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    A Princess of Mars
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    A Princess of Mars
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    A Princess of Mars
    Ebook269 pages4 hours

    A Princess of Mars

    By Edgar Rice Burroughs

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    Before many of the current genres were cemented, Edgar Rice Burroughs began putting out a seemingly endless blur of sci-fi/fantasy/pulp fiction books, starting with A Princess of Mars. He would later become super famous for his Tarzan series, but the Martian books are still great reads. It is a story set on the dying planet Mars, and its hero is John Carter, ex-Civil War vet - it's full of heroic, non-PC, early 20th century manliness. 


    Carter has been taken prisoner by the Green Men of Thark. And the titular princess in the story is Dejah Thoris, who leads a clan on Mars. The princess and Carter must free themselves in time to save the planet from destruction as its Atmosphere Factory begins to shut down. A Princess of Mars inspired many modern science fiction writers, including Ray Bradbury, John Norman and Arthur C. Clarke, and influenced the imagination of distinguished scientist Carl Sagan, who read the book as a child.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSheba Blake Publishing
    Release dateMay 18, 2015
    ISBN9781304039538
    Author

    Edgar Rice Burroughs

    American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875 - 1950) worked many odd jobs before professionally writing. Burroughs did not start writing until he was in his late 30s while working at a pencil-sharpener wholesaler. But after following his call to writing, Burroughs created one of America's most enduring adventure heroes: Tarzan. Along with his novels about Tarzan, Burroughs wrote the notable Barsoom series, which follows the Mars adventurer John Carter.

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    Reviews for A Princess of Mars

    3.5/5

    1,148 ratings86 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Ignoring the fact that we've disproved some of the myths of "Mars," actually quite a good read.
    • 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.)
    • 4/5
      Wonderful pulpy goodness.
    • 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.
    • 1/5
      Really??? head-->desk
    • 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.
    • 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.
    • 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.
    • 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.
    • 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.
    • 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.
    • 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.
    • 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.
    • 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.
    • 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
    • 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.
    • 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!
    • 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.
    • 4/5
      It took a while for me to warm up to this 1912 classic but in the end it is a surprisingly good adventure & love story that happens to take place on Mars. This type of sci fi (aliens and weird creatures) is generally not what I care for but if you can accept the one giant leap of faith - how John Carter gets to Mars is inexplicable even to himself - Burroughs does a good job. And this book is the origin of the stereotype that men from Mars are green (which survived in the original Star Trek with the Klingons), although John Carter's love interest is a woman from the red people of Mars!
    • 2/5
      OK, I give up…(checking)…81% of the way through. Bag this book.

      I grabbed Princess of Mars on Gutenberg.org, because it was in the Top Downloads chart, and because I’d never read any Burroughs before. (I realized a day or two later that it was being downloaded heavily because there’s a film adaptation out now.)

      Having recently read a ton of fiction from the century spanning roughly 1820-1920, including a lot of pioneering science fiction, and having enjoyed most of it, I expected about the same from Princess of Mars: an enjoyable story rich with references to its time, probably loaded with amusingly quaint touches like hokey science and corny dialogue. And it didn’t disappoint on the “hokey” front, what with the chariot-riding, pistol toting Martians and all. But it failed to grab me, and ultimately I bogged down out of sheer boredom. It read almost like a (mediocre) Western novel in which the places and people had been hastily switched at the last minute to create a “Martian” setting. (I understand this was not the case, just saying that’s how it felt.) I can definitely tell this stuff must have been an influence on L. Ron Hubbard.

      Having given this book an honest try, I don’t think I’ll be finishing it, let alone picking up one of the apparently 317 sequels. If I want my old-school fix, I’ll stick to Wells-Verne-Stevenson-Stoker and company.
    • 2/5
      While I respect the place this novel has in early science fiction, and the influence it had on some of the later greats of science fiction, and while I understand that all fiction is a product of the time and the place it's written, I will always find it difficult to respect speculative works in which it was easier to imagine aliens on Mars than women being treated as equals. As well, Mary Sue Carter really got to be a bit MUCH.
    • 3/5
      Having recently seen the film John Carter, I thought I'd download this classic from Gutenberg. It was OK but glad I saw the film first as the book is even more one fight after the next. It is also short so can be safely read on a phone in spare minutes.I have downloaded Gods of Mars too so will use spare minutes on that too.
    • 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.
    • 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. ;)
    • 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.
    • 3/5
      How awesome are the green women of Mars? Engineers, trauma surgeons, armorers, blacksmiths, teachers and more. What are the green men of Mars? Naked dudes with weapons.

      How does John Carter win the people's ovation and fame forever on Barsoom? Cuddles, people. He wins it with cuddles and kindness. Were he just a guy from a planet with higher gravity, he would still win the fights he fought and won, but he would not have won the affection and loyalty of Woola, his faithful toothy hound, and the thoats, and he would not have Sola and Dejah Thoris as his allies, all key at various points to his survival on Mars.

      Mars needs cuddles, my friends. Mars needs cuddles.

      I love this book. It is vibrant and silly and earnest and purportedly about manly business but every page is about the awesomeness of the ladies. Ok, sure, Dejah Thoris could do a bit more rescuing of herself and a bit less swanning about being sternly princessly and stiff upper lipped. She does save the day once, I suppose. I'd like to see more of her being awesome in subsequent books.

      My major complaint is being robbed of the reunion of Sola and Tars Tarkas. Books and books about Sola would be very fine indeed.

      In an epic display of juvenile behaviour, I found myself giggling every time I remembered that all the characters were naked but for jewellery and weapons. I find it hilarious that all the cover illustrations are over-dressing!
    • 3/5
      “A Princess of Mars” is the first in Burroughs’ eleven book “Barsoon” series, following the continued adventures of John Carter.John Carter, a Civil War veteran is prospecting in Arizona when attacked by Indians, taking cover in a cave he encounters some strange events, then he finds himself on the planet Mars and a prisoner of the Green Men of Thark, Dejah Thoris, a red Martian princess, is also a prisoner of the Green Men. John Carter has impressive skills, due to the difference in gravity between Mars and Earth and his being a combat veteran. This is important because he must fight for his and Dejah Thoris freedom. And later to save the planet from destruction.This was a fun easy read. Heavy on the action, lots of fighting and sword play, light on plot and character development. All in all an enjoyable and entertaining read.
    • 4/5
      It reads like every 1950's Martian movie, but that's only because it set the standard for Martian stories. It is the original story of a man going to Mars and interacting with the alien civilizations he finds there. At times the hero is a bit too dashing, but that adds to the campy aspect of the read. It's enjoyable pulp, with a twist ending that's a bit like "what happens after the fairy tale is over?" The racial aspects of the story, red men and green men as savage warring civilizations, was laid on a bit too thick at times. Burroughs is writing from the perspective of early 20th Century America, where the Western frontier was quickly closing as white America was bringing an end to their destruction of the "red man", and at times it felt like he let his prejudices slip into the story. Overall, though, a very fun read.
    • 3/5
      I had heard from so many people about how good this books is, and frankly, I was disappointed. Maybe it is just not my thing, but John Carter seemed like a pretentious, self praising jerk. He set himself up above every other character in the book, and took numerous opportunities to assure the reader of his many skills, abilities and qualities, while feigning modesty. I understand that this book was written in a different era, but I felt that he looked down on the dog (thing) because he was a 'hideous beast' Dejah Thoris because she is a woman, the Green Men of Thark because they were less civilized than him, and the humans because they were not as clever as him. On top of that, I found the timeline hard to follow, and did not really understand if John Carter was human or not (because he did not age). Perhaps some of these questions are answered in one of the next 10 books, but I'm not sure if I can force myself to find out.
      I did like the technology aspect of the book though. I found it really interesting especially because of when it was published.
      I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoy's Civil War era science fiction.
    • 2/5
      Pulpy and terribly dated.