Ever since the John Carter movie came out last summer, I’ve had an urge to read Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Barsoon series. I hadn’t read it previously, so I thought this would be a decent time to start. I picked up A Princess of Mars and, while you could tell that parts of it were definitely dated, it was still a fun action-adventure read. It’s hard to believe that the book (collecting the first of the Barsoon short stories) was the first things that Burroughs had ever published. It is, for the most part, well told and there are only a few rough spots. So, let’s find out more about our princess.

John Carter is a civil war veteran who is prospecting in the desert, when he runs across a tribe of Apaches who had captured his partner. After a few twists and turns, he ends up on the run from them and in a mysterious cave which transports him to Mars (locally known as Barsoom). Mars’ lower gravity turns John Carter, soldier, into John Carter, super soldier. He is able to do great feats of strength and jumping due to his Earth muscles and Mars gravity. This talent gets him integrated into the green Martian tribes, where he rises up the ranks due to his fighting abilities. He makes a couple friends in this tribe, including the warrior Tars Tarkas and the female teacher Sola. Along the way, the tribe picks up a Red Martian princess known as Dejah Thoris. John and Dejah start a slow burning relationship that has many ups and downs during the book. But Dejah is the impetus for John to leave the tribe and try to return Dejah to her tribe. Along the way, John runs into all sorts of situations which require stealth, friendship or all out fighting for him to find his way through.

The plot is fairly thin and the story is padded by many, many descriptions of the different areas of Mars, and the cultural habits of the various Martian tribes as well as many battles. But John Carter is a singularly engaging main character and his unique charisma makes the journey not only worthwhile but exciting. Burroughs does a little bit of the “Earthman helps savage native” sequences, but he does manage to keep that to a minimum. Carter not only brings several Earth customs to Mars, but he learns and adapts to many, many Mars customs as well. The supporting characters are slightly fleshed out, but not enough to handle their own storylines. Everything runs through John and Burroughs does enough to keep John interesting and moving, so that the story doesn’t slow down. Overall it was a fine, fun novel with an open ending that led to many future stories. Recommended.