Review: The Gods of Mars

The Gods of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Another fun romp, like the first one. For being written around the turn of the 20th Century, Burroughs has a pretty imaginative mind for sci-fi concepts and what were later to become tropes of the genre.



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Review: Blood & Sawdust

Blood & Sawdust by Jason S. Ridler

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Note: This book was received for free from the author after his review inquiry.

Blood & Sawdust is an action-centric urban fantasy story that mixes the supernatural with a murder mystery and professional fighting. Malcolm is a young kid who's at the end of his ropes, until he comes across a professional underdog hiding a dark secret. Their plotlines converge, hijinks ensue, people die, and a bird becomes a major plot focus.

As I said above, this book contains some heavy action and Ridler has a good grasp on how fight scenes play out. The dialog gets a bit repetitive in places, but part of that might be the youth of the main character and the less-educated nature of some of the other characters, so this might have been a conscious choice by the author.

All in all, if you like brutal action scenes or have a fondness for combat sports, you'll probably find something to like in this book.





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Review: John Dies at the End

John Dies at the End by David Wong

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



Interesting blend of absurdity and action. The three stories within have interesting parts, but the overall flow comes across as a bit disjointed. It is well-written for what it is, however.

Not bad, but I don't get the hype behind this, either.






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Review: A Touch of Death

A Touch of Death by Charles Williams

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Nice little yarn about a thug trying to outsmart a femme fatale.



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A Princess of Mars

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