A Princess of Mars

By: Edgar Rice Burroughs

With this being in development for a major motion picture, I thought it was time to take this one out of my queue and into my hands (or at least on my screen). My overall opinion is that while it is certainly of it’s time and therefore a bit dated, it is still a fun ride overall and I could see it translating quite well to the big screen.

The novel did start slowly and was a bit difficult to get into with it’s first person narrative, but slowly but surely built up through some classic techniques. One of the most used and effective was the way that the narrator and hero, John Carter of Virginia would drop hints about future events. Just enough to tease, and make you wonder how he gets there.

It is almost a dual story really. The first half is more an exploration of different cultures of a different planet. Not terribly exciting, but still intriguing. The second half becomes an all out slam-bam action affair.

The writing is passable overall and the characters are alright if not a bit archetype rather than truly individual characters. But the swashbuckling adventure makes none of that matter too much although it does make the beginning seem that much more slow.

Overall it’s a fine story and a series I will come back to continue. It is the type of pulp serial type story you have to be in the mood for and when I get back in that mood I will read book two.

B-