Review Tuesday: Llana of Gathol by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Llana of Gathol by Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875-1950) is the tenth book in the Barsoom Series.

From the wikipedia page:

Llana of Gathol is a collection of four Edgar Rice Burroughs stories that were originally published in Amazing Stories in 1941 (details see below). The first collected edition of Llana of Gathol was published in 1948. It is the penultimate book in the Barsoom series and the last to be published during Burroughs's lifetime.

• "The Ancient Dead", originally "The City of Mummies"
• "The Black Pirates of Barsoom", originally "Black Pirates of Barsoom"
• "Escape on Mars", originally "Yellow Men of Mars"
• "Invisible Men of Mars"

Plot: The stories in this collection revolve around John Carter's granddaughter Llana of Gathol, who plays the "damsel in distress" role played by Dejah Thoris and Thuvia in earlier entries of the Barsoom series.

I always wondered why each book in the Barsoom series feels like a roller coaster with three of four endings to it. Each book was released as parts in literary journals. So each installment, while part of a greater story, had to contain it's own beginning, middle and end. So, with that known, you don't have to ask, which ending will be the real McCoy?

The main characters of this book are truly John Carter and his granddaughter, Llana of Gathol. Llana's parents are Tara of Helium, Carter's daughter, and Gahan of Gathol who came together in The Chessmen of Mars. In this book, John Carter accidentally stumbles across a conspiracy to take over the planet, starting with the city of Gathol. Of course, while trying to unravel the attempt at world domination Carter finds his daughter in the pits below a dead city, makes friends with various potential foes everywhere he goes, meets strange cultures, and meets all sorts of crazy coincidences. 

I wonder if Burroughs might've been running out of ideas for stories because he brought back the Green Men of the dead Sea Bottoms, the Yellow Men of the Martian Polar Cap as well as the "First Born" Black Pirates of Barsoom. All reprise their roles as formidable enemies. But it's the Yellow Men making a grab for the planet. The First Born are content in their little enclaves.

Each book has some new fantastical form of technology never before described in previous Barsoom tales. This time it's definitely the cities that have discovered the secret to invisibility. The big problem is that not only are they invisible to outsiders, but invisible to themselves! Burroughs describes how warriors are tripping over each other, and how people end up tripping over others in the common areas in the city.

Of course John Carter would take advantage of the secret of invisibility to destroy the efforts of the enemy of the enemy of the planet. But, as always, this book seemed to come to a very fast ending. The usual good triumphs over evil, and the good guy gets the girl.

It was typical Burroughs to me. If you've gotten this far in the series, you might as well finish it off despite how redundant they could seem. I would still recommend it.

Find it on AMAZON.

Some art based on this book, cred to the orignal artists and uploaders...