Summary

• Barsoom series explores a wondrous world full of evil scientists, warriors, and alien races, not all starring John Carter.
• Latest book in series tied up John Carter's tale on a disappointing note, followed by anthology collections with mixed quality and originality.
• Despite flaws, series introduced creative Martian races, intriguing storytelling, and some of Burroughs' best writing in later installments.

John Carter and the Barsoom series is an iconic masterwork of pulp science fiction action, but author Edgar Rice Burroughs didn't create each novel equally. Named after the word native Martians use to refer to the famous red planet in-universe, the Barsoom series chronicles the adventures of John Carter, a simple Earthling soldier who is mysteriously teleported to Mars only to become a great hero. The series was unsuccessfully adapted into a film by Disney in 2012, becoming one of the worst box office flops ever.

In truth, the series reads more like what would be considered fantasy literature today, far removed from the hard rules of modern science fiction. Barsoom is a wondrous world full of evil, scheming scientists, deadly warriors, fantastic technology and numerous alien races, each with their own unique biology and cultures. Despite the ubiquity of the character within the setting, not every Barsoom novel stars John Carter, with later books instead exploring his ancestors or other transported Earthlings.

11 John Carter Of Mars

1943

Sadly, the last book in the Barsoom seriese ended John Carter's tale on a low note. The final officially published book in the franchise, John Carter of Mars is a collection of two short stories, John Carter and the Giant of Mars and Skeleton Men of Jupiter. Just as was done with Frank Herbert's Dune series, Edgar Rice Burroughs ed his writing on to his son, John Coleman Burroughs, who was better known for illustrating the Barsoom comic strips.

Skeleton Men of Jupiter is a much more entertaining beginning of a saga, but ends abruptly, as Burroughs clearly ed away before he could elaborate on the new narrative.

John wrote the first tale in this duology, and he appears to have a sadly tenuous grasp of his father's magnificent world. He struggles to emulate his father's prose, frequently contradicting consistent details in Edgar's world, such as the characters referring to their flying machines as "planes" rather than "fliers" as was previously consistently done, or the very name of Barsoom itself. Skeleton Men of Jupiter is a much more entertaining beginning of a saga, but ends abruptly, as Burroughs clearly ed away before he could elaborate on the new narrative.

10 Llana Of Gathol

1941

Like John Carter of Mars, Llana of Gathol is an anthology collection of short stories set within the Barsoom mythos. Here, there are four previously-published tales presented, being titled The Ancient Dead, The Black Pirates of Barsoom, Escape on Mars, and Invisible Men of Mars. Curiously, Llana of Gathol has perhaps the single most light-hearted and comedic tone of the entire series, bordering on parody.

The overarching story centers around John Carter's granddaughter, the titular Llana of Gathol.

Each story is loosely strung together in a paper-thin plot that quickly introduces new villains, only to discard them just as fast when John Carter invariably cuts through them. John Carter's swordsmanship is the ultimate problem solver, and many of the interconnected stories follow an incredibly similar formula ending in a battle that clearly proves as much. To that end, Llana of Gathol at least features one of the best-written swordfights in the entire series, with the final duel against the villain Motus.

9 Thuvia, Maid Of Mars

1919

The fourth entry in the Barsoom series, Thuvia, Maid of Mars made the bold decision to be the first book to step away from John Carter as a protagonist. Instead, the novel breaks the mold by being written in the third person, which allows the book to shift perspectives. The plot revolves around John Carter's son, Cathoris, trying to save Barsoom's most sought-after bachelorette, the titular Princess Thuvia, who gets kidnapped by a brand-new race, the mysterious Lotharians.

By this point in the series, the well-worn formula of princess-saving adventures strung along by a series of lucky coincidences has begun to overstay its welcome, with Burroughs applying his same winning strategy to new characters. The telepathic Lotharians are a fascinating, if silly new villain, and while this entry does a great deal to further flesh out the world of Mars by exploring the lives of its native inhabitants, it doesn't present enough new material to inspire. Thuvia, Maid of Mars could be seen as somewhat phoned-in for Burroughs' writings.

8 Synthetic Men Of Mars

1939

Towards the end of the Barsoom series, Edgar Rice Burroughs simultaneously began introducing more and more wild science fiction elements while reprising familiar territory with his characters and narratives. Enter Synthetic Men of Mars, which features John Carter prominently enough, but uses native Barsoomian sidekick Vor Daj as the main perspective character. The story revolves around Carter and Daj going on a journey to find the infamous scientist Ras Thavas, who returns from The Master-Mind of Mars.

Synthetic Men of Mars has some fascinating science fiction elements, including Daj's struggle with surviving in a horrific monstrous body while simultaneously trying to pursue his love interest. The book contains some gripping and varied action scenes that introduce new aspects of Barsoom, such as the swamps of Toonol and a Martian zoo. However, Synthetic Men of Mars struggles with handling its expansive cast, with multiple characters inexplicably having their backstories changed or being forgotten entirely.

7 The Master-Mind Of Mars

1927

In many ways the precursor to Synthetic Men of Mars, despite publishing three books earlier, The Master-Mind of Mars represents many firsts in the series. The book is the first novel to feature someone other than John Carter or his offspring, the first appearance of the mad surgeon Ras Thavas, and offers a return to first-person narration after several installments. The plot centers around a new Earth man mysteriously transported to Mars in the same fashion as John Carter, Ulysses Paxton, who quickly falls in with Thavas making a living off of brain transplants.

The story has a ho-hum lack of stakes as Paxton and his alien buddies stroll in and out of enemy territory with no consequences, making the plot seem much more trivial than it sounds on paper.

The Master-Mind of Mars takes the series in some bold new directions, injecting the first of the body horror that would later become commonplace. However, the story has a ho-hum lack of stakes as Paxton and his alien buddies stroll in and out of enemy territory with no consequences, making the plot seem much more trivial than it sounds on paper. There's also something to be said about the loss of Burrough's stylized archaic writing, which the author seems to give up on in this installment.

6 The Warlord Of Mars

1919

The conclusion of the original Barsoom trilogy featuring John Carter, The Warlord of Mars gets off to a ferocious start, picking off right where the previous novel left off. Here, John Carter is once again off on a never-ending quest to rescue his beloved Dejah Thoris from vile captors. This time around, Burroughs introduces yet another primary-colored Martian race, the yellow Martians, ing the ranks of the previously-mentioned red, green, black and white Martians.

John Carter's efforts to save Dejah Thoris here become something a frustrating exercise in patience, with more close calls, lucky coincidences, and false endings to count. Burroughs doesn't do enough to distinguish the yellow martians from his other fantastical species, amounting to a lackluster villain in one of his most fast-paced and action-packed books whose relentless conflict-oriented narrative never lets up. Essentially one big chase scene, The Warlord of Mars is something of a disappointing ending to the original trilogy, though it's a shame Disney never adapted the John Carter sequels.

5 A Princess Of Mars

1912

The first-ever book in the Barsoom series, A Princess of Mars revolutionized pulp fiction and helped to cement Edgar Rice Burroughs as one of the greatest science fiction authors of all time. The first book offers the series' original damsel-in-distress story, introducing John Carter as a Civil War soldier who is suddenly teleported to Mars. Once there, he meets the red and green Martians, using his enhanced physiology, increased to superhuman levels thanks to Mars' decreased gravity to become a Martian legend.

Of course, it's the classic fairy-tale plight of Carter to rescue the beautiful princess Dejah Thoris from the vicious leader of the green Martians before it's too late that drives the intrigue of the original Barsoom novel. The simple story is effective enough for what it is, though it's clear that Burroughs' prose is still a little shaky this early on into his career. While it deserves credit for starting the Barsoom series in the first place and having an undeniable impact on literature, A Princess of Mars sits in the middle-of-the-pack in quality among its fellow books.

4 Swords Of Mars

1935

In Swords of Mars, Carter returns as a narrator for the first time since the third book, marking his reprisal of the role with a shockingly original plot. In addition to once again chasing a damsel in distress, it's now Carter's mission to eliminate the deadly Martian assassin's guild.

Carter must actually take his adventures off-planet and travel to Mars' moon in order to intercept the assassins at their home base in the city of Zodanga.

Bringing John Carter back to the spotlight so many books later after spending years mythologizing him as a legendary hero in Barsoom lore was a stroke of genius on Burroughs' part, and it plays off in a big way in Swords of Mars. This book in particular manages to present Burrough's best handle on Martian politics, as well, with a surprising amount of subtle subterfuge and espionage sprinkled within the typical bombastic action of the series. If one can forgive some of Burroughs' most preposterous science fiction ideas yet, Swords of Mars is an incredible read.

3 The Chessmen Of Mars

1922

The Chessmen of Mars features some of Burroughs' most creative ideas yet, opening with a hilarious meta-contextual prelude that explains that the Barsoom tales were told to him by John Carter himself, Burroughs being merely a Martian historian. With this bit of housekeeping out of the way that absolves Burroughs of his famous continuity errors, the story begins in earnest, featuring Carter's daughter, Tara of Helium, and her lover Gahan ending up in the clutches of a terrifying new villain.

Burroughs introduces one of the most creative Martian races yet in The Chessmen of Mars, the crab-like Kaladanes and their headless mounts that form together to create a single humanoid being. The book gets its name from the finger-biting climax, which features Gahan playing a literal game of chess for Tara's life using living beings as pieces that live or die by his decisions. It's one of the most clever and well-written novels in the Barsoom series, held back only by some very awkwardly hand-waived depictions of slavery.

2 A Fighting Man Of Mars

1930

In a rare turn of events, A Fighting Man of Mars upends Burroughs' formula by taking the perspective of a totally native Martian, one Tan Hadron of Hastor. Hadron is a minor warrior who seeks the hand of, who else, a beautiful princess, named Sanoma Tora. When Tora is kidnapped by a rogue malevolent red Martian faction with advanced technology known as the Jaharians, it's up to Hadron to charge into the fray, winning glory, accolades, and Tora's hand in marriage.

The surprising conclusion to Hadron's affections for Tora also puts the book ahead of the pack.

Despite the plot being as bog-standard for the Barsoom series as any of the novels have, A Fighting Man of Mars enjoys a notable increase in writing ability from Burroughs following The Master-Mind of Mars. The Jaharians insidious cloaking ships and disintegration rays may not be the most creative science fiction weaponry, but Burroughs makes them feel properly threatening, with several ominous fight scenes that keep Hadron on the backfoot. The surprising conclusion to Hadron's affections for Tora also puts the book ahead of the pack.