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John Carter of Mars (Barsoom #11)

3.75 of 5 stars 3.75 · rating details · 2,066 ratings · 55 reviews

John Carter of Mars, the eleventh and final book in the famous Barsoom series by Edgar Rice Burroughs and is a collection of two John Carter of Mars stories.

Contains:
"John Carter and the Giant of Mars"
"Skeleton Men of Jupiter"

Mass Market Paperback, 30 pages

Published July 12th 1985 by Del Rey (first published 1964)

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Mar 07, 2012 Cary rated it 5 of 5 stars

John Carter is of again to rescue his love the Deja Thoris the Red Princess of one of Mars most powerful kingdoms. John Carters ability to perform incredible feats of strength, and marshall prowess do to the lesser gravity of Mars makes him a formidable oponent. Respected by the most warlike people on a very warlike planet. John carter is good friends with Tars Tarkas. One of the green men of Mars. Green giants with six arms and two legs. Which alow them to wield a lot of weapons. As usual John...more

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Dec 30, 2012 Iceman rated it 2 of 5 stars

Mais conhecido por ter criado a figura lendária de Tarzan, Edgar Rice Burroughs ficou nos anais da literatura fantástica pela criação deste brilhante personagem John Carter que foi posteriormente transposto para a banda desenhada e para o cinema devido à imensa fama que granjeou com a série de livros escritos pelo autor.

Honestamente, e embora tenha procurado e pesquisado, não consta que por detrás destas aventuras fantásticas tivessem quaisquer metáforas ou analogias ao que quer que seja. Pelos...more Mais conhecido por ter criado a figura lendária de Tarzan, Edgar Rice Burroughs ficou nos anais da literatura fantástica pela criação deste brilhante personagem John Carter que foi posteriormente transposto para a banda desenhada e para o cinema devido à imensa fama que granjeou com a série de livros escritos pelo autor.

Honestamente, e embora tenha procurado e pesquisado, não consta que por detrás destas aventuras fantásticas tivessem quaisquer metáforas ou analogias ao que quer que seja. Pelos visto, Burroughs pretendeu de facto escrever algo fantástico que abordasse o futuro segundo a sua percepção o que, por si, torna estas aventuras apelativas, pois note-se que este primeiro livro foi publicado em 1911 e aí o autor traça todo um panorama que, hoje em dia, é bastante futurista na maioria dos aspectos.

Denominado por Burroughs por “Under the Moons of Mars”, este primeiro livro narra a história de um cowboy, veterano da guerra civil americana, que ao fugir dos indios apaches, entra numa caverna e ai é transportado para o planeta Marte. Quando se apercebe que está nesse planeta é capturado pelos guerreiros Thark, humanóides verdes com 4 metros de altura e 4 braços, sendo posteriormente resgatado pela princesa Dejah Thoris, por quem se apaixona. Como a gravidade é bastante menor, John apercebe-se que consegue dar grandes saltos que faz com seja uma espécie de super-homem naquele planeta, o que lhe traz grandes benefícios.

Embora seja considerado um clássico, não vou afirmar que adorei ler esta obra porque, definitivamente, este tipo de ficção não é o meu género e, mesmo admitindo a imensa imaginação do autor, o livro nunca me conseguiu cativar e agarrar.

Tirando os dois primeiros capítulos que se dão ainda no planeta Terra, os restantes passam-se em Marte num mundo imenso de monstros para todos os gostos, acontecimentos brutalmente incríveis e situações fantasticamente irreais. Longe de mim deslustrar esta série e muito menos o talento de Burroughs, que admito jeito para imaginar e contar historias, mas enfim, são por demais extraordinárias as aventuras narradas e dei por mim, bastas vezes, a ter de voltar atrás por ter perdido o fio à meada devido ao facto da minha mente deambular por tudo menos pelo que estava a ler.

Ou seja, um livro aconselhável para os amantes deste tipo de ficção que podem encontrar em John Carter, não apenas um clássico, como e principalmente um manancial de imaginação.(less)

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Oct 03, 2012 Daniel rated it 1 of 5 stars

I have to admit, this was a bit of a shock to the system after the eminently readable, richly plotted stories with their well-imagined characters that I've been reading recently. Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter of Mars felt a lot more like a Thongor story. It is apparently the 11th novel in the Barsoom series, and is a very thin book containing two stories. It was very clunkily written, partly because it was written to be serialised, and probably also because it didn't quite end up getting pub...more I have to admit, this was a bit of a shock to the system after the eminently readable, richly plotted stories with their well-imagined characters that I've been reading recently. Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter of Mars felt a lot more like a Thongor story. It is apparently the 11th novel in the Barsoom series, and is a very thin book containing two stories. It was very clunkily written, partly because it was written to be serialised, and probably also because it didn't quite end up getting published until about 20 years after the rest (I assume because Burroughs didn't consider it really up to scratch).

I had to keep reminding myself to treat this as a historical document; Burroughs was a pioneer of science fiction and fantasy literature, and he was building a genre of ideas rather than creating quality literature. This is astonishingly primitively written, compared to modern science fiction, or even to other things written at the same time. These is almost no personality at all to the characters - they feel like cardboard cut-outs (or, amusingly enough, the dodgy acting done in bad 50's science fiction films). Dialog is bizarrely unwieldy compared to the action going on:

A furtive figure melted away into the semi-gloom of the passageway, with Carter close behind. Seeing escape impossible, the stranger halted, sank to one knee and leveled a ray-gun at the approaching figure of the earthman. Carter saw his finger whiten as he squeezed the trigger.
"Carter!" Kantos Kan shouted, "throw yourself to the floor."
With the speed of light, Carter dropped prone.

How does Carter see a finger whiten in semi-gloom, when it is probably hidden by the trigger guard and body of the ray gun? How does Kantos Kan have time to shout a fully formed sentence between the stranger's finger whitening on the trigger and the ray-gun firing? In fact, after he shouts that, he throws some kind of long knife at the stranger and kill him, even before the ray gun is fired.

The whole book is full of passages like that, that leave you struggling to reconcile timings, facts, and motivations. By the end, it almost becomes part of the entertainment of reading the book.

Despite the fact that it reads like it is written by an overenthusiastic twelve year old, it ends up kind of fun to read. There is a certain swashbuckling flavour to it all, and despite the silliness of some of the worldbuilding that Burroughs does, there is still an attractive atmosphere to the universe that John Carter lives in, and the odd combination of high- and low-tech on the planet Barsoom (which is what the natives of Mars call their own planet.(less)

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Aug 22, 2011 Sandy rated it 3 of 5 stars

"John Carter of Mars" is the 11th and final volume in Edgar Rice Burroughs' classic John Carter series, and is comprised of two novellas of varying quality. The first, "John Carter and the Giant of Mars," first appeared in "Amazing Stories Magazine" in January 1941; the second, "Skeleton Men of Jupiter," first appeared in that same publication in February 1943. (For full details on the complicated publishing histories of these tales, I refer all interested parties to the ERB List, one of the bes...more "John Carter of Mars" is the 11th and final volume in Edgar Rice Burroughs' classic John Carter series, and is comprised of two novellas of varying quality. The first, "John Carter and the Giant of Mars," first appeared in "Amazing Stories Magazine" in January 1941; the second, "Skeleton Men of Jupiter," first appeared in that same publication in February 1943. (For full details on the complicated publishing histories of these tales, I refer all interested parties to the ERB List, one of the best Burroughs Websites on the Net.)

As most people seem to know by now, the first of these tales was NOT written by ERB himself, but rather by his son, John Coleman Burroughs, who illustrated 13 of his father's books and drew the John Carter comic strip from 1941-43. In this tale, Carter is captured by Pew Mogel, a synthetic man who is bent on conquering Barsoom with his intelligent apemen and flying malagors. The tale is an important one in the Carter saga, in that his city of Helium is almost sacked and captured at the end of a tremendous battle. Sad to say, however, Burroughs Jr.'s writing style is not up to the task of depicting such colossal doings. So this pastiche of a tale comes off like the work of a talented amateur, even though Burroughs Sr. supposedly did assist in the writing. Burroughs Jr. makes many mistakes in his writing; internal inconsistencies and inconsistencies with previous Carter books abound. For example, the characters refer to Barsoom as "Mars" in this book, and the two moons, Thuria and Cluros, are for the first time given their Earth names of Deimos and Phobos. These moons are said to travel quickly across the sky, whereas in every other Carter book, it has been said that Cluros is a very slow mover. Pew Mogel slaps Tars Tarkas, Carter's Tharkian buddy, in one scene, yet in previous books, it has been established that Tarkas is around 15 feet tall! One of the intelligent apemen falls out of a high window to his death in a courtyard in one scene, even though the characters are in an underground laboratory! The Martian rats that play such a central role in this story are made to appear similar in size to the Earth variety, whereas in previous volumes, they were said to be as big as Airedale terriers! For the first time in the entire series, the men of Barsoom are shown using radios, TV sets and visiscreens; a rather surprising advent, given all that has come before. I could go on, but you get the point. Anyone who has read the previous 10 Carter books will immediately notice the difference in style and content, and that difference is very jarring. Still, the story moves along very briskly, and the action IS relentless.

The "Skeleton Men..." tale is much better. This novella was written by ERB himself, and is a real return to form. In this one, Carter and his mate are kidnapped by the Morgors of the planet Jupiter, who intend to study them preparatory to their invasion of the Red Planet. This is the first Carter tale to take place on a planet other than Earth or Mars, and so Burroughs is given free rein to let his imagination fly. This story features some good scientific speculation on what that giant world might be like, and for once Burroughs makes no slips as far as inconsistencies are concerned. However, the story ends right in the middle of Carter's adventure; apparently, Burroughs intended this to be a multipart saga, but never did get around to finishing it. Talk about leaving the reader wanting more! But at least the story of John Carter ends on a high note here, bringing to a conclusion one of the best swashbuckling fantasy series of all time.

Perhaps this is as good a place as any to note that the 11 Carter books that I have just read were the Ballantine/DelRey paperbacks of the late '70s to early '80s. These are the ones that feature beautifully imaginative yet faithful-to-the-story cover art by Michael Whelan. Sad to say, these paperbacks are quite a mess. I have never seen books with more typographical errors in my life. It is painfully obvious that these books were never proofread. This is surprising, given the sterling job that Ballantine/DelRey did with their "Best of" series of 21 great sci-fi authors around that same time. Still, the power of Edgar Rice Burroughs' vision shines through, so that even in these poorly put-together editions, the saga of John Carter on the planet Barsoom manages to captivate the reader, even after all these years.(less)

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Jul 01, 2012 Joseph rated it 2 of 5 stars

And so the series ends, not with a bang but with more of a thud or a splat. The 2-star rating is an average of the two stories that make up John Carter of Mars. The first, Giant of Mars, is frankly terrible -- if I'm remembering correctly, it was ghost-written by Burroughs' son for use in a children's chapter book or some such. I don't know if there's a single paragraph in the entire story that doesn't have some kind of colossal violation of previously-established Barsoomian canon -- they have "...more

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Nov 12, 2012 Stephen Brooke rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction

We have two different works here, combined in one book. First is a novella, ‘The Giant of Mars.’ It is a pretty bad bit of writing. It was not actually written by Edgar Rice Burroughs, which helps explain things — ERB at his worst could still turn out a decent bit of adventure. ‘Giant’ was ghost-written by his son, with Burroughs’s input. He tried that approach a few times near the end of his career (‘Tarzan and the Forbidden City’ is apparently another).

The other story is ‘Skeleton Men of Jupit...more

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May 18, 2012 Christopher rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

Easily the least impressive of the Mars books. The first story reads like a bad dream about Barsoom: absurdity on top of absurdity; poorly written; random; etc. The second story's villains are a nice addition to the universe, but they're wasted in an incomplete story that recycles pretty much every detail from earlier stories (invisible ships, Dejah Thoris in danger, yet another invasion of Helium, inhabitants of an invisible city, and so on). I did like that the intelligent plants on Jupiter ha...more

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Jun 19, 2012 Joe Aguiar rated it 3 of 5 stars

Final book in the epic 11 book Martian Tales series from Edgar Rice Burroughs is actually two short stories together. The first, "John Carter And The Giant Of Mars" is a fun tale that has Carter's love, Dejah Thoris kidnaped by Pew Mogel,one of Ras Thavas' synthetic men, who has learned his master's secrets. Mogel plans to use Dejah as a hostage to force the surrender of Helium and from there, he plans to use Helium's resources to conquer all of Barsoom. With him are his horrid creations, an arm...more

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Apr 04, 2013 Monty rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The original John Carter of Mars series by Edgar Rice Burroughs is a true sci-fi classic. The series of several books chronicles the adventures of American John Carter, who "dies" on Earth and finds himself inexplicably awaking on Mars. It is a combination of swashbuckling adventure, sci-fi worlds, and romance. The entire series is a good- and timeless- read. BTW: The recent movie was not particularly faithful to the novel, and completely failed to capture the flavor of the hero, John Carter. Th...more

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Jul 20, 2010 Neil rated it 2 of 5 stars

This book consists of 2 parts "John Carter and the Giant of Mars" and "Skeleton Men of Jupiter"
This review is just for John Carter and the Giant of Mars hopefully I'll get around to reading and reviewing Skeleton Men of Jupiter sometime in the future.

First of all John Carter and the Giant of Mars is a bit of a con despite what it says on the book it is not by Edgar Rice Burroughs, but by his son John Coleman Burroughs, it's very doubtful if ERB had any input at all. Unlike the rest of the series...more

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May 16, 2011 Derek rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sword-and-planet

The last gasp of the Barsoom series, constructed from snouts and entrails.

The only thing to take away from "The Giant of Mars"--other than some truly substandard writing--was the army of human-brained, four-armed white apes, bearing pew-pew rayguns and riding giant predatory birds. And if you need to have the awesomeness of that explained, then you are clearly in the wrong place. Did you take a wrong turn on your way to a Nora Roberts discussion?

"Skeleton Men of Jupiter" is the raw form of an in...more

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Feb 07, 2008 Robert Saunders rated it 3 of 5 stars

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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May 22, 2012 Michael rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: i-lack-objectivity-on-this-one, read-but-dont-recall-much, read-when-young, sf-fantasy-horror

I recall that this was made up of two stories. The first was the text of the Little Big Book of John Carter, which I remember being pissed off to find bound for "adult" readers. The second was a partial piece of what promised to be the best John Carter novel in ages, and one I was really sorry to discover was unfinished on ERB's death. Clearly he still had some good JC stories in him.

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Jan 17, 2009 Robb rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Kids 13 and under

It's been so long since I've read these books that the details are lost in the mist of time. That said, I'm sure there are variations in the quality of story and prose throughout this series (it's Burroughs, after all), but I choose to remember the series as a whole, and rate it as I remember it through the eyes and mind of the child that read it for the first time...

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Mar 07, 2012 Doug rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, science-fiction

Overall I really liked the book. The book was first published in 1940 so the proper English used to write the book sometimes bogged the story line down. Some of the words and phrases make you say "what?" and then you have to go back and read it again, slower. I'm looking forward to the movie and hope they've stuck with the story line. I'm really hoping the dialogue is a bit more modern.

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Feb 07, 2012 Curtiss rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, science-fiction, recorded-on-audio-cd

This is a posthumously poublished collection of short-stories, one of which is an incomplete effort at concluding the cliff-hanger ending of "Swords of Mars" with John Carter confronting the 'Skeleton Men of Jupiter'. It would have been interesting to see ERB explore more of Barsoom using the short-story format, and also tie up some loose ends from the novels in the process; too bad he didn't!

These stories are not high art, or even good sci-fi/fantasy; but they are terrific yarns with exotic Bar...more

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Jun 19, 2010 Erik Graff rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: John Carter fans

Recommended to Erik by: no one

Shelves: sf

The Martians, one of their races being entirely humanoid but for reddish skin and female nudity, another being green, huge, many-armed and ghastly, exercised my interest throughout early adolescence, it being quite easy to identify with a cashiered Confederate soldier mysteriously cast upon the red planet with only his wits and skill at swordplay.

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Jul 05, 2008 Matt rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Masochist 'Barsoom' fans

Shelves: science-fiction, fantasy

I discovered Edgar Rice Burroughs as a 9 year old boy, and have thereafter been pretty much fated to a long love affair with his works. I've read all the other 'Barsoom' books at least three times, and some of them so many as to have lost count. But I've only read this 'Barsoom' book once, and have no desire to revisit it. 'John Carter of Mars' is a posthumous collection of some discarded ideals that Edgar Rice Burroughs never published, fully developed, or finished polishing.

This book is so fre...more

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Sep 02, 2011 Scott rated it 3 of 5 stars

The last in the 11 books of the "Mars" series. I guess I had the other 10 at some point, in the 1960s Ballantine paperback editions - don't know where they've gotten off to. Pretty good, almost bare-bones adventure writing, stripped down considerably from the style of the first Mars book. Still inventive and entertaining.

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Jul 22, 2011 Stephanie Ricker rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction

Earlier in the week I read John Carter of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs, which was absolutely hilarious. Giant three-legged rats are attacking the telepathically controlled birds used as transport! Oh no, Carter has been captured by the dreaded skeleton men of Jupiter! Classic scifi is adorable. You'll be happy to know all ended happily if fairly egocentrically with Carter consistently saving the day and being pretty cocky about it.

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Dec 08, 2010 Mike McDevitt rated it 3 of 5 stars

Splendid series, lots of fun.
Never do find out where John Carter came from, but I guess a guy in a loincloth who never tastes defeat comes from wherever he wants and goes wherever he wants.
Kaor, John Carter! And Kaor, Mr. Burroughs.

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Dec 26, 2011 Paul Steele rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction

Bit of a mixed review for the two stories in this volume. The first, "The Giant of Mars" was a disappointment.

The second "Skeleton Men of Jupiter" showed more promise, but unfortunately is unfinished.

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Mar 07, 2012 Ailish rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: edgar-rice-burroughs, pulp

The two stars is an averaging out of one star for The Giant of Mars (which wasn't even written by ERB), and three stars for The Skeleton Men of Jupiter, both of which are contained in this book.

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Sep 04, 2012 Melissa rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is a classic, delightful sci-fi adventure. Very old-school, in the best way! Great suspense too, and says good things about what humans can achieve. :)

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Sep 11, 2012 Reesha rated it 3 of 5 stars

This was a fun read, especially after seeing the movie. I don't think I would have liked it quite as much without the movie, though. The book can seem long and drawn out at times, so I suggest being prepared to read it over several sittings and in small chunks at a time.

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Mar 27, 2013 Mary Davie rated it 4 of 5 stars

I found this book to be enjoyable and am glad I read it. A friend told me that the book was far better than the movie and he was right!

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Mar 29, 2012 Kathy Dyer rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book was my introduction to sci-fi fantasy decades ago. I sat enthralled while Ms. Gross read this tale to us and then dug into our spelling list, which came from this book. I loved it. Seeing the movie this week just brought back the wonderful twists of the imaginative world of Mars…and I love it when my GoogleSky map shows me where Mars is in the sky.

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Dec 19, 2012 Boris R rated it 3 of 5 stars

Mač je zakon. Iz svih situacija sam uspio izaći uz pomoć mača. :)
čitao izdanje Dječjih novina iz 1991. biblioteka "Beli jelen"

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Sep 13, 2012 Harold rated it 1 of 5 stars

This was pretty weak, but that's because it was written as one of those "Big Little Books" (for young kids).

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Aug 23, 2012 Liddy rated it 5 of 5 stars

I read this series when I was in elementary school and after the movie came out I had to reread them.

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