by over the moon pronunciations of love.Very male :DGood novel, I would be interested in reading more by Burroughs.

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A Princess of Mars - Edgar Rice Burroughs

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