A review by jvan
The Chessmen of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs

3.0

So I started this, got bogged down in the beginning, set it aside for...months?...and then returned to it and finished it really quickly. Once they get to the city of Manator it all gets really good, but the beginning makes that sort of goodness seem like it's never coming. I still am bothered by the fact that Burroughs is entirely unwilling to give a woman agency, even when he establishes the woman as awesome. Tara of Helium knows how to fight, is apparently exceptionally good at it, but never takes up a sword because it's not supposed to be done. She also straight up murders several people with her hidden knife at various points but is still hauled off as a captive So Many Times. In a version of this book where she was allowed to do as she is written to be able to do, this would maybe be a 5 star book. But she's not, and the beginning is real rough, so it's 3 stars.