Edgar Rice Burroughs returned to
Barsoom in 1913 to write The Warlord of Mars.
Continuing from the cliffhanger ending of Gods of Mars,
the story was serialized in the pages of the All-Story
Magazine incarnation of Argosy,
and later published as a novel in 1919.
Dejah
Thoris and Thuvia of Ptarth are still imprisoned in a strange prison
within the bowels of the Temple of the Sun with the treacherous
Princess of the Holy Therns, Phaidor.
Not
one to simply sit and wait out the year before the door opens again,
John tries in vain to find a way in, and comes across a conspiracy
between Thurid, a Black Martian of the First Born who bears a deep
grudge against Carter since an embarrassing defeat in Gods
of Mars and Maitai Sheng, leader
of the White Martians and high priest of the cannibalistic Holy
Therns.
The
conspirators open the prison and spirit the women away, with John
Carter and his trusty calot Woola giving chase, first to the
equatorial jungle on the other side of the planet where the Red
Martian city of Kaol holds sway, and then to the frozen north, where
an entire race of Yellow Martians has been locked away from the rest
of Barsoom by natural fortifications, and the cruel Salensus Oll
rules as Jeddak of Jeddaks.
This
feels like a shorter story than the previous two, but that could be
the rocket-fast pace of the chase that takes up the bulk of the book,
culminating in a titanic battle for the city at the North Pole of
Mars, where every ally that John Carter has ever made comes to his
aid. Mighty Tars Tarkas of the Greens, Thuvia the Princess of Ptarth
who can sooth wild animals with her voice, Thuvan Dihn, Lord of
Ptarth who has been searching for his daughter, Xodar the new chief
of the Black Martians, Carthoris the son of John Carter and Dejah
Thoris, Kantos Kan of Helium, Tardos Mors and Mors Kajak, the lost
lords of Helium (and Dejah's father and grandfather), and Talu of the
Yellow Martians. There are even some Therns who have allied with the
forces of Helium who show up.
Much
of the second half of the book is wrapping up story threads and
giving satisfying conclusions, but the most satisfying development
comes in how Phaidor grows as a character by the end in a touching
scene.
Then
the final chapter is a victory lap as John Carter makes his way back
to Helium with Dejah Thoris where he is then put on trial for his
heresy in the Valley Dor. Its a fake out, of course, and the statute
of limitations on spoilers is long gone on a story from a century
ago, so I'll tell you that John Carter is crowned Jeddak of Jeddaks
by a unanimous vote of all the people he's forged together into his
alliance over the past three books and it ends with John taking Dejah
into his arms and kissing her.
Its
about as FLAWLESS VICTORY as you can get in fiction, and it is
completely and truly earned. John Carter has gone through hell and
back across an entire planet, fighting anything and anyone who would
stand in his way. He's been captured, tortured, thrown off of
multiple buildings, thrown off of Mars entirely, and always kept
coming back. Not for conquest, though he does that and ends centuries
of racial hatred along the way, but for love.
Its a
deeply satisfying conclusion to the initial trilogy and it hints at
future adventures among the next generation of heroes, with Carthoris
and Thuvia drawing close to each other. Indeed, there would be 8 more books in the Barsoom series.
Absolutely recommended. If you want to raise good boys, give them Harry Potter. If you want to raise good men, give them John Carter.
