Synthetic Men of Mars
Edgar Rice Burroughs
 Like several previous novels in the Barsoom series, Synthetic Men introduces a completely new character as its protagonist: Vor Daj, a warrior from Helium and a member of John Carter's personal guard. Vor Daj narrates the action in the first person, so that when John Carter appears in the story, he is described in the third person (unlike other Barsoomian novels that feature Carter as the first-person narrator). Synthetic Men also brings back a familiar character, Ras Thavas, a brilliant but evil scientist who functions as the villain in The Master Mind of Mars.