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20th out of 81 books
—
17 voters
El Borak and Other Desert Adventures
Robert E. Howard is famous for creating such immortal heroes as Conan the Cimmerian, Solomon Kane, and Bran Mak Morn. Less well-known but equally extraordinary are his non-fantasy adventure stories set in the Middle East and featuring such two-fisted heroes as Francis Xavier Gordon—known as “El Borak”—Kirby O’Donnell, and Steve Clarney. This trio of hard-fighting Americans...more
Paperback, 592 pages
Published
February 9th 2010
by Del Rey
(first published 2010)
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Feb 13, 2010
Mohammed
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
To fans of adventure fiction,a must for fans of Robert E Howard
I wasn't surprised by the quality,mature writing i saw these stories was written late in his short career. I was surprised how free,natural his writing got with the non-fantastic stories of El Borak and co. I have much more respect for his writing ability now and not only his vibrant,vivid storytelling. Take away the fantasy pulp mannerism and he writes like Jack London.
Also now i understand why many of his fans see El Borak as their favourite. He is one of the best heroes i have read in any fic...more
Also now i understand why many of his fans see El Borak as their favourite. He is one of the best heroes i have read in any fic...more
As much as it pains me to give such a rating to work by Robert E. Howard, I found this to be the weakest of the (not insignificant amount of) material I've read by him. It's clear from the writing that Howard has only read of the Middle East in books, and has used his imagination to fill in the details the books didn't provide. This, to me, is the greatest drawback of these stories: they just don't ring true. The broad strokes of Howard's imagination don't do justice to the Middle East, and the...more
Enjoyable Howard stories (I had never read any of them before) but a little overwhelming and a little repetitive, so it took me many months to get through the whole volume. I mean, in almost every story by Howard the same stuff happens... I wish the real world had so many secret tunnels and passages. It's pretty interesting how the El Borak stories are set in Afghanistan and central Asia, and thinking about the history of these lands over the past century and the Americans fighting there today.
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The moody photo-realistic ink silhouettes of El Borak, created by master illustrator Tim Bradstreet, punch out of the pages in much the same way Howard’s words do.
Robert Howard at his best -
Too much like a western for my tastes. I like the way Howard writes, and seems to research his locations, and cultures. I just didn't care for this modern book.
Great to have all the El Borak stories available in one book. Disappointed with the extras, two fragments and a link to the stories. But I always enjoy anything by Robert E Howard.
Fantastic over-the-top gritty fiction from one of the absolute best. I loved it.
May 21, 2013
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Feb 26, 2013
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| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Robert E. Howard ...: El Borak's Afghanistan | 21 | 17 | Jan 22, 2012 01:09pm |
Robert Ervin Howard was an American pulp writer of fantasy, horror, historical adventure, boxing, western, and detective fiction. Howard wrote "over three-hundred stories and seven-hundred poems of raw power and unbridled emotion" and is especially noted for his memorable depictions of "a sombre universe of swashbuckling adventure and darkling horror."
He is well known for having created — in the p...more
More about Robert E. Howard...
He is well known for having created — in the p...more
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Feb 13, 2010 08:36pm
One of those books i will re-read many times.
Haven't felt that for many books.
Feb 14, 2010 02:46am