A Princess of Mars (Barsoom, #1) in Sword & Sorcery: "An earthier sort of fantasy"

Jun 17, 2013 Jason Koivu rated it it was ok

Shelves: fiction, sci-fi

A Princess of Mars is a forerunner in the sci-fi genre and as such some of the science herein is off. On the other hand, one has to be impressed with the guesswork a fictional novelist made regarding living conditions on another planet, considering he was writing at a time prior to space exploration. Hell, this was written a mere nine years after the first flight by man.

The real reason this didn't resonate with me had to do with the story's hero, John Carter. He's just too good at everything to ...more

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Jul 18, 2008 Charles rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

A Princess of Mars, by Edgar Rice Burroughs. This is the one that started it all for me. The first in the Barsoom series by Burroughs. John Carter gets to Mars and has his first adventures. I loved it so much that from the moment I read it I began making up my own stories about this kind of character and world. Eventually, the Talera cycle resulted. I owe ERB so much for the joy he gave me and the inspiration he was for me with these books.

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Dec 04, 2008 Derek rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: sword-and-planet

It's astonishing how much Burroughs got right, and how little the impact of the things gotten wrong. He encumbers himself with an overly weighty yet weirdly flimsy framing device airlifted from a different story, narration that is perhaps overly mannerly and awkward in construction, characters that are little more than grand archetypes (especially Mr. Wish Fulfillment Awesomeness himself, John Carter), and a story line that was not as much built as poured out in a deluge of invention. Yet the in ...more

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May 09, 2013 Paul Kemp rated it really liked it

Clear prose, great action, rapid pacing, and an interesting world. I'm amazed this novel was written in 1917. If you haven't read as part of your tour through the classics of the genre, add it. You won't regret it. ...more

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Jul 05, 2011 James rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

There is an elusive quality one finds in the golden age of speculative fiction; an economy of language, a sparseness of excess. Every word is in it's proper place, every scene has a reason for taking up space on the page. This was more evident than usual when enjoyed in audio book form. There is a reason that Burroughs is known as one of the giants on whose shoulders other speculative fiction writers stand. He paints a stark picture of a dystopian world, and filters all of its strangeness throug ...more

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