Llana of Gathol

John Carter of Mars — or Barsoom — encounters four interlocking adventures in this collection of novellas, each centering on his granddaughter Llana of Gathol and the particular perils that await on a dying Mars where cities vanish into mummies, pirates of a deeper darkness haunt the skies, and invisible warriors make ambushes nearly inevitable. Edgar Rice Burroughs assembled these stories in the final phase of his Martian series, and they carry the self-aware quality of an author revisiting familiar territory with a lighter hand.

Alan Crookham narrates with an appropriately adventurous energy — the Barsoom series invented the pulp adventure template and requires a narrator who can take the melodrama seriously while allowing the playfulness to breathe. At just under nine hours, this is a generous entry point for Burroughs newcomers and a satisfying companion for devotees of the original Carter novels.