Gods of Mars - (version 3)

John Carter returns to Mars expecting to find his beloved Dejah Thoris. Instead, he arrives in the Valley Dor, where the legendary pilgrimage to paradise leads pilgrims to their deaths. Carter and his Thark companion Tars Tarkas stumble into a nightmare of deception: the Therns, those pale-skinned beings who have posed as gods for millennia, are in fact cruel taskmasters. Most pilgrims are torn apart by the grotesque Plant Men and beasts of the valley. The survivors become slaves. Carter must unravel an ancient conspiracy, battle his way through a world of false divinity, and rescue those he loves from the gods who are not gods at all. Burroughs builds Barsoom with breathtaking detail, layering the redplanet's dying civilization with creature designs that still unsettle and politics that still sting. This is pulp adventure at its purest: swordfights, betrayals, a hero who refuses to kneel, and the sly suggestion that the holiest places are often the most corrupt.