Just a good old-fashioned fun pulp sci-fi book! Cheesy-ness galore. ( )

The version of "A Princess of Mars" that I first read (about 10 years ago) must have been a bawdlerized, abridged version that stripped Burrough's prose of its grandeur, because I wondered why *anyone* would get excited over John Carter and Dejah Thoris. Listening to an audiobook version, I was seized by the variety and precision of the wording ERB used to lift an otherwise pulp-worthy story into the realm of cult classics. ( )

I have to be in the right frame of mind for books of this sort, and that frame comes around very rarely. These just aren't my pulp style of choice. ( )

Truly a remarkable read. Although the science is not as comprehensive as more modern books, it detracts nothing from the first part of this series. In fact, Burroughs description of the bond between Carter and his pet brought me to tears and is probably unparalleled in interspecie relationship descriptions.
Am continuing the rest of the series straightaway. Sadly, Amazon kindle free only has the first 5 books, so hopefully my library membership will come before that. ( )

I devoured Edgar Rice Burroughs's Tarzan novels as a teenager, but I never read any of his other books. Now, at a very late age, I thought I'd at least give one of them a try. Burroughs's writing in this tale of an earthling transported somehow to Mars is both as good and as bad as in his Tarzan novels. While he clearly was getting paid by the word, Burroughs is a master at compelling the reader along, no matter how far-fetched or even ridiculous the events depicted seem. He is simply a genius at this sort of writing. It's scarcely literature as academics would evaluate it. Yet it propels the willing reader past all the obstacles of coincidence, unexplained impossible events (like hero John Carter going to sleep in a cave on Earth and waking up on Mars), and purple romantic prose into a vivid world of excitement. I didn't remotely enjoy A PRINCESS OF MARS as much as I enjoyed (and still enjoy) Burroughs's Tarzan books, and I'm not convinced I'll read any of the sequels (even to find out, one hopes, just how Carter made that sleepy leap from planet to planet). But it was fun, and I can imagine a 13-year-old boy getting a great deal of fun out of it, and I'm sure a whole lot of former 13-year-olds still do. ( )