The novel “The Secret of Sinharat” by Leigh Brackett was published for the first time in 1964 and is a revised and expanded version of a 1949 novella titled “Queen of the Martian Catacombs”

Eric John Stark fled to Mars, where he offers his services as a mercenary. He’s found by the Earth agent Simon Ashton, who forces him to act as an informer for him to avoid being arrested for crimes committed on Venus. Stark must infiltrate a group of barbarian leaders who are setting up a war.

Stark meets other mercenaries who are offering their services to the barbarian leaders but among them there’s an old enemy. Despite this, the barbarian leader Kynon hires them both in order to conquer an ancient city which is said to hide ancient Martian technology now lost. At his side there’s Berild, a woman who seems to hide some secrets.

“The secret of Sinharat” is one of the Martian stories written over the years by Leigh Brackett. This series is part of the subgenre called planetary romance, set on a planet different from Earth. Leigh Brackett was inspired in many ways to the adventures of John Carter by Edgar Rice Burroughs on a planet that has little to do with the real Mars.

As the stories of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Leigh Brackett’s Martian cycle are set on a planet that’s habitable but just barely. Various civilizations have risen and fallen over the course of many millennia leaving cities but also technology so advanced that sometimes seem like magic.

Today we’d include these stories in the science fantasy genre but they were written at a time when the genres weren’t yet well defined as they are today and the stories published in the pulp magazines put together elements of various types. Leigh Brackett was also a screenwriter and wrote, among others, “The Empire Strikes Back”, a typical example of a work of which it’s still debated whether it’s science fiction or fantasy.

Among Leigh Brackett’s Martian stories there are two novels that feature Eric John Stark, born on Mercury and adopted by a tribe of insectoid natives after the death of his parents. When the tribe is massacred by a group of humans miners, he’s saved by the Earth agent Simon Ashton, with whom he lives until he becomes an adult.

After a series of adventures in the solar system, Eric John Stark arrives on Mars, where he travels through the remains of ancient civilizations working as a mercenary. If the inspiration in the creation of the red planet comes from Edgar Rice Burroughs, that of Stark comes from the authors of sword & sorcery such as Robert E. Howard.

Leigh Brackett brings together all these elements in a masterly manner creating great adventures in which the sense-of-wonder typical of the pulp magazines of the era reaches its highest peaks. In exotic settings, the author tells the journeys on Mars of a character who is not without blemish making us feel the melancholy of this dying planet.

“The secret of Sinharat” is a novel that even by the standards of the time is short. The pace is very fast and considering its limited length and its adventurous genre the development of the characters, at least of the major ones, is good.

In my opinion, “The secret of Sinharat” is an excellent example of a kind of science fiction adventures typical of a few decades ago. If you’re not looking for realistic stories but for a lot of sense-of-wonder I recommend reading it.