First and, to my mind the best of his four novels of Mars. The books share a setting but not characters or plot. This one has the best story, and the most compelling protagonist, and it totally ran away with my imagination and got me interested in these kinds of stories. ( )

This novel by Lin Carter is the first of his "Mysteries of Mars" stories inspired by the planetary romances of Leigh Brackett. He does nice work with the form here, playing up the political sensibility found in Brackett's Mars yarns (especially the Eric John Stark ones). The anti-imperialist sentiment is probably more bracing for American readers now -- or at least it should be -- than it was when Carter wrote the story forty years ago.

The characters are a little flatter than what I would expect from Brackett, but their motives are still interesting, and the planet is nicely realized. I have read complaints about the deus ex machina conclusion, but it was enjoyable as far as I was concerned, and it was almost necessary in order to make this story, told by the first Earth human to rule Martians as a Martian, more significant than the past events to which the narrator constantly alludes.

The science of the business isn't really any more believable today than Burroughs' Barsoom was in the 1960s, but for readers more interested in a good story than a historical forecast, this quick read justifies itself well enough.

Drawing on elements from 'The Flame Of Iridar' and 'Lost World Of Time', 'The Man Who Loved Mars' is the first of Lin Carter's series based on a colonised Mars of the near future.
The 'man' of the title is Ivo Tengren, Earth-born but convicted of leading an insurrection of native Martians against the oppressive Earth regime and sentenced to 'exile' on Earth. A meeting with extraterrestial archeologist Dr Josep Keresny sees Tengren recruited to an expedition back to Mars in search of the fabled lost city of Ilionis.
Not believing the city to actually exist, Tengren takes the opportunity to escape back to Mars and possibly continue the insurrection. Accompanying them will be Keresny's haughty granddaughter Ilsa and the surly Ukrainian pilot Bolgov.
This is one of Carter's better efforts although the ending is typically a little too 'pat' to be believed.
The remaining books in the series are based on the same Martian mileau but use different characters. ( )