The Gods of Mars (Electronic Paperback on CDROM) [CD-ROM]

We last left John suffocating and wondering if we will ever see him again (except for those few intrepid people that dare to read ahead)

"Twelve years passed since I laid the body of my great-uncle, Captain John Carter, of Virginia, way form the sight of men in that strange mausoleum in the old Cemetery at Richmond."

John returns to a Mars he never saw before yet soon finds old friends and new adventures. Not everything is black and white as in the Saturday morning cowboys. The story is a never-ending series of last minute escapes until the very end when, well read the book and find out. Once again, we get to kibitz.

A Princess of Mars

Edgar Rice Burroughs (September 1st, 1875 - March 19, 1950) continues the adventure started in "A Princess of Mars" in the sequel, "The Gods of Mars". This novel was published from January to May of 1913 in "All-Story" as a serial, and then published in book form in September of 1918. John Carter returns to Barsoom, finding if he were in time to save Barsoom at the end of the previous book, and searching for Princess Dejah Thoris who he left behind.

As with the first book, this one opens with a foreword written by Burroughs, where he implies that this is a true story and that John Carter is real. The story then picks up with John Carter returning to Barsoom, but to an area which he has not seen before. He is almost immediately forced to fight for his life defending himself and a Green Martian who turns out to be his old friend Tars Tarkas. He soon finds that he has arrived in the Valley Dor, where the River Iss empties into the Lost Sea of Korus, or in other words, heaven. But it is no heaven, it is a place where those who come are slaughtered by the plant men, eaten by the white apes, or by the Therns, who fancy themselves divine, but have their own version of "heaven" which is much the same as that of the Red and Green Martians, and as much of a lie.

Once again, John Carter makes friends and enemies along the way, from Thuvia, a Red Martian prisoner that he frees from the clutches of the Therns; Phaidor, the Thern female who falls for John Carter after he rescues her from the black pirates; Xodar, the black pirate who John Carter captures and who turns the tables on Carter. And, of course, the Goddess Issus, of the first-born. There is also a young Red-Martian warrior (Cathoris) who displays superior fighting skills, and Burroughs teases the reader by hinting at who his father might be, but always interrupting before it is revealed. Other old friends and foes appear as well, such as Kantos Kan, and Zat Arras.

The story is entertaining enough for the reader to forgive the amazing coincidences within. One can certainly ignore John Carter arriving where Tars Tarkas is, even though he had never been there before, because the mysterious travel between worlds is not explained. On the other hand, the escape from Shador and the underground world of the first-born leading the escapees right to where Tars Tarkas and Thuvia are would certainly qualify as an amazing coincidence. Additional coincidences would include the Helium fleet appearing in the nick of time and of course on the opposite side, the re-abduction of Thuvia under their very noses.

Almost the entire book is spent in John Carter's pursuit of returning to Dejah Thoris, and time and again he is thwarted until the very end when he finds her, and then as the reader knows, foolishly leaves her to help his allies, only to find that she has been taken once again. The book ending in a much more obvious cliff-hanger than the first one, which some readers may find unfair.

Overall, this book is not quite as good as the first in the series, but Burroughs does a good job of keeping it fresh and entertaining, building suspense for the next in the series, and of laying the groundwork for future stories as well. As a result, I give this book the same rating as the first in the series, as it doesn't let up very much from the quality of entertainment of the first work.

This is the second book in the series, _A Princess of Mars_ being the first. I like this one better. Again, John Carter astral-travels to Mars, and instantly finds himself in a battle with the plant men, alongside his old friend Tars Tarkas. A new resourceful female character, is introduced. Surprisingly, Burroughs does a hatchet-job on fanatical mass religion and corrupt priests, which is something I didn't expect in an action-adventure novel [...]. Burroughs is generally an adequate, workman-like writer, but, boy, could he tell a story! This book is just one action-packed adventure after another. And even though Burroughs wrote most of his Mars novels right around 1912, they still hold up today.