Science fiction · Adventure
A Princess of Mars
A Civil War veteran wakes up on Mars, among four-armed warriors and a princess in danger.
Five levels, about 80 languages
- A2ElementaryShort sentences and everyday words.
- B1IntermediateYou follow clear stories about familiar things.
- B2Upper intermediateLonger sentences, richer vocabulary.
- C1AdvancedClose to the original, lightly condensed.
- C2ProficientThe complete novel.
One purchase is one book, in one language, at one level: $4.99. Another level of a book you own is $1.99. Editions nobody has asked for yet are written on request: chapter 1 in a few minutes, the rest while you read. How the levels work.
About the book
Barsoom
John Carter, a Confederate veteran prospecting for gold in Arizona, hides from an Apache war party in a cave. Something strange happens there, and he wakes up on Mars, which its people call Barsoom. In the weaker gravity he can leap enormous distances, which is lucky, because he is captured almost at once by the green Martians: giant warriors with four arms and tusks. Among them he finds an unlikely friend in the chieftain Tars Tarkas, a fiercely loyal watchdog called Woola, and a prisoner, Dejah Thoris, princess of the red Martian city of Helium. It was Edgar Rice Burroughs’s first published story, a magazine serial in 1912.
Why it works for learners
Carter has to learn the Martian language from scratch, helped by a kind young Martian woman, Sola, so the book is partly about doing exactly what you’re doing now. The story is pure momentum: captures, escapes, duels, airships and sudden reversals, told by Carter in the first person with plenty of explanation. Invented words such as thoat and calot are explained in context, which is good practice in guessing meaning. The vocabulary of fighting and travel (sword, rifle, beast, ship, city, prisoner, escape) recurs constantly.
Which level to start at
B1 is a good fit: the plot is simple and the pace is high. A2 is fine for an adventure you’ll want to finish. Burroughs’s prose is old-fashioned and ornate, which C1 and C2 readers will enjoy for its own sake. Lexo’s narration helps here too, giving Carter, Tars Tarkas and Dejah Thoris distinct voices.
Read next
- Tarzan of the Apes, Burroughs’s other hero, born the same year
- The First Men in the Moon, an English pair on another world
- The War of the Worlds, the Martians come to us
