John Carter of Mars: The Collection - A Princess of Mars; The Gods of Mars; The Warlord of Mars; Thuvia, Maid of Mars; The Chessmen of Mars [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

I bought this John Carter of Mars collection a few weeks ago. Full contents and page numbers are there, it is very well put together and easy to read.

I have read some Burroughs before and loved them and was recommended the Barsoom series by a friend. This collection is exactly what I wanted, all 5 stories, all the original illustrations, well formatted, nice cover, good background information. It might take me a while to get through it though, it's a pretty big book, but Burroughs is a fantastic writer and it is very fast paced so I'm still enjoying it. The worlds he creates are something else, I think authors like Philip Pullman and Terry Pratchett must have been influenced by Burroughs, his works came a long time before anything else of its kind and they are so vivid and full of detail, incredible really.

Looking forward to the film, hope it does the book justice.

A sci-fi extravaganza of gargantuan proportions! A real fantasy novel with everything you would ever want in there. The catalyst for Star Wars, Avatar and so many other classic sci-fi films which were all heavily influenced by Edgar Rice Burroughs and his John Carter of Mars books. A Princess of Mars is still the all time classic it once was, the only of the original stories I had read before. The saga develops into extraoridnary depths as the books go on until you feel like you know the planet (Mars/Barsoom) yourself. John Carter "a splendid specimen of manhood" indeed. What a stonker of a book!

45 years ago in Jr. High School I read all of Edgar Rice Burrough's John Carter on Mars Sci Fi/fantasy series books. I loved them all. All 5 stars

To add to our family library I was looking for a leather bound book with a collection of his best John Carter books. I couldn't find one. Instead I bought this big paperback book. Great colored front with cover illustration of 5 of his best John Carter books. Included A Princess Of Mars, The Gods Of Mars, The Warlord of Mars, Thuvia Maid Of Mars, and the Chessman of Mars. All are 5 stars. There are several great B/W illustrations from the original books.

On Mars (Barsoom) Captain, John Carter, Virginian end of Civil War is mysteriously teleported to Mars after being chased into a cave by a bunch of Indians in western US. ERB uses his fantastic imagination to create an entire living world on dieing Mars (Barsoom). We see the various warlike races of red ,green, yellow, and black Martians, their Jeddick(kings), Jeds, Princess, giant white apes, Martian lions, giant 10 legged thoats ( vicious huge horse like creatures) and more. Vast armies and navies with marvelous technology using rays we don't have on Earth. The Martians can live about a thousand years although most die much younger from warfare. War, and assassination seem to be the number 1 and 2 occupations.

John Carter meets Dejah Thoris beautiful Princess of Helium. He eventually marries her and they have a waring son and a princess daughter. John Carter is a master swordsman with his long sword and a born fighter able to easily jump 30 feet with his Earth muscles against Mar's lesser gravity and air pressure. His son is similarly blessed with partial Earth muscles.

The Gods of War John Carter must go into the everlasting death zone where Martians go never to return, in order to save his Princess.
He battles huge white apes, blood sucking plant men and the evil ancient Issis being.

The Warlord of Mars. John Carter unites the Martian races and becomes the supreme Warlord of Mars.

Thuvia Maid of Mars is kidnapped and John Carter's son must rescue her. He too is a master swordsman battling various races in different cities.

The Chessman of Mars. John Carter's daughter stupidly gets caught in a mighty storm in her small one person aircraft and is blown thousands of miles away. We see a race of Martians with misshapen heads with tentacle like legs connected to the head enabling the head to manipulate the spinal column of headless/mindless living bodies. We see John Carter's daughter rescued by a Jed admirer and eventually her father with a vast army and navy.

All these books were fantastic with great description of an entire world and its different people, animals, plants and beautiful cities.

ERB 1875-1950 wrote some other John Carter books I plan to get. He also wrote Tarzan of the Apes. He wrote 70 novels and almost 100 adventure stories. One of my favorite authors. Edgar Rice Burroughs had a great imagination. Today we know there is no Macro life on Mars due to high UV radiation, no liquid surface water and less than 1% earth atmosphere...almost all CO2. However there maybe extinct or living microorganisms under the regolith near frozen underground water sources or deep in lava tubes. ERB John Carter Mars books caused an interest in Mars to launch me to becoming a 40 plus year amateur astronomer and Life Member Mars Society.

P.S. News Alert! Feb 7 2012. Just got an email from Disney. The movie John Carter of Mars is coming out March 9 on IMAX. I saw the trailer. It looks great. Just hope Disney does not do a politically correct version but keeps as close to the first book (Princess of Mars) as possible. I've been waiting for this movie a long time. My family and I will be seeing it ASAP when its playing near us. I hope its a blockbuster so sequels will be made. Way to go Disney and ERB!

PPS. Saw the premier of John Carter of Mars by Disney in real 3D at the movies. I want ruin it for you. Just say Disney was about 90% true with ERBs Princess of Mars. There were a few differences.I rated the movie 4 1/2 stars and is well worth seeing. I strongly recommend you read the book first as the book Princess of Mars was 5 star and will give you a good heads up to what to expect from the movie.