Review of “A Princess of Mars” by Edgar Rice Burroughs
You can read the book for free on the Gutenberg Project website here https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/62, or you can buy the book on Amazon here.
I have not read anything by Edgar Rice Burroughs, but I had a friend that grew up reading his works and highly encouraged me to read his works. In honor of my friend's memory, I finally read some Burroughs and thought “A Princess of Mars” would be an excellent place to start. The book is the first in Burroughs “Barsoom” series of eleven novels. The story is told as an account of factual events experienced by John Carter. He has left a manuscript of his journey on Mars for his family, published in 21 years. The story opens with John Carter in the wild west of Arizona and hides in a mine to avoid the native Americans pursuing him. In the mine, he gets teleported to the world of planet Mars, which is called Barsoom by the “Martians.”
On Mars, John has super strength, agility and can jump high enough to fly. He is quickly taken in by a race of green Martians known as the Thark. Due to his new abilities, John defeats his opponents and quickly moves up the ranks in the Thark tribe. He then meets a princess of another Martian race, the red Martians, named Dejah Thoris. John falls in love with her, and the rest of the story is his journey across the Martian plains to return Dejah Thoris to her home tribe. In the end, John was able to save the princess from marrying someone else and get his green Martian friend Tars Tarkas promoted to the ruler of the Tharks. John and Dejah Thoris get married and have a child together, but the atmosphere of Mars begins to crumble, and in his attempt to fix the engine that supports the atmosphere, John is transported back to Earth in the mine.
With the ending of this book, I'm not sure where the subsequent novels would take place. So, I might have to read more in the Barsoom series. I wasn't sure what I was getting myself into when I started this book, as I tend to find older works of literature hard to follow and a bit dry. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this story. At times it can be a bit hard to follow the characters, but I think that might have been due to the unique names of the Martians that make it hard to remember which character is which.
One of the things that impressed me was Burroughs world-building of the civilization on Mars. This novel is a classic example of science fantasy, and the story is considered a planetary romance, which has elements of sword and sorcery. Burroughs goes into detail about the geography of Mars and how the different cities interact with each other. The book also adds features of the western genre, specifically in the opening chapters, which are set in Western America. Burroughs has created a story that is at its heart pure classic fantasy. In this book, it's never explained how John was transported to and from Mars, and that is a perfect choice because it keeps the story in the realm of fantasy rather than science fiction.
This book was written in 1912 when women were still fighting for voting rights and typically seen as nothing more than a housewife. Even though John Carter is the main character, he is often surrounded by female characters, or female portrayed characters, such as the princess, his fellow warrior, Sola, and an enemy warrior Sarkoja. While the princess is often a damsel in the book at the heart of a political war, but she never treats herself as the damsel. Sola is a fierce warrior with a secret and ends up helping John and Dejah Thoris on their journey. Sarkoja is a sort of villain that gets her comeuppance in the end. The variety of female characters is quite impressive when women were either wives or old crones.
The story can be seen as an allegory for white people coming in and taking over America, a classic example of the “white savior” trope. However, I think the story is more about how the Martian people and culture have changed John Carter, rather than him just liberating the people of Mars. Carter starts as a bit racist and has nothing to do with children, but he does decide to have a child with Dejah Thoris.
The “Barsoom” series of works by Edgar Rice Burroughs inspired author Ray Bradberry to write his stories titled “The Martian Chronicles.” It's a classic example of space fantasy mixed with romance and sword fighting. It's a short novel that you could read in a day or two if you wanted, so I recommend people read the book.
If you like to read stories on WattPad, then you're in luck! Because I have recently posted some short stories on WattPad! Get ready for Halloween by reading my spooky/thriller-inspired stories!
Or check out my Halloween themed children's book "Who Scared Jack?" You can buy it on Amazon here.
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