By Nathan Long
Night Shade Books, $14.99, 312 pages
ISBN 9781597803960
Building on the Barsoom novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs, this fun book follows a six-foot biker chick with military training who is accidentally transported to a lighter-gravity world where she encounters problems of discrimination and inequality, beating local males to a pulp where it’s necessary to make a point. In her travels, she teams with the local wimp, Sai-Far, and after escaping the clutches of the tiger-men, they are off to civilization. But politics and the honor code get in the way of what should be a gentle introduction to this “human” society. The result is capture by pirates, being sold as slaves, doing a Spartacus by learning to fight as a gladiator and then escaping, and finally suppressing an armed insurrection by nobles unhappy with the “king.”
So life is busy for Jane on this new world. Needless to say, the fact she’s stronger than most local males and a better fighter once she’s been through the gladiator school gives her the edge. It’s not merely a parody. Jane Carver of Waar is a classic adventure novel and great fun. Think of it as a Burroughs homage by an accomplished modern fantasy writer.
Reviewed by David Marshall
- Release Date: 3/6/2012
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Sunday, 4 March, 2012
[...] City Book Review says of Jane Carver of Waar, “Building on the Barsoom novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs, this fun book follows a six-foot biker chick with military training who is accidentally transported to a lighter-gravity world where she encounters problems of discrimination and inequality, beating local males to a pulp where it’s necessary to make a point. In her travels, she teams with the local wimp, Sai-Far, and after escaping the clutches of the tiger-men, they are off to civilization. But politics and the honor code get in the way of what should be a gentle introduction to this “human” society.” Read more. [...]