The Gods of Mars
by Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875–1950)
- Free to read
- 6 hours to read
- 23 chapters
- Reading level: 7th grade
"The Gods of Mars" by Edgar Rice Burroughs is a science fantasy novel first published in 1913. After ten years away, John Carter returns to Mars only to materialize in the Valley Dor—the Martian afterlife from which no one may leave. Reunited with his friend Tars Tarkas, Carter discovers that Mars's supposed gods are frauds who enslave pilgrims. He must navigate deadly plant creatures, false deities, and warring factions while desperately searching for his beloved wife Dejah Thoris, who may have journeyed to find him.
- Science fiction
- Mars (Planet)
- Life on other planets
- Carter, John (Fictitious character)
- Dejah Thoris (Fictitious character)
Read the opening
Chapter I
THE PLANT MEN
As I stood upon the bluff before my cottage on that clear cold night in the early part of March, 1886, the noble Hudson flowing like the grey and silent spectre of a dead river below me, I felt again the strange, compelling influence of the mighty god of war, my beloved Mars, which for ten long and lonesome years I had implored with outstretched arms to carry me back to my lost love.
Not since that other March night in 1866, when I had stood without that Arizona cave in which my still and lifeless body lay wrapped in the similitude of earthly death had I felt the irresistible attraction of the god of my profession.
With arms outstretched toward the red eye of the great star I stood praying for a return of that strange power which twice had drawn me through the immensity of space, praying as I had prayed on a thousand nights before during the long ten years that I had waited and hoped.
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About this edition
This free edition of The Gods of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs comes from Project Gutenberg eBook #29405, released 2009-07-14. It is in the public domain in the United States, so you can read it here in full at no cost, on any phone, tablet or computer. Genre: Science-Fiction & Fantasy, Adventure, Novels, American Literature.
Other editions: eBook #64 (most read).
Summary provided by Project Gutenberg (automatically generated).
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