Conan of Cimmeria

Conan the Barbarian

by Robert E. Howard

"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."

So begins the the saga of Conan of Cimmeria, a barbarian from the frozen north of his ancient and troubled world. Included in this compilation of the 18 stories Robert E. Howard completed for Weird Tales during his brief lifetime, are 16 stories, an essay of Conan's world, and the only novel he wrote about this larger-than-life hero, against which all other sword and sorcery characters since have been both derived and

"The Hyborean Age",
"The Phoenix on the Sword",
"The Scarlet Citadel",
"The Tower of the Elephant",
"Black Colossus",
"The Slithering Shadow",
"The Pool of the Black One",
"Rogues in the House",
"Shadows in the Moonlight",
"Queen of the Black Coast",
"The Devil in Iron",
"The People of the Black Circle",
"A Witch Shall Be Born",
"The Jewels of Gwahlur",
"Beyond the Black River",
"Shadows in Zamboula",
"The Hour of the Dragon",
"Red Nails"
and the poem "Cimmeria".

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Sword and Sorcery, Adventure, Pulp, Short Stories, Classics

949 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1969

About the author

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 pages of the legendary Depression-era pulp magazine Weird Tales—the character Conan the Cimmerian, a.k.a. Conan the Barbarian, a literary icon whose pop-culture imprint can only be compared to such icons as Tarzan of the Apes, Count Dracula, Sherlock Holmes, and James Bond.

—Wikipedia

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Eloy Cryptkeeper · Rating 2 out of 5]

"—He conocido muchos dioses. Quien niegue su existencia está tan ciego como el que confía en ellos con una fe desmesurada. Yo no busco nada después de la muerte. Puede que exista la oscuridad de la que hablan los escépticos Nemedios, o el reino helado y nebuloso de Crom, o las llanuras nevadas o los grandes salones de piedra del Valhalla de los habitantes de Nordheim. No lo sé, ni me importa. Que me dejen vivir intensamente mientras viva; quiero saborear el rico jugo de la carne roja y sentir el sabor ácido del vino en mi paladar, gozar del cálido abrazo de una mujer y de la jubilosa locura de la batalla cuando llamean las azules hojas de acero; . Que los maestros, los sacerdotes y los filósofos reflexionen acerca de la realidad y la ilusión. Yo sólo sé esto: que si la vida es ilusión, yo no soy más que eso, una ilusión, y ella, por consiguiente, es una realidad para mí. Estoy vivo, me consume la pasión, amo y mato; con eso me doy por contento"

Es difícil reseñar a Conan. El hecho de las manos que han intentado terminar de redondear y darle cronología a las historias originales de Howard tiene resultados dispares.Historias que independientemente del resultado final han sido una fuente de influencia inagotable para autores de Fantasía posteriores y diversos subgéneros.
Creo que este volumen/compendio en particular no posee las historias mas inspiradas y épicas de Espada y Brujería de este personaje en cuestión. Aun así destaco dos historias : "La Reina de La Costa Negra" y "La Hija Del Gigante Helado"

[Jack Tripper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though there are only two essential Conan tales here, it’s still somewhat tempting to rate this collection 5 stars due to the near-perfection of those stories, both taking place during Conan’s younger years, and both written solely by Howard. “The Frost Giant’s Daughter” is a masterclass in displaying how to create a compelling story, with brutal and intense action as well as weirdness and mystique, all in under a dozen pages. Conan, lying exhausted and battered after a vicious battle in the frozen wastes of Nordheim, is visited by an ethereal nymph-like nude woman, who tempts and enrages Conan with her mockery, and may just lead him to his doom in his pursuit of her through the tundra. Simply a flawless sword and sorcery story, dreamlike yet immediate and entirely engaging. 5 stars

“Queen of the Black Coast” is another top-tier Howard original, this time featuring Conan aboard a pirate ship with his new love and leader of a large crew of ebony-skinned bandits, Bêlit, the she-devil of the sea. Amidst their pillaging and plundering, they wind up on the river Zarkheba, deep in an unexplored jungle and surrounded by ancient ruins, where a horrible winged demon, who may be the last of his primordial race, awaits. Nightmarish insanity ensues. This one’s longer at 35 pages or so, but it’s still amazing to me how Howard was able to create such an epic feel and such smothering atmosphere in so few words. The action is visceral and riveting, and the horror within the ruins is honestly pretty terrifying. 5-plus stars.

The rest of the book is taken up by pastiches from Carter and de Camp (including posthumous “collaborations” with Howard) that are barely worth mentioning, imo. There is one other solo Howard entry here, “The Vale of Lost Women”, but it’s been years since I’ve read that one, and from what I can recall it’s a lesser Conan tale. But the two mentioned above are required reading for sword and sorcery fans, as each are top 4-5 as far as tales of the Cimmerian go. Even fans of fantasy who don’t normally care for shorts should check them out, then proceed to be spellbound by Howard’s mastery of action-adventure and horror-filled pulp fiction.

The best stories of Robert E. Howard are endlessly re-readable. These two especially so.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second volume of Lancer's editions of the Conan saga. L. Sprague de Camp, with the help of Lin Carter, expanded Howard's original Conan stories and edited them into chronological sequence in a twelve-volume series in the late 1960's, and the controversy has never quite died off completely. Many people believe that only Howard's original versions of the complete stories are acceptable, and many believe that the Lancer series with the original Frazetta covers are canon, and then there are those who accept or reject the Bantam titles, the Jordan series (and/or/or not the other Tor titles), the comics versions, and on and on and on... They're all right and all wrong.... This Lancer series is the one I read while growing up, so I'm all for it. I can accept comics hero stories by different writers, and pulp heroes frequently had different writers under a house name, so... This one features young Conan, and has three of Howard's originals: The Frost Giant's Daughter and Queen of the Black Coast, both undisputed classics, and a shorter one that was not sold in his lifetime, The Vale of Lost Women. It also has three nice original pastiches by Carter & de Camp: The Curse of the Monolith, The Lair of the Ice Worm, and The Castle of Terror, along with two written from partials that Howard left, The Snout in the Dark and The Bloodstained God. Howard was the consummate pulp adventure writer, and I think de Camp and Carter enhanced his legacy without tarnishing it. They helped Conan become one of the most recognized literary characters of the last century.

[Rodolfo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably one of my all time favorite book covers. This cover is pure Conan. Just look at him battling 2 frost giants! awesome. This was the first Conan book I ever read. I instantly became a fan of Robert E Howard and this character. I probably spent endless hours redrawing this cover and dreaming of battling giants with swords and axes through most of my early teens ( 12 - 15). I quickly went to the library and checked out all the other books in the series.

[Rodrigo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Conjunto de relatos organizados cronológicamente y cuyas valoraciones ha sido las siguientes:
La maldición del monolito 6/10
El Dios manchado de sangre 6,5/10
La hija del gigante helado 6,5/10
La Guarida del gusano de hielo 6,5/10
La reina de la costa negra 8/10
El valle de las mujeres perdidas 7/10
El castillo del horror 6/10
Un hocico en la oscuridad 7,5/10
valoración: 6.75/10 al final siendo justo un 3 estrellas.
Un placer leer a Conan, el siguiente mes a por el 3º de las serie.
Sinopsis: En una época anterior a la historia conocida, antes de que los continentes adoptaran su forma actual, recorrió el mundo un héroe indómito y legendario, de quien se dice que llegó a él en un campo de batalla. Su nombre era Conan.
Después de diversos vagabundeos por tierras hibóreas, Conan progresa como soldado del ejército turanio al servicio del rey Yildiz, aprendiendo los rudimentos de la guerra organizada. Sin embargo, el carácter inquieto del bárbaro le lleva a abandonar su puesto en busca de mejor fortuna, llegando a convertirse en un apátrida, asqueado por un lado de los usos de los reinos civilizados y aburrido al mismo tiempo de la vida simple en las aldeas bárbaras. Hasta que en su continuo deambular conoce a una mujer que dejará una huella imborrable en su vida: Belit, la reina pirata de la Costa Negra.
# 16. Un libro en el que el nombre del/a protagonista esté en el título. Reto Popsugar 2023.

[Agus · Rating 3 out of 5]

En este segundo volumen de la colección Martinez Roca de Conan, puedo decir que he encontrado algo muy parecido al primer tomo. Varios relatos donde Conan busca algo, se encuentra con un enemigo, salva a la chica y esta se enamora de él.

Las historias de Conan siguen siendo muy planas y salvo un par de ellas que son realmente buenas, el resto ha sido casi como releer las anteriores.

No podemos obviar que tienen casi 100 años estos relatos. Aunque hayan sido revisados y completados en los 60, siguen siendo clasicazos y la narrativa es la de la época. A día de hoy la tacharíamos de machista, racista y vejatoria, pero si nos ponemos las gafas de la época, es lo que hay.

Con mucha pena, a este segundo volumen le voy a dar solo 3 estrellas motivadas principalmente por el relato de "la reina de la costa negra" y "la hija del gigante de hielo" que bien se acercan mucho a las 5 estrellas, pero el resto son un 3 o incluso un 2 por la repetición del mismo patrón una y otra vez. De esta manera, un 3 me parece justo. A ver si el tercer tomo mejora un poquito.

[Skallagrimsen]

I have mixed feelings about this old series. The purist in me sneers at the blatant bastardization of Robert E. Howard's immortal fantasy barbarian. What business did third rate hacks like L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter have presenting their limp fan fictions alongside Howard's raw and vibrant originals? As if they were comparable or in any way belonged together? How dare they alter so much as a phrase of Howard's own writing? The whole project reeked of exploitation, self-aggrandizement, and hubris. It was a slap in the face of a genuine original, an eccentric and troubled young genius who may be among the few American writers to have invented a literary genre.

On the other hand...the scrawny, introverted twelve-year-old who grew up to be me enjoyed these barbarian power fantasies impartially, back in the early 80's when he was too young to know better. I therefore can't help but remember them, as I remember him, with a certain nostalgic fondness. And I'm fair enough to recognize that, but for such dubious publications, Conan the Barbarian might otherwise have slipped from the crumbling pages of Weird Tales and into the Stygian mists of obscurity. Maybe de Camp and Carter's puerile imitations damaged the character's legacy. But they also might also be the reason that legacy even survived.

Yet my main thought when reflecting back on this pop cultural relic--What ever became of those intense Frank Frazetta covers? They must rank among the greatest works of fantasy art ever created. The gorgeous painting that adorns the cover of this volume, inspired by Howard's frenetic short story "The Frost Giant's Daughter," is my favorite--the reason I selected it for this review. Subsequent editors, more respectful of the creator's legacy, have since collected the original Conan canon, without diluting them by presumptuous "emendations" or cheesy pastiches. But none of those more faithful volumes, to my knowledge, has ever repurposed any of Frazetta's paintings for their covers. Why should the best visual depictions of Howard's creations ever set to canvas be forever restricted to this illegitimate series?

[J. Kendrick Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The more I read the Conan series, the more I realize the genius of Robert Howard. Despite the pulp fiction nature of the stories, he vividly portrays the exploits of a seemingly simple yet nuanced character in a way few authors have achieved. It's no wonder Conan remains a household name and the father of so many fantasy tropes til this very day!

[Marc Manley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Say what you will, Howard was a master craftsman at his trade: story telling. I find his fantastical world engaging and entertaining. Howard's Conan isn't going to solve any philosophical questions; he just takes you for a ride.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here's Book 2 in my re-read of the Conan series by Robert E. Howard.


The Curse of the Monolith

L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter kick things off by having Conan get stuck to a magnet on which “a monster of living jelly” is called forth by the flute of a scheming Duke (he’s either a Duke, or his name is Duke- I really wasn’t sure).

The Bloodstained God

A Howard and de Camp story that bears a lot of similarities to The City of Skulls, which closed out Book 1. I didn’t care for that story and I don’t like this one much better. In The City of Skulls, an idol comes to life and Conan throws a marble bench at it, and in this one a jewel encrusted idol comes to life and Conan throws a wooden throne at it.

The Frost Giant’s Daughter

This was a story that stayed with me over the years and it’s immediately obvious that Howard is the sole author. Here are a couple of lines that I really liked.

“Slowly through the corpses they came, as ghosts might come to a tryst through the shambles of a dead world.”

“The sharp point tore through brass scales and bones and heart, and the red-haired warrior died at Conan’s feet.”

The Lair of the Ice Worm

A slightly above average story by de Camp and Carter that offers up a wealth of possibilities for Death Metal band names: River of Death Ice, Snow Devil Glacier, Ilga, Grim Remora, etc. Also, there’s this memorable description of a half-eaten victim of the ice worm.

“Her head was gone, and with it most of the flesh of her upper body, so that the white bones gleamed like ivory in the dimming moonlight. The protruding bones had been cleaned, as if the flesh had been sucked from them or rasped off by some many-toothed tongue.”

Queen of the Black Coast

This is one of Howard’s better known stories as it introduces Conan’s soul mate, the she-devil pirate captain, Belit. Her promise to return from the afterlife if ever slain to protect Conan was used in an altered form in the 1982 Schwarzenegger film. Although their time together is brief, I like that Conan lets Belit call the shots and willingly becomes her mindless killing machine as they pillage up and down the coast. The deadly black lotus blossoms first featured in Book 1, make an appearance here.

The Vale of Lost Women

In this Howard story, Conan is war chief of the Bamulas, a black tribe of warriors. Most of the story is seen through the eyes of a young woman taken captive by natives. She entices Conan to save her, which eventually leads them to cross paths with a winged “devil from the Outer Dark”. An engaging story with a somewhat anti-climatic ending.

The Castle of Terror

This de Camp and Carter story is similar to Thing in the Crypt which they also wrote, and which began the series. Instead of wolves, Conan is pursued by lions and seeks refuge in an abandoned castle. There’s an exciting battle between 40 Stygian soldiers and a creature comprised of thousands of vaporous souls that combine to form a multi-limbed, multi-headed monstrosity. Realizing he is outmatched, Conan flees. It’s one of the better non-Howard stories.

The Snout in the Dark

Like the previous story, Howard, de Camp and Carter, give us another misty menace that must become corporeal before it can inflict any damage, except this one looks like a man with a boar’s head. And like Vale of the Lost Women, Conan starts out as a background player in the drama of others before taking center stage.

[David B · Rating 3 out of 5]

In order to enjoy pulp fiction, one must often make allowances for the backward racial attitudes of the time. Since this collection of stories finds Conan adventuring in the Black Kingdoms, such unfortunate references are more pervasive than usual and detracted from the pleasure of the reading experience. In addition, most of these stories are of the monster-of-the-week type, which loses interest even when well written. As usual, self-appointed collaborators Lin Carter and L. Sprague de Camp fill out the anthology with material of inferior quality. “Queen of the Black Coast” is the clear highlight, although the short scene in which a voluptuous pirate queen woos Conan with the Mating Dance of Belit belongs on my list of most unintentionally funny passages.

https://thericochetreviewer.blogspot.com

[Mary Overton]

Conan, the meta-physician:
from the story, "Queen of the Black Coast"
Belit, the pirate queen and Conan's lover, asks, "'Conan, do you fear the gods?'
"'I would not tread on their shadow,' answered the barbarian conservatively. 'Some gods are strong to harm, others, to aid; at least so say their priests. Mitra of the Hyborians must be a strong god, because his people have builded their cities over the world. But even the Hyborians fear Set [ancient snake-god]. And Bel, god of thieves, is a good god. When I was a thief in Zamora I learned of him.'
"'What of your own gods? I have never heard you call on them.'
"'Their chief is Crom. He dwells on a great mountain. What use to call on him? Little he cares if men live or die. Better to be silent than to call his attention to you; he will send you dooms, not fortune! He is grim and loveless, but at birth he breathes power to strive and slay into a man's soul. What else shall men ask of the gods?'
"'But what of the worlds beyond the river of death?' she persisted.
"'There is no hope here or hereafter in the cult of my people,' answered Conan. 'In this world men struggle and suffer vainly, finding pleasure only in the bright madness of battle; dying, their souls enter a gray, misty realm of clouds and icy winds, to wander cheerlessly throughout eternity.'
"Belit shuddered. 'Life, bad as it is, is better than such a destiny. What do you believe, Conan?'
"He shrugged his shoulders. 'I have known many gods. He who denies them is as blind as he who trusts them too deeply. I seek not beyond death. It may be the blackness averred by the Nemedian skeptics, or Crom's realm of ice and cloud, or the snowy plans and vaulted hall of the Norheimer's Valhalla. I know not, nor do I care. Let me live deep while I live; let me know the rich juices of red meat and stinging wine on my palate, the hot embrace of white arms, the mad exultation of battle when the blue blades flame and crimson, and I am content. Let teachers and priests and philosophers brood over questions of reality and illusion. I know this: if life is illusion, then I am no less an illusion, and being thus, the illusion is real to me. I live, I burn with life, I love, I slay, and am content.'" pp. 96-98

Robert E. Howard, who wrote the original Conan stories in the 1930s, committed suicide at age 30. How sad for him and for his readers, because Howard was an intuitive story-teller who channeled the great archetypes. Crom knows how many more marvelous stories he might have given us had he not chosen to check-out early.
This volume contains three of his stories, heavily edited. The rest is basically fanfic. The series, copyright 1969, is how most Boomers were introduced to Conan.

For original, unedited Robert E. Howard stories, go to the more recently published 3 volume series collected by Mark Schultz: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Olethros · Rating 3 out of 5]

-Más relatos del personaje icónico.-

Género. Narrativa fantástica.

Lo que nos cuenta. Continuación del intento de ofrecer los relatos del personaje en el orden cronológico de su “vida”, empezando en su viaje hacia el este como mercenario de Turán y terminado en Kush. Algunos relatos son de sucesores por completo, otros han sido completados desde borradores del creador y alguno se llegó a publicar en los años treinta en vida de Howard.

¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:

http://www.librosdeolethros.blogspot....

[Kione · Rating 5 out of 5]

Robert E Howard rocked hard.

The godfather of sword and sorcery.
No crap. No bullshit.
If you like Feist, Goodkind, Martin or any thing like that.
Then you might not like anything by Howard.
In other words.
No wussies!

[Valerie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Typical Conan - monsters, sorcery, women, treasure, swordfights...gotta love it!

[Mike (the Paladin) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the Lancer Conans. Some of you will hate them because they are not only NOT the pure Howard stories, but they also include stories made from notes and pastiches by other authors. I enjoyed them, maybe not so much as the pure Howard stories, but they are good. I don't have all of them anymore and they are hard to find...if you can find them they are worth a try. Wish someone would reissue them.

[Bobby Bermea · Rating 4 out of 5]

These books are difficult to get next to because of the additions by L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter. What they were attempting was fun and worthwhile but just not as good as the muscular dynamism of Howard's prose. Why four stars then? Because there are three of Howard's stories in here and they are still wonderful. I gave this book four stars on the strength of Queen of the Black Coast and The Frost Giant's Daughter alone.

[Ron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hard to beat the original Conan. The character never dies... Conan is forever.

[Phil Overeem · Rating 4 out of 5]

From 5th to 8th grade, I was deeply involved in Howard's Conan series. I traded 'em away for comics pretty much immediately after reading each, but found one at a flea market a year or so ago. Now I am deeply disturbed that I was weaned on them--but they are still cool. If you enjoyed the Conan experience, you might want to rent The Whole Wide World which tells the story of the young Robert Howard.

[Pembroke Sinclair · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listened to this collection of short stories as an audio book and really enjoyed them. I've always enjoyed the Conan films, and the stories aren't any different. Full of action and adventure, they are fantastic!

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

The jewel in the crown of this collection is most definitely "Queen of the Black Coast". The rest are ok and of varying quality.

[Philip Athans · Rating 5 out of 5]

Conan rules!

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was 21 when I first came across these novels. I devoured the first ten in the series in short order. A classic and one of the all time greats. Even the ones that weren't completely Howard's words.

[Mark Hartzer · Rating 3 out of 5]

"First there was the blackness of an utter void, with the cold winds of cosmic space blowing through it. Then shapes, vague, monstrous, and evanescent, rolled in dim panorama through the expanse of nothingness, as if the darkness were taking material form. The winds blew and a vortex formed, a whirling pyramid of roaring blackness. From it grew Shape and Dimension; then suddenly, like clouds dispersing, the darkness rolled away on either hand and a huge city of dark green stone rose on the bank of a wide river, flowing through an illimitable plain. Through this city moved beings of alien configuration."

The above quote is from "Queen of the Black Coast", written by Mr. Howard in May of 1934. This is every bit as good as H.P. Lovecraft. Unfortunately, the writing is often spoiled by the outright racist outlook in many of the stories. Case in point; the title of the above story does not refer to the color of the forest/jungle, but rather the inhabitants. It gets frequently worse.

Nevertheless, this is Conan!, by Crom.

"The rising half moon shone on and through an amorphous thing, which squatted obscenely on the summit of the column. It was like a huge lump of quivering semi-translucent jelly - and it lived. Throbbing, bloated life pulsed within it. The moonlight glistened wetly upon it as it beat like a huge living heart. As Conan watched in horror, the thing sent a trickle of jelly down the shaft toward his constrained body..."

[Leothefox · Rating 3 out of 5]

Up until now I'd primarily read Howard's original and restored Conan stories, without the contribution of others. I'd seen remarks from purists about other versions basically being bastardizations of the creators work, which naturally made me curious. I recall my brother beginning to read these expanded Ace editions back when I was beginning to read Edgar Rice Burroughs (that's 18 years ago, if it matters) and I always sort of assumed these were in novel form...

So, there is good news along with the bad. L. Sprague de Camp is pretty decent at finishing or Conan-izing a Robert E. Howard story, and he freely admits the process in his prologue. There are three unmolested original Conan stories presented here, including the iconic “Queen of the Black Coast”.

Sadly, there are 8 stories in total, only 5 of which have any actual Howard in them. Howard's own “The Vale of Lost Women” is among the weaker genuine Conan stories, ramping up nicely in a promising setup, only to essentially plunge off a cliff at the last minute.

In the 3 new stories I very much felt the influence of Lin Carter as there is a marked tendency to shy away from danger and incident in general and to rush unsatisfactory solutions rather than push the Conan-isms that would make for good reading. “The Curse of the Monolith” does briefly imperil our hero, but that's roughly all it does. I can almost hear the de Camp and Carter conversation that birthed that one:

de Camp: “Howard did that Black Stone story that time. Why don't we do a Conan thing with a black monolith in it?”

Carter: “Oooo! Can it be a big magnet? Conan can get stuck to it!”

de Camp: “I don't know, Conan doesn't usually have too much armor on, plus there oughta be something magical in there...”

Carter: “We can put in a gooey monster! Not too much violence, though, I just couldn't stand it!”

Later on there's also “The Castle of Terror” which has the reliable idea of Conan ending up in creepy ruins full of ghosts. I'd imagine the idea came from similar scene in Howard's “Almuric”. Some Stygians show up and somehow everybody just shrugs and quits the stage without much happening. You'd think they could have thrown a woman onto an altar or had an ape-creature burst through the wall or something, but what does occur is essentially the brain-child of a writer who would rather keep his heroes safe and warm.

“The Lair of the Ice Worm” is another monster-based piece that adds little to Conan's legend, unless of course you were pining to see Conan get non-abstractly laid. In all those 30s stories you were pretty darn certain that Conan lay with the wenches he encountered, but now you can see that lingering doubt swept away in a disposable damsel's “cries of passion”. This tale is another underperformer in the adventure department.

“The Snout in the Dark” is more successful, building on an unfinished and untitled draft by the master himself. It plays on that well worn theme of plotters in a kingdom (in this case, Kush) who didn't count on Conan's intervention. That one's got the monster, attractive yet tyrannical queen, wizard, public torture, secondary love-interest, flogging, and a solid fight scene. “The Bloodstained God” is de Camp successfully re-working a different Howard tale into a Conan, so there was little that could go wrong.

Odds are you've already read “The Frost Giant's Daughter”, so I'll just mention that it's here.

Robert E. Howard was a genius in his form. He attacked his stories with an earnestness and fury that made a reader believe in the reality and intensity of the Hyborian Age and Conan because Howard believed in it himself. Carter and de Camp cannot pretend to be true believers, just like Robert Jordan couldn't. For some reason Howard, the misfit small town poet, had the fire in him to write in a way that the rest of us softened civilized types could never hope to equal.

I do intend to read further in de Camp and Carter's bastardized series, mostly because I already own them and I have my own morbid curiosity to drive me.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

The continuing adventures of Robert Howard's legendary character Conan the Barbarian, as presented by messrs. L. Sprague deCamp and Lin Carter. Conan of Cimmeria features seven Conan short stories, but only three of them are among Howard's original 21. The other four are all either pastiches by DeCamp and Carter, or Howard stories originally featuring lesser-known characters that DeCamp took and re-wrote as Conan stories. The result is a book of wildly varying quality from one story to the next. The undisputed highlight of this volume is "Queen of the Black Coast," which is widely hailed as of Howard's very best Conan adventures. This book, as well as all others in the DeCamp/Carter paperback series, are long out of print, but fortunately we can now get our hands on the true and unedited Robert Howard originals. All three of Howard's stories in this book are collected in "The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian."

[Jacob · Rating 3 out of 5]

Still 3 stars. Better than the first Conan. Little more nuanced, stories longer, settings more varied. As I mentioned in my review of the first book, the writing is not nearly as bad as I feared it would be and the pre-history Pangea truly is a stroke of genius. I liked the "Queen of the Black Coast", "The Castle of Terror", and "The Snout in the Dark". Supernatural in ancient ruins is a tried and true staple of Mr. Howard which the first two employ. I wish "Queen of the Black Coast" had been longer, because it involved Conan in a more serious relationship and a deeper look at his wider abilities and growth of his legend. The last story I picked out, brought in political intrigue to a greater degree than we've seen before and had more of a ring of truth to it than some of the other stories. At any rate, still reserving judgement on the whole series but more than I expected so far. Solid 3.5 stars again.

[Kyle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boy this book is fun but hard to recommend! It's like junk food if instead of having fat and oil in it, it had buckets full of hardcore **RACISM**.

All the stuff that Conan is famous and beloved for is here, swords meeting many men's necks, the ruins of ancient civilizaitons where men played with evil gods and also buxom babes (that's also kind of a yikes for me but a selling point maybe for others).

But this particular volume sadly takes place mostly in the southern reaches of Hyboria (sans one Valhein seciton and a few others) and that's where the racism gets so thick you can't wade through it. There's gotta be better Conan collections out there than this to start with.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Conan with his incredible physical ability, natural leadership, and primitive goodness stalks across a vividly painted world, meeting conniving nobles, ancient evils, and sparsely clad women. Another book from the cache in grandpa's attic that I recently reread - I am coming to see more clearly where the warps in my world view appeared.

[Peregrine 12 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yeah, this is one of the classics of early fantasy. Who doesn't love stories about barbarians chasing the ice giant's daughter through the snow in a fit of lust and rage? Unleash your inner teenage nerd!