The Gods of Mars


Read by JD Weber

(4.6 stars; 1025 reviews)

The Gods of Mars is a 1918 Edgar Rice Burroughs science fiction novel, the second of his famous Barsoom series.It can be said that the novel set the tone for much science fiction to come. Its influence can clearly be seen in franchises such as Star Trek and Farscape. While Burroughs no doubt borrowed liberally from the pulp fiction of his day, particularly westerns and swashbuckling tales, the pacing and themes set the tone for the soft science fiction genre.

The protagonist, John Carter, with his proficiency in hand-to-hand combat and flirtations with beautiful alien women, could be said to have set the mold for later influential icons like Captain James T. Kirk and James Bond.

At the end of the first book, A Princess of Mars, John Carter is unwillingly transported back to Earth. The Gods of Mars begins with his arrival back on Barsoom (Mars) after a ten year hiatus, separated from his wife Dejah Thoris, his unborn child, and the Red Martian people of the nation of Helium, whom he has adopted as his own. Unfortunately, John Carter materializes in the one place on Barsoom from which nobody is allowed to depart: the Valley Dor, which is the Barsoomian heaven. (Summary from Wikipedia) (7 hr 41 min)

Chapters

01 – The Plant Men 31:09 Read by JD Weber
02 – A Forest Battle 25:24 Read by JD Weber
03 – The Chamber of Mystery 27:05 Read by JD Weber
04 – Thuvia 23:14 Read by JD Weber
05 – Corridors of Peril 17:45 Read by JD Weber
06 – The Black Pirates of Barsoom 15:46 Read by JD Weber
07 – A Fair Goddess 21:38 Read by JD Weber
08 – The Depths of Omean 24:08 Read by JD Weber
09 – Issus, Goddess of Life Eternal 18:09 Read by JD Weber
10 – The Prison Isle of Shador 18:06 Read by JD Weber
11 – When Hell Broke Loose 24:32 Read by JD Weber
12 – Doomed to Die 13:35 Read by JD Weber
13 – A Break for Liberty 24:29 Read by JD Weber
14 – The Eyes in the Dark 25:40 Read by JD Weber
15 – Flight and Pursuit 15:46 Read by JD Weber
16 – Under Arrest 19:33 Read by JD Weber
17 – The Death Sentence 15:59 Read by JD Weber
18 – Sola’s Story 13:33 Read by JD Weber
19 – Black Despair 26:16 Read by JD Weber
20 – The Air Battle 24:26 Read by JD Weber
21 – Through Flood and Flame 14:39 Read by JD Weber
22 – Victory and Defeat 20:57 Read by JD Weber

Reviews

Great Read!!!


(5 stars)

Turn on the Librovox (J. D. Webber) recording of The Gods of Mars only if you intend to forget eating and sleeping for the next 8 hours. Think Die Hard action and tempo with the intensity of a Lethal Weapon movie. Oh.., heard some bitching about J D Webber. Grow up. Yeah if I knew Mark Nelson edition was available I might have listened to that edition, but JD did a wonderful job.

Ghetto, you say?


(4 stars)

Ghetto is not the right word for describing mispronunciations such as "ax" for ask and "excape" for escape. GHETTO is just a nice, clean, even complimentary (pretend-like) label for mispronunciations common to one sub-category of Americans, namely the very poorly educated. To call it ghetto is to ascribe the error to just one segment of the population. The OLD word for is not admissible in the court of public opinion. It is verboten, in fact, and sidling over to "ghetto" as a sly substitute reflects our frustration, mostly, but is actually fooling millions of people. These mispronunciations are NOT slang. They are ignorant mispronunciations and shouldn't be considered "ghetto" one bit, because the little white famblee who lives two trailers down from your mom's brick facade split-level 3 bedroom bath-and-a-half house are guilty of these same mispronunciations. Next thing we know you label-givers will have "nukular" down for a ghetto pronunciation--not a mispronunciation, mind you, but only a different way of talking, basically slang. Pffft! Shame. Where will you all draw the line? You've changed the spelling of "led" to "lead" and worse, because you barely read except online, and you all teach each other the same mistakes. We don't need a Ministry of Misinformation or a sanctioned office worker to continually rewrite history on pain of severe punishment. You all are doing the work voluntarily. (Not literally YOU all, but a general catch-all, hypothetical "alla y'all.") For me, hearing an audiobook narrator say "excape" hurts my ears so bad I have to either brace myself in order to continue the book, or give up on it. It's so hard to figure out how anyone reaches adulthood without having been told, and told, and told that "excape" is WRONG, WRONG, WRONG.

not quite equal to Princess if Mars


(4 stars)

Not quite equal to "Princess of Mars" (my humble opinion) but a very good listen as well. And both books are better than the movie which as usual lost a huge part of the story given up trying to recreate with a camera what a great authors words have created with the mind's eye. Many thanks to the authors and others who make these books available. And more thanks to Mom, Aunt Jean, and my first grade teacher Mrs McGlauphlin for teaching me early phonics and the other secrets to enjoying reading. What a true blessing!! Guess that's a little much but I felt like sharing my gratitude.bI hope it makes someone smile.

Masterfully written and action-packed story


(4 stars)

Burroughs wrote beautifully and packed a lot of action into his works. I am now a fan of his Barsoom series. Thanks to J.D. Weber for reading. In the future, he is recommended to please be sure how to pronounce words before committing them to audio: "lithe," "chasm," "malevolence," "succor," "escape," "stygian," "stead," and more. Several words were mispronounced in each chapter. More deliberate enunciation would be preferred with words having multiple "r"'s: "superrrr," "inferrrr," "interrrr," "exterrrr," "warrrr," "errrr," "terrrr," "horrrr," etc. Those who are bugged up by this may wish to download another reader.

excuses are just that


(4 stars)

please stop defending the narrator by saying that he's a volunteer or an amateur if I volunteered my time to Habitat for Humanity and build a crappy house everyone would say I did just that it does no one any good to defend a sub-literate narrator especially not the narrator himself if he wishes to be held to the esteem of greats like Mark Nelson or Phil Chenevert then he should learn to enunciate unfamiliar words and maybe some easy ones (like escape) because the experience is about enjoyment not tolerance

Overall a good job.


(4 stars)

I was a bit annoyed at the eXcape/escape issue. But not to the point of insanity. Also noticed the issue with the following words. Adonis spoken as add-uh-niss Stead spoken as steed ad other small issues, mostly attributed to the reader being Midwestern (we can spot the accent, especially being from there) As former radio airstaff and a commercial voiceover artist I'll be looking into reading soon. Once I get the time. If you happen to see this Mr. Weber, thank you for all the hard work you do.

same story kind of


(5 stars)

all his works have the same basic story lines, but he does a wonderful job of building suspense. I hadn't realized how many works he had written. I must go on to the next book to see how he proceeds to reunite hero and heroine. I thank the reader for his time he has a pleasant easy to listen to voice.


(4 stars)

thanks...fast pace and full of details...this is the 3rd book I listen to and the 2nd on this series...it is gratifying to be vividly transported into a new world faster than the speed light...one reader or various, I was pleasently surprised that so far it has not distracted me from enjoying either book...