The novel “A Princess of Mars” by Edgar Rice Burroughs was published for the first time in 1912 as a serial in the magazine “The All-Story” with the title “Under the Moons of Mars” and as a book in 1917. It’s the first novel of John Carter cycle. It can be freely downloaded in various electronic formats from the Project Gutenberg site or from ManyBooks.net.

John Carter is a veteran of the American Civil War. He returned to civilian life but certainly not a boring one. Together with a friend, he goes in search for gold and finds it but at the same time he finds trouble. Running from a group of Apaches, he hides in a cave but there he’s somehow transported to Mars, or Barsoom as its inhabitants call it.

Due to the Red Planet’s low gravity, John Carter has a strength and an ability to jump greater than the natives he meets. Those advantages, along with his fighting skills developed on Earth, allow Carter to be accepted among the Tharks, one of Martian intelligent species, while not being one of them. When he discovers that the Tharks have captured Dejah Thoris, a Martian princess of a species very similar to humans, Carter can’t think of anything but setting her free.

Edgar Rice Burroughs dream was to be successful in business but he was going through a difficult period so he made an attempt as a writer to earn some money to support his family. Burroughs wrote the first part of what became “A Princess of Mars” and sumbitted it to the magazine “The All-Story”. After some discussion on the development of the story, the novel was bought and published in six parts with the title “Under the Moons of Mars” but left out the chapter “Sola Tells Me Her Story”, which according to the editor slowed down the pace. That chapter was then restored when the novel was published as a book.

When “A Princess of Mars” was published, the expression science fiction didn’t even exist so its classification changed over the years. Today it’s generally referred to as science fantasy but it’s just a label.

“A Princess of Mars” contains some pseudo-scientific elements and it’s mainly set on Mars, which is inhabited by various species that form a very ancient civilization and struggle to survive on a dying planet. Beyond those science fiction elements, it’s basically an adventure novel that has various elements which at that time were already far from original.

John Carter is a spotless and fearless hero. A war veteran, he was already a remarkable man on Earth, on Mars he’s even more extraordinary because in the red planet’s low gravity his strength makes him really formidable. The first Martian woman belonging to a species very similar to the humans Carter meets is a princess and between the two of them a great love story begins.

“A Princess of Mars” is the story of John Carter’s voyages on Mars, his discovery of its inhabitants, their culture, great battles between the various species that inhabit Mars and various individual duels in which Carter gets involved. It’s narrated in first person by the protagonist as a kind of diary of his adventures in which he confronts deadly serious dangers.

The moral of the novel is clear, up to racist points. John Carter is morally superior and he judges others according to his meter. For example, the Tharks, a Martian species, despite their warrior code of honor are considered in a negative way by Carter because their customs are different from his. Their description has parallels with various stereotypes about Native Americans. He he forms a bond with a few Tharks who have a moral similar to his one but they must hide it from the others because if they were discovered they’d be killed in a slow and painful way.

Today we can consider those elements of “A Princess of Mars” in a negative way but a century ago they were considered normal and the novel was a success, launching Edgar Rice Burroughs career as a writer. Published in a huge number of editions around the world, it had several sequels and inspired generations not only of readers but also of later authors.

“A Princess of Mars” is in some ways dated but the adventure elements told at a high pace are intact. Not surprisingly, the progress of special effects led to the production of a movie titled “John Carter” based on this novel. It’s still a readable book for people who enjoy adventure stories with a really exotic touch.