REALJimBob

Continuing the series with the third of [a:Burroughs|10885|Edgar Rice Burroughs|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1207155710p2/10885.jpg]'s pulp-science-fiction 'romance' novels, [b:Warlord of Mars|17254638|The Warlord of Mars (Barsoom, #3)|Edgar Rice Burroughs|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1358373372s/17254638.jpg|2816562] follows on immediately from [b:The Gods of Mars|841973|The Gods of Mars (Barsoom, #2)|Edgar Rice Burroughs|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348188943s/841973.jpg|2816507]. Having torn down the Martian's false religion, and rescuing several damsels in distress, he is rewarded by one of them dragging his beloved Dejah Thoris into a revolving dungeon (that not only happens to be open at just that time, but also doesn't open again for a whole Martian year) all because he wouldn't return her affections. Talk about being a babe-magnet, the women would happily lock herself in dungeon for a year in order to stop him being with anyone else.

This story picks up almost immediately and Carter's not happy. Luckily a series of unlikely coincidences mean that he'll be able to gain access (although not in time), chase her across Mars (although never quite catching her up), rescue her (only to lose her again) and eventually meet the fabled Yellow Martians – yes, another new colour of Martians, the ones that were heavily foreshadowed in the previous book and I predicted would make an appearance here. Coincidence follows coincidence but at each turn Carter is always just a little to late and Thoris slips through his fingers.

The goodies are good, the baddies are bad (although some of them are redeemable), the damsels are in distress mostly, and Martians love to fight. Luckily John Carter likes to fight too. Especially if his chosen damsel, Dejah Thoris, is singing to cheer him on. Some minor variations in this book, instead of Carter being mostly chased he's mostly doing the chasing; instead of being introduced to two new colours of Martians we're only introduced to one. Ultimately though it's the same book as the previous two – a boys-own adventure in space – but it is fun to read. This seems to tie-up the first three novels into a happy ending. Let's see what bad luck and new races can befall them in the fourth novel...