"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.
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.
What do You think about John Carter Of Mars (1985)?
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. The books are MUCH better!Monty Pitts
—Monty
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 different. More like space opera, but it doesn't take place in space. It's a Virginian, John Carter, an immortal, who is able to pass back and forth between bodies: one on Earth, the other on Mars.I read these books because they were an inspiration to other authors, such as Conan creator, Robert E, Howard, who paid tribute to Burrough's in his novella, Almuric. And those author, in turn, inspired another generation. At the heart of today's popular sci-fi there are traces of Burroughs and John Carter of Mars.I was most interested in finding traces of George Lucas's Star Wars in these books; and traces abound. In some cases just a word, a name, a phrase, or a sentence conjures up a moment in Star Wars, and in other cases entire paragraphs connect with a setting from Star Wars.
—Robert Saunders
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 freakishly bad that even an 10 year old fanatic who had barely noticed the bountiful flaws in any of the other works found the story to be unredeemably badly written and badly concieved. It's that bad.I don't care how much you love the 'Barsoom' stories, avoid inflicting this one on yourself. Just don't.
—Matt
