Currently Reading: John Carter Of Mars

Cover art by Michael Whelan

In the run up to the release of Disney's John Carter, I've been reading through the entire Edgar Rice Burroughs 'Barsoom' series for the first time, I've now finished the final book in the series, book 11 - John Carter Of Mars. 

From Wikipedia: 
John Carter of Mars is the eleventh and final book in the Barsoom series by Edgar Rice Burroughs. It is not actually a novel but rather a collection of two John Carter of Mars stories.

The first, "John Carter and the Giant of Mars", is a juvenile story penned by Burrough's son John "Jack" Coleman Burroughs, and claimed to have been revised by Burroughs. It was written for a Whitman Big Little Book, illustrated by Jack Burroughs that was published in 1940 and then republished in Amazing Stories the next year

The second story, "Skeleton Men of Jupiter", was first published in Amazing Stories in 1943. Intended as the first in a series of novelettes to be later collected in book form, in the fashion of Llana of Gathol, it ends with the plot unresolved, and the intended sequels were never written. Several other writers have written pastiche endings for the story.

I enjoyed both of the stories. As mentioned above, you can definitely tell the difference in style between the two stories, but I preferred the 'Skeleton Men' story the best. It just felt more like the rest of series, even if I was imagining shades of Flash Gordon whilst reading it. Shame about the sudden ending, not quite the same cliffhanger endings of the original three books but just feels unfinished, just like the end of each of the stories in 'Llana Of Gathol' which would carry on to the next.

According to Wikipedia, the copyright for this story has expired in Australia, and thus now resides in the public domain there. The text is available via Project Gutenberg Australia. John Carter & The Giant Of Mars & Skeleton Men Of Jupiter

So that's the Barsoom series finished. I can see why there are a lot of fans who love the Edgar Rice Burroughs books. I can now count myself among them. I really loved the first three books (A Princess Of Mars, The Gods Of Mars, Warlord Of Mars), which is why I just HAD to get this illustrated omnibus version of the trilogy. The series on the whole is a very enjoyable read and I would recommend them to anyone who enjoys action adventure with a sci-fi / fantasy twist.

Up next . . . I'm not quite done with the world of Barsoom just yet, and will be checking out Scott Dutton's modern take on John Carter of Mars, with 'Return To Barsoom'.