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Synopsis;
Tara of Helium, John Carter's daughter, goes off in a strop because some nasty, jewel-encrusted jed (that's 'leader' in Martian, as far as I can tell) said he fancied her (Well, actually, he said he loved her madly and couldn't live without her after dancing with her for two minutes. So maybe she had a point). She gets caught in a storm and carried far, far away... and then gets captured by a race of wierd walking brain things.
Review:
So far, I think this has been my favourite. Tara follows in the family tradition of being strong, courageous, honourable, noble, dull, and thick as a well-hung whale's penis. But somehow it suits her more than it does her father or brother.
The first part of the story takes place in yet another unknown region of Mars. Given that it's been described as an ancient and dying world, there seems to be many places that no-one's bothered exploring or claiming for their own yet. Which seems odd, given the warlike traits of just about every Martian species we've encountered so far... But at least these brain creatures were different, not just another colour of Martian. In fact, they're probably the main reason why I like this one better. They're like something out of a 50's B movie - super-intelligent brains that have evolved beyond bodies and are trying to eliminate their senses, so they'll never be distracted from pure thought again. They have a symbiotic relationship with a creature that they've bred - it has no head and almost no brain. They show it where to find food (it sticks the food straight down it's neck, by the way) and in return they ride around on it whenever they feel the need for transportation, although they prefer to crawl around in underground burrows. Tara makes friends with one of the brain guys while she's being held captive and introduces him to the wonders of emotion (by singing. And wandering around naked apart from a leather harness. Although that's normal for Martians), and so he helps her escape rather than be killed by his king (or queen. They reproduce a bit like bees) for being all irrational and stuff. What I especially liked about this segment is that the brain guys didn't all get wiped out or shown the error of their ways. Tara's friend gets away, but the rest (apart from those they kill on the way out) are left alone to continue their quest to breed a giant brain that'll live underground and think forever when all the annoying little body-encumbered inferior beings have finally died off.
Once they get away from the evil brain people, it settles down to a more othodox the-heroine's-been-captured-by-an-evil-king-but-must-escape-to-marry-the-brave-commoner-she-loves kinda plot, but it stayed interesting because of the constant shifting of goal posts - people were forever switching alliances, pretending to be other people entirely or turning out to be someone's long-lost cousin. There was also a manky old taxidermist who was good for a laugh.
Neither religion nor race comes into this one. Race issues aren't mentioned at all, and as for religion, superstitous fears of ghosts are mocked somewhat towards the end, and the names of the gods who John Carter has spent much of the earlier books discrediting are still used in casual conversation (example: "By the blood of Issus!") which I thought was a rather nice touch, but that's it.
The title, in case you were wondering, refered to the Martian game which is a bit similar to chess. It's played on boards with little tiny pieces, as is usual, at the beginning of the book, and then towards the end the evil king guy has a giant game played with slaves and prisoners for pieces, which was all very dramatic, but I couldn't get the people-for-chess-pieces scenes from the Prisoner and the Man from U.N.C.L.E. out of my head...
Conclusion - Good. In case you hadn't already gathered that.
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