The Ultimate Fantasy Series Ranking

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Barsoom

#5243.82 of 664 ranked universes · full ranking

Books 11 books Status Complete 1917–1964 Reading commitment High Edgar Rice Burroughs Last reviewed 2026-09-06

Overview

Edgar Rice Burroughs' foundational Mars saga, following Confederate cavalry officer John Carter after he is mysteriously transported to Barsoom, the Martian name for Mars, a dying world of warring city-states, four-armed green warriors, and airborne navies. Beginning with A Princess of Mars, the eleven-book series follows Carter and, later, his descendants across a full Martian history. All eleven books first appeared as magazine serials between 1912 and 1943 before their book-form publication; Llana of Gathol is a fix-up of four linked novelettes, and John Carter of Mars is a posthumous collection of two novellas. The series is widely classified as science fantasy or planetary romance, blending science-fiction trappings with sword-and-sorcery adventure, and is considered foundational to the sword-and-planet subgenre and a major influence on early genre fiction.

Portal fantasy, Sword & sorcery · For Adult

Core Canon: Reading Order (11 works) counts toward ranking

Barsoom Edgar Rice Burroughs

WorkYearInternal chron.CanonRating
A Princess of Mars19171core3.81 (61,599 ratings)
The Gods of Mars19182coreN/A
The Warlord of Mars19193core3.86 (12,448 ratings)
Thuvia, Maid of Mars19204coreN/A
The Chessmen of Mars19225coreN/A
The Master Mind of Mars19286core3.85 (5,263 ratings)
A Fighting Man of Mars19317coreN/A
Swords of Mars19368coreN/A
Synthetic Men of Mars19409coreN/A
Llana of Gathol194810coreN/A
John Carter of Mars196411coreN/A

Edgar Rice Burroughs' foundational planetary-romance saga of the fictional Mars ('Barsoom'), beginning with A Princess of Mars. All eleven books first appeared as magazine serials (1912-1943, Weird Tales/All-Story/Blue Book/Amazing Stories/Argosy) before their book-form publication years recorded here. Llana of Gathol (1948) is a fix-up of four linked novelettes; John Carter of Mars (1964) is a posthumous collection of two novellas. Genre-boundary transparency: the series is routinely classified as science fantasy / planetary romance, blending science-fiction trappings (interplanetary travel) with sword-and-sorcery adventure and magic-adjacent Barsoomian technology; critical and reference consensus (Wikipedia, genre reference works) treats it as fantasy-adjacent and foundational to the sword-and-planet subgenre, admitted here on that basis, the same transparency this project has applied to Pern and other genre-boundary cases. No awards could be confidently corroborated against a primary source at this pass; none are recorded.

Quick answers

Why is it ranked #524?

Ranked #524 of 664 ranked universes.

8 Core Canon books here don't have a recorded rating yet and aren't counted above: “The Gods of Mars” (awaiting ordinary reader-rating data collection. It will be folded back into this universe's ranking once its rating is recorded.); “Thuvia, Maid of Mars” (awaiting ordinary reader-rating data collection. It will be folded back into this universe's ranking once its rating is recorded.); “The Chessmen of Mars” (awaiting ordinary reader-rating data collection. It will be folded back into this universe's ranking once its rating is recorded.); “A Fighting Man of Mars” (awaiting ordinary reader-rating data collection. It will be folded back into this universe's ranking once its rating is recorded.); “Swords of Mars” (awaiting ordinary reader-rating data collection. It will be folded back into this universe's ranking once its rating is recorded.); “Synthetic Men of Mars” (awaiting ordinary reader-rating data collection. It will be folded back into this universe's ranking once its rating is recorded.); “Llana of Gathol” (awaiting ordinary reader-rating data collection. It will be folded back into this universe's ranking once its rating is recorded.); “John Carter of Mars” (awaiting ordinary reader-rating data collection. It will be folded back into this universe's ranking once its rating is recorded.).

How the ranking works →

Why explore this universe?

Rated · 11 books · Complete · 79k ratings · Ranks #524 overall

Good choice if you want a long-running portal fantasy universe that's already finished, so there's no wait for the next book.

Reading order

Publication order (11 Core Canon books)

  1. A Princess of Mars (1917)
  2. The Gods of Mars (1918)
  3. The Warlord of Mars (1919)
  4. Thuvia, Maid of Mars (1920)
  5. The Chessmen of Mars (1922)
  6. The Master Mind of Mars (1928)
  7. A Fighting Man of Mars (1931)
  8. Swords of Mars (1936)
  9. Synthetic Men of Mars (1940)
  10. Llana of Gathol (1948)
  11. John Carter of Mars (1964)

Documented internal/story chronology is recorded for every Core Canon book here, and matches publication order exactly, with no divergence to show separately.

Awards (verified)

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Suggestions computed from what Barsoom and each of these worlds have in common on record (subgenre, audience, shape, reading commitment and score), not a documented narrative connection.

Official resources

Research details

Ranking metrics: weighted average 3.82 across 79,310 ratings on 3 Core Canon books. 8 additional Core Canon books haven't been rated yet, so they aren't counted here. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.

How do we know this?

Admission: Admit Barsoom (Edgar Rice Burroughs) accepted 2026-09-06

Sources: (see source tier definitions)

Last reviewed: 2026-09-06

Rule: Rule: Core Canon = all eleven Barsoom books (1917–1964). Genre-boundary transparency: classified as science fantasy / planetary romance by critical consensus; admitted as fantasy-adjacent on the same basis as other genre-boundary precedents in this canon.

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