Kane of Old Mars [Anglais] [Broché]

For the first book and a half of this trilogy, I had no idea what Moorcock was on about. Then I did a little research and found out Moorcock was parodying Edgar Rice Burroughs; that helped put things more into perspective and helped me get over some of my usual annoyances with many fantasy writers (the plethora of exclamation points and one-sentence paragraphs, etc.); traps Moorcock usually doesn't fall into.

Once that was behind me, I enjoyed these three books quite a bit more. The astoundingly cheesy premise herein is that a writer, Edward Bradbury (under which pen name the books were originally published), encounters and befriends one Michael Kane while vacationing in the south of France. Kane is a physicist who previously worked for the military but went off to the private sector to develop what he calls a matter transference machine (in this post-Star Trek world, we know them better as transporters or teleporters). Its only problem is that, when Kane tests it on himself, it sends him not to the receiving transference machine, but to Mars millions of years ago, a Mars that is full of thriving communities. They are, of course, at war with one another or in tenuous peace treaties that could erupt into war at any moment, leading to many examples of Kane's ability to show off the swordfighting techniques he learned as a child (how coincidental!), while forging alliances between peoples who have been at war for generations and earning the respect of all he encounters. It's high silliness of the order to be found in old Douglas Fairbanks pictures from the silent era (or the novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs, presumably).

Moorcock keeps the pages turning, and each of the books is slim; it's possible to get through one of them in a lazy afternoon and still have time to tackle thirty of forty pages of the newest Danielle Steel potboiler, if one is so inclined. Just don't be expecting great literature. For that matter, don't be expecting material up to Moorcock's usual high standards. Just turn your brain off and enjoy the ride. ***