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3.65 AVERAGE


More slightly dry yet gonzo madness, this time with other races of men previously unmentioned and yet suddenly vastly powerful in the world, hidden underground seas, death cults, you know, just the norm. The appearance of young Carthoris is goofy, as he's not even 10 at this point but supposedly a really dangerous warrior who is essentially grown, and there's no mention (that I noted) that red martians mature more rapidly. I mean, I guess the existence of the character is the mention, but still. Goofy but fun.
adventurous fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No
adventurous medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Edgar Rice Burroughs is an evil man who knows how to end a story. That's all I'm going to say about the second book of the Barsoom series.
adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No
adventurous tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous mysterious fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

This is a tough one to rate, since the first half or so I really enjoyed, but after John managed to get back to Helium I felt like the story was dragging. And it may just be because I'm a woman reading this, but I really did not like the ending, and not just because it was a cliffhanger.

To be fair, I haven't read a lot of books like this, so I guess it's possible they're all structured like this. But honestly, I'm tired of every single female character swooning over John Carter and then getting pissed off when he rejects them. So having the cliffhanger be three women who love him are trapped together, it just really made me want to scream that the implication was they'd kill each other out of jealousy.

Another thing that drove me a little nuts was the dragging out of Carthoris's reveal. It was pretty obvious to me when the narrative cut off him saying his father's name for the second time who it was going to be. I don't even get why it was dragged out like that since after the reveal, there wasn't all that much father-son stuff going on. It seemed to me that JC barely reacted to it and they didn't get much time talking with each other/getting to know each other/whatever. It could've been great character building and emotion for the both of them.

The good stuff was all the imagination that went into the story. I really like how the different places were structured, and of course the action scenes were great. It had some really good takes on slavery and interesting commentary on religion. I just wish that from there, it would've also done stuff on politics. It was going in that direction but was abandoned in favor of this "save the princess" finale. Drove me crazy enough that the current leaders abandoned their people, but that JC and his son were barely there a few hours before they turned around and left again. I get that he loves his wife but come on, he's a PRINCE. He has responsibilities to his people.

That said, I don't think I'll continue the series. From what little I read of the next one, it seems like it's going to lean into the "women love JC and fight over him" plot. I'm not into that at all.
adventurous fast-paced
adventurous tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: No