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Venus #2
Lost on Venus
Second in the Venus series. Carson Napier begins this episode in the Room of the Seven Doors. He can leave any time he wants, but six of the seven doors lead to hideous deaths; only one is the door of life. After navigating his way out of this logic puzzle, Carson continues his quest to rescue the planet's fairest princess. He pursues this with singlemindedness, even though more terrible dangers lie ahead; even though the princess wishes neither his help or his affection; even though her people will execute him if he enters their country! Such is the honor of an Earthman's pledge.
192 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1935
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About the author
Edgar Rice Burroughs
2,802 books2,735 followersEdgar Rice Burroughs was an American author, best known for his creation of the jungle hero Tarzan and the heroic John Carter, although he produced works in many genres.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 89 reviews
September 28, 2025
ERB Venus series Read Sept 2025
Well at 99p each, you can’t say no, and so I now seem to be locked in to reading all of ERBS’s Venus novels. Well they’re enjoyable and fun SF pulp.
So in this book /episode (it really is like 1960’s early morning kids pictures ) Carson is still many miles from the safety of his original friends in the nation of Vepaja, and looking for the daughter of their Jong who has also been captured by Thorists (the baddies).
He manages to catch up with Duarte , the haughty princess of Vepaja, but is then sentenced to death in the room of seven doors. Amazinginly him and Doure nabage to escape but are once agin separated as they are swept down the river of death.
It really is a rollercoaster ride but all good fun. As the saying goes (well sort of ) they don’t write ‘em like this anymore !
Well at 99p each, you can’t say no, and so I now seem to be locked in to reading all of ERBS’s Venus novels. Well they’re enjoyable and fun SF pulp.
So in this book /episode (it really is like 1960’s early morning kids pictures ) Carson is still many miles from the safety of his original friends in the nation of Vepaja, and looking for the daughter of their Jong who has also been captured by Thorists (the baddies).
He manages to catch up with Duarte , the haughty princess of Vepaja, but is then sentenced to death in the room of seven doors. Amazinginly him and Doure nabage to escape but are once agin separated as they are swept down the river of death.
It really is a rollercoaster ride but all good fun. As the saying goes (well sort of ) they don’t write ‘em like this anymore !
November 30, 2020
The second novel in Edgar Rice Burroughs' Venus series. Space-faring earthman Carson Napier was separated from his beloved princess Duare at the conclusion of the previous novel. Now, he is after her once again, determined to get her home safely to her kingdom of Vepaja, and the result is the literary equivalent of one of the old Saturday morning serials with just a pinch of social commentary. From the Room of the Seven Doors, down the River of Death to the City of the Dead, where a mad scientist presides over a kingdom of zombies, and the beautiful city of Havatoo, which is a paradise but only if your lineage is pure, Carson and Duare bounce from predicament to predicament. Will they survive their adventures? Will Duare drop her haughty facade and accept Carson's love? Is there any doubt? Not really, but getting there is the fun. This series benefits by being more humorous than most of Burroughs' work.
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https://thericochetreviewer.blogspot.com
September 11, 2017
I'm not as much for the ADHD aspects of the story rocketing around whenever ERB has gotten bored (especially anything of the theme "monster fight in jungle".) I'm for big, weird set piece ideas and outright nuttiness. So the story didn't really get going until we meet Skor, the mad scientist and "jong" of Morov and Kormor.
Skor is an interesting guy, not just because he imbues the dead with unnatural life and seeks to create wholly synthetic organisms. He's _off_ in some unexplainable way, hosting parties of will-less zombies, keeping a slovenly abode, decorating in magpie fashion, yet still interested in obtaining Duare as his lady. Burroughs has finally taken the mad scientist, removed the science from him, and replaced it with more mental illness.
The whole business with Skor, from the castle/stronghold of Morov to the city of the dead, Kormor, is the heart of the book, with some truly inventive imagery of the walking dead, the emptiness, and despair. Yet there is no satisfying conclusion as Napier and friends are jerked back and forth to new crises and adventures.
Burrough's formula became limiting, as the reader knows that Napier will eventually end up with Duare, despite encountering Nalte and finding her a more interesting and dynamic match. I don't think Burroughs can really be surprising with any of the big plot/character threads, even if he will event completely gonzo cities and cultures and other adventures.
Skor is an interesting guy, not just because he imbues the dead with unnatural life and seeks to create wholly synthetic organisms. He's _off_ in some unexplainable way, hosting parties of will-less zombies, keeping a slovenly abode, decorating in magpie fashion, yet still interested in obtaining Duare as his lady. Burroughs has finally taken the mad scientist, removed the science from him, and replaced it with more mental illness.
The whole business with Skor, from the castle/stronghold of Morov to the city of the dead, Kormor, is the heart of the book, with some truly inventive imagery of the walking dead, the emptiness, and despair. Yet there is no satisfying conclusion as Napier and friends are jerked back and forth to new crises and adventures.
Burrough's formula became limiting, as the reader knows that Napier will eventually end up with Duare, despite encountering Nalte and finding her a more interesting and dynamic match. I don't think Burroughs can really be surprising with any of the big plot/character threads, even if he will event completely gonzo cities and cultures and other adventures.
July 25, 2020
I mean, I have no idea what I'd think now, but when I read these books as a tween, I loved everything that Burroughs wrote, and the Venus books were among my favorites.
December 19, 2016
Carson Napier escapes from his bondage in the room of seven doors and breaks Duare free from the throes of her captor who wants to take advantage of her. Carson and Duare are then lost on the unexplored areas of Venus, and they're trying to find a way back to her home city. Mishap after mishap take them further into dangerous lands where vicious animals roam, and people with ill-intent threaten to separate the young lovers.
They are captured by a deranged king whose thirst for power is so strong, he reanimates dead bodies to do his bidding. Carson meets a damsel in a tower in the dead city and they escape into a neighboring city. It is astoundingly more advanced than any civilization Carson has yet seen, and he learns that inhabitants must test to be elligible to live there. Those who do not pass are killed.
This book is highly entertaining, exciting, and filled with adventure. The new characters and locations are facinating, and the story is much more exciting than the first installment of the Venus series. It left me itching for more.
They are captured by a deranged king whose thirst for power is so strong, he reanimates dead bodies to do his bidding. Carson meets a damsel in a tower in the dead city and they escape into a neighboring city. It is astoundingly more advanced than any civilization Carson has yet seen, and he learns that inhabitants must test to be elligible to live there. Those who do not pass are killed.
This book is highly entertaining, exciting, and filled with adventure. The new characters and locations are facinating, and the story is much more exciting than the first installment of the Venus series. It left me itching for more.
April 3, 2017
Todo lo que esperas en una aventura espacial: acción sin parar, viajes, continuos obstáculos, muchas razas, amores, naves… Pero con una muy mala calidad narrativa, inocentes sucesos y actos muy blandos. Pero gusta.
November 3, 2011
If I could rate this book as 3.5 stars instead of four, I’d do so. It’s vintage ERB and better than the first book in the series (Pirates of Venus) and I rated that as three. I saw Pirates as being John Carter Lite. Lost on Venus is a match for my favorite Carter episodes The Gods of Mars and Warlord of Mars. Come to think of it, The Gods of Mars was number two in the series, too.
What I particularly enjoyed about this volume was the typical pulp inventiveness of Burroughs. Early on in the adventure, Carson Napier is faced with a worse dilemma than the classic “Lady or the Tiger” when he faces the dreaded Room of Seven Doors. Behind six of the doors would be deadly certain death while one (analogous to the dunking stool in the witch trials) allows life and, presumably, release from the death penalty. Of course, our hero is forced to choose a door because all of the food and drink in the anteroom is poisoned (except for one) and, after a sufficient amount of time has elapsed, venomous, carnivorous snakes appear to prompt the decision. And if you think the earthman chooses the door to freedom, you don’t know your ERB. Instead, there is a delightful resolution to the puzzle. Someday, I’ll put this one in a role-playing adventure.
Another case of ERB’s inventiveness in this episode is the intriguing and seeming utopian city of Havatoo. If ERB gets in his critique of Communism with the Thorists in the first volume and this one, as well, he points out flaws in Eugenics in this portion of the episode. The architecture of the city (sort of a half-wheel with spokes), the government of the civilization (almost Platonic in its resemblance to Philosopher Kings—though these are more like Scientist Kings), and the social mores of the civilization (no need for police because everyone polices) are all worthy of note. To be sure, ERB’s knowledge of botany and the logical rationales behind his descriptions of other-worldly life forms (why would carnivorous beasts have parrot-like proboscises that would merely get in their way when trying to ingest like the kazars have and why would beasts of burden not have hooves instead of almost humanoid feet?) may not match up with the realism of Ben Bova’s Venus but the descriptions are entertaining nonetheless.
Another joy in this novel was that the women were not helpless “mannequins,” pretty but useless in the core of the adventure. These women (to say who they were might be an unwelcome spoiler) were courageous enough to face potentially fatal situations, innovative enough to be of use in combat, and strong enough to be more than caricatures of an idealized femininity from an earlier era. I don’t know whether this was merely serendipitous within the context of this story or reflected a maturity on ERB’s part, but it certainly raised the bar for pulp heroines over those seen in previous works.
Yes, Lost on Venus follows the typical pulp adventure formula of having the protagonist move from one tight situation to another, one escape based on fortuitous circumstances after another, but it also has a few leisurely paced sections where exploration, innovation, and fascination rule. For me, it was like returning to the best books in the Pellucidar series with a mixture of the unusual and the expected. That makes for fine escape reading.
What I particularly enjoyed about this volume was the typical pulp inventiveness of Burroughs. Early on in the adventure, Carson Napier is faced with a worse dilemma than the classic “Lady or the Tiger” when he faces the dreaded Room of Seven Doors. Behind six of the doors would be deadly certain death while one (analogous to the dunking stool in the witch trials) allows life and, presumably, release from the death penalty. Of course, our hero is forced to choose a door because all of the food and drink in the anteroom is poisoned (except for one) and, after a sufficient amount of time has elapsed, venomous, carnivorous snakes appear to prompt the decision. And if you think the earthman chooses the door to freedom, you don’t know your ERB. Instead, there is a delightful resolution to the puzzle. Someday, I’ll put this one in a role-playing adventure.
Another case of ERB’s inventiveness in this episode is the intriguing and seeming utopian city of Havatoo. If ERB gets in his critique of Communism with the Thorists in the first volume and this one, as well, he points out flaws in Eugenics in this portion of the episode. The architecture of the city (sort of a half-wheel with spokes), the government of the civilization (almost Platonic in its resemblance to Philosopher Kings—though these are more like Scientist Kings), and the social mores of the civilization (no need for police because everyone polices) are all worthy of note. To be sure, ERB’s knowledge of botany and the logical rationales behind his descriptions of other-worldly life forms (why would carnivorous beasts have parrot-like proboscises that would merely get in their way when trying to ingest like the kazars have and why would beasts of burden not have hooves instead of almost humanoid feet?) may not match up with the realism of Ben Bova’s Venus but the descriptions are entertaining nonetheless.
Another joy in this novel was that the women were not helpless “mannequins,” pretty but useless in the core of the adventure. These women (to say who they were might be an unwelcome spoiler) were courageous enough to face potentially fatal situations, innovative enough to be of use in combat, and strong enough to be more than caricatures of an idealized femininity from an earlier era. I don’t know whether this was merely serendipitous within the context of this story or reflected a maturity on ERB’s part, but it certainly raised the bar for pulp heroines over those seen in previous works.
Yes, Lost on Venus follows the typical pulp adventure formula of having the protagonist move from one tight situation to another, one escape based on fortuitous circumstances after another, but it also has a few leisurely paced sections where exploration, innovation, and fascination rule. For me, it was like returning to the best books in the Pellucidar series with a mixture of the unusual and the expected. That makes for fine escape reading.
April 10, 2022
Hell yes! This is what the sword & planet genre is about! Lost cities, fanciful science, rayguns, monsters, cannibals, death chambers, romance, flying machines, commies, and zombies!
My second dip into Burroughs' Venus series has some points superior to the first book, some inferior, and it's strangely just as surprising. It's not the lyrical planetary romance that the Barsoom books were, in fact it's sometimes guilty of the mechanical qualities of Burroughs' later works. There are familiar elements here that work very well, namely escapes, the old concept of two opposed-cities, and the requisite romantic tensions.
The cliffhanger ending of “Pirates of Venus” is dutifully picked right up here and we are treated to Carson Napier's ordeal in a fiendish torture/execution chamber. His pursuit and search of his lady love, Duare, takes him through “Flash Gordon” type situations, such as trying to survive in the woods, make rafts, fashion weapons, and encountering mad scientists!
Unlike many of Burroughs' adventures, “Lost on Venus” benefits from the presence of a somewhat distinctive villain, Skor, who resurrects the dead into semi-conscious slaves and populates a city with them.
Absent here is the solid and direct narrative force that carried “Pirates of Venus” through. This sequel pulls back the veil of the uncharted Amtor some more and takes time unveiling other species and beasts. Burroughs' writing always has the necessary urgency (Lupoff didn't call him “master of adventure” for nothing), but segments of this work more like throwaway material.
What's probably most interesting about Carson Napier as a protagonist, at least to a Burroughs' fan, is that he is not a superman. Carson Napier is a hero, and competent, and he built his own damn rocketship, but he finds himself outmatched sometimes and actually walks away rather than fighting. Tarzan could always flip out and kill people with his mad jungle abilities, and John Carter could always be depended on to whip out a sword and “weave a web of steel” and... you know... kill guys... but not as much with Carson Napier. He's blonde, he's muscular... he can't seem to get a weapon when he needs one!
Anyhow, this was a fantastic sequel! It maintains the tone of the first book and delivers on its promises while leaving us hungry for more, hungry for “Carson of Venus”!
Reading this was like medicine to me, the cure for that bad book I finished before this.
My second dip into Burroughs' Venus series has some points superior to the first book, some inferior, and it's strangely just as surprising. It's not the lyrical planetary romance that the Barsoom books were, in fact it's sometimes guilty of the mechanical qualities of Burroughs' later works. There are familiar elements here that work very well, namely escapes, the old concept of two opposed-cities, and the requisite romantic tensions.
The cliffhanger ending of “Pirates of Venus” is dutifully picked right up here and we are treated to Carson Napier's ordeal in a fiendish torture/execution chamber. His pursuit and search of his lady love, Duare, takes him through “Flash Gordon” type situations, such as trying to survive in the woods, make rafts, fashion weapons, and encountering mad scientists!
Unlike many of Burroughs' adventures, “Lost on Venus” benefits from the presence of a somewhat distinctive villain, Skor, who resurrects the dead into semi-conscious slaves and populates a city with them.
Absent here is the solid and direct narrative force that carried “Pirates of Venus” through. This sequel pulls back the veil of the uncharted Amtor some more and takes time unveiling other species and beasts. Burroughs' writing always has the necessary urgency (Lupoff didn't call him “master of adventure” for nothing), but segments of this work more like throwaway material.
What's probably most interesting about Carson Napier as a protagonist, at least to a Burroughs' fan, is that he is not a superman. Carson Napier is a hero, and competent, and he built his own damn rocketship, but he finds himself outmatched sometimes and actually walks away rather than fighting. Tarzan could always flip out and kill people with his mad jungle abilities, and John Carter could always be depended on to whip out a sword and “weave a web of steel” and... you know... kill guys... but not as much with Carson Napier. He's blonde, he's muscular... he can't seem to get a weapon when he needs one!
Anyhow, this was a fantastic sequel! It maintains the tone of the first book and delivers on its promises while leaving us hungry for more, hungry for “Carson of Venus”!
Reading this was like medicine to me, the cure for that bad book I finished before this.
June 26, 2016
Hell yes! This is what the sword & planet genre is about! Lost cities, fanciful science, rayguns, monsters, cannibals, death chambers, romance, flying machines, commies, and zombies!
My second dip into Burroughs' Venus series has some points superior to the first book, some inferior, and it's strangely just as surprising. It's not the lyrical planetary romance that the Barsoom books were, in fact it's sometimes guilty of the mechanical qualities of Burroughs' later works. There are familiar elements here that work very well, namely escapes, the old concept of two opposed-cities, and the requisite romantic tensions.
The cliffhanger ending of “Pirates of Venus” is dutifully picked right up here and we are treated to Carson Napier's ordeal in a fiendish torture/execution chamber. His pursuit and search of his lady love, Duare, takes him through “Flash Gordon” type situations, such as trying to survive in the woods, make rafts, fashion weapons, and encountering mad scientists!
Unlike many of Burroughs' adventures, “Lost on Venus” benefits from the presence of a somewhat distinctive villain, Skor, who resurrects the dead into semi-conscious slaves and populates a city with them.
Absent here is the solid and direct narrative force that carried “Pirates of Venus” through. This sequel pulls back the veil of the uncharted Amtor some more and takes time unveiling other species and beasts. Burroughs' writing always has the necessary urgency (Lupoff didn't call him “master of adventure” for nothing), but segments of this work more like throwaway material.
What's probably most interesting about Carson Napier as a protagonist, at least to a Burroughs' fan, is that he is not a superman. Carson Napier is a hero, and competent, and he built his own damn rocketship, but he finds himself outmatched sometimes and actually walks away rather than fighting. Tarzan could always flip out and kill people with his mad jungle abilities, and John Carter could always be depended on to whip out a sword and “weave a web of steel” and... you know... kill guys... but not as much with Carson Napier. He's blonde, he's muscular... he can't seem to get a weapon when he needs one!
Anyhow, this was a fantastic sequel! It maintains the tone of the first book and delivers on it's promises while leaving us hungry for more, hungry for “Carson of Venus”!
Reading this was like medicine to me, the cure for that bad book I finished before this.
My second dip into Burroughs' Venus series has some points superior to the first book, some inferior, and it's strangely just as surprising. It's not the lyrical planetary romance that the Barsoom books were, in fact it's sometimes guilty of the mechanical qualities of Burroughs' later works. There are familiar elements here that work very well, namely escapes, the old concept of two opposed-cities, and the requisite romantic tensions.
The cliffhanger ending of “Pirates of Venus” is dutifully picked right up here and we are treated to Carson Napier's ordeal in a fiendish torture/execution chamber. His pursuit and search of his lady love, Duare, takes him through “Flash Gordon” type situations, such as trying to survive in the woods, make rafts, fashion weapons, and encountering mad scientists!
Unlike many of Burroughs' adventures, “Lost on Venus” benefits from the presence of a somewhat distinctive villain, Skor, who resurrects the dead into semi-conscious slaves and populates a city with them.
Absent here is the solid and direct narrative force that carried “Pirates of Venus” through. This sequel pulls back the veil of the uncharted Amtor some more and takes time unveiling other species and beasts. Burroughs' writing always has the necessary urgency (Lupoff didn't call him “master of adventure” for nothing), but segments of this work more like throwaway material.
What's probably most interesting about Carson Napier as a protagonist, at least to a Burroughs' fan, is that he is not a superman. Carson Napier is a hero, and competent, and he built his own damn rocketship, but he finds himself outmatched sometimes and actually walks away rather than fighting. Tarzan could always flip out and kill people with his mad jungle abilities, and John Carter could always be depended on to whip out a sword and “weave a web of steel” and... you know... kill guys... but not as much with Carson Napier. He's blonde, he's muscular... he can't seem to get a weapon when he needs one!
Anyhow, this was a fantastic sequel! It maintains the tone of the first book and delivers on it's promises while leaving us hungry for more, hungry for “Carson of Venus”!
Reading this was like medicine to me, the cure for that bad book I finished before this.
March 27, 2019
8/10. Media de los 8 libros leídos del autor: 8/10
A ver, este señor, Edgar Rice Burroughs no os dice nada a los jóvenes lectores de CF, pero a ver si os suena esto.¿Os suena "Tarzán"?. Pues lo inventó este señor, que murió ya en 1950.
Y aparte de su serie de Tarzán tiene otras muy famosas en la CF "viejuna". Su serie de Marte (con su héroe John Carte), la de Venus (con su héroe Carson Napier), de la Luna, de aventuras, del Oeste...
Todas son novelas de aventuras (CF o no CF) donde, por una u otra razón, el protagonista aparece en esos planetas y pelea contra razas alienígenas (pero mas o menos humanoides, de tal forma que sus hembras están "buenorras" y todo) y es guapo, alto, cachas y valiente.
Tambien tiene novelas independientes de las sagas, sobre todo de aventuras.
En todas de imaginación desbordante para su época, me descubro ante este señor. Eso sí, su obra no ha envejecido demasiado bien, sobre todo si atendemos a los roles del hombre y la mujer. Pero claro, siempre es un error juzgar las novelas pasadas en base a valores actuales.
Segunda parte de la serie de Venus, totalmente contuinuista en personajes con la anterior. Divertida de leer dentro del estilo.
A ver, este señor, Edgar Rice Burroughs no os dice nada a los jóvenes lectores de CF, pero a ver si os suena esto.¿Os suena "Tarzán"?. Pues lo inventó este señor, que murió ya en 1950.
Y aparte de su serie de Tarzán tiene otras muy famosas en la CF "viejuna". Su serie de Marte (con su héroe John Carte), la de Venus (con su héroe Carson Napier), de la Luna, de aventuras, del Oeste...
Todas son novelas de aventuras (CF o no CF) donde, por una u otra razón, el protagonista aparece en esos planetas y pelea contra razas alienígenas (pero mas o menos humanoides, de tal forma que sus hembras están "buenorras" y todo) y es guapo, alto, cachas y valiente.
Tambien tiene novelas independientes de las sagas, sobre todo de aventuras.
En todas de imaginación desbordante para su época, me descubro ante este señor. Eso sí, su obra no ha envejecido demasiado bien, sobre todo si atendemos a los roles del hombre y la mujer. Pero claro, siempre es un error juzgar las novelas pasadas en base a valores actuales.
Segunda parte de la serie de Venus, totalmente contuinuista en personajes con la anterior. Divertida de leer dentro del estilo.
January 20, 2021
A solid 3.5 stars. As far as exploring alien jungles and navigating unfamiliar political systems goes, this is quite an enjoyable read. This series is primarily about adventure and imagination, and I think Burroughs does a great job carrying that theme over into the second novel. The part that frustrated me the most was the "love" plotline, which is as bland and unbelievable as anything from this genre. Despite that, the rest of the book was highly entertaining, and I'd recommend this series to anyone into the pulp SF genre.
Oh, and Burroughs is really anti-Communist.
Oh, and Burroughs is really anti-Communist.
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September 7, 2011I have to admit that after a while, Burroughs' books tend to bleed together, so that it's difficult to remember whether you've read a particular book or not.
I know I read at least one of the Carson Napier books, and I THINK it was this one.
Burroughs had an odd effect on people in that his fantastic worldbuilding seeped into the general literature long before any dependable descriptions of the places actually began to come out. Anybody could see that Venus was cloudy, for example--but the assumption that the clouds were primarily water clouds proved unfounded (they're CO2 and Sulphuric acid (H2SO4), mostly). So a swampy, steamy Venus is, alas, not even close to the truth. Ancient EARTH may have been closer to the habitat depicted, truth be known.
In The Dispossessed, LeGuin depicts a star system in which the early speculations of the natural philosophers and romancers about the moon Anarres turn out to be (mostly) true--a somewhat wry contrast to the misinterpretations of the romancers on our world.
The stories were not just melodramatic action stories--but the other qualities tend to fade away with time, and all that's remembered tends to be the action and melodrama.
I should probably read these again...but getting hold of copies isn't so easy, anymore.
I know I read at least one of the Carson Napier books, and I THINK it was this one.
Burroughs had an odd effect on people in that his fantastic worldbuilding seeped into the general literature long before any dependable descriptions of the places actually began to come out. Anybody could see that Venus was cloudy, for example--but the assumption that the clouds were primarily water clouds proved unfounded (they're CO2 and Sulphuric acid (H2SO4), mostly). So a swampy, steamy Venus is, alas, not even close to the truth. Ancient EARTH may have been closer to the habitat depicted, truth be known.
In The Dispossessed, LeGuin depicts a star system in which the early speculations of the natural philosophers and romancers about the moon Anarres turn out to be (mostly) true--a somewhat wry contrast to the misinterpretations of the romancers on our world.
The stories were not just melodramatic action stories--but the other qualities tend to fade away with time, and all that's remembered tends to be the action and melodrama.
I should probably read these again...but getting hold of copies isn't so easy, anymore.
January 24, 2019
Absolutely my favorite Edgar Rice Burroughs book!
February 2, 2019
270515: at the moment, just finishing this work, having now visited Mars, Venus, African Jungle, Moon, the core of the Earth, do not think i will immediately read further iterations of burrough's fantastic worlds. (i have not yet been able to get Lost World at the libraries). i have to read some lit crit first, for this genre, this pulp, does fascinate me as many other readers. i do not want to simply, out of genre snobbery, dismiss these all, as obviously they must have had and maybe continue to have, some quality that garners readership. i did not read pulp of crime or fantasy, when growing up, or read comics, watch movies, that derived from such work. but by now, internationally, many many people know of Tarzan- how many know of Jay Gatsby? granted, popular renown is not the same as critical respect, but there must be some quality of some kind to justify such quantity...
so, of this work, some interesting, exotic, fantastic locales. beasts to kill, city of dead to escape, romance at a rather simplified level, denied by one Girl- who must be the one from the first Venus book. because she is noble. city of dead is fun, creepy, dangerous, perhaps darkly comic. rescues another Girl, comes to a city of something like behaviourist psychologists, who practice radical eugenics, is held up as ideal, then... not. but the narrator and the author do not reject it. i have to remember this is from before the nazis gave the livestock conception of human life, a rightfully bad name. this is difficult to read, if you think of it, but then endemic racism, determinist philosophical conception is not interrogated. i think by now most everybody knows that intelligence, beauty, athleticism, do not mean moral people. this is only suitable background for action and adventure. no doubt this is written as a serial, and as the saying goes, only the cliffs are different... happy ending sure, but lots of room for sequels...
so, of this work, some interesting, exotic, fantastic locales. beasts to kill, city of dead to escape, romance at a rather simplified level, denied by one Girl- who must be the one from the first Venus book. because she is noble. city of dead is fun, creepy, dangerous, perhaps darkly comic. rescues another Girl, comes to a city of something like behaviourist psychologists, who practice radical eugenics, is held up as ideal, then... not. but the narrator and the author do not reject it. i have to remember this is from before the nazis gave the livestock conception of human life, a rightfully bad name. this is difficult to read, if you think of it, but then endemic racism, determinist philosophical conception is not interrogated. i think by now most everybody knows that intelligence, beauty, athleticism, do not mean moral people. this is only suitable background for action and adventure. no doubt this is written as a serial, and as the saying goes, only the cliffs are different... happy ending sure, but lots of room for sequels...
May 20, 2014
This is Edgar Rice Burroughs at his best!
The first book in this series seemed like a carbon copy of John Carter. While this one definitely fits in to the same adventure genre that we've come to expect from ERB, it does a great job of giving us that high adventure in new and unique ways.
We get giant lizards, carnivorous swarms of birds, packs of ape men, a love triangle and even the walking dead!
This book could go toe to toe with the best of the John Carter series. I'm looking forward to the third installment. Will they ever make it safely back to Vepaja?
The first book in this series seemed like a carbon copy of John Carter. While this one definitely fits in to the same adventure genre that we've come to expect from ERB, it does a great job of giving us that high adventure in new and unique ways.
We get giant lizards, carnivorous swarms of birds, packs of ape men, a love triangle and even the walking dead!
This book could go toe to toe with the best of the John Carter series. I'm looking forward to the third installment. Will they ever make it safely back to Vepaja?
July 27, 2008
A direct sequel to "Pirates of Venus," the first book in this series. I rather didn't like the fact that "Pirates" ended with the hero, Carson Napier, being made prisoner and then we have to pick right up with "Lost." I'd rather see the books stand completely on their own. But it is still a good adventure.
May 21, 2019
This was everything that the first book in this series was not, and told an adventurous tale every bit as good as the Barsoom series. There are a couple of points where the author makes some continuity or logical errors, which does detract from the story, but not to the point that you throw your hands up in disgust.
March 19, 2012
PIRATES OF VENUS was ... okay ... maybe two and a half stars, but LOST ON VENUS is pretty damned good. It's Burroughs, so--yes, the writing is clunky, but its quite inventive ... A great "popcorn" book to read on a lazy, sunny afternoon ...
August 29, 2019
Though an improvement over "Pirates of Venus," two times zero is still zero. If one listens closely, they may still hear Burroughs' pen scraping the barrel's bottom.
"Lost" sees the forgettable Carson Napier and his belligerent romance with Duare spill over into a piecemeal, apathetic narrative. Leaving the Marxist stand-in Thorists behind, Carson is separated from Duare (and with them, any remaining vestiges of continuity) as he stumbles across a hodgepodge of ideas not good enough for Barsoom or even Pellucidar. A new side character is introduced and summarily forgotten by the end for no reason. One upside is that the books on Amtor are totally serialized, with no time-skips in sight, but to what end?
The setting of Amtor, it must be said, looks, sounds and reads like a bargain-bin combination of Pellucidar's barbaric simplicity and Barsoom's in-depth scientific travelogues. It lacks direction and theme, and with the scatterbrained plot it all feels totally aimless.
The thrust of the book comes from a bad guy with what might be an early example of "zombies" (though not so named) in fiction, combined with a seemingly-utopian society governed by eugenics gone mad.
This city is simultaneously fascinating and dreadful. The populace essentially engineers a 'perfect' society by carefully controlling the child-rearing and class constructs, and its penal system curiously punishes entire lineages to eventually scrub them. An intriguing nightmare, one full of holes (if they don't need credit for things like cars, or laws to govern its intellectual people, why do they need commerce at all?), but an interesting thought experiment to contrast against the flawed humanism of pulp. But it's undermined by Carson Napier (and undoubtledly Burroughs himself) advocating it! The character only rallies against it through love, rather than some moral conflict within it (and a happy ending within said city comes off as beyond esoteric). To be totally frank, Carson being trapped in this place could have (and should have) been the book in itself. It's wasted here.
I would say this can be a 1.5-star book, but let's be honest here: this is Burroughs' sloppy seconds, a dumping ground for promising ideas that don't belong anywhere else. It will be a long, hard road for Burroughs to make the last couple books in this series click.
"Lost" sees the forgettable Carson Napier and his belligerent romance with Duare spill over into a piecemeal, apathetic narrative. Leaving the Marxist stand-in Thorists behind, Carson is separated from Duare (and with them, any remaining vestiges of continuity) as he stumbles across a hodgepodge of ideas not good enough for Barsoom or even Pellucidar. A new side character is introduced and summarily forgotten by the end for no reason. One upside is that the books on Amtor are totally serialized, with no time-skips in sight, but to what end?
The setting of Amtor, it must be said, looks, sounds and reads like a bargain-bin combination of Pellucidar's barbaric simplicity and Barsoom's in-depth scientific travelogues. It lacks direction and theme, and with the scatterbrained plot it all feels totally aimless.
The thrust of the book comes from a bad guy with what might be an early example of "zombies" (though not so named) in fiction, combined with a seemingly-utopian society governed by eugenics gone mad.
This city is simultaneously fascinating and dreadful. The populace essentially engineers a 'perfect' society by carefully controlling the child-rearing and class constructs, and its penal system curiously punishes entire lineages to eventually scrub them. An intriguing nightmare, one full of holes (if they don't need credit for things like cars, or laws to govern its intellectual people, why do they need commerce at all?), but an interesting thought experiment to contrast against the flawed humanism of pulp. But it's undermined by Carson Napier (and undoubtledly Burroughs himself) advocating it! The character only rallies against it through love, rather than some moral conflict within it (and a happy ending within said city comes off as beyond esoteric). To be totally frank, Carson being trapped in this place could have (and should have) been the book in itself. It's wasted here.
I would say this can be a 1.5-star book, but let's be honest here: this is Burroughs' sloppy seconds, a dumping ground for promising ideas that don't belong anywhere else. It will be a long, hard road for Burroughs to make the last couple books in this series click.
September 28, 2023
2.8 stars rounded up (Pulp fiction)
Continues the story (begun in PIRATES OF VENUS) of Carson's search for Duare, his lady love. The novel follows the familiar pattern of many of ERB's novels of arrival in a strange place, capture by hostiles, fortunate and audacious escape, flight and search for the love interest, maybe success or maybe failure in this search, then recapture, escape, flight, and so on.
One interesting thing in this book is its introduction of zombie like characters (who nevertheless do not practice cannibalism). There is a whole city of these zombies and they are all controlled by one man.
But to me the principal point of interest is the novel's portrait of what at first seems to be a kind of utopia--the city of Havatoo. Everyone in the city is some kind of scientist, and everyone is happy. This city, which practices eugenics and in the service of that puts to death any person who is deemed unworthy, eventually comes to be seen by Carson as dangerously prone to hubris. I have read somewhere accusations that ERB was a racist who favored nazi like eugenicist policies. I think that this might be going too far. ERB certainly held some unfortunate (and in his own time conventional) views, but it seems clear from this book that he also saw dangers in a society that put people to death for physical attributes that they could not change or for beliefs that they did not wish to change. Ultimately, here, Carson is a proponent of self reliance and freedom--whatever that loaded term might mean. He demonstrates his superiority to the Havatooians by bravery, physical prowess, techinical know-how, and just plain smarts.
Recommended sort of, especially if you are interested in the zeitgeist of 1930s USA
Continues the story (begun in PIRATES OF VENUS) of Carson's search for Duare, his lady love. The novel follows the familiar pattern of many of ERB's novels of arrival in a strange place, capture by hostiles, fortunate and audacious escape, flight and search for the love interest, maybe success or maybe failure in this search, then recapture, escape, flight, and so on.
One interesting thing in this book is its introduction of zombie like characters (who nevertheless do not practice cannibalism). There is a whole city of these zombies and they are all controlled by one man.
But to me the principal point of interest is the novel's portrait of what at first seems to be a kind of utopia--the city of Havatoo. Everyone in the city is some kind of scientist, and everyone is happy. This city, which practices eugenics and in the service of that puts to death any person who is deemed unworthy, eventually comes to be seen by Carson as dangerously prone to hubris. I have read somewhere accusations that ERB was a racist who favored nazi like eugenicist policies. I think that this might be going too far. ERB certainly held some unfortunate (and in his own time conventional) views, but it seems clear from this book that he also saw dangers in a society that put people to death for physical attributes that they could not change or for beliefs that they did not wish to change. Ultimately, here, Carson is a proponent of self reliance and freedom--whatever that loaded term might mean. He demonstrates his superiority to the Havatooians by bravery, physical prowess, techinical know-how, and just plain smarts.
Recommended sort of, especially if you are interested in the zeitgeist of 1930s USA
February 25, 2022
The more I read, the more hooked, pulled into the hero rushing rapids in Burroughs' style. I have to search Wikisource, Gutenberg, Kobo, Kindle, my Library with Hoopla. All worth the late hours for more escape to Venus. This time a resolution.
Snakes (Not snakes! despairs Indiana Jones) force Carson through a fearsome door, but he grabs a helpful item first. Traveling through a forest of incredible trees with trunks looking lacquered in primary colors, he realizes he has no words for the new colors, scents, textures he senses.
And he loses Duare. She angrily stamps "a little foot", so I just know he thinks how cute her temper gets when he drops the L-word, Love. She cries for direction, obeys.But she does whonk the villain on his noggin with a handy weighty vase. The girls are a strong, generally optimistic lot.
Carson chances on another, of course exceptionally lovely, damsel Nalte in distress, gets caught by cannibals, zombies, beast-men. They get too close to large bison type herbivores and hungry carnivores, flock of aggressive hunters, serpents, insane ruler of empty slums. Again he loses a girl, or two. Again he faces death, if judged dangerous by magnificently bred people with no need for laws.
What and who would be a happy ending? Can he stay strong enough to flee and rescue agai and again? Can he build weapons, shelter, find food, make fire? Can he build a working airplane to fly to freedom and love? Of course? Heroes win?
Snakes (Not snakes! despairs Indiana Jones) force Carson through a fearsome door, but he grabs a helpful item first. Traveling through a forest of incredible trees with trunks looking lacquered in primary colors, he realizes he has no words for the new colors, scents, textures he senses.
And he loses Duare. She angrily stamps "a little foot", so I just know he thinks how cute her temper gets when he drops the L-word, Love. She cries for direction, obeys.But she does whonk the villain on his noggin with a handy weighty vase. The girls are a strong, generally optimistic lot.
Carson chances on another, of course exceptionally lovely, damsel Nalte in distress, gets caught by cannibals, zombies, beast-men. They get too close to large bison type herbivores and hungry carnivores, flock of aggressive hunters, serpents, insane ruler of empty slums. Again he loses a girl, or two. Again he faces death, if judged dangerous by magnificently bred people with no need for laws.
What and who would be a happy ending? Can he stay strong enough to flee and rescue agai and again? Can he build weapons, shelter, find food, make fire? Can he build a working airplane to fly to freedom and love? Of course? Heroes win?
June 14, 2020
#2 in the fantasy adventures of Carson Napier on the planet Venus. Carson, 27 years old, is a rich, handsome blond haired, blue eyed man has the idea of exploring Mars. He builds a rocket to do that, but because he fails to consider the moon's gravity in his calculations, ends up on Venus. On the mist-shrouded planet, advanced civilizations blessed with eternal youth co-existed with cities haunted by the living dead, where bloodthirsty man-beasts stalked the luminous nights; Napier knew how to survive the planet’s many perils. His adventures are recorded via telepathy to a man on Earth. This is also a political satire aimed at communism in which the villains, the Thorists, who start a revolutions solely to benefit themselves, play a background role. The ones Napier encounters are often stupid or incompetent.
Across uncharted oceans teeming with fierce sea monsters and through skies where man had never flown before, Napier risked his life to thwart an evil tyrant’s plan as his adventures continue as he takes on a savage world to rescue the princess Duare from her sworn enemies. Part 1 ended with Napier sending her off to safety before he is captured. In part 2, he faces repeated dangers starting with the Room of the Seven Doors with six of the seven doors lead to hideous deaths. Can he successfully escape to continue his quest to rescue the planet's fairest princess?
Across uncharted oceans teeming with fierce sea monsters and through skies where man had never flown before, Napier risked his life to thwart an evil tyrant’s plan as his adventures continue as he takes on a savage world to rescue the princess Duare from her sworn enemies. Part 1 ended with Napier sending her off to safety before he is captured. In part 2, he faces repeated dangers starting with the Room of the Seven Doors with six of the seven doors lead to hideous deaths. Can he successfully escape to continue his quest to rescue the planet's fairest princess?
June 13, 2019
In the previous book Carson successfully led a munity on his ship and rescued Duare, the woman that he loves, but now his fortunes take a nose dive. While heading back to the tree-city of Kooaad, Carson is thrown overboard in a storm, then captured by a hunting party from Kapdor, allies of the enemy Thorist country and has to face the room with seven doors.
I love mazes and obstacle challenges so reading about Carson’s trip through the deadly room was particularly interesting. He did a great job even if it was all accidental.
I’m not sure whether Duare is very stubborn, naïve or loyal to her heritage. If the first, she needs to grow-up, the 2d is already disappearing, but the last is annoyingly commendable.
After escaping the room the rest of the story becomes an incohesive series of mishaps as they wander across Venus lost and searching for their way home. The city of Havatoo is interesting though I don’t like their sense of law.
Footnote: 1) There’s a lot of editing errors in this version, mostly misspellings: mant, instead of man; many rocks and bowlders, as the othels commenced, etc. In some places it made it difficult to understand what was happening.
Fave scenes: getting the town gates open, the basto & the tharban, Carson’s examination results and tricking the searchers.
I love mazes and obstacle challenges so reading about Carson’s trip through the deadly room was particularly interesting. He did a great job even if it was all accidental.
I’m not sure whether Duare is very stubborn, naïve or loyal to her heritage. If the first, she needs to grow-up, the 2d is already disappearing, but the last is annoyingly commendable.
After escaping the room the rest of the story becomes an incohesive series of mishaps as they wander across Venus lost and searching for their way home. The city of Havatoo is interesting though I don’t like their sense of law.
Footnote: 1) There’s a lot of editing errors in this version, mostly misspellings: mant, instead of man; many rocks and bowlders, as the othels commenced, etc. In some places it made it difficult to understand what was happening.
Fave scenes: getting the town gates open, the basto & the tharban, Carson’s examination results and tricking the searchers.
June 30, 2020
Leer a Edgar es sinónimo de aventuras. Aventuras sin fin, sin límite, allí donde te lleve la imaginación, te lleva el autor. Este libro no defrauda, destila aventuras a raudales, en cada una de sus páginas y capítulos hay retos para sus personajes. Forzándolos a saltar de un escenario a otro, de forma continua y sin descanso.
Después de leer la saga de Marte, no aterrizar en Venus sería un sacrilegio. De esta forma me he metido en un mundo ajeno a John Carter, pero con la misma magia que me encandiló. Venus no defrauda y la variedad de razas animales y de personas, le dan un aspecto único e impresionante, como lo es Barsoom.
Nuevos personajes, nuevos sentimientos y la aventura siempre presente, no nos engañemos, es lo que buscamos en este tipo de libro, aventuras blancas donde la emoción está siempre latente. En este libro, afortunadamente la voz de la mujer se escucha un poco más, tiene más presencia e inteligencia. Continúa siendo un objeto que conquistar y un premio para el hombre, pero tal vez exista esperanza para este autor, veremos como continua.
Si buscas aventuras, como las de siempre, este es tu autor.
Después de leer la saga de Marte, no aterrizar en Venus sería un sacrilegio. De esta forma me he metido en un mundo ajeno a John Carter, pero con la misma magia que me encandiló. Venus no defrauda y la variedad de razas animales y de personas, le dan un aspecto único e impresionante, como lo es Barsoom.
Nuevos personajes, nuevos sentimientos y la aventura siempre presente, no nos engañemos, es lo que buscamos en este tipo de libro, aventuras blancas donde la emoción está siempre latente. En este libro, afortunadamente la voz de la mujer se escucha un poco más, tiene más presencia e inteligencia. Continúa siendo un objeto que conquistar y un premio para el hombre, pero tal vez exista esperanza para este autor, veremos como continua.
Si buscas aventuras, como las de siempre, este es tu autor.
May 16, 2022
Lost on Venus picks up Carson Napier's story exactly where Pirates of Venus left off. Thus, there's really no point in reading Lost on Venus without reading Pirates first. If you liked the first one you'll like this one too. And if you didn't... well, your loss.
The most fascinating aspect of the book is the city of Havatoo, where the whole society is based on eugenics. They have also developed very high technology, but the weapon of choice is, naturally, the sword. Thus, Lost of Venus has a tiny bit more of "science" than most of ERB's other scifi books. It also has zombies. Brilliant.
The most fascinating aspect of the book is the city of Havatoo, where the whole society is based on eugenics. They have also developed very high technology, but the weapon of choice is, naturally, the sword. Thus, Lost of Venus has a tiny bit more of "science" than most of ERB's other scifi books. It also has zombies. Brilliant.
October 11, 2023
The second in ERB's lesser-known Venus series. It caries on directly from "Pirates" and finds our hero, Carson, in the hands of his enemies. As usual, there are fortuitous happenings which save the hero and heroine from various unpleasant fates.
However, this volume is more interesting than some, as it features a city occupied by genetically-improved supermen who decide that Carson is too flawed to be allowed to live, and another city inhabited by reanimated corpses.
ERB's imagination is amazing given the sheer quantity of his output and once again this book is ideal for diversion on a long train or plane journey.
However, this volume is more interesting than some, as it features a city occupied by genetically-improved supermen who decide that Carson is too flawed to be allowed to live, and another city inhabited by reanimated corpses.
ERB's imagination is amazing given the sheer quantity of his output and once again this book is ideal for diversion on a long train or plane journey.
September 22, 2020
Venus Redeux
I'm 79 and read all ERB from the age of 12 until about 14. Over the years I've re read some and my son James Patrick Cronin has read Princess of Mars on Audible (wonderful read). Now I am reading the Venus books for the second time and have finished 2. This version is "rocky" in a text sense but it's cheap and fine for me. If it is your first go, I'd choose an other version or buy the paperbacks
I'm 79 and read all ERB from the age of 12 until about 14. Over the years I've re read some and my son James Patrick Cronin has read Princess of Mars on Audible (wonderful read). Now I am reading the Venus books for the second time and have finished 2. This version is "rocky" in a text sense but it's cheap and fine for me. If it is your first go, I'd choose an other version or buy the paperbacks
January 10, 2023
Life on Venus
Edgar Rice Burroughs has a wonderful style of writing. He makes you believe you are reading something true as you turn the pages. There are always surprises, some expected and hoped for and some are simply a plot twist or turn that keeps the story moving.
After following Tarzan on Earth and John Carter on Mars, I was delighted to find another earthly traveller on Venus.
Edgar Rice Burroughs has a wonderful style of writing. He makes you believe you are reading something true as you turn the pages. There are always surprises, some expected and hoped for and some are simply a plot twist or turn that keeps the story moving.
After following Tarzan on Earth and John Carter on Mars, I was delighted to find another earthly traveller on Venus.
October 20, 2025
In the previous story Carson lands on Venus and is rescuing the princess he loves from kidnappers. In this volume they have escaped the kidnappers, but end up in the hands of a mad scientist who reanimates the dead. He ultimately plans to do that to them.
When they escape him, the pair end up going from the frying pan into the fire: They end up in a city that is driven by eugenics, and less than perfect genetics result in elimination.
When they escape him, the pair end up going from the frying pan into the fire: They end up in a city that is driven by eugenics, and less than perfect genetics result in elimination.
April 28, 2019
Carson Napier lacks any of the charm of John Carter. But this book has some fun set pieces. Albeit they run through them rather quickly. The political satire is enjoyable. And the room of the seven doors is one fo the most fun contrived Bond villain style kill the hero devices I’ve ever encountered.
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