It\u2019s difficult to express why I like \u2018Jandar of Callisto\u2019 It\u2019s obviously not a very good book: an unashamed pastiche of Edgar Rice Burroughs \u2018Princess of Mars\u2019, with poor or variable writing at times, unconvincing characters and some awkward dialogue. Perhaps the best way to express this is by comparison with Burroughs himself and a modern fantasy \u2018A Clash of Kings\u2019 by George R R Martin.<\/p>\n
First a quick plot summary \u2013 although if you\u2019ve read \u2018A Princess of Mars\u2019 by Burroughs you hardly need look at the following paragraph.<\/p>\n
Jonathan Dark is a helicopter pilot, forced down in the jungles of Cambodia, where he discovers the ancient city Arangkh\u00f4r. He slides into a mysterious well and teleports to another world \u2013 the Jovian moon, Callisto, is enslaved by the Yathoon, a race of intelligent insectoids and rescues, albeit briefly, the princess Darloona of Shondakar. A naughty Sky Pirate steals the princess and a few adventures follow.<\/p>\n
The faults \u2013 well Burroughs was a far better story teller and this is effectively a specific Burroughs yarn. The dialogue between characters is utterly unconvincing and where Carter injects his own voice and reasoning and ideas \u2013 i.e. where he goes away from Burroughs – his innovations fail. The hero of \u2018A Princess of Mars’ does make stupid mistakes but he is a hero; invincible, a master swordsman, an arrogant egotist, principled and brave, and he would never hit a woman. Jandar, unfortunately, resembles another character of Burroughs, Carson of Venus, who has been criticised by Burrough\u2019s fans for being, well, a bit like Jandar of Callisto who bumbles insipidly from adventure to adventure being helped out by unlikely friends and, who most damning of all, punches the princess.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s clear that Carter wanted to write a Burroughs yarn and during the writing tried to inject a \u2018little\u2019 more realism into the equation. Unfortunately the psychological motor for this kind of story is not realism \u2013 it\u2019s simply about making the setting realistic enough so that the hero can do heroic things. It is an utter requirement that the hero beats all odds the princess is the most beautiful in the universe and the hero eventually sweeps her off to the bedroom.<\/p>\n
The good bits: Well, it was a bit like Burroughs – the setting and descriptions were good, the narrator gives it the right fantastical feel; it was simple and easily read. Some of the characters were well drawn in a simplistic way and there were very few of them. Interestingly the description of the discovery and entrance to the mysterious well are perhaps the best drawn and most \u2018literate\u2019 \u2013 very reminiscent of R E Howard. The description of flight and flying machines, clearly drawn from experience, was as convincing as the jungles of both worlds.<\/p>\n
I just read \u2018A Clash of Kings\u2019 by George R R Martin \u2013 well written, tightly plotted, peopled with deep and well drawn characters, almost mathematical in its precision, realistic in its descriptions \u2013 To be honest I was a bit bored for a few reasons. Firstly, it was too complex; secondly it was too realistic \u2013 to close to the medieval in its portrayal \u2013 and damningly for me, constantly filled with the introspections of the characters. The classic failing of most modern fantasy is this introspective nonsense where characters are given a chance to say how they feel and what they think. This fails largely because the characters think in modern terms \u2013 terms alien to the fantasy worlds to which they have been condemned \u2013 and it also fails because epic fantasies are about events not thoughts. Now \u2018Jandar of Callisto\u2019 is not particularly an epic \u2013 although that could be argued, as transportation to an alien planet is a fairly epic event \u2013 but \u2018Clash of Kings\u2019 is one of a series of books purporting to be epic. It would perhaps become an epic if Martin removed the entire internal dialogue.<\/p>\n
Carter makes none of these mistakes \u2013 the book is short, readable; there are only a few main characters, Jander thinks about things but then he\u2019s the narrator. For an hour or so you\u2019re carried off to a strange planet and seeking out the heroine with the panting breasts. In short, you\u2019re an adolescent and that\u2019s where the best fantasy lies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It\u2019s difficult to express why I like \u2018Jandar of Callisto\u2019 It\u2019s obviously not a very good book: an unashamed pastiche of Edgar Rice Burroughs \u2018Princess of Mars\u2019, with poor or variable writing at times, unconvincing characters and some awkward dialogue. Perhaps the best way to express this is by comparison with Burroughs himself and a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,5,16],"tags":[47,108,110,109],"class_list":["post-760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fantasy","category-heaven","category-reviews","tag-edgar-rice-burroughs","tag-george-r-r-martin","tag-jandar","tag-lin-carter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heavenmakers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heavenmakers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heavenmakers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heavenmakers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heavenmakers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=760"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.heavenmakers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":988,"href":"https:\/\/www.heavenmakers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760\/revisions\/988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heavenmakers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heavenmakers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heavenmakers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}