Book Review: The Moon Maid by Edgar Rice Burroughs
It is the 2020s, and it is at last time for the humans of Earth to visit their neighbors on Mars, or as its natives call it, Barsoom. The first spaceship to essay the journey is also named the Barsoom. It carries a crew of five, captain Julian Fifth, brilliant scientist Lieutenant Commander Orthis, lieutenants West and Jay, and ensign Norton. Unfortunately, Julian and Orthis have been enemies since officer school, where their personalities clashed, and Julian invariably got the honors and promotions that Orthis craved. It’s yet another blow to the scientist that although the ship could not have been built without his innovations, he was denied command in favor of Julian.
As the ship is passing Earth’s moon, Orthis gets drunk and vents his frustrations and hatred of Julian, getting confined to quarters for his insubordination. Rather than reflect on his actions, or at least stew quietly, Orthis sabotages the engines, forcing the Barsoom to make a landing on, or rather in the Moon.
The Moon Maid was first published in 1923, and has an unusual framing device even by Burroughs standards. It is the far future date of June 10. 1967. Our nameless narrator is at a party to celebrate the end of World War Two with the victory of “the Anglo-Saxon race” (yeah) and the opening of communications with Mars. He meets a man who starts saying something about a great danger facing Earth in the 22nd Century, and tries to get the story out of him.
The odd man claims to be Julian Third. He is, according to his own testimony, a serial reincarnator along his family line who can access the memories of his future reincarnations. Somehow. Roll with it. When pressed on the “22nd Century” bit, he starts, but then decides first he has to give the 21st Century backstory for context. That starts the main narrative.
As it turns out, the Moon is hollow inside, and has its life on the inside, much like Pellucidar on Earth. (While this story is apparently in continuity with the John Carter books, Julian has evidently never heard of Pellucidar as he doesn’t make the connection.) The Barsoom lands roughly but not fatally, and Orthis is released from his arrest on the promise of good behavior. After all, they’re all marooned anyway.
One day, while Julian and Orthis are exploring the pinkish plains of the inner moon, they are set upon and captured by a tribe of Va-Gas, who unlike the cover illustration are less centaurs than carnivorous horses with thumbs. After gaining basic fluency in the local language, the two Earthmen convince Ga-va-go, chief of the No-vans, that their flesh is poisonous. This is important because there are only two edible meat animals in the land of Va-nah. The Va-Gas themselves so they are cannibalistic, and one other.
One of those shows up a bit later, appearing at first to be a humpbacked flying creature. It turns out the wings and float gas pack are artificial, and the captured newcomer is in fact a beautiful (if overly pale) human woman. She is Nah-ee-lah, daughter of Sagroth, Jemadar of Laythe. Or to put it another way, she’s a princess of one of the two human civilizations of Va-Nah. A Moon Maid, if you will. Ga-va-go decides not to eat Nah-ee-lah immediately in hopes of getting ransom from her father.
Nah-ee-lah and Julian take a shine to each other, but Orthis, who has gained Ga-va-go’s favor because he’s promised to take him to Earth where there’s lots of meat, also fancies Nah-ee-lah. And like the villain he is, he’s not too concerned with how the moon maid feels about this. He technically has to take her “no” for now, but is going to force the matter as soon as he can. (His pre-existing resentment at Julian for always getting the things he wants does not help.)
Julian and Nah-ee-lah take advantage of a terrific storm to escape the Va-Ga encampment. They wander around for a while before Nah-ee-lah thinks she’s found the hidden entrance to her home city of Laythe. Oops, it’s actually the hidden entrance to a city of the Kalkar, the majority human civilization of Va-Nah, and deadly enemies of the people of Laythe. Julian manages to help Nah-ee-lah to escape, but is captured himself.
The Kalkars are skeptical of Julian’s claims of being from Earth, but it’s interesting enough that they don’t kill him right away, instead imprisoning him with Moh-Goh, a captured Layth hunter. Moh-Goh explains that the humans of Va-Nah used to have a technologically advanced civilization, but that the ancestors of the Kalkars (a corruption of the word for “Thinkers”) staged a political revolution that killed all the scientists and engineers who knew how to improve or maintain the technology. The people of Laythe are the descendants of an ethnic minority that was better organized than most and managed to flee to their hidden city, but also lost most of their technology.
Without superior weaponry, the Kalkars could not suppress uprisings by the Va-Ga, and had to flee to hidden cities themselves. But they have not forgotten their ancient enmity towards the people of Laythe.
Moh-Goh also lets slip that he’s a friend of Ko-Tah, a prince of Laythe who intends to marry Nah-ee-lah and take over the Jemadar throne from her father. Julian knows that Nah-ee-lah doesn’t want to hook up with Ko-Tah, so doesn’t let Moh-Goh in on the fact that he’s met her.
The two manage to escape from the Kalkar city and make their way to Laythe. Nah-ee-lah managed to make it back earlier, but circumstances make it look like Julian is now Ko-Tah’s creature, so she is cold towards our hero.
Palace intrigue ensues as Ko-Tah accelerates his plan to take over Laythe, even if he has to accept help from the hated Kalkars. And remember Orthis? Somehow he’s managed to escape the Va-Ga, locate the Kalkars, and ingratiate himself to them by building “advanced” weaponry. Orthis plans to make himself ruler of all Va-Nah, and Nah-ee-lah can either be his Empress or dead.
Bit of a downer ending, as Julian and Nah-ee-lah finally admit they love each other and are able to escape to Earth along with the long-missing other members of the Barsoom crew. But her homeland and people have been destroyed, and Orthis is not going to be a kind ruler.
And then–oh look, we’re out of time, Julian Third must go, maybe he’ll get around to the 22nd Century crisis the next time…presuming there is a next time.
Part of the reason for the strange structure is that the “sequel”, The Moon Men, was actually written first. But the magazine publishers he shopped it to felt that readers wouldn’t be pleased by this dark and depressing (by Burroughs standards) tale of alien invasion, so ERB wrote this slightly more conventional adventure prologue to set up the situation to raise reader interest. This did, of course, also mean a rewrite of the sequel to fit in specific ties to The Moon Maid.
Good: As always from Burroughs, lots of exciting action. Nifty alien landscapes, technology and critters (some reuse of concepts from Pellucidar.) While Julian Fifth does come across as too much of a perfect awesome hero, making that the center of Orthis’ resentment of him shifts it out of unpalatable territory.
Less good: The weird structure means it takes nearly half the book before the title character is introduced, and her story function is basically being a trophy for the hero to win at the end. The romance angle is one of Burrough’s weakest in the books I’ve read.
Content note: Lots of lethal violence, including against alien animals. That odd “Anglo-Saxon race” thing at the beginning. But the most disturbing thing about this book is that the humans of Va-Nah are not vegetarians. They don’t eat each other, but they do eat the Va-Gas, considering them a lower form of life. Julian Fifth is a bit freaked out about this as while the Va-Gas aren’t pleasant people and yes, they do eat humans, they are people, with a language, culture and even primitive technology. He is willing to overlook this in his love for Nah-ee-lah, and notes that the domesticated Va-Ga “livestock” of Laythe seem well-treated, but the story is coy on whether he ever eats meat while in the Moon. If that’s a dealbreaker for you, you may want to skip this one.
Overall: This is an interesting book, but I can see why the Moon Trilogy is not one of ERB’s most-discussed series. You might want to consider getting one of the volumes that print the entire trilogy as one book. Recommended to Burroughs fans and folks that love planetary romance.
