A Princess of Mars

By: Edgar Rice Burroughs

Narrated by: B. J. Harrison

Length: 6 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

This novel was first published episodically in 1912, a year before Burroughs released Tarzan of the Apes, which would catapult him to international fame. This novel helped to define an emerging genre: science fiction.

John Carter, Confederate Civil War veteran, is mysteriously transported to Mars, where he finds that the new environment gives him seemingly supernatural powers. We are introduced to several different alien cultures, and we follow Carter as he seeks to rescue the elusive Martian Princess, with whom he has fallen in love. It's a fantastic science fiction novel, and is sure to be a great gateway into the classics for younger readers.

Public Domain (P)2010 B.J. Harrison

Classic, but lacking detail

Perdormance was excellent. Classic story, I'm sure a truly original work in its time. but, lacking in a lot of ways now. The beginning of the story is great. But then the story jumped around too much, skimmed too quickly over vital portions of the plot, and ended hastily without adequate explanation of the mysterious events that occurred. The last part of the story also seemed to come from out of nowhere, like it was added on last minute and had not been introduced properly into the story beforehand. The native creatures of Mars could have been thought-out in more detail too, and even though there were details about their appearance and culture, I would have enjoyed learning a lot more. I also disliked how the names of all the Martians sounded so similar, like the author only followed one naming theme for the entire character list. However, like I said, a classic story of a man who unexpectedly travels to Mars and encounters strange intelligent creatures there. I'm glad I read it because it gave me a deeper insight on how to describe and introduce unique creatures in a story, and how to avoid some basic plot issues.

EVERYTHING YOU WANT IN A STORY

If you could sum up A Princess of Mars in three words, what would they be?

Action packed, Heroic, Romantic

Who was your favorite character and why?

John Carter!! He is everything you want in a man. I would marry him If I could

Which character – as performed by B. J. Harrison – was your favorite?

Tars Tarkas!! he did a great job in performing how mighty he is

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

there were so many great parts of this book. What sticks out the most to me is when John Carter told Deja Thoris that he loved her and he will fight and protect her.

Any additional comments?

Amazing book, Excellent reader.. really enjoyed the action and tenderness in the book

just as good as I remember

it was better than I remembered the narration was perfect I highly recommend this to anyone with the love of a great story

Blood and Ice

The Princess of Mars is about a royal Martian woman who hates John Carter until the end. John Carter has to shed a lot of blood to end up with the Princess of Mars. Carter is an aristocrat from Civil War era Virginia. This is a very "dated" book and the author or any of the men portrayed in the book are not "woke." John Carter just keeps killing people, and finally "gets the girl" to only be separated from her in the end. This leads to more books and children to have more adventures, I assume with more killing. There is a servant, a loyal "dog" and a women who hated him until the end. The monsters he meets, if he doesn't kill them, they become friends of John Carter, if they survive the constant fights and deaths. Disney made a movie of this book, and it was one of the worst movie "busts" of all time. Character development, what's that?