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3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
The story of Harry Thorne, outcast scion of a wealthy East Coast family, who agrees to swap bodies with a Martian noble, thrusting him into a fierce and vibrant world of strange beasts and stranger people, where a man's future is determined by the strength of his sword arm. Tasked with tracking down and neutralizing another Earthman before he establishes a corrupt empire, and trapped between the love of two beautiful and dangerous women, will Harry Thorne wind up a slave in the dolorous baridium mines, or will he step forward and claim his destiny as a swordsman of Mars?
I've not read any stories by Otis Kline before, but after reading Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter/Barsoom series of stories, and discovering about it and reading good recommendations from the 'Take Me Back To Barsoom' Facebook group, I took the plunge and gave 'The Swordsman Of Mars' a go - the first in a two book Mars series from Kline.
I have to say, 'Swordsman' is a very enjoyable read. Harry Thorne is very similar to Burroughs' John Carter, so if you enjoyed those books you're sure to enjoy this. Nearly every chapter is packed with action and is fast paced that you're swept into 'Hahr Ree Thorne's' Martian adventure.
All the good pulp action sci-fi is there; an outsider who's very adept with a sword, turns up in a foreign land that's populated with strange races, fantastical beasts, death rays, flying machines, chases, escapes, battles, a princess or two and a kingdom that needs saving from a tyrannical fiend.
If anything, Thorne does come across as a bit more cerebral than the gung-ho John Carter of Burroughs' stories, but if you like planetary romance and pulp science fiction then you can do no wrong in picking this up and giving it a read.
I've not read any stories by Otis Kline before, but after reading Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter/Barsoom series of stories, and discovering about it and reading good recommendations from the 'Take Me Back To Barsoom' Facebook group, I took the plunge and gave 'The Swordsman Of Mars' a go - the first in a two book Mars series from Kline.
I have to say, 'Swordsman' is a very enjoyable read. Harry Thorne is very similar to Burroughs' John Carter, so if you enjoyed those books you're sure to enjoy this. Nearly every chapter is packed with action and is fast paced that you're swept into 'Hahr Ree Thorne's' Martian adventure.
All the good pulp action sci-fi is there; an outsider who's very adept with a sword, turns up in a foreign land that's populated with strange races, fantastical beasts, death rays, flying machines, chases, escapes, battles, a princess or two and a kingdom that needs saving from a tyrannical fiend.
If anything, Thorne does come across as a bit more cerebral than the gung-ho John Carter of Burroughs' stories, but if you like planetary romance and pulp science fiction then you can do no wrong in picking this up and giving it a read.
Objectively, this is a bad book. There world-building is poor, the plot is contrived with tons of plot-holes big enough throw an army of Ma Gongi through, and the character-building is pretty much non-existent. And there are whiffs of racism (the positive characters are described as 'white' and the evil Ma Gongi are 'yellow'). The sexism is off the charts (every female character is referred to a 'little,' even Thaine, who is a total badass with a sword through most of the book; just one example.)
Part of me wants to say that, well, it's pulp and I should expect some of that. But I feel like experts at writing pulp science fantasy (Friz Leiber, Vance, Moorcock) don't fall prey to as many issues and have more postives than Kline did.
Still, I guess I won't say that I disliked it, exactly. It is fast-paced, never lacking for action, and has some imaginative ideas (though nothing that stood out to me over other sword-and-planet works).
Part of me wants to say that, well, it's pulp and I should expect some of that. But I feel like experts at writing pulp science fantasy (Friz Leiber, Vance, Moorcock) don't fall prey to as many issues and have more postives than Kline did.
Still, I guess I won't say that I disliked it, exactly. It is fast-paced, never lacking for action, and has some imaginative ideas (though nothing that stood out to me over other sword-and-planet works).
Not as good as ERB, and I probably should only give it a 3 rating, but I just enjoyed it too much. Call it a guilty pleasure. I liked it in spite of itself. I wish Amazon had a separate category for the genre of "planetary romance" or "sword and planet", as they are my favorite type of story. Even more than zombies. :)