A review by nevtelen
The Swordsman of Mars by Otis Adelbert Kline

2.0

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).