The Gods of Mars

Buy another version of this novel, because this isn't Borrough's original text. It's like someone took a translation of the work, then re-translated it back into English using a very inferior computer program. Here's a sample, "I had questioned if...he had back to Barsoom to find that he had opened the frowning portals of the amazing atmosphere plant in time to save the countless thousands and thousands who were loss of life of asphyxiation on that long way-gone day that had seen him hurtled ruthlessly through forty-eight million miles of space lower back to Earth yet again."

The Martian Tales of Edgar Rice Burroughs continue in this second entry into the saga. While the initial novel (A PRINCESS OF MARS) had a lot of elements to put into place when introducing readers to this new world of wonders, THE GODS OF MARS allows us to leap into the action much more quickly. Old friends join John Carter against new foes and threats. Exotic creatures and alien locales make you wonder why Hollywood took so long to bring any of these books to the screen. (Although they certainly helped themselves when it came to "borrowing" character types and concepts for film and television over the years.) These books make the perfect way to spend a wintery weekend or lazy summer evening.

I read the first book in the “Barsoom” series as a story in the “Steam Punk Megapack” collection. It is pure action/adventure and I really enjoyed it! I then went to Wikipedia and discovered there are eleven books total in the series. The last book is really two separate stories. These books are all fun and easy to read. I discovered that many of the individual titles in the series are free at Amazon for the Kindle, particularly the first five. Then the stories seem to come in collections for a price. I suggest avoiding the collections based on the negative reviews that I read. I was able to acquire all of the books eventually as single Kindle books. Two books, numbers 8 and 10 (I believe), I was able to get by googling the titles. They were in Kindle format and free! Check out feedbooks.com. I did not know before this that the Kindle format is available outside of the Amazon Web Site. I could not get these two books through Amazon. Book eleven is available at Amazon Kindle but the Title is listed as: “John Carter on Mars.” In Wikipedia it is listed as: “John Carter of Mars.” I believe the two stories: “John Carter and the Giant of Mars” & “Skeleton Men of Jupiter” can be acquired for free as separate titles at feedbooks.com if you prefer “free”.

I really wanted to like this book more. who doesn't like a good comeback story? Sadly, even for a fantasy book this one was just so over the top that I couldn't fully enjoy it. The fleshing out of some of the other Martian races was welcome, as was the explanation of their motivations. I did appreciate how the author took pains to describe situations as the characters saw it, and not how the reader would visualize it. However, the book just covers so. Much. Ground. that I almost got whiplash. Added to that the ridiculous number of coincidences, as well as the worlds most obvious twist, means that I will most likely not re-read this book. After the fantastic heights of the first novel, this one was a tad disappointing.

When we last saw John Carter, he had been accidentally transferred back to Earth, and away from his beloved Dejah Thoris. Well, obviously in a novel named "The Gods of Mars," he isn't going to stay on his home planet and learn how to play poker. Instead, Edgar Rice Burroughs' second Barsoom novel returns our hero to the red planet, and introduces a whole new dilemma for our hero -- how to get back to the world of the living. Yes, he's both alive AND dead, as far as the Barsoomians are concerned. John Carter returns to Mars, but is shocked to find that he's in a completely unfamiliar part of it, populated by grotesque Plant Men and white apes. After encountering his old friend Tars Tarkas, Carter learns that they are in the Barsoomian afterlife. No, really. The problem is, nobody can return from the pilgrimage to the River Iss -- and if anyone tries, they will be killed. Even though they were already dead... don't think too hard about it. But the greatest threat comes from two breeds of Martian that Carter has never seen before -- the Black Martian pirates and the White Martian Therns, both of whom consider themselves to be gods. Anyone who survives the valley is turned into a slave, and Carter soon makes new allies among his fellow captives. But even if he can escape the grasp of the "goddess" Issus, he may not be able to survive in a world where escaping from "death" is blasphemy -- especially when he finds that Dejah Thoris may be doomed as well. "The Gods of Mars" is a much faster-moving story than the first Barsoom book, even though we're introduced to a whole new part of Mars and two new Martian species. Rather than the slow introductions of "A Princess of Mars," Burroughs just plunges right into the main story right away, and it's a long time before he stops to contemplate the flora/fauna/customs of the Martians. Burroughs' prose is also more polished in this story, with longer action scenes and a faster pace -- as well as some moments that are absolutely horrifying (the plant men, with their corpselike skin, ragged noses and wormy hair). And while he still has the slight stuffiness of early 20th-century pulp, he injects a lot of vivid descriptions and action into the story. John Carter is still a bit on the Stuey side -- multiple women are in love with him by the story's end, for instance. But he's still a very strong character, with lots of guts and courage. Burroughs throws a rather unexpected twist into the story when Carter discovers that one of his fellow captives is actually related to him; and he also introduces some other interesting characters, such as the malignant Issus and the strong, proud Thuvia. "The Gods of Mars" is one of the few sequels that is actually markedly better than the original book. But be warned: it leaves you dangling on a cliffhanger that will leave you scrabbling for the third book.

After watching the film and being nowhere near as disappointed as the reviews told me I'd be, I was only disappointed that there wouldn't be any sequels, so I set about reading the books instead. The first book in the series, upon which the film was based, was very enjoyable and, perhaps understandably, different to the film, but broadly follows the same storyline. This, the second book, picks up at neatly from the first story and delivers another non-stop action romp over the surface of Mars! Really can't help but recommend it, especially with it being free.

Not interested in these reviews

Another good read. Written at a time when political correctness was unheard of. The author writes freely and without the constraints of modern concerns. The world he writes about is rich and colourful and full of detail. The story is compelling and I can't wait to read the next book to find out if John Carter and Dejah Thoris are reunited.

Yet again another classic Edgar Rice Burroughs. The film's do not do justice to his wonderful imagination. A great read

I like this book, first I saw the movie and I wanted to learn what happened next. I am sure I will buy the third book of the series.