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3.57 AVERAGE
3.57 AVERAGE
Where as Thuvia was at times helpless, Tara of Helium, daughter of the Warlord of Mars, stacks bodies as well as her erstwhile lover and rescuer. This tale is also high in more political intrigue and infinitely interesting characters than the other Barsoomian yarns. A treat to be sure!
Meh. Gave up after 100 pages or so. Loved the first three books, but the series becomes redundant after taht.
Interesting story line, but predictable. I slogged through a few parts, but I am interested in reading the entire series. As with the comics and other media some stories are better than others. Like the last novel this story isn't about John Carter of Mars, but his daughter Tara and her adventure to a land far from Helium. The cover is cool and the Jetan sequences (Chess) were good, but very short considering it is the title of the book. Sadly no giant green Tharks in this one.
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
When ERB lets his imagination run rampant, his books are a delight. When he focuses on more courtly matters, his books tend to lose me. This is one of his novels of his that does both.
The first half of the book features Tara of Helium (John Carter's daughter) lost in the weird community of kaldanes and rykors. Kaldanes are detachable, crab-like heads that ride the headless, human-like rykor bodies. Naturally, being almost all head, the kaldanes are emotionless beings driven by a desire to only think. The rykors just want to eat. There are shades of Baron Munchausen's moon folk here, though Raspe's head/bodies are played for laughs and ERB leans more towards horror.
Then the book shifts to another lost city—this one populated by humans—where deadly games of chess are played with living men and women being the pieces. The chess aspect is fun, but it only plays a small part of the book's second half, with more time spent on dungeon crawling and the selfish decrees of an antagonist king. The city's gladiatorial chess games are not its only curiosity. The dead are not buried here, but taxidermied and posed on balconies and public hallways. To my disappointment, ERB never really spends the time to explain this. He cites ancestor worship often while describing the superstitions of the city's residents, so maybe the preserved dead are part of that? The whole second half of the book seemed more of a jumble of cool ideas that ERB just pasted over the usual romance & heroics outline. On top of that, the ending comes way too fast.
I did like that Tara is given more than half of the book's POV. It was nice to have a woman be the main character for a while. Her personality starts as pretty much that of a brat, though she softens marginally as the book goes on. I suppose hanging out with beings of pure thought and wicked emperors will do that.
The first half of the book features Tara of Helium (John Carter's daughter) lost in the weird community of kaldanes and rykors. Kaldanes are detachable, crab-like heads that ride the headless, human-like rykor bodies. Naturally, being almost all head, the kaldanes are emotionless beings driven by a desire to only think. The rykors just want to eat. There are shades of Baron Munchausen's moon folk here, though Raspe's head/bodies are played for laughs and ERB leans more towards horror.
Then the book shifts to another lost city—this one populated by humans—where deadly games of chess are played with living men and women being the pieces. The chess aspect is fun, but it only plays a small part of the book's second half, with more time spent on dungeon crawling and the selfish decrees of an antagonist king. The city's gladiatorial chess games are not its only curiosity. The dead are not buried here, but taxidermied and posed on balconies and public hallways. To my disappointment, ERB never really spends the time to explain this. He cites ancestor worship often while describing the superstitions of the city's residents, so maybe the preserved dead are part of that? The whole second half of the book seemed more of a jumble of cool ideas that ERB just pasted over the usual romance & heroics outline. On top of that, the ending comes way too fast.
I did like that Tara is given more than half of the book's POV. It was nice to have a woman be the main character for a while. Her personality starts as pretty much that of a brat, though she softens marginally as the book goes on. I suppose hanging out with beings of pure thought and wicked emperors will do that.
Cheesy fun, I love how the characters often talk to each other using full name and title. I listened to a Librivox version, but I may pick up other of Burroughs work if I'm in the mood. This is what good B or C movies replaced, then inexplicably became summer blockbusters like the Mummy series and Van Helsing!!! (you must always shout the later).
As the series goes, this one is right back up there with the first novel. I thought the fourth novel, Thuvia, Maid of Mars, was a step down from the first three. I missed John Carter, and the tale was hardly different than The third novel, The Warlord of Mars. Saying that, this one, The Chessmen Of Mars, follows the same theme. A damsel in distress held in a foreign land and rescued by a single hero.
One would think it would lack interest as the fourth one did. What separates it is the introduction of Ghek, the kaldane. When one thinks of how horrifying such a creature, spiderlike, dominating his headless human rykor mount, must have been to readers when this was released in 1921, it must have been AWESOME! Kudos to Ghek - an awesome character, who singlehandedly raised this novel back to 5 stars.
One would think it would lack interest as the fourth one did. What separates it is the introduction of Ghek, the kaldane. When one thinks of how horrifying such a creature, spiderlike, dominating his headless human rykor mount, must have been to readers when this was released in 1921, it must have been AWESOME! Kudos to Ghek - an awesome character, who singlehandedly raised this novel back to 5 stars.
adventurous
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I'm glad we've moved beyond just John Carter's stories. Tara drove me crazy particularly at the beginning, but she definitely grew on me over the course of the book. At the end when it's revealed that the mercenary who she fell in love with is actually the prince she completely dissed (to his face only like a day ago) and she just laughs and shrugs and they're both just happy cracked me up I love Ghek - he's probably my second favorite character next to Thuvia. That whole part of it was bizarre, but it brought us Ghek, so I didn't mind the detour.
I guess I'm just a sucker for these Barsoom stories. I probably shouldn't rate them as high as I do, but I just get a kick out them.