I downloaded Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian: 20 Adventure Tales of Conan years ago and never actually got around to reading it. Back in the late 90s, when I was a huge WoT fan, I tracked down every single Robert Jordan Conan title, but at the time I never gave any thought to giving Conan's creator a shot. The more fool me, I know. But hey, better late than never, right?
I began Howard's "The Hyborian Age" essay during a road trip once, but never went beyond that. Fast-forward to this year, as I was reaching the end of my Camino de Santiago and was running out of reading material, on my day off in Santiago de Compostela I finally elected to give it another go. And never looked back!
I took my time to go through each short fiction piece and I enjoyed this omnibus edition a lot more than I thought I would! Considering that these stories were all written in the 1930s, I have to admit that the material has aged particularly well. Couldn't resist and went for one of Frank Frazetta's iconic depictions of Conan the Cimmerian instead of the regular cover.
Here's the blurb:
Conan The Barbarian is the original stories about adventure stories of conan the cimmerian written by Robert E. Howard in 1934-1936. In this book contains 20 stories of Conan The Cimmerian.
1.The Hyborian Age, first published in The Phantagraph, February-November 1936.
2.Shadows In the Moonlight, first published in Weird Tales, April 1934.
3.Queen Of the Black Coast, first published in Weird Tales, May 1934.
4.The Devil In Iron, first published in Weird Tales, August 1934.
5.The People Of the Black Circle, first published in Weird Tales, September, October and November 1934.
6.A Witch Shall Be Born, first published in Weird Tales in 1934.
7.The Jewels Of Gwahlur, first published in Weird Tales, March 1935.
8.Beyond the Black River, first published in Weird Tales magazine circa 1935.
9.Shadows In Zamboula, first published in Weird Tales, November 1935.
10.The Hour Of the Dragon, first published in Weird Tales, December 1935-April 1936.
11.Gods Of the North, first published in Fantasy Fan, March 1934.
12.Red Nails, First Published in Weird Tales, July, August-September, October 1936.
13. The Shadow of the Vulture, First published in the pulp magazine Magic Carpet Magazine, January 1934.
14.The Phoenix on the Sword, First published in 1932.
15.The Scarlet Citadel, First published in 1933.
16.The Tower of the Elephant, First published in 1933.
17.Black Colossus, First published in 1934.
18.The Slithering Shadow, First published in 1934.
19.The Pool of the Black One, First published in 1934.
20.Rogues in the House, First published in 1935.
From the get-go, I knew I wanted to read these stories in chronological order. Otherwise, they feature a Conan as young as eighteen and as old as fifty-ish and are all over the place. I wasn't aware that several writers/editors have attempted to organize Howard's Conan stories into a chronological timeline and that there is no consensus among them. After perusing a few articles, I settled on the Miller/Clark/de Camp chronology because it seemed to be the one that has garnered a more general approval among aficionados.
What surprised me the most was the quality of the worldbuilding. These stories visit most kingdoms/regions of Howard's Hyborian Age universe and the author impressed me with his eye for detail. Add to that a disparate cast of men and women of every walk of life, body type, creed, skin color, as well as his depictions of this panoply of cultures and their traditions, myths, and legends, and you have something I couldn't believe was written nearly a century ago. I mean, critics applaud half-assed non-medieval European fantasy backdrops created by authors like S.A. Chakraborty or Wesley Chu, but there's no denying that, for all his faults, Robert E. Howard was already doing it, and doing it better to boot, back in the 30s. There is a lot more depth to Howard's writing than I expected. This is no generic hack-and-slash sword and sorcery fare.
Interestingly enough, I found that I preferred the author's shorter works. Indeed, the short stories and the shorter novellas worked better for me than their longer counterparts, or the novel-length The Hour of the Dragon. This last one was actually overlong and is probably one of my least favorite Conan tales found in this collection. Reading them in chronological order came with a number of issues, chief among them the difference in quality of the stories that were written earlier but occur much later in the timeline. "The Phoenix on the Sword" is a case in point in that regard.
Another thing that surprised me was the fact that there is no filler in this collection. While the quality and originality of each piece differ, not a single tale is a waste of time. Some of my favorites included "Red Nails", "Beyond the Black River", "The People of the Black Circle", "Tower of the Elephant", "A Witch Shall Be Born", and "Rogues in the House".
Just a note regarding this omnibus edition. There are a lot of typos and formatting screw-ups throughout. But having paid 0.99$ for it, I can't really complain much.
Highly recommended. If only to discover that Conan the Barbarian is a more multilayered protagonist than you ever thought possible.
The final verdict: 8/10
For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link. This OneLink will take you to the nearest Amazon site serving your country and you'll see if you can take advantage of this sale. 1740 pages featuring Conan the Cimmerian for less than 1$, it doesn't get much better than this!
I began Howard's "The Hyborian Age" essay during a road trip once, but never went beyond that. Fast-forward to this year, as I was reaching the end of my Camino de Santiago and was running out of reading material, on my day off in Santiago de Compostela I finally elected to give it another go. And never looked back!
I took my time to go through each short fiction piece and I enjoyed this omnibus edition a lot more than I thought I would! Considering that these stories were all written in the 1930s, I have to admit that the material has aged particularly well. Couldn't resist and went for one of Frank Frazetta's iconic depictions of Conan the Cimmerian instead of the regular cover.
Here's the blurb:
Conan The Barbarian is the original stories about adventure stories of conan the cimmerian written by Robert E. Howard in 1934-1936. In this book contains 20 stories of Conan The Cimmerian.
1.The Hyborian Age, first published in The Phantagraph, February-November 1936.
2.Shadows In the Moonlight, first published in Weird Tales, April 1934.
3.Queen Of the Black Coast, first published in Weird Tales, May 1934.
4.The Devil In Iron, first published in Weird Tales, August 1934.
5.The People Of the Black Circle, first published in Weird Tales, September, October and November 1934.
6.A Witch Shall Be Born, first published in Weird Tales in 1934.
7.The Jewels Of Gwahlur, first published in Weird Tales, March 1935.
8.Beyond the Black River, first published in Weird Tales magazine circa 1935.
9.Shadows In Zamboula, first published in Weird Tales, November 1935.
10.The Hour Of the Dragon, first published in Weird Tales, December 1935-April 1936.
11.Gods Of the North, first published in Fantasy Fan, March 1934.
12.Red Nails, First Published in Weird Tales, July, August-September, October 1936.
13. The Shadow of the Vulture, First published in the pulp magazine Magic Carpet Magazine, January 1934.
14.The Phoenix on the Sword, First published in 1932.
15.The Scarlet Citadel, First published in 1933.
16.The Tower of the Elephant, First published in 1933.
17.Black Colossus, First published in 1934.
18.The Slithering Shadow, First published in 1934.
19.The Pool of the Black One, First published in 1934.
20.Rogues in the House, First published in 1935.
From the get-go, I knew I wanted to read these stories in chronological order. Otherwise, they feature a Conan as young as eighteen and as old as fifty-ish and are all over the place. I wasn't aware that several writers/editors have attempted to organize Howard's Conan stories into a chronological timeline and that there is no consensus among them. After perusing a few articles, I settled on the Miller/Clark/de Camp chronology because it seemed to be the one that has garnered a more general approval among aficionados.
What surprised me the most was the quality of the worldbuilding. These stories visit most kingdoms/regions of Howard's Hyborian Age universe and the author impressed me with his eye for detail. Add to that a disparate cast of men and women of every walk of life, body type, creed, skin color, as well as his depictions of this panoply of cultures and their traditions, myths, and legends, and you have something I couldn't believe was written nearly a century ago. I mean, critics applaud half-assed non-medieval European fantasy backdrops created by authors like S.A. Chakraborty or Wesley Chu, but there's no denying that, for all his faults, Robert E. Howard was already doing it, and doing it better to boot, back in the 30s. There is a lot more depth to Howard's writing than I expected. This is no generic hack-and-slash sword and sorcery fare.
Interestingly enough, I found that I preferred the author's shorter works. Indeed, the short stories and the shorter novellas worked better for me than their longer counterparts, or the novel-length The Hour of the Dragon. This last one was actually overlong and is probably one of my least favorite Conan tales found in this collection. Reading them in chronological order came with a number of issues, chief among them the difference in quality of the stories that were written earlier but occur much later in the timeline. "The Phoenix on the Sword" is a case in point in that regard.
Another thing that surprised me was the fact that there is no filler in this collection. While the quality and originality of each piece differ, not a single tale is a waste of time. Some of my favorites included "Red Nails", "Beyond the Black River", "The People of the Black Circle", "Tower of the Elephant", "A Witch Shall Be Born", and "Rogues in the House".
Just a note regarding this omnibus edition. There are a lot of typos and formatting screw-ups throughout. But having paid 0.99$ for it, I can't really complain much.
Highly recommended. If only to discover that Conan the Barbarian is a more multilayered protagonist than you ever thought possible.
The final verdict: 8/10
For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link. This OneLink will take you to the nearest Amazon site serving your country and you'll see if you can take advantage of this sale. 1740 pages featuring Conan the Cimmerian for less than 1$, it doesn't get much better than this!
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