Conan

By Crom, I love me some Conan.

Here we have Conan, the real Conan, not the dumbed-down Arnold Schwarzenegger version that is all muscle and no brain (which I never understood considering he was supposed to be a master thief in both movies, or at least in the second one). Because here's the thing about Conan, yes he's a brutal barbarian, but who said barbarians are stupid? Conan is cunning, he can outsmart most, but because he is an outsider who does not follow "civilized" rules, he's seen as a mindless savage.

These stories are pure pulp, and a joy to read. Conan will have none of your political pandering. He doesn't go in for power, and really he doesn't care about wealth. When he does steal vast sums (and he doesn't lose it due to show more betrayal or black magic), he spends it on food, booze, and women. He's in it for the adventure, for the experience. In the time frame of these tales he's in his late teens, and he's having the time of of his life.

Robert E. Howard always said that the Conan stories were the easiest for him to write because he felt that Conan himself was standing over Howard's shoulder telling him the stories. And if a giant barbarian from a bygone age tells you to write, you write!

Also included in this collection are tales by Lin Carter and L. Sprague de Camp. show less

Yes, it's that Conan--the one that inspired the Schwarzenegger film, Conan the Barbarian. The best way to give you a flavor of the stories and the character is to quote you a bit that appears above the first story published and familiar from the film:

Know, oh prince, that between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities, and the years of the rise of the Sons of Aryas, there was an age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms lay spread across the world like blue mantles beneath the stars... Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand, a thief, a reaver, a slayer, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandalled feet."--The show more Nemedian Chronicles.

As it turns out, the character wasn't established in a novel, but in 17 stories by Robert E. Howard published in Weird Tales from 1932 to 1936, most of novelette length, and only one was a novel. There were four other Conan stories published posthumously and three fragments and a synopsis. This particular book is part of a series that puts the tales in chronological story order, with the unfinished stories completed by others and pastiches--basically fan fiction by pros--used to fill in the gaps. So this isn't a novel, but a collection of shorts, and not all by Conan's creator. This book features seven stories, and only "The Tower of the Elephant," "The God in the Bowl" and "Rogues in the House" were completed by Howard. "The Hall of the Dead" was written from Howard's synopsis by L. Sprague de Camp and "The Hand of Nergal" was completed from a Howard fragment by Lin Carter. Two pastiches by Carter and de Camp bookend the Howard stories. That primarily is why I wouldn't recommend this particular book, especially since the Howard ones are much more striking. I'd seek out instead a collection only of the Howard stories. I saw one titled Conan the Barbarian in Barnes and Noble recently that purportedly included those Howard stories that inspired the film.

This is pulp fiction, sure, but although Howard's style is colorful, unlike say a recent read in the genre, A Merritt's The Ship of Ishtar, it wasn't so purple to be off-putting--just seemed to very much set the right atmosphere, which reminded me of nothing so much as a video game at times--one of those role playing ones where you get to play a sword-wielding barbarian fighting monsters and mages. Howard himself according to the introduction said he liked characters like Conan because they're "simpler... They are too stupid to do anything but cut, shoot, or slug themselves into the clear." Not admittedly ordinarily my sort of hero. None too bright in these stories, beyond a facility in languages, and no more dimensional than onion paper, although Conan does have some compassion and a sense of honor. It's a fun world with hints of our own historical times, but Conan is too much the loner for my tastes--no continuing love interest or close friend or family or loyalties. That might change in the later books, particularly since I've read he does later take on a leadership role. I liked this book enough to at least go on and read the one other in this series on my bookshelf, the one Conan novel by Howard, Conan the Conqueror. show less

This drew me back to memories of childhood journeys through distant lands, spice-scented markets, colourful silks, dark sorcery... Mingled with my contemporaneous memories of the Sinbad movies; all of a type.

Adventure, battles to the death, treachery, evil wizards, ancient and forgotten gods who slither in the darkness, beautiful women, powerful men, and one honorable barbarian thief, just testing his own mettle.

Lots of fun, if scant of politically correct attitudes.

Fun, short book full of short stories of thr most iconic barbarian of all time. For someone who has never seen the movies I found it very easy to great a strong picture of this fearless menace in my mind. The stories written by Howard alone are the highlights.

After about half a page of the first de Camp story (and a bunch of stuff from earlier books), I'd finally had too much of the guy. I've decided to only read the Howard stories going forward [and to give the skipped non-Howard stories an extremely generous D rating for calculating the book's average rating].

"The Hyborian Age - Part I." F (terrible). A 10-page summary of Conan's world (geography, history, and politics). It's information he wrote for himself for reference, not something for readers. DNF'ed/skimmed.

"The Thing in the Crypt." (skipped). A Carter/de Camp story.

"The Tower of the Elephant." C+ (Okay). Conan tries to rob a place that's holding an ancient being. The break-in stuff is fine, but pretty meh. The Ancient Being stuff show more is good.

"The Hall of the Dead." (skipped). A de Camp story.

"The God in the Bowl." B (Good). Conan finds himself in a locked room detective story, which proceeds according to formula until Conan has enough of it. Cute idea.

"Rogues in the House." C+ (Okay). Conan and an aristocrat try to assassinate a madman with a boobytrapped house and an inhuman houseguest. The "missing link" fascination of the 30s doesn't hold up, and the boobytrap angle is pretty juvenile.

"The Hand of Nergal." (skipped). A Carter story.

"The City of Skulls." (skipped). A Carter/de Camp story.

[Average: 1.94/5.]

(May 2025) show less

The Howard stories are good. The Carter and de Camp ones are merely passable.

Howard is great. Carter & de Camp's contributions suck.