The Gods of Mars - FULL Audio Book - by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Gods of Mars - FULL
Audio Book - by
Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Gods of Mars is a
1918 Edgar Rice Burroughs science fiction novel, the second of his famous
Barsoom series. It can be said that the novel set the tone for much science fiction to come. Its influence can clearly be seen in franchises such as
Star Trek and
Farscape. While
Burroughs no doubt borrowed liberally from the pulp fiction of his day, particularly westerns and swashbuckling tales, the pacing and themes set the tone for the soft science fiction genre.
The protagonist,
John Carter, with his proficiency in hand-to-hand combat and flirtations with beautiful alien women, could be said to have set the mold for later influential icons like
Captain James T. Kirk and
James Bond.
At the end of the first book,
A Princess of Mars, John Carter is unwillingly transported back to
Earth. The Gods of Mars begins with his arrival back on Barsoom (
Mars) after a ten year hiatus, separated from his wife
Dejah Thoris, his unborn child, and the Red
Martian people of the nation of
Helium, whom he has adopted as his own.
Unfortunately, John Carter materializes in the one place on Barsoom from which nobody is allowed to depart: the
Valley Dor, which is the Barsoomian heaven.
PLOT SUMMARY
After John Carter's arrival, a boat of
Green Martians on the
River Iss are ambushed by the previously unknown Plant
Men. The lone survivor is his friend
Tars Tarkas, the Jeddak of Thark, who has taken the pilgrimage to the Valley Dor to find
Carter.
Having saved their own lives, Carter and Tars Tarkas discover that the Therns, a white-skinned race of self-proclaimed gods, have for eons deceived the Barsoomians elsewhere by disseminating that the pilgrimage to the Valley Dor is a journey to paradise. Most arrivals are killed by the beasts of Valley, and the survivors enslaved by Therns.
Carter and Tars Tarkas rescue Thuvia, a slave girl, and attempt to escape, capitalizing on the confusion caused by an attack by the
Black Pirates of Barsoom upon the Therns. During the attack, Tars Tarkas and Thuvia hijack a
Black Pirate flier, while Carter fights his way aboard another, killing all but one of the
Pirates, and rescuing a captive Thern princess. From the captured
Pirate Xodar, Carter learns that the Black Pirates, called the "
First Born", also think of themselves as gods, and accordingly prey upon the Therns; and additionally identifies the captive Thern as Phaidor, daughter of the "
Holy Hekkador" (high priest) of the Therns. When their flier is recaptured by the First Born and taken to their realm of Omean, Carter is taken before
Issus, the self-proclaimed goddess of Barsoom, who dictates the Therns through secret communications which they mistake for divine revelation.
Issus takes Phaidor as a handmaiden for one
Martian year; whereas Carter is imprisoned, with Xodar as his slave as punishment for being defeated by Carter. Thereafter Carter treats him with honor, and thus gains his friendship. In prison, they encounter a young man later identified as Carter's son Carthoris, with whom Carter is taken to a series of games wherein the previous year's handmaidens are eaten by Issus and her nobles. Carter leads a revolt of the prisoners, killing many of the First Born; and upon the suppression of their revolt, he and Carthoris escape via underground tunnels, and give themselves to guards unacquainted with the revolt to be returned to their prison. Upon hearing of the revolt, Xodar rejects Issus' divinity and joins the others in escape. Upon later abandoning their aircraft, they encounter Thuvia, who describes the capture of Tars Tarkas by the green warriors of Warhoon (a clan rival to his own). Carter goes to rescue Tars Tarkas, but is discovered by his enemies. After a chase, Thuvia is sent on alone mounted while the men attempt a stand against the Warhoons. They are rescued by the Heliumetic navy but do not find Thuvia. Commanding one of the warships is Carter's friend Kantos Kan but the fleet is commanded by Zat
Arras, a Jed (chieftain) of the hostile client state of Zodanga, and Carter is suspected of returning from Valley Dor, which is punishable by death.
Tardos Mors, the Jeddak of Helium, and Mors Kajak, the Jed of Hastor (the grandfather and father, respectively, of Dejah Thoris, and thus Carter's in-laws) are absent from Helium, having led fleets in search of Carthoris.
Later, Carter discovers that Dejah Thoris may have taken the pilgrimage to the Valley Dor to find him.
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