|
Post by DungeonDevil on Jun 22, 2016 14:45:39 GMT -6
Has anyone read them? How do they hold up versus the Master? I'm just now researching them and have come up with three titles (I don't know if there are more):
Warriors of Mars Blades of Mars Barbarians of Mars
Are they parodic or straight adventure in the vein of the Barsoom books?
(cross-posted on DF)
|
|
|
Post by kesher on Jun 22, 2016 18:39:03 GMT -6
Funny you bring this up--I just recently picked up a UK omnibus edition with all three. It has a cover I just couldn't resist. I've read about a third of the first one. While I don't think it really compares to The Master, it's certainly entertaining in its own right.
|
|
|
Post by Finarvyn on Jun 23, 2016 5:41:53 GMT -6
I have a love-hate relationship with them. I bought an omnibus years ago and read all three books and decided that they were decent but not up to Burroughs' standards so I got rid of it during one of my book purges. Last year I felt the urge and bought another copy, but felt it was so bad I couldn't finish it. The book keeps finding its way onto my "get rid of" pile but I can't bear to part with it because I know I'll end up buying it again.
I'm really not sure what to tell you. :-P
|
|
kipper
Level 3 Conjurer
Posts: 55
|
Post by kipper on Jun 23, 2016 9:57:04 GMT -6
I read those three books once years ago, then got rid of them. I don't recall much about them other than the fact that I didn't enjoy them. I don't believe they are parodies, just straight adventure.
|
|
|
Post by kesher on Jun 23, 2016 12:23:01 GMT -6
I have a love-hate relationship with them. I bought an omnibus years ago and read all three books and decided that they were decent but not up to Burroughs' standards so I got rid of it. Then I got rid of it during one of my book purges. Last year I felt the urge and bought another copy, but felt it was so bad I couldn't finish it. The book keeps finding its way onto my "get rid of" pile but I can't bear to part with it because I know I'll end up buying it again. I'm really not sure what to tell you. :-P I thought I was the only one who ever did this!
|
|
|
Post by ritt on Jun 23, 2016 13:42:54 GMT -6
They're fun and have some cool monsters*, but are nowhere near the level of E.R.B. or Leigh Brackett. I liked them but wished that they were more... Moorcocky (Trippy, morally ambigious, operatic). It's sorta amusing how the books keep reminding you that Michael Kane travelled through both space and time, and that the Mars that he's adventuring on is the Mars of the distant primordial past, because people running around with swords on present-day Mars would just be silly.
As with Lin Carter's Jandar of Callisto series, the hero is a Vietnam vet.
*I LOVE the oragu-spider on the cover of some editions of Blades of Mars.
|
|
terje
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
Blasphemous accelerator
Posts: 204
|
Post by terje on Jun 27, 2016 13:02:39 GMT -6
Yes I found these to be a bit disappointing. Its like Moorcock decided to do a tribute to Burroughs but became trapped in slavishly following the masters formula instead of doing something interesting with the same concept. Reheated leftovers of Barsoom. It's sorta amusing how the books keep reminding you that Michael Kane travelled through both space and time, and that the Mars that he's adventuring on is the Mars of the distant primordial past, because people running around with swords on present-day Mars would just be silly. You know, he might have been on to something! Ancient Mars might have had liquid water and an oxygen rich atmosphere. gizmodo.com/ancient-mars-was-even-more-earth-like-than-we-imagined-1782680758This thundarr-meets-barsoom short story collection (http://www.chillwater.org.uk/writing/blackthorn/thunder.htm) had the mirror image of that concept - its set on a post-apocalyptic mars in the far future.
|
|