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Adventures of Conan
Conan The Hero
paperbound edition
288 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1989
1 person is currently reading
242 people want to read
About the author
Leonard Carpenter
51 books18 followersLeonard Paul Carpenter (born 1948) is an American technical writer and author of fantasy, historical and futurist fiction. He began by selling horror/fantasy tales and Conan the Barbarian sequels, eleven novels totaling a million words. This is more of the Conan saga than any other author living or dead, including Conan's inspired creator Robert E. Howard in the 1930's. Now Carpenter breaks out of sci-fantasy with his mainstream historical opus Lusitania Lost, a wartime epic of the sinking of the luxury liner in 1915 by a German U-boat, which ultimately caused the US to enter WWI. This is the first novelization of an event more dramatic and significant than the Titanic tragedy 3 years earlier. Carpenter has also written the screenplay adaptation of this book. Another novel of his, the future-history thriller Biohacker, is available on Amazon Kindle. Carpenter is the widowed survivor of a 50-year courtship and marriage, proud father of 3, and owner of a superstar Frisbee dog, Lizzie. He spends his time traveling and writing about a Cuban fantasy quest and real-life engagement in his just-published novel, Tropic of Cuba, now serialized on Kindle Vella at Amazon (first chapters free!)
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
July 1, 2022
This was Carpenter's fourth of eleven Conan pastiches. It's not much like Howard at all, but it is a pretty good fantasy adventure with perhaps just a bit too much political philosophy. I believe it re-imagines Conan as a character from the 1960's rather than the 1920's, which is an odd idea, but it works pretty well if you're inclined to take a sidewise look at it. You have analogs for Vietnam, hippies, and drugs. It's definitely different, but I thought it was done pretty well. The Ken Kelly cover is pretty good, but I always thought he should have showed Conan riding the elephant who brandishes weapons with his trunk, by Crom.
October 9, 2021
Conan goes to 'Nam. Turan's expedition into Venjipur, that is, but it's totally 'Nam. Complete with drugs, guerrillas, and protesting hippies.
I was going to say something about the suitability of a pec-bristling barbarian to make scathing observations about contemporary foreign policy, but then I remembered that Rambo was a thing, so whatever. Instead, taking the novel as-is, we see the same problems that plagued all of Carpenter's offerings so far. The plot has too many plotlines, none of them interesting or seemingly relevant. Conan blunders through them without purpose, and doesn't even play a key role in their resolution.
I was going to say something about the suitability of a pec-bristling barbarian to make scathing observations about contemporary foreign policy, but then I remembered that Rambo was a thing, so whatever. Instead, taking the novel as-is, we see the same problems that plagued all of Carpenter's offerings so far. The plot has too many plotlines, none of them interesting or seemingly relevant. Conan blunders through them without purpose, and doesn't even play a key role in their resolution.
January 3, 2022
De flesta Conan tenderar att vara förtäckta Brittiska-Imperiet-romaner. Denna är snarare en Vietnamkrigsskildring. Den höll inte riktigt, men var praktisk som omväxlingslitteratur.
September 19, 2023
Our hero enlists in the army of a distant country and his life becomes a great adventure, especially since this army is fighting in an inhospitable jungle. This of course means that the readers will encounter an exciting adventure, with a lot of action, but I think that to a large extent the author gets carried away and limits himself to this and that is not the best, even in such a book where the demands are not so high .
Ο ήρωας μας κατατάσσεται στο στρατό μιας μακρινής χώρας και η ζωή του γίνεται μία μεγάλη περιπέτεια, ειδικά από τη στιγμή που αυτός ο στρατός πολεμάει σε μία αφιλόξενη ζούγκλα. Αυτό φυσικά σημαίνει ότι οι αναγνώστες θα συναντήσουν μία συναρπαστική περιπέτεια, με πάρα πολύ δράση αλλά νομίζω ότι σε μεγάλο βαθμό ο συγγραφέας παρασύρεται και περιορίζεται μόνο σε αυτό και αυτό δεν είναι ότι καλύτερο, ακόμα και σε ένα τέτοιο βιβλίο όπου οι απαιτήσεις δεν είναι τόσο υψηλές.
Ο ήρωας μας κατατάσσεται στο στρατό μιας μακρινής χώρας και η ζωή του γίνεται μία μεγάλη περιπέτεια, ειδικά από τη στιγμή που αυτός ο στρατός πολεμάει σε μία αφιλόξενη ζούγκλα. Αυτό φυσικά σημαίνει ότι οι αναγνώστες θα συναντήσουν μία συναρπαστική περιπέτεια, με πάρα πολύ δράση αλλά νομίζω ότι σε μεγάλο βαθμό ο συγγραφέας παρασύρεται και περιορίζεται μόνο σε αυτό και αυτό δεν είναι ότι καλύτερο, ακόμα και σε ένα τέτοιο βιβλίο όπου οι απαιτήσεις δεν είναι τόσο υψηλές.
August 14, 2025
About 200 pages in, Conan gets into a food fight with some Eunuchs and aristocrats because a lady called him a murderer, then he murders the man she wanted him to meet, but it’s cool because they have sex in a fountain a few pages later when it’s revealed to her that dude deserved to be murdered after all.
November 22, 2020
Conan cuts a bloody swath through his enemies from the steaming jungles of Venji to the imperial palace of Aghrapur. As a soldier on the frontlines he quickly rises in rank and esteem as he seemingly singlehandedly pulls victory from the jaws of defeat time after time. When the emperor decides to make Conan a hero of the kingdom he becomes the target of generals and conjurers who have plots of their own against the throne.
October 21, 2017
Over the course of three months, I read every Conan story Robert E. Howard wrote, watched all three Conan movies, and read twelve Conan pastiches. Reading Robert E. Howard’s original work was a revelation. I would much rather go back and read Howard’s other work than dive back into the Conan pastiches, though I eventually will.
Leonard Carpenter wrote the most Conan pastiches of any of the Tor authors. I’ve only read one of his eleven Conan novels. Carpenter didn’t write many other novels, but he did write poetry, and what looks like a lot of short fiction.
Carpenter introduces Conan in Conan the Hero rising from slimy water into a steaming jungle, skin striped with “muddy tones of lampblack and umber.” If that sounds kind of awesome and kind of like Rambo, well, yeah. Conan the Hero is a good book, but it suffers from being as influenced by the 1980s American drug epidemic, the Soviet-Afghan War, and, most of all, Vietnam as it is by Robert E. Howard’s Conan stories.
Conan starts the book fighting in the Turan army far, far to the east. They are fighting against tribesmen in what is an obvious Southeast Asia analogue. The desert natives struggle to operate in humid jungles that elephants are better suited to than horses (Carpenter does some cool worldbuilding with the elephants by the way). Soldiers spend their leave in a city of the locals on their side that is run by a cruel drug lord. Meanwhile, political machinations are afoot back in Aghrapur, but as usual the story isn’t nearly as interesting when Conan is offscreen. In this book, it is not so much a barbarian-civilization clash as the inevitable failure of overstretched imperialism.
“On every side, ladies, are barbarous hordes who eagerly await a first sign of our weakness, the smallest chink in our imperial menace, have been overrun—their cities broken, their temples profaned, their thrones and alters besquatted by vile, hairy hides! If we do not keep up unrelenting pressure against this external threat, why, even the sacred virtue of Turanian womanhood will be imperiled—”
I like this book, but it really suffers from the amount of contemporary influence that Carpenter allows to seep into it. It isn’t quite so relevant today, and it detracts from the story as a Conan story. But while I definitely put Carpenter a tier down from Robert Jordan and John Maddox Roberts, his work is better than that of Steve Perry or Roland Green, and I will eventually get around to reading the other Carpenter Conan book I own.
Leonard Carpenter wrote the most Conan pastiches of any of the Tor authors. I’ve only read one of his eleven Conan novels. Carpenter didn’t write many other novels, but he did write poetry, and what looks like a lot of short fiction.
Carpenter introduces Conan in Conan the Hero rising from slimy water into a steaming jungle, skin striped with “muddy tones of lampblack and umber.” If that sounds kind of awesome and kind of like Rambo, well, yeah. Conan the Hero is a good book, but it suffers from being as influenced by the 1980s American drug epidemic, the Soviet-Afghan War, and, most of all, Vietnam as it is by Robert E. Howard’s Conan stories.
Conan starts the book fighting in the Turan army far, far to the east. They are fighting against tribesmen in what is an obvious Southeast Asia analogue. The desert natives struggle to operate in humid jungles that elephants are better suited to than horses (Carpenter does some cool worldbuilding with the elephants by the way). Soldiers spend their leave in a city of the locals on their side that is run by a cruel drug lord. Meanwhile, political machinations are afoot back in Aghrapur, but as usual the story isn’t nearly as interesting when Conan is offscreen. In this book, it is not so much a barbarian-civilization clash as the inevitable failure of overstretched imperialism.
“On every side, ladies, are barbarous hordes who eagerly await a first sign of our weakness, the smallest chink in our imperial menace, have been overrun—their cities broken, their temples profaned, their thrones and alters besquatted by vile, hairy hides! If we do not keep up unrelenting pressure against this external threat, why, even the sacred virtue of Turanian womanhood will be imperiled—”
I like this book, but it really suffers from the amount of contemporary influence that Carpenter allows to seep into it. It isn’t quite so relevant today, and it detracts from the story as a Conan story. But while I definitely put Carpenter a tier down from Robert Jordan and John Maddox Roberts, his work is better than that of Steve Perry or Roland Green, and I will eventually get around to reading the other Carpenter Conan book I own.
April 17, 2022
This one was a dud, unfortunately. I've seen people say that Leonard Carpenter seemed to get bored writing Conan stories after his first two pastiches, and I'm beginning to see why. I loved Conan the Renegade and Conan the Raider... but Conan the Warlord felt uninspired, and Conan the Hero just wasn't Conan at all.
What you have here is Carpenter writing an anti-Vietnam War novel. He used the name of Conan to get it published and reach an audience, but make no mistake; it isn't a Conan book. The story, plot, and events are a mess. You can clearly see Carpenter trying to juggle what he WANTS to write with what he SHOULD write to make this pass for a Conan book, and it doesn't work. The story doesn't even feel like it's happening in the Hyborian Age; it's just war in Vietnam, only in a different time with a few names changed, and with swords and elephants instead of tanks and guns.
And honestly, this really rubbed me the wrong way. If Carpenter wanted to write an anti-Vietnam War novel, then he could do that... but writing and releasing it DISGUISED as a Conan book is massively disrespectful to Robert E. Howard, and to the fans who picked up this book wanting a Conan pastiche.
All that aside, Conan the Hero was also just... dull. For most of the book, it was obvious Carpenter was just trying to reach the necessary page count to get it published. The political ramblings were both agonisingly boring and excruciating drawn out, with every piece of dialogue forcefully stretched into a flowery ten-line monologue when only a single line was needed. Hell, at one point we spend twenty pages reading about Conan taking a bath in a river then joining a parade. This isn't what people read Conan for.
Now don't get me wrong, there were some good moments. Conan riding a war elephant wielding a huge battle axe in its trunk was great fun, for example... but for every good moment, there were multiple time-wasting filler chapters that were a struggle to get read. I'll be generous and give this book two stars for the few parts I enjoyed... but this was a let down, and my trust in Carpenter to deliver a solid Conan pastiche has dropped dramatically after this one.
What you have here is Carpenter writing an anti-Vietnam War novel. He used the name of Conan to get it published and reach an audience, but make no mistake; it isn't a Conan book. The story, plot, and events are a mess. You can clearly see Carpenter trying to juggle what he WANTS to write with what he SHOULD write to make this pass for a Conan book, and it doesn't work. The story doesn't even feel like it's happening in the Hyborian Age; it's just war in Vietnam, only in a different time with a few names changed, and with swords and elephants instead of tanks and guns.
And honestly, this really rubbed me the wrong way. If Carpenter wanted to write an anti-Vietnam War novel, then he could do that... but writing and releasing it DISGUISED as a Conan book is massively disrespectful to Robert E. Howard, and to the fans who picked up this book wanting a Conan pastiche.
All that aside, Conan the Hero was also just... dull. For most of the book, it was obvious Carpenter was just trying to reach the necessary page count to get it published. The political ramblings were both agonisingly boring and excruciating drawn out, with every piece of dialogue forcefully stretched into a flowery ten-line monologue when only a single line was needed. Hell, at one point we spend twenty pages reading about Conan taking a bath in a river then joining a parade. This isn't what people read Conan for.
Now don't get me wrong, there were some good moments. Conan riding a war elephant wielding a huge battle axe in its trunk was great fun, for example... but for every good moment, there were multiple time-wasting filler chapters that were a struggle to get read. I'll be generous and give this book two stars for the few parts I enjoyed... but this was a let down, and my trust in Carpenter to deliver a solid Conan pastiche has dropped dramatically after this one.
October 15, 2018
An anti-war novel, complete with activists, oppressive invaders, jungle fighting insurgents, and protesters throwing things at homecoming troops and calling them baby killers. Not a good fit for a Conan novel. There are two parts to the story contemporaneously. The Conan part is the normal Conan part, where he has signed up with Turan to fight in their invasion of Venjipur and leads troops into battle and is badly misled by his superiors. The political part involves the court of Agriphur and the intrigues of generals, eunuchs, and seers against the king. They literally watch Conan from afar and the King decides this barbarian would make a nice token hero to parade through the capital. Then they talk a lot about politics. A whole lot of talking. Meanwhile Conan deals with enemies within and without the military, who are at the same time ingenious and inept, is trapped in a devilish maze which someone forgot to lock the exit, and talks politics with his friend Juma.
There are some good parts, I especially like the battle of mages, but Conan spends too much time in his sick bed and the arguments in the palace grew tiresome.
There are some good parts, I especially like the battle of mages, but Conan spends too much time in his sick bed and the arguments in the palace grew tiresome.
June 11, 2021
I've heard of military science fiction, the first third of this book could be military fantasy. Conan and Juma (from de Camp and Carter's The City of Skulls) are channeling Gustav Hasford's The Short Timers (the basis for Full Metal Jacket) and fighting a Hyborian version of the Vietnam War. Kinda gimmicky, kinda cool. Anyway there is a lot of frenetic action until the middle section where Conan gets forcefully hooked on drugs. This section slogs with fever dreams and some weird-ass metaphysical stuff about elephants. The novel whips back into shape when Conan and Juma are brought to the capital of Turan as heroes. Conan meets Jane Fonda, there is a food fight, the tree from The King and the Oak strangles scores of people and the king decides Vietnam is a bad war and wants peace. Conan returns to 'Nam and learns he had been sleeping with Ho Chi Mihn's daughter.
May 18, 2025
At just 19, Conan is serving in the Turan army, though they are far afield in the jungles of Venji. Juma is also present and the two have risen to the rank of sergeant. The war is not going well for various reasons. A lack of good leadership from the Turan nobles in the ranks, and corruption running high in the Turan court.
Conan makes a name for himself and the king takes notice of him during a scrying by the court magician. With the war floundering, and the people of Turan becoming restless (due to the machinations of the supreme general and the court eunuchs) the king decides he needs a hero to decorate to rally everyone. But plotters want to prevent the ceremony so they constantly plot to put Conan in harms way.
Conan makes a name for himself and the king takes notice of him during a scrying by the court magician. With the war floundering, and the people of Turan becoming restless (due to the machinations of the supreme general and the court eunuchs) the king decides he needs a hero to decorate to rally everyone. But plotters want to prevent the ceremony so they constantly plot to put Conan in harms way.
April 19, 2023
So the thing about this one that stuck out to me like a sore thumb, was the Vietnam allegory. The jungle, the morale of the troops and the empire back home. Conan being used for propaganda purposes and even a type of magic that works as satellite imagery.
I was slightly surprised in the moment how the final confrontation went down, but it all worked well together. Not my favorite Conan book, but not a bad one by any means. If you were new to Conan, and started here, I don't think that would be so bad.
I was slightly surprised in the moment how the final confrontation went down, but it all worked well together. Not my favorite Conan book, but not a bad one by any means. If you were new to Conan, and started here, I don't think that would be so bad.
February 18, 2023
I almost lost hope on the conan series with not so good authors trying their hand at writing the cimmeria. Leonard Carpenter has done an amazing job capturing the fighting skill and intelligence that a lot of writers leave out of the Conan books. I hope to find more from this writer and, look forward to for the first time in a while for the next Conan book.
January 19, 2026
As Conan books go, this isn’t a bad adventure. But the character is so diluted from the original version created by Robert E. Howard in 1932, that it is really only Conan in name. The Marvel Comics version, which ran from October 1970 through December of 1993, is my introduction to the character, and my favorite version.
January 4, 2019
Good escapist fare.
November 12, 2022
no ups and downs in the mood of the story.
August 21, 2017
When using a character created by another author it’s important to be as faithful to that original character’s personality and traits as possible. Other post-Howard writers, like Sprague de Camp, have done a reasonable job of making Conan authentic. Nobody’s ever hit the mark like Howard, of course, but Leonard Carpenter is off target here.
At times Conan sounds like a confused high school boy, or like he’s suffering with teenage angst, which is hardly fitting for a barbarian. In this novel Conan’s aged 19 yet we’ve met him younger than this and he’s never had the emotional issues that he suffers with in “Conan the Hero”.
As for the story, I found it good in parts, but on the whole it didn’t hold my interest.
Style-wise, the author has a habit of overusing adjectives, often using two to describe a noun, resulting in clunky sentences. He also relies on “then” too much, which is a lame way to tell the reader what happens next.
At times Conan sounds like a confused high school boy, or like he’s suffering with teenage angst, which is hardly fitting for a barbarian. In this novel Conan’s aged 19 yet we’ve met him younger than this and he’s never had the emotional issues that he suffers with in “Conan the Hero”.
As for the story, I found it good in parts, but on the whole it didn’t hold my interest.
Style-wise, the author has a habit of overusing adjectives, often using two to describe a noun, resulting in clunky sentences. He also relies on “then” too much, which is a lame way to tell the reader what happens next.
October 22, 2021
Sice to není jak od Roberta Ervina Howarda ale postava Conana byla dobře zpracována.
February 9, 2011
AWESOME! REMINISCENT, IN MY OPINION ,OF THE VIET NAM WAR.
October 28, 2015
I love all books Conan. This one was no exception. If you're a fan of the big guy take this epic adventure for a spin. I only wished they still came out with Conan novels.
January 4, 2009
Conan pastiche
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews