A Princess of Mars.

By Edgar Rice Burroughs.

Synopsis:
John Carter goes to sleep in a cave, then wakes up on Mars for no adequately explored reason.

Review:
Written in 1912, long before anti-heroes became the standard. Therefore John Carter is brave, loyal, strong, manly, indefatigable, honourable, fierce, and dull as dogshit.

In plot, the book was almost exactly indentical to Tarnsman of Gor (which was published some time in seventies (I think) if you're not familiar with John Norman's Gorean saga. You lucky, lucky bastard), which was somewhat disconcerting. Disconcerting in that it was fairly engaging and easy to read. Compared to Gor, that is.

I'm not sure of the timing, but I think the Green Martians (and Carter's reaction to them) were supposed to be some sort of dig at communism - their children were raised by the whole community, regardless of who their parents were, practically all the property was communally owned; and as a consequence they were all cruel and incapable of loving.

I did like the way the various different varieties of Martians were introduced, and how their societies and ways of living altered as Carter explored more different areas. It was a bit Earth-centric, however - even the good Martians weren't quite as good as Earth people. And I'm still not sure why there's life on Mars in the first place if all their air is artifically produced.

Also, although it was fairly predictable anyway, it was hard for me to feel at all suspenseful about whether John Carter and Dejah Thoris would get it together, seeing as how I've read half of Thuvia, Maid of Mars in which the main character is their son (who's every bit as interesting as his old man), but that's nobody's fault but my own, and it's not entirely relevant.

Conclusion - It's a series worth having a go at, even if you don't get very far.