Don’t take offence please, but I’ve started reading Princess of Mars having been recommended it by a friend who loves pulp and knows I love pulp fiction in particular (especially Howard). The trouble for me is that I’ve never been much of a scifi guy, and it is this sort of book I swore to stop reading the genre because of.
The prose is stilted, the dialogue dull and the characterisation just bores me. What’s weird though is that I really loved the movie adaptation from 2013(?).
Most of the people in my book-club love this book, especially one friend I really admire (the one who recommended it) but the trouble is that while he might love this franchise i can’t bring myself to do so.
Am I alone in my indifference and apathy towards this book? Those who’ve read it, does it ever get better? And how should I tell this friend of mine I really hate this book, as it means a great deal to him.
by Excelxizor
2 Comments
What do you think the answer is? Clearly people have been reading it for a century. Did no one, in all that time, ever notice it’s “just dull”? At the same time, surely someone else out there also didn’t like it, so you’re obviously not alone.
As for your friend, it’s up to you how you handle it. Do you want to shit on a book your friend loves? How would you feel if your friend shit on a book that you love? Only you can answer that.
The Barsoom books were never considered great literature. The whole “..on MARS!” thing was kind of new at the time, but it’s been a century. So it’s reasonable to not fall in love with them. If you’re looking for similar-but-not-that, maybe try Jack Vance’s “Dying Earth” stories, or Fritz Leiber’s “Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser.” Both of those, you can tell the authors read the Barsoom books but they’re a little newer and better at character stuff.
As for your friend, you can just say “it didn’t work for me.”
edit: misspelled “Fafhrd,” jeez.