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A review by jgkeely
Thuvia, Maid of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
2.0
Burroughs is at his best when he combines the impetus of pulp adventures with the unselfconsciously far flung. When he gets too tied down to an idea or progression, it tends to hinder his imagination somewhat.
The alien setting of the Mars books then proves a great boon to Burroughs, since it is unfettered by much need for suspension of disbelief. The series has its highs, but it also has lows, like this book.
In it, he explores many of the same things he has in the previous books, casting John Carter's son in his father's image, and giving him the same class of adventure. He fights an endless succession of monsters and soldiers, rescuing a standoffish princess, navigating war and politics, facing a sex-starved sadist, befriending a noble local warrior, and uncovering an ancient, mysterious culture.
Unfortunately, the story doesn't have quite the same punch the second time through, even if there is some enjoyable variance in the details. Carter had more character than his son, and Burroughs once again gets in the same trouble he did in Tarzan: trying to explain the main character's unusual powers.
John Carter was a mighty warrior on Mars because its lower gravity gave him the ability to leap further, hit harder, and carry more. Why his son has the same powers, Burroughs seems less sure, suggesting that Earthlings are merely mightier, despite the fact that all the creatures on Mars are huge and massively muscled.
Just as in Tarzan, his notion that 'blood will out' is poorly contrived, even by the scientific notions of the time. This book is a romp, but lacks the verve of the first book and the bizarre pseudospiritual metaphysics of the second.
The alien setting of the Mars books then proves a great boon to Burroughs, since it is unfettered by much need for suspension of disbelief. The series has its highs, but it also has lows, like this book.
In it, he explores many of the same things he has in the previous books, casting John Carter's son in his father's image, and giving him the same class of adventure. He fights an endless succession of monsters and soldiers, rescuing a standoffish princess, navigating war and politics, facing a sex-starved sadist, befriending a noble local warrior, and uncovering an ancient, mysterious culture.
Unfortunately, the story doesn't have quite the same punch the second time through, even if there is some enjoyable variance in the details. Carter had more character than his son, and Burroughs once again gets in the same trouble he did in Tarzan: trying to explain the main character's unusual powers.
John Carter was a mighty warrior on Mars because its lower gravity gave him the ability to leap further, hit harder, and carry more. Why his son has the same powers, Burroughs seems less sure, suggesting that Earthlings are merely mightier, despite the fact that all the creatures on Mars are huge and massively muscled.
Just as in Tarzan, his notion that 'blood will out' is poorly contrived, even by the scientific notions of the time. This book is a romp, but lacks the verve of the first book and the bizarre pseudospiritual metaphysics of the second.