Plot summary
Mars, a world with a culture ages older than that of Earth, is a dying world, and has been in decline for eons. By the twenty-second century it has become a colony of the younger civilization of Earth, its natives oppressed by the rapacious Colonial Authority.
Encountering each other in the Martian wastes, Terran outcast McCord and Martian warrior Thaklar engage in a wary truce and partnership for the sake of survival. Afterwards they are taken captive by the bandit chief Chastar and pressed into service of an expedition he has taken over. HIs other captives, the brother-and-sister Swedish archeological team of Karl and Inga Nordgen, have been searching for the legendary valley of Ophar, land of eternal youth, where life on Mars supposedly began; Chastar hopes to gain its treasures for himself.
The party ultimately finds the valley, a prehistoric paradise whose true nature is masked by a protective illusion. There the group fragments, each member falling victim to the valley's uncanny and seemingly judgmental power, a radiation that alters all who enter it in accord with their inner natures. McCord and Thaklar are relatively unchanged, while the victimized Inga and hard-bitten Zerild, a renegade dancer allied with the bandits, recover their innocence. The evil Chastar and abusive Karl, however, are regressed into monsters.
Freed from their captors, the Terran and Martian protagonists leave the valley and go their separate ways, McCord paired with Inga and Thaklar with Zerild.
Reception
H. W. Hall in Library Journal writes "[t]he road to the valley is an adventurous one, and the 'Valley Where Life Was Born' holds its own adventures and secrets. A satisfying, enjoyable fantasy." [4]
Den Valdron, assessing the series in ERBzine, rates the book together with The City Outside the World as "stand[ing] between" The Man Who Loved Mars and Down to a Sunless Sea , which he considers the best and least interesting of the series, "but each has their [sic] particular strengths." Over all, he feels "[t]here’s something a little extra in his Martian novels that puts them at the upper registers of Carter’s work," and "commend[s] them to the reader." [1]
J. G. Huckenpohler, also writing in ERBzine, rated the series "among my favorites" of Carter's stories, "show[ing] more originality" than Carter's Zanthodon and Callisto books. Nonetheless, he "found them to be uneven," growing "increasingly repetitious, the last two especially." While Valley escapes Huckenpohler's damnation of the later books, it shares what he identifies as the sequence's standard plot: "[a] Terran outlaw, an older Dok-i-tar, a Martian sidekick, originally an enemy, and a Martian girl find a lost city known only to the oldest legends of the Martians, unlock its secrets, and either remain as its rulers or escape to begin a new life." [2]
The novel was also reviewed by Frederick Patten in Delap's F & SF Review, June 1976. [3]
John Carter of Mars is a fictional Virginian soldier who acts as the initial protagonist of the Barsoom stories by Edgar Rice Burroughs. A veteran of the American Civil War, he is transported to a fantastical realm called Barsoom, located on Mars, where he becomes a warrior battling various mythological beasts, alien armies and malevolent foes. First created in 1911, the character has appeared in novels and short stories, comic books, television shows and films, including the 2012 feature film John Carter, which marked the 100th anniversary of the character's first appearance.
The Chessmen of Mars is a science fantasy novel by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, the fifth of his Barsoom series. Burroughs began writing it in January, 1921, and the finished story was first published in Argosy All-Story Weekly as a six-part serial in the issues for February 18 and 25 and March 4, 11, 18 and 25, 1922. It was later published as a complete novel by A. C. McClurg in November 1922.
Swords of Mars is a science fantasy novel by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, the eighth of his Barsoom series. It was first published in the magazine Blue Book as a six-part serial in the issues for November 1934 to April 1935. The first book edition was published by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. in February 1936.
Llana of Gathol is a collection of four science fantasy stories by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, which were originally published in Amazing Stories in 1941. The first collected edition of Llana of Gathol was published in 1948 with an apparently new foreword. It is the penultimate book in the Barsoom series and the last to be published during Burroughs's lifetime.
Lankar of Callisto is a science fantasy novel by American writer Lin Carter, the sixth in his Callisto series. It was first published in paperback by Dell Books in June 1975. It is noted for the author writing himself into the story.
Renegade of Callisto is a science fantasy novel by American writer Lin Carter, the eighth and last in his Callisto series. It was first published in paperback by Dell Books in August 1978, and reprinted once, in November of the same year. A tribute to Edgar Rice Burroughs's The Chessmen of Mars, the book introduces the game of Darza, Carter's equivalent of Jetan. An appendix details the rules.
Ylana of Callisto is a science fantasy novel by American writer Lin Carter, the seventh in his Callisto series. It was first published in paperback by Dell Books in October 1977. Its working title was evidently Jungle Maid of Callisto, as announced in Locus #198, January 30, 1977; the title used appears to be a nod to that of Edgar Rice Burroughs's Llana of Gathol, a book in the Barsoom series that inspired Carter's Callisto books. The character of Ylana, however, was established in Mind Wizards of Callisto, an earlier volume in the series. The novel includes an appendix collating background information from this and previous volumes.
Mind Wizards of Callisto is a science fantasy novel by American writer Lin Carter, the fifth in his Callisto series. It was first published in paperback by Dell Books in March 1975. It includes a map by the author.
Mad Empress of Callisto is a science fantasy novel by American writer Lin Carter, the fourth in his Callisto series. It was first published in paperback by Dell Books in February 1975. It includes an appendix collating background information from this and previous volumes.
Sky Pirates of Callisto is a science fantasy novel by American writer Lin Carter, the third in his Callisto series. It was first published in paperback by Dell Books in January 1973, and reprinted twice through April 1974. The first British edition was published by Orbit Books in 1975. It includes an appendix collating background information from this and previous volumes.
Black Legion of Callisto is a science fantasy novel by American writer Lin Carter, the second in his Callisto series. It was first published in paperback by Dell Books in December 1972, and reprinted twice through January 1974. The first British edition was published by Orbit Books in 1975. It was later gathered together with Jandar of Callisto into the omnibus collection Callisto: Volume 1 (2000). The book includes an appendix collating background information from this and the previous volume.
Jandar of Callisto is a science fantasy novel by American writer Lin Carter, the first in his Callisto series. It was first published in paperback by Dell Books in December 1972, and reprinted twice through September 1977. The first British edition was published by Orbit Books in 1974. It was later gathered together with Black Legion of Callisto into the omnibus collection Callisto: Volume 1 (2000). The book includes a map of Callisto as envisioned in the story.
The Man Who Loved Mars is a science fantasy novel by American writer Lin Carter, the first in his Edgar Rice Burroughs- and Leigh Brackett-inspired series The Mysteries of Mars. It was first published in paperback by Fawcett Gold Medal in March 1973. The first British edition was published in hardcover by White Lion in August of the same year. It was reissued by Wildside Press in December 1999. The novel has also been translated into German.
The City Outside the World is a science fantasy novel by American writer Lin Carter, the third in his Edgar Rice Burroughs- and Leigh Brackett-inspired series The Mysteries of Mars. It was first published in paperback by Berkley Medallion in October 1977 and in reissued in trade paperback by Wildside Press in December 1999. The first hardcover edition was published by Wildside Press in February 2011.
Down to a Sunless Sea is a science fantasy novel by American writer Lin Carter, the fourth in his Edgar Rice Burroughs- and Leigh Brackett-inspired series The Mysteries of Mars. It was first published in paperback by DAW Books in June 1984 and reissued in hardcover and trade paperback by Wildside Press in February 2008.
Journey to the Underground World is a science fiction novel by American writer Lin Carter, the first in his series about the fictional "Hollow Earth" land of Zanthodon. It was first published in paperback by DAW Books in November 1979, with an ebook edition following from Gateway/Orion in August 2018. It was also gathered together with the other volumes in the series into the omnibus ebook collection The Zanthodon Megapack.
Zanthodon is a science fiction novel by American writer Lin Carter, the second in his series about the fictional "Hollow Earth" land of Zanthodon. It was first published in paperback by DAW Books in June 1980, with an ebook edition following from Gateway/Orion in October 2018. It was also gathered together with the other volumes in the series into the omnibus ebook collection The Zanthodon Megapack.
Hurok of the Stone Age is a science fiction novel by American writer Lin Carter, the third in his series about the fictional "Hollow Earth" land of Zanthodon. It was first published in paperback by DAW Books in February 1981, with an ebook edition following from Gateway/Orion in October 2018. It was also gathered together with the other volumes in the series into the omnibus ebook collection The Zanthodon Megapack.
Eric of Zanthodon is a science fiction novel by American writer Lin Carter, the fifth and last in his series about the fictional "Hollow Earth" land of Zanthodon. It was first published in paperback by DAW Books in May 1982, with an ebook edition following from Gateway/Orion in October 2018. It was also gathered together with the other volumes in the series into the omnibus ebook collection The Zanthodon Megapack.
The Flame of Iridar is a science fantasy novella by American writer Lin Carter set on an ancient, inhabited Mars. It was first published in paperback by Belmont Books in May 1967 together with the unrelated Kris Neville novella Peril of the Starmen as the "Belmont Double" anthology, The Flame of Iridar/Peril of the Starmen. The anthology was reissued in trade paperback by Wildside Press in August 2018. A chapbook of the Carter work alone, constituting its first stand-alone edition, was published by Sabre Press in 2019. The first British edition was issued in ebook by Gateway/Orion in January 2020.
