Escape on Venus

The Venus series is Edgar Rice Burroughs at his worst, and Escape on Venus is the nadir. Carson Napier and his love Duare are captured, escape, recaptured, escape again, ad nauseum. It's not fun to read. I can't find much positive to say about Escape on Venus.

There are a few interesting episodes.

• The Vooyorgans
  Carson and Duare are captured by the Vooyorgans, a race of sexless people who reproduce by periodically bisecting themselves. They divide along a red line that marks the center of their body; each half then regrows until it is a whole person.
• Land navies
  The Pangans and Falsans wage war with each other in vast naval battles fought entirely on land. Their ground-ships, from scouting boats to super-dreadnaughts, run on tank treads; torpedos race along on tricycle wheel assemblies. It's all dreadfully exciting and terribly unrealistic. It reminds one of the floating navies of Barsoom, only rickety, wooden, and stuck to the ground.

Escape on Venus is out of copyright in Australia but not the United States. You can read it online at Project Gutenberg of Australia.

---

Archive | Search