“Warriors of Mars” by Michael Moorcock (aka Edward P. Bradbury)

Annotation:

Physicist Michael Kane finds himself inexplicably transported to an ancient Mars. With no way back to Earth he resigns himself to his fate, forever changing the face of Mars.


Summary:

The author, “Mr. Bradbury” happens upon one Michael Kane while on an ocean cruise. Kane seems disturbed, and opens up to the author about why he seems out of sorts. Michael Kane proceeds to tell the author about what has happened. This same exact plot device was used by Edgar Rice Burroughs in The Moon Maid, but since this a pastiche of/tribute to Burroughs, it works and it makes the vital connection to suspend belief for the audience.

As he relates his tale, Michael Kane finds himself upon Mars, or Vashu as the locals call it, and makes the acquaintance of the beautiful (most Martians appear human) Shizala, princess of the city-state Varnal. She tutors him in the Martian dialect and customs, soon Kane falls in love with her. It is not to be however, as she is betrothed to the prince of an allied kingdom. Kane has little time to sulk though, as the Argzoon, 12-foot tall, blue giants lay siege to the Green City Varnal.

After much fighting and swashbuckling, Kane presses the attack to the giant’s camp using an ancient flying machine only to find out that a human woman is somehow coercing the giants to attack Varnal. No sooner does she get away, than Kane discovers that Shizala has been kidnapped. On he presses to the caves of the blue giants.

After several more capture/escape/capture/escape scenarios, Kane rescues Shizala, reveals that her betrothed was actually a traitor, and is about to marry her, when he is somehow returned back to present day Earth by his colleagues.


Review:

Let’s establish this from the beginning, this is not Moorcock’s finest work, but it isn’t meant to be. It knows what it is, a tribute to pulp sci-fi Mars stories. That said the book is fairly enjoyable as a pure adventure story.

The book starts off with realistic, in-story technology and ideas. The transportation to a Mars millions of years ago is original and allows for greater creativity by escaping the contemporary Mars which would have been overshadowed by Burroughs’ Barsoom stories. The creatures, people, and cultures are fairly interesting, and the Argzoon (blue giants) are also an interesting addition.

The addition of an ancient and advanced race, the Sheev and the Yaksha, that disappeared from ancient Mars even further back adds to the mystery of the planet. Unfortunately these threads are never fully explored.

Ratings system:

I would like to have a 5 star rating system, but I don’t know how to put the stars on here yet, so instead I will give a score out of 5 until I figure out the stars. I will also justify my rankings. If you disagree, please comment, I won’t change my rating, but it will be fun to discuss these things.


1) Readability/Pace - Warriors of Mars was a fairly quick read, and interesting enough to finish rather quickly. 5/5 Stars. The language is also fairly easy to understand, and the text is not too dense. It was pretty enjoyable read.

2) Plot – There was not a large amount of plot, more or less it borrowed many plot devices from the pulps. The outlander assimilating into the alien culture, falling in love (usually with a princess), and having many captures and escapes. He also manages to befriend an enemy in typical fashion, this friend ends up to assist the hero at the most unexpected time. All in all, a pretty good take on a very Burroughsian plot.

For fans of the Sword and Planet Genre, or someone who has never read one, I would give this 3.5/5, but for anyone looking for a great piece of literature probably 2/5. It’s an adventure story through and through, don’t expect anything else.

3) Characters – Michael Kane’s only real growth is in learning the customs of Mars. His background is also fairly interesting since it explains how he happens to be an expert swordsman. Michael Kane is not terribly well developed character-wise, he is somewhat of a typical action star in a Schwarzenegger movie. Characterization, I’ll give 2.5/5 because many characters seem to fit into the genre’s archetypes.

4) Random Trivia – Since this is a tribute to Burroughs, theoretically, one could pull a “Den Valdron” and even mesh this story in with Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Barsoom, especially with information given in later novels.

Firstly, Michael Kane is a scientist working on a sort of teleportation machine. Now in Burroughs’s actual stories, I did not see any such device, but in Mahars of Pellucidar by John Eric Holmes, there is a teleportation machine that is being made. Could they be related? It would be interesting to further explore the links.

Secondly, the main character relates his “true” story to the author, who then publishes it as fiction due to the unbelievably of the tale. In this case, Kane meets “Bradbury” on an ocean cruise, much like in Burroughs’ Moon Maid.

Lastly, the riding animals that are used, daharas, are described as something like an ape-like creature. Since this Mars is millions of years in the past, one could argue that evolution causes these creatures to become the Rykors used by the Kaldanes in Burroughs’ Thuvia Maid of Mars. This is speculation at this point.

There could be more trivia related to other Mars fiction, so if you can point it out, that’d be great to see.

NEXT TIME: Blades of Mars