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<\/p>\nIt appears yet another book is being made into a movie.\u00a0 This time it’s the John Carter of Mars series by Edgar Rice Burroughs.\u00a0 I just finished book 1 of this 6 part series – A Princess of Mars.<\/p>\n
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First off, some interesting tidbits about Edgar Rice Burroughs. \u00a0 Burroughs had a very difficult early go in life despite his promising start.\u00a0 He was born to a prosperous family in 1875. He served in the 7th Calvary in WW I but never saw action due to a heart problem.\u00a0 After his discharge, however, he worked at all sorts of odd and very low-paying jobs such as railroad policeman, office manager, and even pencil sharpener wholesaler.\u00a0 None of these endeavors were\u00a0 successful and he and his small family lived in near poverty for many years.\u00a0 At 35, he wrote the Mars series for All-Stories magazine.\u00a0 This started his writing career and lead to a great number of works including the most famous, the Tarzan series.<\/p>\n
But back to the book.\u00a0 This was a quick audiobook ‘read’ coming in at only 6 discs, or 6 hours, of listening.\u00a0 The first thing that will strike you is the tone.\u00a0 You can tell this was written in turn of the 1900’s language and style.\u00a0 The men speak more like English gentlemen and the ‘science’ part of the sci-fi is problematic and dated to say the least. Still, he does get a number of things partly right – which is pretty good considering what was known of other planets at the time.<\/p>\n
Our hero, John Carter, is transported to Mars via an encounter in a mystical cave.\u00a0 Once there, he has the strength of 20 men and can leap great distances with little effort due to the low gravity of Mars.\u00a0 He encounters the warlike green men of Mars and earns a place with them through combat.\u00a0 During his adventures with the green men, he meets the captured humanoid princess Dejah Thoris.\u00a0 His attempts to win her hand and save both her and her city Helium from various armies leads to epic battles and adventures.<\/p>\n
The battles and fights certainly portray the signs of Burroughs’ times.\u00a0 There are clear echos of white man vs Indian\/’savage tribe’ attitudes, battles that themselves would be considered brutal and morally questionable by today’s standards.\u00a0 But that does not terribly detract from the story.\u00a0 In fact, if anything, it add something Burroughs never expected: historical insight.\u00a0 In many ways, Burroughs’ writing echos the prevailing attitudes towards indigenous peoples and what was considered the height of culture and understanding of his days.\u00a0 It’s a good reminder to always have a healthy dose of skepticism as to our own perceived ‘we know much better and are so much more sophisticated’ attitudes and political\/social agendas.\u00a0 In some ways, his world is much more civilized such as in the case of the duel-like rules of personal combat.\u00a0 In others, such as reasons for battle and killing every last man of your enemy, appear barbaric.<\/p>\n
Still, with so much story to tell in such a short time – the writing is anything but eloquent.\u00a0 One person has (mostly correctly) said it reads a lot like an adventure written towards teenage boys.\u00a0 Sure, you can get some dialog exchanges that are simplistic to a point of being almost comical.\u00a0 The sci-fi part is clearly dated and wrong in many ways.\u00a0 This isn’t intellectual reading.\u00a0 But is it a good story and worth the read?\u00a0 Yep!<\/p>\n
It’s a ride at a carnival.\u00a0 The set pieces and characters are mostly painted walls, and the dangers only as real as you imagine them to be; but that doesn’t make it any less fun.\u00a0 It’s an escape from the mundane into the somewhat ridiculous and far-flung.\u00a0\u00a0 It’s just good fun when you can see beyond the shortcomings and enjoy it for what it is.\u00a0 A crazy romp to another planet where a southern gentleman meets and falls in love with the most beautiful woman he’s ever met with a pet monster as a bosom friend while swash-buckling his way through epic battles.<\/p>\n
Overall, I give it a solid B and I’m looking forward to the movie version as there should be some great opportunities for crazy creatures and epic battles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It appears yet another book is being made into a movie.\u00a0 This time it’s the John Carter of Mars series by Edgar Rice Burroughs.\u00a0 I just finished book 1 of this 6 part series – A Princess of Mars. First off, some interesting tidbits about Edgar Rice Burroughs. \u00a0 Burroughs had a very difficult early go in life despite his promising start.\u00a0 He was born to a prosperous family in 1875. He served in the 7th Calvary in WW I…<\/p>\n