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    John Carter in A Princess of Mars
    John Carter in A Princess of Mars
    John Carter in A Princess of Mars
    Audiobook6 hours

    John Carter in A Princess of Mars

    Written by Edgar Rice Burroughs

    Narrated by Scott Brick

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Civil War veteran John Carter is transported to a dying planet, where he must elude capture by giant green barbarians to rescue a Martian princess from certain doom. In this landmark of science fiction, the myths and mystery of the red planet supply a vibrant backdrop for a swashbuckling epic.Published in 1911, A Princess of Mars introduced a popular series of novels recounting John Carter's Martian exploits. Author Edgar Rice Burroughs, best known as the creator of Tarzan, employed a new style of writing that combined the genres of fantasy, adventure, and science fiction. His imaginative setting-an advanced but decaying civilization, where Olympian heroics play out against malevolent forces and ever-changing fortunes-endures as a timeless world, in which love, honor, and loyalty form the basis for fast-paced romantic adventures.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateFeb 10, 2012
    ISBN9781452676784
    John Carter in A Princess of Mars
    Author

    Edgar Rice Burroughs

    American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875 - 1950) worked many odd jobs before professionally writing. Burroughs did not start writing until he was in his late 30s while working at a pencil-sharpener wholesaler. But after following his call to writing, Burroughs created one of America's most enduring adventure heroes: Tarzan. Along with his novels about Tarzan, Burroughs wrote the notable Barsoom series, which follows the Mars adventurer John Carter.

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    Reviews for John Carter in A Princess of Mars

    3.5/5

    100 ratings83 reviews

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    • 3/5
      A fun and refreshing blast from the past, there were still some things about it that were far too fantastical even for me. It's hard to explain. Honestly, I'm not sure I'll write a full review of this one, since so many people have already expressed their views. :)
    • 2/5
      A Princess of Mars is a pulp fiction space western. Filled with colonial ideology, the tale follows John Carter, a military American who escapes being chased by Native Americans only to find himself mysteriously transported to Mars. As he learns about the various cultures on the planet and tries to fit in, his American ways of living often prove better and more successful than the traditional methods of Martians. First captured by the giant green men of Mars, Carter finds his great strength (due to being used to Earth’s gravity) and abilities gain him power and prestige. Later, he attempts to aid another captive of the green men, a red woman similar in size and number of limbs to Carter, and to return her to her home city.The tale does have some fun and clever aspects (such as the description and personality of Woofa), but it is clearly a very old paperback, not focused on deeper-meanings or creating well-developed and explained societies. While the Martians live in an extreme environment, the detailed and sophisticated societies of Le Guin or Herbert are not to be found here. Overall, the book is a quick read, and it is fun to tag along with Carter through his adventures.
    • 4/5
      Wonderful pulpy goodness.
    • 4/5
      Not much you can say about the Mars series of books that hasn't been said before. Burroughs was the first and best of the 'barbarian planet' writers, and his stories are great entertainment. The earthman, John Carter, gets transported astrally to Mars, where he is a fantastic fighter. He meets and falls in love with a princess there, and has to save her from all sorts of dangers. There's a rumor that there's a movie based on these books coming out, and I can't wait!
    • 3/5
      A little over the top, but it's fun, and it's the original of its kind.
    • 2/5
      This book is a science fiction adventure. It is filled with combat and a romance. The story line is interesting but the plausibility of the actions of the characters is poor. This book is appropriate for a young reader as it is without any significant meaning and is merely entertaining.
    • 5/5
      One of the best books ever written...the characters are so complex and it almost feels real
    • 3/5
      audiobook - Pretty cheesy, but fun. My narrator had this really crazy old-school Southern accent which grated on my nerves a bit, but I knew it was appropriate. Due to the cheese-factor I expected a happy ending (but didn't get one), but then I remembered that this is old-school science fiction, so of course it has a true science fiction ending in which the main story is not actually resolved.
    • 3/5
      I had heard from so many people about how good this books is, and frankly, I was disappointed. Maybe it is just not my thing, but John Carter seemed like a pretentious, self praising jerk. He set himself up above every other character in the book, and took numerous opportunities to assure the reader of his many skills, abilities and qualities, while feigning modesty. I understand that this book was written in a different era, but I felt that he looked down on the dog (thing) because he was a 'hideous beast' Dejah Thoris because she is a woman, the Green Men of Thark because they were less civilized than him, and the humans because they were not as clever as him. On top of that, I found the timeline hard to follow, and did not really understand if John Carter was human or not (because he did not age). Perhaps some of these questions are answered in one of the next 10 books, but I'm not sure if I can force myself to find out.
      I did like the technology aspect of the book though. I found it really interesting especially because of when it was published.
      I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoy's Civil War era science fiction.
    • 4/5
      What a treat! Pulp ficton at it's best. John Carter is one the ultimate "mighty thewed fighting men". Burroughs was the master of this genre. You don't get anything unexpected in this story. It's all pretty prosaic. Even with that being the case it stills carries you from scene to scene and leaves you wanting to read the next chapter. The fighting companions, the beautiful maiden, the mysterious far flung cities, escape after escape that lead to further dangers. You have to love it!
    • 4/5
      Having recently seen the John Carter film at the theater and on DVD it seemed like a good time to revisit a favorite book from my youth. Like a million other people I really enjoyed growing up with Edgar Rice Burroughs' adventure stories. I originally read most of the 11 Mars stories later than the Tarzan novels, finishing them up in my early 20's. Princess of Mars I have always recalled as a favorite. I'm glad I revisited the story. This was a very seminal novel for the genre. The film adaptation changed a number of things, many for the better for a modern film audience. However, the original story in "A Princess of Mars" has quite a different storyline and there is much that is missing in the film. Each version has it's strengths. For a story written 100 years ago, it is pretty imaginative and amazing. These were called "scientific romances" for good reason. For today it is still very enjoyable and I'd just say it was a very fun read. I know I shall be re-reading some more of these old stories in the coming years.
    • 3/5
      For years I intended to read this novel. I heard over and over again how it's classic scifi, influencer of many books, movies, tv shows we love today. Published in 1917, it's the great-granddaddy of them all.

      Then Disney happened. 'John Carter of Mars' is Disney's film version of 'A Princess of Mars'. Dunno why they didn't call the movie by the book's title, unless it goes along with the company trying to get away from anything 'Princess' (thus titles like 'Tangled,' 'Brave,' and 'Frozen'). At first, I was happy a movie was being made of the book. I thought, maybe, it'd give me a taste of the novel, so I'd know what to expect. But then, I'll be honest, I didn't go see the movie because the reviews were so bad. Everyone seemed to be so mad at Disney for created something so stupid. I kept wondering if Disney didn't do the book justice or the reviewers hated the book, too. No one ever said. No one mentioned that it was classic scifi novel in the public domain...and although Disney lost money, it wasn't like it was an original Disney work they poured their hearts out over.

      Curious how bad the movie could be, the husband and I watched it. It's NOT that bad. I've endured much worse blockbusters. The pacing in the beginning is slow, but ultimately the film improves later on. Dunno if the pacing/bad editing in the beginning turned people away, or if they didn't like the mix of scifi and fantasy. In today's world, scifi can be very scientific. If the theories in the story aren't kinda maybe possible, people will pick them apart (Scientists on NPR covering Jurassic World for example). We want our scifi to be almost real.

      John Carter is a Civil War veteran who finds a cave that takes him to Mars. It's not extremely scientific, it's more magical. He suddenly finds that he also has super human powers on Mars. He befriends a local tribe of green people, gets caught up in politics (that are about as interesting as the Star Wars prequels), and falls in love with a captive humanoid princess. Like any super hero, he saves the day and gets the girl. The book ends on a sad note, but sets the story up for its many sequels.

      The story is told by John Carter and really shows its age. Indians are out to get you old-West-style. John Carter is a Confederate gentleman who never forgets his genteel manners no matter what's happening to him. Everyone is either super good or bad. The princess is objectified and needs saving. John Carter suddenly notices that she's humanoid and is instantly in love with her. He turns kinda "Me Tarzan, You Jane" on her. So, it doesn't stand the test of time. When reading (or watching the movie) you've really got to consider the time frame it was published. It's very imaginative for its time. The book rightly belongs on the shelf with other old timers like Tarzan (also by Burroughs) and The Prisoner of Zenda, Still not a bad read if you're a scifi nerd, into classics, or both.
    • 3/5
      A fast-paced book, narrated in a leisurely fashion. Not as imaginative as "Tarzan of the Apes", written a year later. Some things were known about Mars at the time this book was written and these find there way into the narrative, things like the ice caps and Mars's rapidly moving inner moon, Phobos. Enjoyable, and far better than the movie. However, as the love story unfolds and the fighting goes on John Carter becomes completely unscrupulous and doesn't even seem to notice. John Carter explicitly prizes the more tender emotions, and his more gentle actions always have good consequences, a positive, but unrealistic message.Like Rafael Sabatini, Burroughs derived a lot of his leisurely style from Sir Walter Scott. Unlike Scott he eschewed all humour and dialect.That John Carter can interbreed with a member of a species that lays eggs is hilarious.The narration was in a quite pleasant southern accent, appropriate since John Carter is a former Confederate officer.The cover images vary wildly. Some are pretty awful "Conan the Barbarian" style beefcake, but the "Vox Libris" cover is excellent.
    • 4/5
      This was my first foray into any kind of classic sci-fi / fantasy and it was a breath of fresh air in regards to what I had been reading before hand. There is a frank, no-nonsense story telling to this novel which was easy to read and follow. Often times I would laugh out loud at the polar opposites of that stoic story telling that was then flip on its head by over the moon pronunciations of love.Very male :DGood novel, I would be interested in reading more by Burroughs.
    • 4/5
      It reads like every 1950's Martian movie, but that's only because it set the standard for Martian stories. It is the original story of a man going to Mars and interacting with the alien civilizations he finds there. At times the hero is a bit too dashing, but that adds to the campy aspect of the read. It's enjoyable pulp, with a twist ending that's a bit like "what happens after the fairy tale is over?" The racial aspects of the story, red men and green men as savage warring civilizations, was laid on a bit too thick at times. Burroughs is writing from the perspective of early 20th Century America, where the Western frontier was quickly closing as white America was bringing an end to their destruction of the "red man", and at times it felt like he let his prejudices slip into the story. Overall, though, a very fun read.
    • 4/5
      Though seemingly far fetched from today's viewpoint it is an excellent adventure story.
    • 3/5
      John Carter dies on earth and awakens on Mars.
    • 4/5
      The science in this hundred year old science fiction novel by the author more famous as the creator of Tarzan is obviously ludicrous. However, his imagination in describing alien cultures and ways of thinking draws the reader in and makes this for the most part an engaging read, though the literal "with one bound (in low Martian gravity) he was free" and many fight scenes become a bit repetitive. The final scene where John Carter returns to Earth is strange and haunting. I am sure I read at least some of the many sequels.
    • 2/5
      Not very good. I'll give the author a break because it was his first novel, but it lacked the quirky charm of the Tarzan books that I've read. I'll probably read the next in the series and see if I like it any better.
    • 3/5
      While an imaginative sci-fi adventure, the book does not hold up well by today's standards, particularly due to its plodding pace. When the action finally kicks in, the author often briefly skims through the details, where epic sword fights are boiled down to a few sentences. Unfortunately, the story is also hindered by one-dimensional characters and straightforward dialog. Otherwise, credit should be given for the sheer innovative imagination of a Virginian soldier transported to Mars and given superhuman powers in the weak atmosphere of the planet, decades before "Avatar" mined similar territory. THe illustrations are also very nice and classic, but this book is best appreciated by minors.
    • 5/5
      The first three books of the series are in fact a complete trilogy. One that has endured for a century, and rightfully so, but if action and adventure novels are common enough, what is the lasting appeal of these books? Simple: Honour & loyalty. Essential qualities of character. I am finding in the home brood that the internet generation are missing, and lacking, these seeds. Books like these, themes like these, have shaped me. Read them. Put them into your kid's hands and no, they won't die if the iPod goes away for hours each day, forcing them to grow roots into self evaluation, meaning, and notions about character, loyalty, service.
      Okay and it's fun. Hot chicks, swords, wild landscapes and wilder humanoids. You gotta love it.
    • 3/5
      John Carter is a prospector in the US shortly after the civil war. He finds himself magically transported to Mars, and so begins an adventure with the 2 races of intelligent being, the red and the green peoples. The plot tends to support colonialism, where the white man has a civilising influence on other races and proves to be their salvation. The red people are even directly compared with Native Americans. The writing style is like much early science fiction, using many words where few would suffice. I found the love story a little too much, but then I don't really like romances. An good book, unashamedly copied by many later writers.
    • 4/5
      2012 is the centennial year for this book, the first volume in the Barsoom series by Edgar Rice Burroughs. John Carter, the hero of this book, appears in six of the eleven books in the series. Library of America published this edition to celebrate the centenary. The art work on the cover is very good and there are also several full page drawings in the book which add to the story.The book begins with the hero in Arizona being chased by Apache warriors. He finds safety in a cave. He is found by the Apaches who turn and run from whatever is making a deep rumbling noise in the back of the cave. Carter becomes paralyzed by a vapor in the cave and then leaves his body and escapes from the cave. He looks up into the night sky and sees the red planet. In a gesture of longing he raises his arms and is transported to Mars.His time on Mars is a terrific fast paced adventure story. The low gravity of Mars turns Carter into a warrior with incredible skills. He needs those skills as he battles with different species of creatures out to kill him. Burroughs does a great job of peopling Mars with various types peoples and animals. The different types of Martians are patterned on homo sapiens and are very aggressive.Carter's romance with the Princess of Mars is the innocent romance of our young adult years. This is a young adult book but the action and the Martian background which Burroughs created made for an entertaining read.I liked the book more than I thought I would. I was pulled in by the characters and the action/adventure kept me reading to the end. I will probably try another in the series just for kicks.
    • 3/5
      Definitely pulp fiction, but more fun than I expected.

      I wonder what it would have been like reading this before we had sent spacecraft to Mars, and before we had nice pictures of Martian surfaces.

      I can't help but wonder if Burroughs meant the reader to believe Earthlings are descended from the red men of Mars--the planet is collapsing, the ancient humanoid residents of the huge now-dead cities created the atmosphere maker.
    • 5/5
      Edgar Rice Burroughs' 1912 novel "A Princess of Mars" is a brilliant, wonderful piece of literature. That it is still just as good one hundred years after it was written is testament to just how good a writer Burroughs was. What would it be like to be transported to another planet without a spaceship, guns, or even clothes? What would it be like to be plopped all alone in an alien culture with nothing to rely on but one's wits, strength, agility, courage, and ethics? What would that world be like if it was dried up planet with mere canals to provide water and its mighty seas were dried up? What if that planet had an ancient culture that had vanished with the drying up of the seas and all that remained were dead seas and hordes of savages roaming the dead sea bottoms? What if these savages did not even give birth as we do but laid eggs and placed them in incubators for five long years? These are the questions Burrough must have asked before writing this terrific novel that spawned generation after generation of science fiction novels.

      At root, if you put aside the alien planet, it is a story of a mighty swordsman and a beautiful princess and the swordsman, blundering though he may be in the ways of women, has sworn to save this damsel in distress though a million swords be arrayed against him. It is a story of a gallant Virginia gentleman and his love story to rescue over and over again his princess, Dejah Thoris. It is at times chivalry like the knights of the round table or the three musketeers.

      Burroughs, back in 1912, gave his swordfighting warriors of Mars a few technological details, such as fliers that hovered above the seabeds and ray guns, but they preferred to fight with swords and fists and wear little but harnesses to hold their weapons. The people of Burroughs' Mars had an atmospheric plant that kept the thin atmosphere breathable and navigation systems on their fliers, but they were, even the red martians, in numerous little city-states forever at war with each other.
      Burroughs wrote this story of chivalry and derring-do for a readership that craved adventure, but he gave them far more than just adventure. He created mighty kingdoms and history and a whole culture that is just stupendous. No one before or since has created a sword and planet story quite as good as Burroughs did and this the first of the eleven Martian books was the best of all.
    • 4/5
      In the post-Civil War era, John Carter enters an Arizona cave and is unexpectedly whisked away to Mars. There, he witnesses the depravity of a "highly developed" race of people who, because medicine helps them to live long lives, they perform population control by warring with each other. In some ways, though, they're happier than people on Earth, because they have no lawyers. John Carter takes Mars (and a Princess's heart) by storm. I'm not a huge fan of pulp fiction, so I expected very little out of this book. Because of that, I was impressed at how "not bad" it was. Actually, it was sort of interesting in a history-of-science-fiction sort of way. It did have some rather racist comments about Native Americans (an artifact of when it was written), and the Princess was a weak annoying little thing whose only virtues were rare beauty and a penchant for getting into trouble so that we could witness the excitement of her rescue (this is an artifact of being pulp). Overall, not too shabby. But not literature, either. I DID wonder whether John Carter was meant to be some sort of pulpy Christ figure. He was very good at saving people. And he had the right initials. ;)
    • 2/5
      OK, I give up…(checking)…81% of the way through. Bag this book.

      I grabbed Princess of Mars on Gutenberg.org, because it was in the Top Downloads chart, and because I’d never read any Burroughs before. (I realized a day or two later that it was being downloaded heavily because there’s a film adaptation out now.)

      Having recently read a ton of fiction from the century spanning roughly 1820-1920, including a lot of pioneering science fiction, and having enjoyed most of it, I expected about the same from Princess of Mars: an enjoyable story rich with references to its time, probably loaded with amusingly quaint touches like hokey science and corny dialogue. And it didn’t disappoint on the “hokey” front, what with the chariot-riding, pistol toting Martians and all. But it failed to grab me, and ultimately I bogged down out of sheer boredom. It read almost like a (mediocre) Western novel in which the places and people had been hastily switched at the last minute to create a “Martian” setting. (I understand this was not the case, just saying that’s how it felt.) I can definitely tell this stuff must have been an influence on L. Ron Hubbard.

      Having given this book an honest try, I don’t think I’ll be finishing it, let alone picking up one of the apparently 317 sequels. If I want my old-school fix, I’ll stick to Wells-Verne-Stevenson-Stoker and company.
    • 4/5
      This is the first of Burroughs Mars series, not as well known as Tarzan but fairly good. It is frankly pulp fiction and makes no pretense of serious science: John Carter, a Confederate veteran (but apparently immortal --he has no memory of his birth), while escaping from Indians in the southwest, wishes to be on Mars and is there, a Mars based loosely on Percival Lowell, with drylands stretching between canals on which are ancient cities. The first is captured by the barbaric nomad green martians, giants with four arms, but later wins the love of a red Martian princess, fully human aside from laying eggs. While they are waiting for their first child to hatch, the machine that maintains the Martian atmosphere breaks down; Carter saves it but loses consciousness ad wakes on earth, where he tells his story to a young Burroughs and then vanishes, presumably back to Mars (where the second volume picks up.)
    • 3/5
      Pulp fiction at its apex. A western in spaceship clothing.
    • 4/5
      Fun space Opera. Burroughs knows how to keep a story moving. He is one of the early masters of the Space Opera. Great imagination.