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A review by sarahanne8382
Gods of Mars: A Barsoom Novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs
4.0
I'm glad my husband likes these Barsoom books too, because I feel kind of guilty reading them by myself. They're such crap, er, camp, but really fun. After listening to the first two Barsoom books together on a recent trip, we had to come home and watch The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. because it's the same kind of campy turn-of-the-20th-century adventure fun (although Brisco is much more tongue in cheek). It kind of reminds me of a more idealized version of Firefly too.
Anyway, in this second of the Barsoom series, we resume the story of our hero, John Carter, who spend the last book gaining fame and glory on Mars (called Barsoom by it's natives), only die in an attempt to repair the planet's atmosphere factory. The forward of this book reveals that Carter returned from his most recent trip to Mars long enough to provide copious notes for his favorite nephew to turn into the current story. Carter returned to Mars only to discover that he had arrived in the Barsoomian Heaven, which turned out to be more like Hell. Luckily his friend Tars Tarkas had taken the traditional pilgrimage down the River Iss to the Valley of Dorr and is there to help him escape. While there he gains two more female admirers (although he gallantly proclaims his love for Dejah Thoris to each) and two more comrades in arms, one of which is his son, Carthoris.
You can see the emotional surprises coming from a mile away (just like in the last book, John Carter is kind of dense when it comes to figuring out that women are in love with him), and much of the action is either predictable or from Plot Convenience Playhouse, yet it still manages to be wildly entertaining and exciting family-friendly fun. This series might be a good candidate for those "boy books" children's librarians are trying so hard to promote right now (but that's a whole other topic).
The plot ends with a cliffhanger, though, so I'm going to have to read The Warlords of Mars to find out how it all ends.
Anyway, in this second of the Barsoom series, we resume the story of our hero, John Carter, who spend the last book gaining fame and glory on Mars (called Barsoom by it's natives), only die in an attempt to repair the planet's atmosphere factory. The forward of this book reveals that Carter returned from his most recent trip to Mars long enough to provide copious notes for his favorite nephew to turn into the current story. Carter returned to Mars only to discover that he had arrived in the Barsoomian Heaven, which turned out to be more like Hell. Luckily his friend Tars Tarkas had taken the traditional pilgrimage down the River Iss to the Valley of Dorr and is there to help him escape. While there he gains two more female admirers (although he gallantly proclaims his love for Dejah Thoris to each) and two more comrades in arms, one of which is his son, Carthoris.
You can see the emotional surprises coming from a mile away (just like in the last book, John Carter is kind of dense when it comes to figuring out that women are in love with him), and much of the action is either predictable or from Plot Convenience Playhouse, yet it still manages to be wildly entertaining and exciting family-friendly fun. This series might be a good candidate for those "boy books" children's librarians are trying so hard to promote right now (but that's a whole other topic).
The plot ends with a cliffhanger, though, so I'm going to have to read The Warlords of Mars to find out how it all ends.