The Fifth Book Of 2026: A Princess Of Mars, by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Started 1/26/26, Finished 1/30/26
I tend to avoid writing earlier than mid-20th century. The changes wrought upon the world by the Second World War changed literature, and for me at least, made it more readable. So here I am, at 70, reading Edgar Rice Burroughs for the first time. And despite my preference for later writing, I’m enjoying it.
It seems a little unfair to criticize Burroughs for his writing style a century on, but I enjoy other writers of the era more, such as Agatha Christie. One thing I notice right away is the formality and wordiness of the writing. I’m sure this is partly from Burroughs’ education, and partly from his need (as with all pulp writers) to increase the story’s word count, since they were paid by the word.
Comments on Reddit’s r/PrintSF subreddit inspired me to give Burroughs a try. Many spoke about his inventiveness. He was that, though it put him over the edge of science fiction and into science fantasy, very much “swords and science” rather than “swords and sorcery”. I’m sure I would have been excited about this when I was much younger, since Burroughs is up front about how everyone on Mars is naked, except for decorative stuff. He never *describes* anyone (especially not Deja Thoris, the titular Princess), but I’m sure twelve-year-old me would have been excited just by the idea.
In the end, it was a fun book, but I’m unlikely to read more of his work.
(Note: The edition I read, and the cover image, is from Standard Ebooks. They provide high-quality editions of public domain ebooks, usually reformatted from Project Gutenberg originals. They produce beautiful free ebooks, and I encourage everyone who wants to read public domain ebooks to see if what they want is available from Standard Ebooks.)
