Other editions of book The Chessmen of Mars: With linked Table of Contents

The fifth novel in Edgar Rice Burrough's classic Barsoom series, The Chessmen of Mars follows the adventures of John Carter and Dejah Thoris's strong-willed daughter Tara. When Tara spuns the advances of Prince Gahan, she flounces straight into danger. Her flyer is downed in a storm and she is captured by the crab-like Kaldanes. Smitten Gathan must find his lost love. But rescuing a recalcitrant princess on Barsoom is rarely simple. Tara, Gathan and her new friend Ghek try to escape the Kaldane prison not knwoing they will all become living chessmen in a game where the price of losing could be their lives.

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The fifth novel in Edgar Rice Burrough's classic Barsoom series, The Chessmen of Mars follows the adventures of John Carter and Dejah Thoris's strong-willed daughter Tara. When Tara spuns the advances of Prince Gahan, she flounces straight into danger. Her flyer is downed in a storm and she is captured by the crab-like Kaldanes. Smitten Gathan must find his lost love. But rescuing a recalcitrant princess on Barsoom is rarely simple. Tara, Gathan and her new friend Ghek try to escape the Kaldane prison not knwoing they will all become living chessmen in a game where the price of losing could be their lives.

Tara of Helium rose from the pile of silks and soft furs upon which she had been reclining, stretched her lithe body languidly, and crossed toward the center of the room, where, above a large table, a bronze disc depended from the low ceiling. Her carriage was that of health and physical perfection—the effortless harmony of faultless coordination. A scarf of silken gossamer crossing over one shoulder was wrapped about her body; her black hair was piled high upon her head. With a wooden stick she tapped upon the bronze disc, lightly, and presently the summons was answered by a slave girl, who entered, smiling, to be greeted similarly by her mistress. "Are my father's guests arriving?" asked the princess. "Yes, Tara of Helium, they come," replied the slave. "I have seen Kantos Kan, Overlord of the Navy, and Prince Soran of Ptarth, and Djor Kantos, son of Kantos Kan," she shot a roguish glance at her mistress as she mentioned Djor Kantos' name, "and—oh, there were others, many have come." "The bath, then, Uthia," said her mistress. "And why, Uthia," she added, "do you look thus and smile when you mention the name of Djor Kantos?" The slave girl laughed gaily. "It is so plain to all that he worships you," she replied. "It is not plain to me," said Tara of Helium. "He is the friend of my brother, Carthoris, and so he is here much; but not to see me. It is his friendship for Carthoris that brings him thus often to the palace of my father." "But Carthoris is hunting in the north with Talu, Jeddak of Okar," Uthia reminded her. "My bath, Uthia!" cried Tara of Helium. "That tongue of yours will bring you to some misadventure yet."

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The Chessmen of Mars is a science fantasy novel by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, the fifth of his Barsoom series. Burroughs began writing it in January, 1921. In this novel Burroughs focuses on a younger member of the family established by John Carter and Dejah Thoris, protagonists of the first three books in the series. The heroine this time is their daughter Tara, princess of Helium, whose hand is sought by the gallant Gahan, Jed (prince) of Gathol. Both Helium and Gathol are prominent Barsoomian city states.Tara meets Prince Gahan of Gathol, and is initially unimpressed, viewing him as something of a popinjay. Later she takes her flier into a storm and loses control of the craft, and the storm carries her to an unfamiliar region of Barsoom. After landing and fleeing from a pack of ferocious Banths (Martian lions), she is captured by the horrific Kaldanes, who resemble large heads with small, crab-like legs. The Kaldanes have bred a symbiotic race of headless human-like creatures called Rykors, which they can attach themselves to and ride like a horse. The Kaldanes imprison Tara, intending to fatten her up, then eat her. While imprisoned, Tara manages to win over one of the Kaldanes, Ghek, with her lovely singing voice.

The Chessmen of Mars is a science fantasy novel by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, the fifth of his Barsoom series. Burroughs began writing it in January, 1921, and the finished story was first published in Argosy All-Story Weekly as a six-part serial in the issues for February 18 and 25 and March 4, 11, 18 and 25, 1922. It was later published as a complete novel by A. C. McClurg in November 1922.