Best Edgar Rice Burroughs Audiobooks
Edgar Rice Burroughs invented the template for escapist adventure fiction that an entire century of pulp, science fiction, and fantasy would follow. His Barsoom series — starting with A Princess of Mars — drops a Civil War veteran onto a dying Mars populated by warring civilizations, four-armed warriors, and telepathic codes of honor, and never once slows down to explain itself. The prose is breathless and confident, built for momentum over nuance, with action sequences that tumble forward like a man falling off a cliff. Tarzan of the Apes works the same instinct in a jungle register: primal, romantic, and utterly committed to its own mythology. Burroughs isn't a stylist in the literary sense, but he understood — better than almost anyone — how to make a reader turn pages against their better judgment. For fans of planetary romance, lost-world adventure, or anyone curious where pulp heroism came from, he's essential.
Where to Start with Edgar Rice Burroughs
- Best entry point → John Carter in A Princess of Mars
- Start the Barsoom #1-6 series → The Barsoom Collection: John Carter Books 1-6
- What fans keep coming back to → John Carter in The Warlord of Mars (Barsoom)
- Best narrator for Edgar Rice Burroughs → John Carter in The Gods of Mars (The Barsoom Series)
- Highest rated by listeners → The Chessmen of Mars (Barsoom #5)
Best Edgar Rice Burroughs Audiobooks
- 1
John Carter in The Warlord of Mars (Barsoom)
Barsoom • Book 3
Narrated by Scott Brick
★ 4.02 ABR Score (16.3K ratings)★ 3.87 Goodreads (15.7K) ★ 4.56 Audible (568)More about this pick
Scott Brick captures the pulp adventure spirit as John Carter spends six months haunting the Temple of the Sun, desperate to rescue his imprisoned wife Dejah Thoris.
- 2
John Carter in A Princess of Mars
Barsoom • Book 1
Narrated by Scott Brick
★ 4.00 ABR Score (63.4K ratings)★ 3.81 Goodreads (60.8K) ★ 4.41 Audible (2.6K)More about this pick
Civil War veteran John Carter is mysteriously transported to Mars where he must navigate alien politics and rescue a Martian princess from green barbarians.
- 3
John Carter in The Gods of Mars (The Barsoom Series)
Barsoom • Book 11
Narrated by Scott Brick
★ 3.97 ABR Score (5.5K ratings)★ 3.83 Goodreads (4.7K) ★ 4.53 Audible (801)More about this pick
Carter faces giant radium rifles and ancient Martian mysteries in classic pulp adventure. Scott Brick's performance honors Burroughs' swashbuckling spirit.
- 4
The Chessmen of Mars
Barsoom • Book 5
by Edgar Rice Burroughs, John Bolen
Narrated by Gene Engene
★ 3.80 ABR Score (8.3K ratings)★ 3.83 Goodreads (8.2K) ★ 4.25 Audible (101)More about this pick
Princess Tara of Helium crashes in unknown Martian territory where she encounters the bizarre chess-like game of Jetan and faces strange new threats. Classic Burroughs adventure with all the exotic Martian worldbuilding fans expect.
- 5
Llana of Gathol
Barsoom • Book 10
Narrated by Alan Crookham
★ 3.70 ABR Score (2.8K ratings)★ 3.79 Goodreads (2.8K) ★ 4.86 Audible (7)More about this pick
Four connected novellas follow the adventures of Gahan's daughter across Barsoom's dying cities and ancient mysteries. Crookham's narration captures the pulp adventure spirit of Burroughs' original Martian tales.
- 6
A Fighting Man of Mars
Barsoom • Book 7
Narrated by Tom Weiss
★ 3.67 ABR Score (4.2K ratings)★ 3.86 Goodreads (4.1K) ★ 4 Audible (1)More about this pick
Classic 1930s pulp adventure as Tan Hadron battles green men, mad scientists, and white apes across Barsoom in this seventh entry of Burroughs' Martian saga.
- 7
Synthetic Men of Mars - 02039
Barsoom • Book 9
Narrated by Alan Crookham
★ 3.66 ABR Score (3.3K ratings)★ 3.8 Goodreads (3.3K) ★ 3.67 Audible (3)More about this pick
John Carter encounters Ras Thavas in the cursed city of Morbus, where the mad surgeon's created beings threaten all of Mars. Burroughs' classic pulp adventure gets new life through Alan Crookham's narration of artificial life gone wrong.
- 8
The Barsoom Collection: John Carter Books 1-6
Barsoom #1-6 • Book 1
by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Christopher Ragland
Narrated by Christopher Ragland
★ 3.55 ABR Score (13 ratings)★ 5 Goodreads (2) ★ 4.73 Audible (11)More about this pick
Carter's sword-and-planet adventures on Mars defined early science fiction with four-armed aliens, flying battleships, and Dejah Thoris. Christopher Ragland handles the pulp adventure tone with appropriate swashbuckling energy.