About book The City Of The Beast Or Warriors Of Mars (1978)
If you have read the Barsoom books of Edgar Rice Burroughs, there really is no reason to read this. In the kindest terms, it could be called an homage to "A Princess of Mars." It also could be called a blatant ripoff.Here's the plot: An Earth man ends up being swept through space and time to ancient Mars, where he falls in love with a mostly naked princess who needs a lot of rescuing. He also befriends a large savage, monstrous being amid battles with said beings and the occasional monster. Sounds very Burroughs, does in not? Moorcock brings nothing new to the table, really, and tells his story with less color and verve than Burroughs.
Given the negative connotations associated with 'pulp' fiction, I had unfortunately low expectations coming into this book. It turned out to be a great read. This book epitomizes the idea of 'escapist literature'. The story was fast paced, remarkably intelligent (especially considering the main character is skilled in sword fighting and ends up on ancient Mars due to a failed physics experiment). The level of description is enough to rival a TV show, with interesting (though admittedly 2 dimensional) characters. Highly recommended if you want to see where SF and Fantasy came from, and why they're both still popular today.
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