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The Chessmen of Mars (Barsoom #5)

3.79 of 5 stars 3.79 · rating details · 2,862 ratings · 113 reviews

Tara of Helium rose from the pile of silks and soft furs upon which she had been reclining, stretched her lithe body languidly, and crossed toward the center of the room, where, above a large table, a bronze disc depended from the low ceiling. Her carriage was that of health and physical perfection-the effortless harmony of faultless coordination. A scarf of silken gossame...more

ebook, 362 pages

Published December 2nd 2010 by Pubone.Info (first published 1922)

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Jul 22, 2008 Matt rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, science-fiction

Depending on my mood, this is either my favorite or second favorite of the Barsoom books. As with my other favorite, 'A Fighting Man of Mars', the hero of the story isn't that veritable demigod Virginian, John Carter, but a native Martian - in this case Gahan the Jed (or King) of Gathol - a small but very prosperous city state. The story concerns Gahan's attempts to woo the young daughter of John Carter, Tara, who rebuffs Gahan because he does not seem to her to be modest, rugged, and martial en...more

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May 22, 2012 Tucker rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: eunuch, finished

One of the last lines of Virginia Woolf's first novel The Voyage Out is "It would certainly be very dull to die before they have discovered whether there is life in Mars." So maybe it is no coincidence that, immediately after finishing that book, I picked up The Chessman of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875-1950), creator of the Tarzan character. This is a fantasy in which a beautiful princess is serially taken hostage and perpetually threatened with rape and cannibalism were it not for her her...more One of the last lines of Virginia Woolf's first novel The Voyage Out is "It would certainly be very dull to die before they have discovered whether there is life in Mars." So maybe it is no coincidence that, immediately after finishing that book, I picked up The Chessman of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875-1950), creator of the Tarzan character. This is a fantasy in which a beautiful princess is serially taken hostage and perpetually threatened with rape and cannibalism were it not for her heroic soldier who always finds her at the right moment.

Actual dialogue:

"Entirely surrounding us is a great salt marsh, which protects us from invasion by land, while the rugged and ofttimes vertical topography of our mountain renders the landing of hostile airships a precarious undertaking."

"Thy tongue is as venomous as that of the she-banth O-Tar sent to The Towers of Jetan."

Most memorable is a strange humanoid species that (dis)embodies the idea of total mind/body separation, consisting of the "kaldane" which is the head and the "rykor" which is the rest of the body. The kaldanes scuttle around on crabby appendages and occasionally plug themselves into the neck-holes of unsuspecting, brainless rykors which they can then control as vehicles. The mentalist kaldanes are, of course, evil, believing in their own perfect rationality, translating into their own superiority and their right to dominate anyone perceived as inferior. They will eat a rykor as well as more intelligent creatures after conversing with them. They have a touch of telekinesis. When not traveling on rykors, they live in airless subterranean chambers, awaiting the day when they will finally become, in the words of one kaldane,

"just a great, wonderful, beautiful brain with nothing to distract it from eternal thought."
"You mean it will just lie there and think?" cried Tara of Helium.
"Just that!" he exclaimed. "Could aught be more wonderful?"

At the end of the book, there is a eunuch surprise. (I collect eunuchs.) The abducted princess is locked up prior to her forced marriage with these words: "Conduct her thither, E-Thas, with a suitable guard of honor and see to it that slaves and eunuchs be placed at her disposal, who shall attend upon all her wants and guard her carefully from harm." When her heroic soldier comes to rescue her, the "huge eunuch" guard jumps up from the floor, brandishing his sword. The princess stabs the eunuch in the heart with her concealed dagger. He dies "without a sound". The soldier worries that they should hide the body, but Tara points out that the powerful man who is forcing her to marry is unlikely to punish anyone over the death: "what cares O-Tar for the life of a eunuch?"

This line reminds me of an odd book I recently read called Martian Dawn: "And now the Sun and both Moons rode together in the sky, lending their far mysteries to make weird the Martian dawn."(less)

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Oct 30, 2011 Rygo Quinlan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This volume in the Mars series follows the adventures of Tara of Helium, daughter of John Carter aka the Warlord of Mars. She gets lost in a single-person flier during a storm and ends up in captivity in a faraway city. Gahan of Gathol, who admired her back in her home town of Helium but was rebuffed, gets another chance. He disguises himself as a lowly mercenary or Panthan called Turan and fights to save Tara in the deadly games held in the city of Manator. (She doesn't recognise him as Gahan.)...more

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Aug 22, 2011 Sandy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"The Chessmen of Mars," Edgar Rice Burroughs' 5th John Carter novel out of 11, first appeared in serial form in the magazine "Argosy All Story Weekly" from February to April 1922. It is easily the best of the Carter lot to this point; the most detailed, the most imaginative, and the best written. Carter himself only appears at the beginning and end of the tale. Instead, our action heroes are his daughter, Tara, who gets lost in a rare Barsoomian storm while joyriding in her flier and blown halfw...more "The Chessmen of Mars," Edgar Rice Burroughs' 5th John Carter novel out of 11, first appeared in serial form in the magazine "Argosy All Story Weekly" from February to April 1922. It is easily the best of the Carter lot to this point; the most detailed, the most imaginative, and the best written. Carter himself only appears at the beginning and end of the tale. Instead, our action heroes are his daughter, Tara, who gets lost in a rare Barsoomian storm while joyriding in her flier and blown halfway across the surface of the planet, and the Gatholian jed Gahan, who goes in search of her.

In the first half of this novel, Tara and Gahan wind up in the clutches of the kaldanes--bodiless brains who live in a symbiotic relationship with their headless "rykors." One of these brains, Ghek, befriends the couple and tags along with them for the remainder of their odyssey. Ghek is a wonderful character, touching and fascinating and amusing all at once. In one passage, Ghek gives us some very interesting philosophy regarding the relationship between mind and body. In the second half of the book, the trio is captured by the hordes of Manator, and Gahan winds up fighting for Tara in a game of Martian chess, or jetan, a game in which real men are used in lieu of pieces and fight to the death for possession of squares. The jetan sequence is extremely exciting and detailed, and a knowledge of chess is not necessary for full enjoyment. One need not be a chess buff to appreciate the detailed moves that Burroughs gives us. "Chessmen" is, as I mentioned, very well written for a Burroughs novel; even, dare I say it, poetically written in spots. The action is relentless, the standard of imagination very high, and the denouement extremely satisfying. It is a near masterpiece. Why only "near"? Well, as is usual with these books, there are some problems....

As in the previous Carter novels, these problems take the form of inconsistencies and implausibilities. At the book's beginning, Burroughs, who has just been told this tale by Carter himself, writes that "if there be inconsistencies and errors, let the blame fall not upon John Carter, but rather upon my faulty memory, where it belongs." He is excusing himself in advance for any mistakes that he might make, and well he should, because there are many such in this book. I, however, cannot excuse an author for laziness and sloppy writing. Saying "excuse me" doesn't make for good writing. Just what am I referring to here? Let's see....

Tara, in several spots in the book, refers to Tardos Mors as her grandfather, when in actuality he is her great-grandfather. The Martian word "sofad" is said to be a foot; but in the previous book, "Thuvia, Maid of Mars," an "ad" was said to be a foot. Tara, in one scene, smites Ghek on the back of the head. Gahan is watching this fight from a distance, and sees her hit Ghek in the face! In the game of jetan, the thoat pieces are said to wear three feathers; but in the Rules for Jetan at the book's end, they are said to wear two. This book is based on events told to John Carter, conceivably by Tara, Gahan and/or Ghek, and yet scenes are described in which none of those characters appear; thus, they could have had no knowledge of these events described. This, I feel, is a basic problem with the book's structure. Besides these inconsistencies, there are some things that are a bit hard to swallow. For instance, that Gahan could fall 3,000 feet from a flier in the middle of a cyclone and, freakishly, survive. It's also hard to believe that Tara does not recognize Gahan when he comes to her rescue, and fails to remember where they have met, until the very end of the book. In addition, I feel that the character of Ghek is underutilized in the book's second half. It might have been nice to see the old boy loosening up a bit, as he got more in touch with his emotions, Spockstyle. Anyway, all quibbles aside, "Chessmen" is a wonderful piece of fantasy, one that had me tearing through the pages as quickly as I possibly could. It is an exceptionally fine entry in the John Carter series.(less)

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Mar 24, 2013 Eero rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: free-ebook, kindle

The kaldanes and their rykors are among the more interesting ERB's inventions. How neat it would be to have a detachable body! Of course the point of them is to poke fun at people who place a too high value on pure intellect, by literally separating the brain from the body. I don't think this kind of symbiosis is as terribly far-ferched as many other details of the Mars books, although I don't really buy the idea that kaldanes don't need air.

The story is a huge improvement over the previous one,...more The kaldanes and their rykors are among the more interesting ERB's inventions. How neat it would be to have a detachable body! Of course the point of them is to poke fun at people who place a too high value on pure intellect, by literally separating the brain from the body. I don't think this kind of symbiosis is as terribly far-ferched as many other details of the Mars books, although I don't really buy the idea that kaldanes don't need air.

The story is a huge improvement over the previous one, Thuvia, Maid of Mars, although it does rely heavily on improbable things happening conveniently just at the right moment. The protagonists are Tara, John Carter's daughter, who apparently has not inherited her father's earthly strength like her brother, being a girl and all*, and Gahan of Gathol, who of course falls immediately in love with her, and spends most of the story trying to win her over, amidst fighting various dangers and opponents. Tara is a bit headstrong and reckless: she takes her flier for a spin in a storm and is promptly carried by the storm into an unknown part of Barsoom, where she is captured by the kaldanes, who plan to fatten her a bit before eating her. Meanwhile, Gahan, while searching for her, drops off his own flier in the storm and after walking for days he arrives by chance to the place where Tara is held in captivity, just in time to rescue her with the aid of Ghek, a kaldane whom Tara has subverted by her singing. Of course, Tara at this point does not recognize Gahan, who decides to hide behind a false identity as Turan the panthan (a sort of warrior-for-hire).

The three end up in the city of Manator, where they are again captured. The plans to gain their freedom involve a game of jetan, Martian chess, where the pieces are living men who have to fight at each contested square. The rules of jetan are laid out in the book, so that the readers can try it for themselves if they wish.

*On the other hand, Tara is one of the more active female protagonists in the series, even though she seems to have a childish, impatient streak in her character.

It seems my parents read an old Finnish translation of this book, which was originally released in 1924 and reprinted 1942 and 1946. They still remembered the kaldanes, rykors and ulsios, and the name of Ghek at the time when I discovered the Mars series by myself in the 1970's. I seriously had no idea they had ever read this stuff.

This is the first time I am reading the Barsoom books in the original English.(less)

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Jan 17, 2013 wally rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: burroughs-edgar-rice

#18 from burroughs, edgar rice, for me...i've read the other 4 in this series...this being the 5th, kindle version. when all else fails, free books downloaded to the kindle are tough to beat. #3 & # 4 had some surprisingly vivid imagery, scenery, it shakes, it bakes, it twists and turns, given the time in which they were written, so...we'll see how it goes.

story begins:
prelude
john carter comes to earth
shea had just beaten me at chess, as usual, and, also as usual, i had gleaned what question...more

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Jul 16, 2012 Matthew rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

I would like to think that I will finish the Barsoom series, but I don't know that I will. I am beginning to grow wary of the plot in these latter books. Simply, boy meets girl, tragedy strikes the girl (lost, kidnapped, ect.), escape, meet hostel people or creatures, fierce battle, win, happy ever after, the end. Also, there are often things left unexplained. For example, I-gos was stabbed by Tara and left for dead. Even the hero found I-gos lying on the floor and described him as dead. Yet, la...more

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Jul 24, 2012 Lindsay rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, audiobooks, science-fiction

What is there to say about Burroughs' novel? It's no literary masterpiece, it's plots are quite card-board cutout similar to his previous novels, his female characters disrespect over their hero's are vexing--the whole "I love you! I hate you!" back and forth. But, the guy is brilliant.
Most of you are going--WHA? Well, granted all the prior statements are true I still love Burroughs--he is simply a FUN writer. Sure, his books thus far have been pretty repetitive in a sense of plot but he weaves...more

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May 12, 2010 Derek rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sword-and-planet

On one hand, I'm relieved that Burroughs was willing to at least advance the story by focusing on the slightly more interesting next generation. On the other, the plot falls squarely into the well-grooved tire tracks of the previous books: the protagonists are lost far from home and fall into various perilous lost cities and civilizations.

I did like that Tara of Helium was at some level the main character, which puts her in a more dynamic position than Dejah Thoris had been, and at some level sh...more

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May 05, 2009 Dave rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, speculative-fiction

“The Chessmen of Mars” by Edgar Rice Burroughs is the fifth book in the Barsoom series. After “Thuvia, Maid of Mars” was something of a disappointment, this installment may be the best of the series. As with the prior book, this one focuses on different characters than any of the earlier books in the series, this time the focus is John Carter’s daughter Tara, and Gahan, the Jed of Gathol. The story was originally published as a serial in “Argosy All-Story Weekly” in the February 18th, 25th, Marc...more “The Chessmen of Mars” by Edgar Rice Burroughs is the fifth book in the Barsoom series. After “Thuvia, Maid of Mars” was something of a disappointment, this installment may be the best of the series. As with the prior book, this one focuses on different characters than any of the earlier books in the series, this time the focus is John Carter’s daughter Tara, and Gahan, the Jed of Gathol. The story was originally published as a serial in “Argosy All-Story Weekly” in the February 18th, 25th, March 4th, 11th, 18th, and 25th editions in 1922 before being published in book for in November of the same year.

It is true that there are some issues with it. For one thing, the Prelude initially seems unnecessary and doesn’t quite fit with the book. The premise is that John Carter returns to Earth briefly to relate the tale, but when the story starts he is speaking from a perspective of Tara, not himself, and that is the case for most of the book. When one gets to the end, then having John Carter telling the tale makes a bit more sense, because it allows Burroughs to quickly tell what happens after the main action without a drawn out couple of chapters. The other issue is that it is a bit difficult to believe that Tara doesn’t recognize Gahan at their second meeting. While one can understand that it is important for the way the story is told, it doesn’t seem believable, and then it leads to issues with the narration referring to Gahan by the wrong name and position, even when it doesn’t make sense to do so. The reader knows that he is not a Pathan and that his name isn’t Turan, and it would have made sense to consistently refer to him with the proper name and rank when it is from another character’s perspective, rather than the general narration.

Those problems are minor though, as the story is very enjoyable, and the new characters add a lot to the series. Ghek is a member of a rather horrifying race (the Kaldane), but when he becomes an ally it adds a great deal to the story. The city of Manator likewise is very inventive with its social behavior, and of course we have the use of the game of Jetan, which is much like chess which plays an important role in the story. The story is so entertaining, that one hardly notices that one of the major plot devices, that Tara is promised to another but is falling for Gahan/Turan is rather similar to the one used in “Thuvia, Maid of Mars”.

One of the reasons I feel that this book is probably the best of the series thus far is that unlike John Carter in the first three books, the major characters in this book are much more vulnerable. Carter always seemed invincible, as he could fight countless foes hour after hour. While it is true that Gahan faces one foe for a long period in this book, it is the same one who would also be suffering the ill-effects of a prolonged combat. Of course, one cannot deny that this book does not stand on its own, and that you need to read at least the “Princess of Mars” before it, and better yet all of the prior books, and so one can understand why others may feel that it is those books are more important to the series, but I don’t think this one is behind any of the previous ones when it comes to the entertaining storyline.
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Jun 16, 2013 Alex rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-on-kindle

Out of the five books in the series I've read, this is pretty easily my favorite. It's still not a fantastic story, but Burroughs introduces some really interesting new races and concepts to the world of Barsoom here.

After narration wandering from alright to downright bad in his first attempt at third person Barsoomian lore in Thuvia, Maid of Mars, Burroughs seems to hit his stride much more comfortably here. At times, the characters split up and we get to see how each of their stories played ou...more

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Sep 19, 2012 Richard rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, classics

This fifth book in the Barsoon series is the last one that is in the public domain and therefore probably the last one I read for quite awhile. The book was true to its predecessors in almost every way. Once again almost insurmountable odds odds were overcome, lots and lot of people dies, two new civilizations were discovered, and the hero came out ahead in the end. However, The Chessmen of Mars does a better job with plot pacing, foreshadowing, and resolving plot points without resorting to my...more

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Aug 26, 2012 Gabriel C. rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: scifi, 2012

this one is a doozy for sure. The point seems to be that egghead perfessers are dangerous, unbalanced enemies. These eggheads are bisexual insect-types but their leader is called a king rather than a queen for reasons of authorial sexism.

More sexism: It takes a man who has never spoken to one of them to describe for them their faults as a species, using words he cannot yet know, rather than the woman who has been their prisoner for several weeks.

Here's a terrible little passage; let me set the...more

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Mar 21, 2013 Sherri rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

If you saw the 2012 movie John Carter then you know about John Carter the human that makes it to Mars and falls in love with Deja Thoris. This book is about John Carter and Dejah Thoris' daughter Tara, and her escapades in the wild lands of Mars.

Tara attends a ball at her father's palace and meets Gahan of Gathol who is a prince or a Jed. She is unimpressed with him and snubs him at the ball, especially since she is to wed another.

Some very bad winds come up the next morning after the ball and d...more If you saw the 2012 movie John Carter then you know about John Carter the human that makes it to Mars and falls in love with Deja Thoris. This book is about John Carter and Dejah Thoris' daughter Tara, and her escapades in the wild lands of Mars.

Tara attends a ball at her father's palace and meets Gahan of Gathol who is a prince or a Jed. She is unimpressed with him and snubs him at the ball, especially since she is to wed another.

Some very bad winds come up the next morning after the ball and despite how bad they are, Tara takes her flier out. She is blown way off course and ends up the captive of a bunch of mars men who can remove their heads from their bodies. They think she is some form of tasty morsel. She wins the heart of Ghek, one of these mars men by singing songs to him - which move him as he has never heard singing before. At the time that she is to be taken to their leader, Ghek helps her escape.

Ghek and Tara meet up with Gahan - though Tara doesn't realize that it is Gahan. Since she doesn't recognize him, Gahan tells her that he is Turan - a regular panthon (warrior). Gahan (Turan) feels not only bound by his love for Tara, but also his duty to Tara to safely bring her back to her own city of Helium.

Ghek, Tara and Turan head out to find home and end up in another perilous situation - captured by the inhabitants of the remote city Manator. Tara is placed as a chess piece in the chess-like game of Jetan and Turan is the warrior who must save his princess in this live-game of Jetan. He conquers his foes in the live game of Jetan and saves the princess Tara. It is then that the three of them race to get out of the city before they can be executed.

When I saw the movie John Carter and realized it was written by Edgar Rice Burroughs, I was excited to find that there were more stories from Burroughs about John Carter and his family on Mars. This is a very fun book to read and I definitely recommend it to anyone that is a sci-fi lover. If you are interested in reading this book you can find the Kindle edition for free on Amazon.

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Mar 10, 2013 David rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013-reading-challenge, pulp-fiction, e-book

The fifth of Edgar Rice Burrough's Barsoom series of books, this is a return to form after the somewhat disappointing Thuvia, Maid of Mars

I think a large part of the reason for that is because (I have heard) that previous installment was written in installments, which shows throughout the story. I don't know if this one was or not, but it does seem to 'flow' better.

Like Thuvia, neither John Carter himself nor his son Carthoris are the central characters: rather, it is his daughter Tara who is on...more

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Jun 12, 2012 Joseph rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

One of my two favorite Barsoom books outside of the initial trilogy. (The other being A Fighting Man of Mars.) Again it's in third person, allowing for different points of view. This time, though, we get a proper John Carter prologue/intro explaining how ERB obtained the manuscript. Very similar to Thuvia, Maid of Mars in structure (lone warrior goes off after missing princess, encounters lost cities and perils and (SPOILER!) gets the girl in the end) but there just seems to be a spark here that...more

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Sep 24, 2010 Angela Alcorn marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi, fiction, we-own, classics, 1920-1929, 20th-century

We own this as part of an omnibus: Edgar Rice Burroughs Science Fiction Classics: Pellucidar, Thuvia Maid of Mars, Tanar of Pellucidar, the Chessman of Mars, the Master Mind of Mars

Edgar Rice Burroughs Science Fiction Classics Pellucidar, Thuvia Maid of Mars, Tanar of Pellucidar, the Chessman of Mars, the Master Mind of Mars

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Nov 17, 2012 Marcus M. rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: top-science-fiction

If you have ever watched the show: DOCTOR WHO, I can tell you that one of that series' most iconic villains was heavily influenced by some of the creatures in this JOHN CARTER novel. The beasts in this story are a group of small, cepholopodic/ crusteacius heads called Kaldanes, who are totally lacking in emotions of any kind, posess an unnaturally high level of intelligence and who use completely seporate bodies to move around.
Of course, I'm saying that these guys are basically Daleks without...more

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Jul 23, 2012 Kathryn rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012-reads, adventure, american, fantasy, on-my-nook, space-opera

I like The Chessmen of Mars better than its four predecessors. The stars are Tara of Helium, the daughter of John Carter and Dejah Thoris, and Gahan, jed of Gathol. Tara shows quite a bit more spirit and self-determination than her mother did; naturally, she still needs Gahan's help to make her full escape (it wouldn't be Barsoom if the damsel could get herself out of her distress), but she's perfectly capable of originating and implementing an escape plan on her own. She doesn't merely wait pas...more I like The Chessmen of Mars better than its four predecessors. The stars are Tara of Helium, the daughter of John Carter and Dejah Thoris, and Gahan, jed of Gathol. Tara shows quite a bit more spirit and self-determination than her mother did; naturally, she still needs Gahan's help to make her full escape (it wouldn't be Barsoom if the damsel could get herself out of her distress), but she's perfectly capable of originating and implementing an escape plan on her own. She doesn't merely wait passively for her rescuer as Dejah Thoris did through the first three books.

The action in this story revolves largely around two places; the first location continues the thread of philosophy picked up in the last book with the tension between mind and matter. The kaldanes are all mind and the rykors all matter; kaldanes are basically giant brains (picture that bad guy from the animated ninja turtles cartoon. Khang? You know, that guy), and rykors are basically mindless bodies. (Let's just set aside Burroughs's ridiculous Lamarckian ideas about how such a partnership evolved.) A kaldane can ride a rykor, controlling its body with a sort of tentacle thing that grabs the rykor's spinal cord. Tara and Gahan agree that this is repulsive and that the best course is that of moderation between body and mind; they think that both gluttons and intellectuals are wrong.

The second location is Manator, a city of red men, which is notable largely for its focus on jetan, Martian chess. Gahan ends up playing a game of live jetan as part of his plan to finally rescue Tara (the plan ends up being a bit of a Xanatos gambit, what with a slave revolt and a daring rescue of a Manatorian who doesn't support his jeddak and plotting to get the support of a Manatorian jed who also doesn't support his jeddak and who has married the mother of the Manatorian previously mentioned, and by the way that Manatorian is the illegitimate son of the jeddak and also his mother is actually a princess of Gathol and is Gahan's aunt or something, and then John Carter shows up at the last minute to help save the day). It's exciting and fun.

In short, The Chessmen of Mars is easily the best Barsoom book so far. It's a good starting point if you are interested in Barsoom for itself rather than for its role in science fiction history.(less)

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Apr 15, 2012 Melodee rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: action, fantasy, indulgent, sci-fi

This is the fifth book in the Edgar Rice Burroughs Barsoom series. It is initially about the adventures of an ex-Confederate soldier who is transported to Mars. I have enjoyed all five books. Yes, they have stereotypical characters- the vicious, ugly bad guy, the wondrously beautiful and inept damsel in distress, and the handsome, virile good guy who saves the day, but it is escapism at its best, and to read sci-fi written at that time period is like looking back now on the original Star Trek....more

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Aug 19, 2012 Stephen Brooke rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, science-fiction

In ‘Chessmen,’ Burroughs slows down the pace a bit from the fight-and-run non-stop action of some of the previous Barsoom novels. It’s a longer and more ambitious effort, though certainly still packed with the usual action and the usual plot devices.

It’s all the inventive details that make those plots work and where ERB shines. And, he once again slips a bit of pointed yet painless social commentary in among the sword fights and abductions. There’s even some character growth in the female protag...more

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Feb 13, 2012 Christopher rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

Like _Thuvia ..._, this was a relatively polished story told from multiple viewpoints, showing Burroughs's increasing skill as a writer. Instead of the random assemblage of colorful situations hooked together by chance, as in the first couple of novels, this one features just two linked, coherent episodes. In both segments, Tara of Helium (daughter of John Carter) and Gahan of Gathol stumble into weird lost civilizations and gradually advance the overarching boy meets girl plot. As long as you d...more

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Aug 17, 2009 Phair rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, childhood-favorites-redux, audio-books

I spent my childhood devouring ERB's books and had recalled the Martian series as particular favorites. My cousin and I even made a martian chess set to play with but that was over a half century ago. Listened to the Tantor audiobook of this title - oh, my! The reader was truly abysmal so maybe that lessened my enjoyment. Usually I 'settle' to a reader after a while but this guy had me cringing to the end. ERB was not a particularly gifted writer from an adult perspective. Still, the story was...more

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Jul 21, 2012 Kent rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A pretty darn good one in the Mars series. I felt Thuvia, Maid of Mars was a little lacking, but this one makes up for that. This one, again, does not focus on John Carter, but rather his daughter Tara, which he suddenly has. She gets captured by the Kaldanes, which are spider-like creatures and can attach themselves to these headless human bodies, called rykors, and control them for their own use. She also gets captured by the Manatorians, which are the chess players; but they play using real p...more

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May 28, 2013 Kat rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: adventure, pulp-classics, sci-fi

Tara of Helium had a little more to do than most of Burroughs' ladies, but about halfway through the book she basically vanishes from the plot and becomes the Macguffin in constant need of rescuing. The adventure was good, and I shouldn't complain too loudly, given when the book was written, but it would have been cool to see the heroine front and center through the whole thing (especially since Gahan of Gathol was kind of a derp who just flailed around waiting for everybody else to tell him whe...more

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May 12, 2012 Kevin rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, fantasy

I finally, after weeks, admitted I'll never finish The Chessmen of Mars. The first few books in the series were adventurous albeit preposterous romps across a fantastical Mars. I've grown tired, however, of the formula for most of these stories:

someone becomes trapped in an isolated region of Mars, where he or she discovers a hidden, hostile race of people. Our hero learns about the strange, new race and eventually befriends them, escapes them, or is rescued. The end.

I suppose that repeating hi...more

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Jan 17, 2013 David Lott rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Tara, princess of Helium, daughter of John Carter, is tired of her life. She wants to have a little adventure every once in a while rather than be treated as a pampered princess, fawned upon by princes such as Gahan of Gathol. One day while taking her flying ship out for a ride she is caught in a massive windstorm that blows her to the far reaches of Mars. Lost in a land unknown to most and filled with dangers that are incomprehensible, Tara faces certain doom. Can she find a way home? Do her fr...more Tara, princess of Helium, daughter of John Carter, is tired of her life. She wants to have a little adventure every once in a while rather than be treated as a pampered princess, fawned upon by princes such as Gahan of Gathol. One day while taking her flying ship out for a ride she is caught in a massive windstorm that blows her to the far reaches of Mars. Lost in a land unknown to most and filled with dangers that are incomprehensible, Tara faces certain doom. Can she find a way home? Do her friends and family search for her when she is gone? Will she find a new love? Or will she be lost to history?

It took me a long time to get into this book. I can’t really identify a reason outside of the fact I was not terribly interested in the story at the beginning. Additionally I felt the story was actually two stories in one. Tara makes it to this weird land where there are new creatures. She goes through a whole plot line with these creatures and eventually leaves the land only to stumble upon another land and a new plot line starts again. I guess it was two short stories made into one book for our convenience. I guess I just wasn’t too fond of the story.

I also had a problem with some of the character interactions. Some new characters were introduced in the story only to have them play almost no part later in the story. Some of the character’s personalities didn’t progress very well within the confines of the story. Tara was well done and even Gahan was a shinning light but otherwise character development was a little spotty with the secondary characters.

Tara eventually meets the Chessmen of Mars who entertain themselves with human combatants in a game of chess. Reading about it brought back memories of an old videogame I used to play called Battle Chess. The game was animated so the pieces would “come alive” and “fight” the opposing piece it was taking. The game was interesting as the animation made it feel more like a battle rather than a simple game of chess. On Mars these people actually play Martian chess with real swords. It was pretty intriguing and one of the better parts of the book.

In the end the plotline of the book was a little slow and needed more secondary character development. I liked the book but it took a long time to finish as I just wasn’t interested enough to keep reading. However I thought Edgar Rice Burroughs did another fabulous job exploring the world he created on Mars with the John Carter series.(less)

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May 17, 2012 Jeff Stockett rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

This was another fun installment in the world of Barsoom. Once again, the hero is not John Carter. The main character is his daughter Tara. Tara, as it turns out, is a spoiled brat. At the beginning of the book I really didn't like her. Then as the book went on it turned out that she was stupid in addition to being spoiled.

But, luckily, she is not the "hero" of the book. The hero is Gahan of Gathol. He turns out to be super awesome and likable. He follows Tara across the planet in an attempt to...more

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Feb 07, 2008 Robert Saunders rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

These were considered "planetary romances" according to one source back when this series from the creator of Tarzan, Edgar Rice Burroughs, was written. This series of about 10 books started in 1912 and culminated around 1948. There's an odd mention of a book in 1964, but the other had been dead for 14 years by then. Plus there are a few shorts published in some pulp periodicals of the 1940s (where many of these stories appeared in years prior).

Today we call this stuff sci-fi, but it's quite diff...more

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Sep 09, 2012 Deepak Menon rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

And extraordinary fantasy by Edgar Rice Burroughs - a story based on the divorce of the Intellect From the Physical - two species evolve - one physically strong but devoid of any brain function except the basic functions of eating, breathing and toiletry, while the other species latches on to their spinal cord and sits like a brain on them, guiding them to do all their work while themselves getting their pleasure only from thinking!
A great book for a 14 year old to read and I never forgot this b...more

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About Edgar Rice Burroughs

Edgar Rice Burroughs was an American author, best known for his creation of the jungle hero Tarzan and the heroic John Carter, although he produced works in many genres.

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“Fortunate indeed are those in which there is combined a little good and a little bad, a little knowledge of many things outside their own callings, a capacity for love and a capacity for hate, for such as these can look with tolerance upon all, unbiased by the egotism of him whose head is so heavy on one side that all his brains run to that point.” — 5 people liked it

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