A review by miocenemama
The Chessmen of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs

2.0

I found this, the fifth of the John Carter books, even more problematic than the others. It seemed even more sexist to me and the matter-0f-fact attitude towards slavery was disturbing. Burroughs does know how to write a plot. The book is the product of episodic storytelling and as such, can draw the story out with any number of new developments, although the ultimate resolution is pretty much a foregone conclusion. I was also disturbed by how much the one superstitious and barbaric culture in the book seemed to draw so much inspiration in appearances to some native American cultures. It felt entirely too much to me like the old and demeaning "noble savage" trope