Not sure how I've overlooked this for so long... you'd think when I went thru my Conan the Barbarian stage back in middle school, I would have stumbled across the Barsoom series as well. Decided I'd better check it out before seeing the John Carter movie coming out in a few weeks.



This novelette is a fun, quick read that definitely helped set the stage for both the fantasy and sci-fi genres. There's plenty of manly adventure, and the occasional bit of dry humour. Yeah, the character development is as scanty as Dejah Thoris' wardrobe, and the stereotyping is borderline painful at times, but the descriptions of the scenery and the races of Barsoom are stirring.



Definitely worth a freebie read - this Goodreads page should have a "Read it Now" link, or you can grab a Kindle copy from Amazon.