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4.0 out of 5 stars
John Carter Pursues His Princess, Nov 16 2008
Edgar Rice Burroughs (September 1st, 1875 - March 19, 1950) continues the adventure started in "A Princess on 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.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Thoroughly enjoyable, Mar 29 2004
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.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
A TREMENDOUS FEAT OF IMAGINATION, Feb 3 2003
This book, #2 of 11 in Burroughs' John Carter series, is a direct sequel to the classic "A Princess of Mars," and a reading of that earlier volume is fairly essential before going into this one. "Gods..." was first published in serial form in "All-Story Magazine" in 1913, and comprises one of Burroughs' earliest works. It is amazing how much action the author manages to cram into the book's 190 pages; on just about EVERY page there is some kind of incredible happening or colorful bit. The book really is hard to put down, and yet, at the same time, the end of just about every paragraph could serve as a cliffhanger! The pace of the book is brisk and relentless, and really carries the reader along to another great cliffhanger at the conclusion. In this volume, our hero, John Carter, returns to Barsoom after a decade's absence, and goes to that planet's "heaven." But heaven turns out to be anything but, and our man gets caught up in battles with plant men and white apes, lost civilizations, religious taboos, the plots of an evil "goddess," duels in the arena and on and on. There are two action set pieces that Burroughs really puts over well. One is the slave revolt that takes place halfway through the tale; the other, a bravura, four-way air battle between the forces of the black, white, red and green men of Barsoom. Both of these sections are thrilling in the extreme; better than anything in the first Barsoom novel. It's also nice that Carter, an Earthman on Mars, fights alongside men and women of varied races, colors, and religious beliefs in a common cause; there's some kind of message there--one for tolerance and brotherhood--that we could all avail ourselves of today.
Having said all this, however, I must admit that there are problems in this novel that prevent me from giving it a top grade. These problems mainly take the form of fuzzy writing and internal inconsistencies. Burroughs, in this novel, does not do well in describing geography; his depictions of the Valley of the Therns, for example, are almost impossible to visualize (for me, anyway). A map of this planet (such as the one provided in LeGuin's Earthsea books) would have greatly helped, given Burroughs' inability to clearly set out his world. As for the inconsistencies: Burroughs, the "editor" of the novel, says he first read Carter's manuscript (for Book #1) 12 years previously; but if he had really obeyed Carter's will (that the manuscript not be opened for 11 years), then he would have only first seen the text of "A Princess of Mars" ONE year before! Tars Tarkas is said to be grieving over his kidnapped daughter in one section of this book; then, a few scenes later, he learns of this kidnapping for the first time. Huh?!?! The scene with Carter on the black-pirate cruiser contains many inconsistencies. Carter is said to be fighting five of these men; he kills three of them, and then three are left. Huh?!?! Six pirates are killed, all told, but later in the book, the number is said to be seven. Carter is said to have killed all these men single-handed, although the Thern princess, Phaidor, had helped him. These pirates are all asleep in the cruiser when Carter comes upon them, although they had been sacking the Thern temple scant minutes before. Does this seem likely? Inconsistencies such as this can drive an alert reader crazy. And don't even get me started on the redundant expressions such as "haven of refuge" and "craven cowards" that pop up all the time. Burroughs improved with age, but these early books are rife with problems that a good copyediting should have weeded out. Still, these minor problems are easily overlooked when one is caught up in the sweep of the story, and this story is as exciting as they come. It really is a tremendous feat of imagination, and one that any lover of swashbuckling fantasy should hugely enjoy.
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