A Princess of Mars - John Carter, a Confederate veteran of the American Civil War,
goes prospecting in Arizona immediately after the war's end. Having struck a rich
vein of gold, he runs afoul of the Apaches. While attempting to evade pursuit by
hiding in a sacred cave, he is mysteriously transported to Mars, called "Barsoom" y
its inhabitants. Carter finds that he has great strength and superhuman agility in
this new environment as a result of its lesser gravity. He soon falls in with a nomadic tribe of Green Martians, or Tharks, as the planet's warlike, six-limbed,
green-skinned inhabitants are known. Thanks to his strength and martial prowess,
Carter rises to a high position in the tribe and earns the respect and eventually
the friendship of Tars Tarkas, one of the Thark chiefs...
The Gods of Mars - At the end of the first book, A Princess of Mars, John Carter is unwillingly transported back to Earth. The Gods of Mars begins with his arrival back on Barsoom (Mars) after a ten-year separation from his wife Dejah Thoris, his unborn child, and the Red Martian people of the nation of Helium, whom he has adopted as his own. Unfortunately, Carter materializes in the one place on Barsoom from which nobody is allowed to depart: the Valley Dor, which is the Barsoomian afterlife.
Warlord of Mars - This novel continues where the previous one in the series, The Gods of Mars abruptly ended. At the end of the previous book, John Carter's wife, the princess Dejah Thoris, is imprisoned in the Temple of the Sun by the vile pretender goddess Issus. It is said one has to wait an entire Barsoomian year before the room the prisoner is in revolves back to the entrance.
Thuvia - Maid of Mars - In this novel the focus shifts from John Carter, Warlord of Mars, and Dejah Thoris of Helium, protagonists of the first three books in the series, to their son, Carthoris, prince of Helium, and Thuvia, princess of Ptarth. Helium and Ptarth are both prominent Barsoomian city state/empires, and both Carthoris and Thuvia were secondary characters in the previous novel.
The Chessmen of Mars - In this novel Burroughs focuses on a younger member of the family established by John Carter and Dejah Thoris, protagonists of the first three books in the series. The heroine this time is their daughter Tara, princess of Helium, whose hand is sought by the gallant Gahan, Jed (prince) of Gathol. Both Helium and Gathol are prominent Barsoomian city states.