Step into the exciting and fantastical world of Edgar Rice Burroughs, the creator of Tarzan. Tara, the spirited Princess of Helium, is wooed by the noble Gahan of Gathol. After an ill-timed flight from her suitor, Tara is pursued by Gahan, who re-encounters her disguised as a mercenary. They soon find themselves on the live chessboards of Manator, where what is a simple table game in the rest of the world has taken on all-too-real consequences. Now Gahan has a chance not only to win the woman he loves, but to vanquish the evil ruler of Manator who has long been a threat to the people of Gathol. This book, the fifth novel in the Barsoom series, sees Burroughs at his most imaginative. It has been called "a remarkable work, one that for imagination and for complexity of detail and settings exceeded any of Burroughs' previous writings".