For some time now, I’ve been promising a review of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Martian Tales Trilogy. At last, here it is. Of course, I read them several months ago now, so my memory is a touch fuzzy. The good news for you is that this should be a relatively short post.
First, a note on presentation. I bought the Barnes and Noble edition which is great in terms of price ($9.99 for the three book collection) but horrible in terms of quality presentation. First, the cover is a rather bland picture of Mars, which is quite the contrast with vivid fantasy art that normally goes with these books. The book is also riddled with typos. Apparently Barnes and Noble couldn’t be bothered to run it through the spell checker. It is also a flimsy glued binding which will start to fall apart after just a few readings. But again, it was only ten bucks for three books.
It also has a forward that reads like it was written by a bachelors in humanities at Berkley. There were numerous times during the book that I found myself wondering if that person had read the same book I was reading. For example, he was talking about Carter’s attitude to the Martians as being like that of a British officer to the people in the various colonies. To make his point, he quotes Carter saying something like “I am a better master by being a kind master.” Presumably this quote would have come from the third book, Warlord of Mars when Carter is basically made king of the whole planet. But no, it doesn’t refer to the Martians at all, not the sentient ones anyway. It actually comes from the first book and refers to a beast of burden used by the green Martians much as we use horses.
Moving on to the story, it quickly becomes clear that the author the forward got one thing right, it is an action-adventure story, with the closest modern counterpart being probably Indiana Jones. That is, character, plot, and setting all exist largely to facilitate the action. Not that all these other story elements are completely neglected, they simply aren’t the point. The point is that John Carter is an unstoppable warrior who leaps first and looks second, and fortunately usually finds himself on the side of right.
Things begin with an introduction to our hero, who knows well that he is “not like other men,” for a number of reasons. These include the fact that his nephew cannot remember Carter ever looking any different, even though he first met his uncle as a small child and is now a full-grown man. In fact, Carter himself really doesn’t remember ever being any different, seemingly perpetually to be aged in his mid-thirties and in peak physical condition.
The adventure begins in Arizona where John Carter is prospecting for gold. Naturally, not all is peaceful and he winds up taking refuge from a band of natives in a cave where is seemingly overcome by some gas from within. This triggers a kind of out of body experience in which he is transported to Mars. It is a “kind” of out of body experience because we quickly realize that he has a fully functioning body on Mars, in addition to the one left in the cave on earth. This isn’t explained, and frankly doesn’t need to be. As I said, such things really aren’t the point.
Once there, he quickly is captured by a tribe of green Martians. These are four-armed green giants who live a brutal existence among the deserts and ancient ruins of Mars. While a prisoner, he actually becomes a chieftain of the tribe, basically by killing everyone who pisses him off (don’t worry, they deserve it) and so earns the respect of this warlike people, especially of Tars Tarkas, apparently just about the only green Martian with something like a conscience. He also makes the acquaintance of Deja Thoris, who is a red Martian and looks human, in fact, like a very beautiful human. She is also the princess of Mars and thus a great prize of the green Martians. Carter though, eventually helps her to escape. Through a number of other adventures, he gets her back to her home city of Helium, marries her and forms an alliance with all the green Martians after Tars Tarkas becomes their big chief. First book ends with Carter rushing to restart the air production facility that continually replenishes Mars’ thin atmosphere. But not before passing out and waking back up in the cave in Arizona.
The second book involves John Carter’s return to Mars ten years later. Rather than a quick reunion with Deja Thoris and their child (who had not quite hatched – yes hatched – at the end of the first book) he is plunged into the deep south of Mars. This is where their religion thought Heaven was. However, we quickly find out that this Heaven is more like Hell, populated with great white apes and strange plant-men who rend nearly everyone who gets down the river. If they make it past them, they are taken prisoner by a race of white Martians who essentially are the priests of the land. They, however are not the top of the food chain though as they are themselves enslaved by a race of black Martians, whose leader is the goddess of Mars. Naturally, over the course of the book, Carter exposes the whole brutal deception, leading right to the third book in which he leads the red and green Martians in the defeat of the a coalition of surviving and discontented black and white Martians who are joined by some discontented red Martians and the long-last race of yellow Martians who hide in a secret city at Mars’ north pole.
As I said, though, they real star of the books is Carter’s physical prowess and loyalty to Deja Thoris and Tars Tarkas, all of which are demonstrated through a never ending series of sword and fist fights. All in all, the action is written well, and Tars Tarkas is as good of a character as John Carter. Deja Thoris though is a largely forgettable damsel in distress, bringing little to the story except motivation for Carter. Which now that I think about it is a very good thing. After all, no motivation equals no story. So while her visible role is small, the whole series of books couldn’t exist if not for her. Something to ponder.
My personal recommendation is that if you want a fun read to just let the brain relax a bit, pick up a John Carter book and enjoy the ride. However, I wouldn’t recommend reading multiple stories in a row since they constant battles and demonstrations of Carter’s invincibility do start to get a tad repetitive after a while.
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