The Gods of Mars is a science-fiction novel by E. R. Burroughs.
After John Carter's arrival, a boat of Green Martians on the River Iss are ambushed by the previously unknown Plant Men. The lone survivor is his friend Tars Tarkas, the Jeddak of Thark, who has taken the pilgrimage to the Valley Dor to find Carter.
Having saved their own lives, Carter and Tars Tarkas discover that the Therns, a white-skinned race of self-proclaimed gods, have for eons deceived the Barsoomians elsewhere by disseminating that the pilgrimage to the Valley Dor is a journey to paradise. Most arrivals are killed by the beasts of Valley, and the survivors enslaved by Therns.
This is the second novel in Burrough’s Barsoom series where John Carter in the late 1800s is mysteriously transported from Earth to a Mars. Audio read by Mark Nelson, running time 8 hours, 37 min. Also available as ePUB, 83 300 words, average reading time 7 hours.