A Princess of Mars

Imagine a brave cowboy named John Carter from the old Wild West who falls asleep in a cave and wakes up on Mars, where he can jump really high and run super fast because there's less gravity! He gets caught by big green aliens with four arms called Tharks, but he makes a friend named Tars Tarkas, fights bad guys, saves a pretty princess named Dejah Thoris from evil monsters and warring cities, wins huge battles with swords and flying ships, and becomes a hero who protects everyone on the red planet.

A Princess of Mars, the first installment in Edgar Rice Burroughs' Barsoom series, follows Civil War veteran John Carter, who mysteriously transports from an Arizona cave to the dying planet Barsoom (Mars). Endowed with superhuman strength due to the planet's low gravity, Carter is captured by the savage, four-armed green Tharks led by Tars Tarkas. He navigates their brutal tribal society, escapes captivity, and rescues the noble red Martian princess Dejah Thoris from a besieged airship, embarking on a perilous journey across the Martian dead sea bottoms fraught with deadly creatures like the white apes and plant men. Allied with Tars Tarkas, whom he befriends through shared honor, Carter infiltrates the city of Helium to aid Dejah's people against the hostile Zodangans under Sab Than. Through gladiatorial combats, daring airship battles, and single combats—including slaying the tyrannical Thark jed Tal Hajus—Carter rises as Jeddak of Helium's forces. The novel culminates in victory, romance, and the birth of his son, blending pulpy action with exploration of Martian cultures, though it reflects early 20th-century racial and gender tropes amid its swashbuckling heroism.