The Gods of Mars

Book 2 is book 1 on steroids. Is this really pulp fiction? It reads more like superhero fiction. John Carter took those steroids too - his first person narration went to the extreme in self-praise. If you're annoyed by his “oh, this is so dangerous, but I'm just too good” narrations in book 1, I would recommend you not read book 2, since he comes across as even more arrogant now that he's familiar with Mars - practically a superman, perfect in every way except being blatantly oblivious a few times to extremely clear clues.

The majority of pages deal with three things: capture, escape, fight. Finish one cycle, rinse and repeat. Throw in 3 women who loves him (2 of them by virtue of being damsels in distress) and several oh-so-convenient moments, and you have a book that you simply cannot treat as a serious read. Still no explanation on how he jumps between planets though.

As long as you take this book lightly, you'll enjoy the story. Take it seriously, and you'll get annoyed - like how John Carter manages to stay in tip-top fighting condition capable of holding back armies almost single-handedly despite bearing untreated wounds and usually not sleeping enough. Two of the more unrealistic bits is how his 10 Earth-year-old son is able to kick butt and deal death like his pa, and how John Carter can be chained and imprisoned for an Earth year surviving on gruel and yet come back out still in perfect fighting condition. The imprisonment itself was pointless - needless drama for a "oh, I forgot that a Martian year is much longer!" moment...

The bad and corny aside, the plot itself is actually pretty good. It sheds light on the religion and faith of Issus on Mars and a ruse within a ruse. This book also gives a rich history of Martian civilizations, although I found the idea of using colour to differentiate humans to be boring and stereotypical - probably something to do with the era this book was written in.

I hope there's no more new human colour in book 3. And yes, I'm going on to book 3 later, since just as book 1, the finale is another cliffhanger - one that involves a weird and unrealistic prison; so cliffhanger for cliffhanger's sake. But then again this is pulp, so that's sort of expected I guess.