Fiction Books PDF EPUB Audio

The Chessmen of Mars

Downloads: Under 100
First published: 1922
Pages: 220

Read online EPUB Download Save

Listen to The Chessmen of Mars Audiobook Free

Read by Thomas A. Copeland · 9 h 5 min · 23 parts

Open the player

Prelude - John Carter Comes to Earth
6:08
Tara in a Tantrum
24:14
At the Gale's Mercy
24:05
The Headless Humans
28:33
Captured
27:21
The Perfect Brain
21:35
In the Toils of Horror
28:06
A Repellent Sight
25:44
Close Work
21:19
Adrift Over Strange Regions
24:08
Entrapped
22:11
The Choice of Tara
24:44
Ghek Plays Pranks
21:10
A Desperate Deed
23:40
At Ghek's Command
25:09
The Old Man of the Pits
23:54
Another Change of Name
23:40
A Play to the Death
22:55
A Task for Loyalty
26:53
The Menace of the Dead
20:29
The Charge of Cowardice
24:45
A Risk for Love
21:36
At the Moment of Marriage
32:48

This audiobook recording is in the public domain.

The audio edition streams in the page. There is no audio file to download.

Browse all free audiobooks

About this book

The Chessmen of Mars was published in 1922 and follows the next generation of Carter's family, in this case Tara of Helium, John Carter's daughter, who has grown up by this point in the timeline. Tara is caught in a typhoon-like Martian storm called a tempest while flying her small craft, and crash-lands in the territory of the Kaldanes of Bantoom, a race of detachable spider-shaped intelligent heads who attach to and ride headless humanoid bodies called Rykors.

The Kaldane sections are some of the most genuinely science-fictional in the Barsoom canon, with extended worldbuilding about a species that has evolved beyond bodies but still requires them. The plot eventually moves into the city of Manator, where Tara and the rescuing Gahan of Gathol must compete in a deadly version of Martian Jetan, the chess-like game from which the book takes its title. The Jetan game played with living pieces on a giant board is one of Burroughs's most memorable set-pieces. Strongly recommended after the first three books.

About the author

Edgar Rice Burroughs

Edgar Rice Burroughs was an American writer, recognized for his prolific output in the adventure, science fiction, and fantasy genres. Best known for creating the characters Tarzan and John Carter, he also wrote the Pellucidar series, the Amtor series, and the Caspak trilogy.