In the Courts of the Crimson Kings (novel by S.M. Stirling)

[Cynical Cat]

Stirling is writing a series based on the planetary romances of the early 20th century (i.e. John Carter of Mars). The premise is an alt history where aliens terraform Mars and Venus and seed both planets with life from Earth. The discovery of that both planets are habitable and inhabited turns heat up on the Space Race and so we get explorers and rivalry between the Eastbloc and Westbloc in the swamps of Venus and deserts of Mars.

In the Court of the Crimson Kings is the one taking place on Mars and it is a hell of a fun read. True to the trope homo sapiens martensis possess an ancient civilization undergoing slow decline as Mars is slowly becoming less habitable. The main character is an archeologist from New Mexico who has been sent to Mars by the US. The government hopes he'll find useful samples of Martian technology or signs or artifacts of the Lords of Creation, the mysterious aliens responsible for the terraforming.

There's gunfights, sword fights, monsters, land ships, airships, giant eagle riding, political intrigue, romance, and ancient and powerful technology. Mars lacks fossil fuels and fissionables, which meant that there technology went in a different direction that ours, focusing on biotech (no biowank here. Our guns are better). The culture is interesting and the book is a fun adventure novel without being stupid.

The best part is the language. Stirling is definitely channeling Jack Vance when writing in Martian. A few samples:

"You are pain and death in sapient form."

"Maintain an attitude of terrified submission and harmony will be sustained."

"We must kill them all expeditiously."

"In the course of plundering the Intrepid Traveler and killing . . . [her] she and her fellows will doubtless kill many of the pirates, sparing us the effort; we can sell her head to Chinta sa-Rokis and her ova to the Prince. This is an elegant optimization of an admittedly brutal and unscrupulous course of action. Still, we are impoverished free lance contractors and cannot afford extreme scrupulosity."

"You are more attached to your own cleverness than to me."

"You indulge in an implausible rhetorical flourish. Let us return to our cabin and demonstrate its falsity."

[frigidmagi]

As I recall the one set on Venus is "The Sky People" or something like that. Venus of course is a hot, humid jungle world.

Which does lead to the question, if Venus did have a Oxygen/Nitrogen atmosphere instead of a atmosphere best described as concentrated acid, what would it be like?

[Cynical Cat]

Read "The Sky People." It's pretty good. Venus is a moist, oxygen rich planet with big bugs, prehistoric mammals, and dinosaurs. The main character is a badass Cajun who goes on an airship expedition to rescue a crashed shuttle and encounters neanderthal cannibals, a hot blonde tribal princess, alien technology, and much peril. He's also got a greatwolf (think direwolf on crack) pup. Good pulpy adventure.

[Cynical Cat]

Necro'd because of John Carter.