The Chessmen of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs

bwahahahaha I did it, I finally did it. I finished the book! The Chessmen of Mars is the last book in the big John Carter Omnibus that my dad bought for himself last Christmas and immediately handed to me to read. It is now almost Thanksgiving. It took me a year. Me! . . . A Year!

Honestly, they are fun books but they are so formulaic that I just couldn't read them back to back. Hence the long slog. Any way, on to the review!

The Chessmen of Mars is about John Carter's daughter, Tara of Helium. Tara is a brat. She's a real spoiled pain in the butt. So I admit when she got her self blown into a far off land as the result of a temper tantrum, I uttered a small but malicious giggle. In a weird way, The Chessmen of Mars is a twisted little coming of age novel. Tara matures from that spoiled little brat into admirable strong woman.

The main love interest for this one is a Jed from a far off land named Gehan. I liked him way more than Tara for most of the book. This novel also introduces a weird new insectoid species calling themselves the Kaldanes of Bartoom that have an odd symbiotic relationship with a headless humanoid animal they call rykors.

So, all in all good escapist stuff.

Thuvia, Maid of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs

It would seem that with the end of The Warlord of Mars, John Carter's stint as a main character is over. Thuvia, Maid of Mars's protagonist is John Carter's son Carthoris. It seems a little odd to me that as devoted to John Carter as Thuvia was that Burroughs is now setting her up with the son, but that is clearly what is happening.

The book opens with a love triangle. Thuvia is promised to Kulan Tith but she is very careful to never say that she loves him. It's painfully obvious that she has feelings for Carthoris so the whole scene is awkward and stilted. If that's not enough, Thuvia has also captured the heart of a very ill-mannered Prince Astok. When he tries to force his attentions on Thuvia, Carthoris rescues her...aggressively.

Rebuffed and humiliated, Astok kidnaps Thuvia and frames Carthoris for it. By doing so, he throws three kingdoms at each other's throats.

Then follows the usual chases, captures, and escapes.

Actually, there's more in this one in the way of intrigue and plot...there is still plenty of action, but it's not a pure action-fest. In some ways, I found this the most enjoyable of the series so far.