The Chessmen of Mars

What It's About

Tara of Helium, daughter of John Carter and Dejah Thoris, is caught in a violent storm and swept far from home in her flier. She crash-lands near Bantoom, the underground city of the kaldanes - grotesque, disembodied brain-creatures who control headless bodies called rykors. Fleeing this nightmarish world, she falls into the hands of Manator, a city where honour, treachery, and the ancient game of Jetan (Martian chess) are played out with living pieces, and the losers are put to death. Gahan of Gathol, a prince who loves her, follows in disguise as a lowly panthan, working his way through Manator's rigid caste system to save her before the final, fatal move is made.

Key Concepts

The novel is best known for introducing Jetan, Burroughs' fully worked-out version of Martian chess, complete with its own board, pieces, and rules (later included as an appendix for readers to play themselves). It also expands on Barsoomian society through the kaldanes, a species split between a controlling "brain" and a subordinate physical body, raising questions of identity and autonomy that run alongside the book's more traditional themes of disguise, rank, and chivalric honour.

About the Author

Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875-1950) was an American writer born in Chicago, Illinois. He worked a series of unsuccessful jobs before turning to fiction in his mid-thirties, going on to become one of the most popular and influential adventure writers of the twentieth century, known for creating richly imagined, exotic worlds.