Thuvia, Maid of Mars

The fourth Barsoom novel pulses with the desperate energy of a world tearing itself apart over one woman. Carthoris of Helium, son of the legendary John Carter, has loved Thuvia of Ptarth since he first saw her in the palace gardens, but he is not the only one. A prince from the east demands her hand with threats of war, and when Thuvia vanishes into the dead seas beyond civilization, everyone has reason to blame everyone else. Carthoris must find her before diplomatic disaster becomes actual war. His quest drags him through phantom armies, across territory no human has walked in centuries, and face to face with the ancient secrets that predate the Martian races themselves. This is pulp adventure at its most exuberant: sword fights on floating airships, passionate declarations in jeweled gardens, and a hero trying to measure up to a legend. Burroughs writes with the breathless certainty that love is worth dying for and honor is worth living for, even on a dying world where the atmosphere itself must be manufactured. It is pure adventure, unironic and thrilling.