A Princess of Mars


Read by LibriVox Volunteers

(4.5 stars; 1037 reviews)

Part One of Edgar Rice Burroughs’s Mars-Series. Easy, swank, pulp read about an omnipotent gentleman teleported to Mars, finding an outlandish society of ape-, tree- and lizardmen, red-, white-, yellowmen, brains on legs, strange bastions and curious apparatuses, where the strongest survives and women are needy beauties to be saved. How can something be so platitudinous and at the same time so imaginative and enthralling? Boys’ book for sure. (Summary by Stephan) (7 hr 10 min)

Chapters

Foreword 7:47 Read by Stephan Möbius
Chapter 01 16:45 Read by Peter Yearsley
Chapter 02 9:42 Read by Tony Hightower
Chapter 03 18:32 Read by Steve Hartzog
Chapter 04 13:49 Read by Steve Hartzog
Chapter 05 9:17 Read by Kymm Zuckert
Chapter 06 11:11 Read by Chris Peterson
Chapter 07 14:28 Read by Kara Shallenberg (1969-2023)
Chapter 08 11:36 Read by Tony Hightower
Chapter 09 7:59 Read by Tony Hightower
Chapter 10 19:11 Read by Tony Hightower
Chapter 11 17:02 Read by Chris Peterson
Chapter 12 13:49 Read by Chris Peterson
Chapter 13 13:17 Read by Stephan Möbius
Chapter 14 21:13 Read by Chris Peterson
Chapter 15 20:57 Read by Chris Peterson
Chapter 16 23:39 Read by Chris Peterson
Chapter 17 19:03 Read by Chris Peterson
Chapter 18 10:39 Read by Chris Peterson
Chapter 19 14:28 Read by Chris Vee
Chapter 20 16:33 Read by Patrick McNeal
Chapter 21 21:45 Read by Chris Peterson
Chapter 22 23:47 Read by Sherry Crowther
Chapter 23 13:24 Read by Stephan Möbius
Chapter 24 16:13 Read by Chris Peterson
Chapter 25 11:59 Read by Chris Peterson
Chapter 26 14:52 Read by Chris Peterson
Chapter 27 11:41 Read by Kymm Zuckert
Chapter 28 5:31 Read by Stephan Möbius

Reviews


(3 stars)

Love the story and consider myself a big fan of Burroughs, but for the love of God 6 different readers!?!? All of the different accents on the part of the readers really detract from the story. Come on Ralph Snelson help a brother out! Can't you just take over all of Burroughs' books?

Interesting story, but didn't age well


(3 stars)

For the most part I enjoyed the story. It is wonderfully imaginative and has some exciting sequences. If you are a fan of old-fashioned scifi that reads like the adventure novels of a bygone era (i.e. lots of exposition about imaginary peoples and monsters) then you will probably enjoy it. For me the exposition was a bit dry and cliche, though to be fair it probably was not cliche when it was written more than 100 years ago. The romantic passages are laughably silly at best, and insultingly sexist at worst (again, mostly a product of the times). My biggest complaint, though, is with the narration - the narrator changes nearly every chapter. Narrators range from pretty good to nearly unintelligible. Each one has their own style, some even affecting an attempt at a southern drawl (I suppose because the protagonist is from Virginia). Bafflingly, some readers did several chapters, but not consecutively. The constant switching between voices would be jarring even if they were all good (they are not).


(5 stars)

I love this series. It’s in my top ten favorite books. Maybe it’s just nostalgia cause I listened to this when I was a lot younger but I love it. I also don’t agree with the summary at all. The women are not all needy damsels to be saved and it is not just a boys book. I’m a fairly hardcore feminist so if you’re only avoiding this book because you think all the girls are going to be damsels in distress I suggest you try it anyway!

a shame


(0 stars)

I listened to many of the chapters but finally had to give up. One of the readers had either a very deviated septum, some kind of allergy or perhaps a sinus infection which made her voice so nasally and horrible to listen to that I finally couldn't take it anymore. Unfortunately it seems as though she was reading more chapters than anybody else. I'm only being honest, it just ruined the experience for me and I was really disappointed because I was really enjoying the story.


(4 stars)

Rivetting! It takes a while to get used to the different readers, but the story is so tight and well imagined that it travels well. I am onto all of ERB's Barsoom books now using LV. I have to say the Southern gentleman reader has the most engaging style. Hard to imagine the author is not known for this science fiction classic. He was far ahead of his time.

Great story, multi readers ruin it


(3.5 stars)

I loved the story. yes, it is dated, chauvinistic, old sci-fi and silly love story. Regardless, I loved this and found it hard to stop listening. The descriptions of Martians and their animals allowed my imagination to go crazy. I enjoyed that the human was a "good" guy and helped some locals to embrace emotions other than hatred.

love it cannot wait to listen to the rest of the series


(5 stars)

always loved the book. now I can listen to it while I'm resting. the core of the series starts here and the rest build from this. I'm not sure how many more books there are but I hope to find them all.

A PRINCESS OF MARS


(5 stars)

Never knew this was a book. I was hooked from beginning to end. Just the kind of sci-fi I love. Couldn't wait to get from one chapter to the next. Some of the readers were a little off but its so many different ones its not a big issue.