Jerry Morgan is a man with no future on Earth he is offered a new life on Mars and he takes it He starts out his new life on Mars on the wrong foot by meeting a princess and killing the fearsomelooking Martian he wrongly believes is menacing her Which in actuality is the princesss beloved pet From there Morgan becomes entangled in the politics of the Byzantine Martian royal court spurns the advances of a wouldbe lover escapes his hosts and role as an expendable political pawn Various adventures follow with dazzling swordplay feats of strength and other trials tribulations and treacheries Klines Mars has multiple parallel canals surrounded by walls and terraces and the construction of the canals by Martian machines is described The story has a racewar element that may jar the modern reader