While escaping some Apache, John Carter unknowingly enters a cursed cave and finds himself suddenly projected to Mars. There he becomes the captive of the savage green men known as Tharks. A raid by the Tharks introduces him to Dejah Thoris, the lovely Princess of Helium, who he becomes instantly smitten with. The drive to escape and be with Dejah throws Carter into a war between three different Martian factions.Tarzan creator Edgar Rice Burroughs spins this first tale in his lengthy Barsoom (the name for Mars by its inhabitants) saga. Initially written as a serial for the pulp magazines, Burroughs eventually re-edited and collected the stories into a standalone novel.
Fans of classic science fiction and adventure will find a lot to like in this book. There is a lot of action, as well as some political intrigue and the love story between John Carter and Dejah Thoris.
Burroughs's light writing style makes this a quick and easy read, and he has a great imagination for writing this story well in advance of any interstellar travel. The book's only fault is John Carter being almost instinctively knowledgable about the various goings-on and his plans always resulting into some degree of success.
Nevertheless, this is essential reading for any fan of the genre and fans of the recent movie would do themselves a service to visit the source material. In addition, the book's public domain status makes this a very affordable book for anyone interested in checking it out.
Available at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, Overstock.com, and Project Gutenberg.
Title: A Princess of Mars
Author: Edgar Rice Burroughs
Year: 1912 (serial) / 1917 (novel)
Pages: 216
