A Princess of Mars Paperback – 22 Jun. 2012

This is the story of John Carter, heroic here on Earth but superheroic once he is mysteriously transported to Mars, in a way that Burroughs leaves entirely unexplained. Which is a good thing, in one way, but sad in another, because the true comic heights of this book are reached when Burroughs tries to explain scientifically what's going on.Arriving naked on Mars, Carter finds himself captured by six-limbed green Martians, also naked, repulsive to look at and vicious by nature. However, endowed with superior strength and agility by the low gravity on Mars, the brave Carter has soon killed enough of these creatures to win their admiration and to be made a chieftain among them. This comes in handy when a red, human-like (hence thankfully only four-limbed) Martian turns up (naked) - the beautiful Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium. She has been captured by the green Tharks and is soon to be tortured to death for their amusement. But Carter is entranced by the beauty and spirit of Dejah Thoris and, pausing only to sigh over her little hands, fine eyes and precious dimples, sets out to save her and return her to her own (naked) people, the Heliumites. Unfortunately, not knowing Martian customs, Carter says something that offends Dejah Thoris, meaning that he has to do amazing deeds of derring-do to prove his love and win her heart and little hand in marriage, so that one day they can hopefully make an egg together...I'm forced to admit it - I loved this book! It's silly beyond belief and, even making allowances for the fact that it was written in 1911, the 'science' aspects are...creative! But it's hugely imaginative and a great old-fashioned heroic adventure yarn, from the days when men were men and damsels were perpetually in distress. As each new creature is introduced the burning question becomes - how many limbs will this one have? Why stop at six - lets have eight! And what an old romantic Burroughs turns out to be! It's up to our Carter to teach the Tharks the meaning of love and so show them how they can be tender and caring while ripping their enemies limb from limb...from limb. The passage where Carter wins the undying loyalty of his (ten-limbed) frog-headed 'hound' Woola by showing him kindness and affection is genuinely touching, and the romance between Carter and Dejah Thoris could have come straight from the pages of a Mills and Boon novel.The action never lets up from beginning to end, from one-to-one fights to the death, attacks by killer white apes, all the way up to full-scale wars complete with flying ships and half-crazed (eight-limbed) thoats. And then, just when it looks like Carter and Dejah Thoris might finally be able to hatch their very own chick-child...disaster strikes...dramatic cliff-hanger ending!! Oh no!! Does this mean...will I have to read the next one? I really think I must... highly recommended!

I read this book and my mind was taken back six decades, when as a twelve-year-old boy I found it and others in the `Barsoom' series in a chest full of old books that belonged to my grandfather. At the time I was very much into `The Eagle' comic, featuring the intrepid `Dan Dare, Pilot of the Future'. I casually started reading it and was soon completely immersed in the adventures of John Carter. I fell in love with Dejah Thoris and was blown away by the magnificent descriptions of the fight scenes. I could not put the book down and immediately followed it by reading the rest of the series.When I heard that a Disney film had been made based on this first book, `A Princess of Mars', I just knew I had to see it. To refresh my memory, I bought this copy in the Cosmo Classics series of books. There are many editions and reprints of the John Carter stories and looking through the reviews, it is apparent that some are flawed with missing pages and even chapters, etc. But my copy was almost perfect, just the odd spelling error. The prose is simplistic and old fashioned by modern standards, but Edgar Rice Burroughs kept it simple and kept the action moving at a good pace.The critics are in almost universal agreement in condemning the film, making such comments as, `We have seen it all before'. The truth is that ERB invented the concept of the modern Sci-Fi story. The likes of `Flash Gordon' through to `Star Wars' were all inspired by his stories. I was suspicious that many of the modern young film critics had not actually read any of the books.Reading some of the more recent reviews, written by ordinary film-goers it is clear that the film is being well received and attracting very positive comments. The DVD will be available in July. I can't wait.

Probably like many people I decided to read the book having watched the film. The story is reasonable although the prose is rather heavy going and overblown. The perspective of the story is that a civilised man is superior to barbarians yet that is expressed in terms of being better at fighting in the end. This is clearly a story of its era and while the film is remarkably true to the book in many details yet they tell totally different stories. The film has to add a whole plotline not present in the book to justify the action because, I think, the massive slaughter that John Carter causes at the climax of the story, just so he can get the princess for himself, wouldn't be acceptable to a modern audience without some better justification. But it is an imaginative depiction of a fantastic world and for that very enjoyable.

Some notes on the IDW Publishing Hardcover edition with illustrations fromMichael Wm. Kaluta: I knew Kaluta from other works of his and really appreciatedhis talent once I found out who he is (it seems that is art was all around me,without me noticing). Pros: the book has been very well taken care of, feelsthat people from IDW took care of their heritage and wanted to produce thebest they could. There is only one problem: the book is plainly HUGE for noreason. Very large fonts and while opening the package I realised that I hadnot checked the dimensions because I could not fathom that it would be so big.This gets it straight to armchair, coffee-table, I do not have a shelf bigenough to put it and definitely could not travel with it. I believe somethingmore A4-ish could achieve all their goals or a smaller font/line spacing whichwould make it at least less thick.