FREE: John Carter

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John Carter is a former Confederate Civil War captain & fortune-hunting ne'er-do-well who through a weird incident of astral projection is plopped down on the red planet, where he becomes a passionate warrior against beasts and humanoids for the security of a home world known to its inhabitants as Barsoom. John Carter presents this origin setup in a clever prologue that finds the cranky Carter on the run from frontier military authorities as well as a band of marauding Indians. His character undergoes radical change when confronted with something he can finally care about. It doesn't hurt that an exotic princess of Mars is part of the prize package that comes from his battle against evil & ultimately doing the right thing. World of strange creatures, astounding architectural vistas, aerial panoramas, and luminous landscapes. Barsoom is ruled by three species, all with their own political & social agendas. There are the humans whose city-state cultures are threatened by civil war & the aggression of Tharks, a race of giant green-skinned, four-armed warriors with horrific tusks & a deeply bellicose intellect. Separate from both are the mythic Therns, a cultlike sect of über-beings who seek to manipulate all of Barsoom into their own submission. Because of some fantastical leaps of physics & gravity, Carter's Martian body possesses super strength & the ability to make single bounds over huge distances. His powers not only make him a godlike presence to the natives of Barsoom, they also provide for some dizzying feats of movie magic. The most bravura element of the conceptual design is a fleet of massive solar-powered flying machines These colorful, insectlike machines soar & float in the gold-hued Martian atmosphere with thrilling precision. Even though the multitude of beings, names, & alliances may sometimes elicit a glassy-eyed response, there's plenty of attention-grabbing exactitude to behold in John Carter.