Swords of Mars

infobox Book |
name = Swords of Mars
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = dust-jacket of "Swords of Mars"
author = Edgar Rice Burroughs
cover_artist =
country = United States
language = English
series = Barsoom
genre = Science fiction novel
publisher = Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.
release_date = 1936
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pages = 315 pp
isbn = NA
preceded_by = A Fighting Man of Mars
followed_by = Synthetic Men of Mars

"Swords of Mars" is an Edgar Rice Burroughs science fiction novel, the eighth of his famous "Barsoom" series. It was first published in the magazine "Blue Book Magazine" as a six-part serial in the issues for November, 1934-April, 1935. The first book edition was published by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. in February, 1936.

Plot introduction

"Swords of Mars" begins as a cloak and dagger thriller and ends as an interplanetary odyssey. In this novel John Carter, transplanted Earthman, returns to his status of protagonist and first-person narrator for the first time since the third Martian novel, "The Warlord of Mars".

Plot summary

Carter relates an adventure commencing with a private war he and his picked followers have been waging against the resurgent Guild of Assassins, led by Ur Jan. Hoping to cut off the threat at the root, he travels undercover to the Assassins' base, the restive city of Zodanga, still smarting from its defeat and sack by the Empire of Helium and the horde of Tharks in "A Princess of Mars". There Carter passes himself off in the underworld as Vandor, a freelance bravo, cultivating small-time criminal Rapas the Ulsio and attempting the penetrate the ranks of the Guild. Simultaneously, he becomes embroiled in the affairs of two rival scientists, Fal Sivas and Gar Nal, who are competing against each other to create a viable spacecraft. Complications ensue as the two threads of the plot become entangled, and the Guild, in its own attempt at a preemptive strike against Carter, kidnaps his wife, the princess Dejah Thoris of Helium. For the first time the action of the series goes off-planet, as Ur Jan and Gar Nal flee with Dejah to the Martian moon Thuria (Phobos) in one of the spacecraft, pursued by Carter and his allies Jat Or and Zanda in the other. Captured by the Tarids, natives of Thuria whose mental powers render them invisible to the spacefarers, the antagonists must join forces with each other and another captive, the native "cat man" Umka, to win free. Amid betrayal and heroic sacrifice the parties from Mars eventually return to their home planet with Carter and Dejah still separated and the latter believed still captive on Thuria. In a final twist she is revealed as still in the hands of Gar Nal, whom Ur Jan, honoring his earlier pledge of fealty to Carter, redeems himself by dispatching.

Hidden dedication

The first letter of the preface and the subsequent twenty-four chapters of the book form an acrostic message from the author to his second wife Florence, whom he was in the process of marrying at the time of publication. The message reads "To Florence with all My Love Ed."

Copyright

The copyright for this story has expired in Australia, and thus now resides in the public domain there. The text is available via Project Gutenberg Australia.

External links

* [http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100221.zip Zip file] [http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100221.txt Text file] at Project Gutenberg Australia
* [http://www.erblist.com/erblist/swordsmarssum.html Edgar Rice Burroughs Summary Project page for "Swords of Mars"]