The Chessmen of Mars

From AudioFile
In this fifth installment of Burroughs' Mars series, Tara, Princess of Helium, battles strange creatures in her effort to return to Kansas, or rather, Helium, after a vicious storm blows her into a strange new country. John Bolen gives each character in the intricate extraterrestrial thriller an accent from some country on Earth. But so strongly does he perform these that dialogue is often lost to human ears. His shrill, simpering female characters, admittedly few, all sound the same. These problems, combined with mispronounced words and oddly accented phrases, detract from the great story. R.P.L. © AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine


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First Published - 1922. Helium, a spoiled princess and John Carter's daughter, rejects Gahan, Jed of Gathol, as a suitor and foolishly flys off into a great storm. Gahan gives chase. By the time he finally catches up to Tara, she has forgotten who he is, and he assumes the name Turjun, a panthan mercenary. Together they challenge the power of O-Tar, Jeddak of Manator, whose barbaric nation of Red Men have preyed upon Gathol for centuries. The Manatorians have elevated Jetan, Martian chess, to an unprecedented level of skill and excitement: they use live chessmen who fight for live princesses. Gahan finds himself fighting for Tara on the chessboard of Manator, and haunting O-Tar's palace.


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