Books like The Gods of Mars

After ten years of absence John Carter finally managed to return to Mars. Unfortunately he could not choose where he ended up. Thus instead of familiar territories he arrived at the place where sentient Martians go when they grow tired of life. Very soon our hero realized the place is not exactly Tolkien's Uttermost West; far from it. On the positive side he got to meet his friend and a great warrior - the latter was very important for their survival. Survival was what John Carter was busy with through the whole book. I can count the number of pages where nobody threatened his life on one hand. Other reviewers say that the second book is better than the first. I agree. I found the whole idea of inhabitants of the land where people go for the last pilgrimage having their own place of ultimate pilgrimage in turn fascinating. Action was practically non-stop. My only complaint was about John Carter's mental abilities: he was not exactly a great scientist material. It was not obvious in the first book, bu here it is hard to miss. If you manage to look past action scenes you will be able to find some criticism of religion, anti-racial and anti-slavery themes. These might seem mild, but keep in mind when the book was written: that year my older grandmother was still learning how to walk and talk. I mentioned in the review of the first book the series created its own genre: sword and planet. This book also contains most probably the first ever epic air battle between flying battleships - something countless people wrote about countless number of times since then. Is it high literature? Not at all. Is it a great character study? Nope. Is it fun read? You bet it is! 4 well-deserved stars.