Pirates of Venus

Pirates of Venus is the first book in the Venus series (Sometimes called the "Carson Napier of Venus series") by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the last major series in Burroughs's career (The other major series were the Tarzan, Barsoom, and Pellucidar series). It was first serialized in six parts in Argosy in 1932 and published in book form two years later by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. The events occur on a fictionalized version of the planet Venus, known as "Amtor" to its inhabitants.

The novel contains elements of political satire aimed at communism. The novel's villains, the Thorists, start a revolution in the nation of Vepaja for their own good only, cheating the uneducated masses and killing or driving away those doctors and other highly educated that form the foundation of the society. Throughout the book the Thorists remain distant and unreal, and those few that the hero Carson Napier meets are often stupid or incompetent.

The qualities of Edgar Rice Burroughs's story must be sought elsewhere and fortunately one does not have to search far to find them. For Pirates of Venus is generally considered to be one of Edgar Rice Burroughs's best books from the 30's. Here we find everything we expect of a good Burroughsian escapade. There are fantastic creatures, amazing landscapes, picturesque kingdoms with strange customs, a resourceful hero, and, of course, a beautiful and strong-willed princess. The only elements it lacks are a fight in the arena, and the hero in some clever disguise. (Fortunately, both are to be found in later books in the series.)

The plot is also well-developed. The first chapter opens with the compulsory framing sequence, where Edgar Rice Burroughs explains how he came to know the story. This time, there is a twist-no manuescripts given or left for him adapt into a story as Tarzan or John Carter of Mars. Edgar Rice Burroughs was always fascinated with the possibilities of telepathy, and here he gives the hero telepathic abilities that can overbridge millions of miles of empty space. In an ingenious plot shift, Carson misses Mars by the widest of margins and ends up on the wrong planet. And so the story moves on, constantly serving the reader new adventures, never becoming boring in the details.

The book also introduces one of the best-developed of Edgar Rice Burroughs's many invented languages. With the unnamed tongue of Venus, Edgar Rice Burroughs presents a highly inventive morphology (word structure), even though the fragmentary syntax (sentence structure) is far less interesting.