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Adventures of Conan
Conan The Free Lance
Fate tosses the dice for Conan of Cimmeria, and they come up...death. Dimma, the Mist Mage, knows nothing of the muscular Cimmerian, but the vile necromancer's plans require his death. Thayla, beautiful Queen of the Pili, would rather take Conan to her bed, but her own plots mean he must die. The sorcerous changeling Kleg wasn't only to do his master's bidding, but Conan stands in his way. Even the lovely Cheen will let nothing stop her from recovering the sacred Talisman of her people.
The game is deadly, the stakes are life, but whatever the risks, Conan of Cimmeria will play until the final toss.
The game is deadly, the stakes are life, but whatever the risks, Conan of Cimmeria will play until the final toss.
288 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published February 15, 1990
4 people are currently reading
265 people want to read
About the author
Steve Perry
310 books363 followersLibrarians note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Steven Carl Perry has written over fifty novels and numerous short stories, which have appeared in various magazines and anthologies. Perry is perhaps best known for the Matador series. He has written books in the Star Wars, Alien and Conan universes. He was a collaborator on all of the Tom Clancy's Net Force series, seven of which have appeared on the New York Times Bestseller list. Two of his novelizations, Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire and Men in Black have also been bestsellers. Other writing credits include articles, reviews, and essays, animated teleplays, and some unproduced movie scripts. One of his scripts for Batman: The Animated Series was an Emmy Award nominee for Outstanding Writing.
Perry is a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, The Animation Guild, and the Writers Guild of America, West
Steven Carl Perry has written over fifty novels and numerous short stories, which have appeared in various magazines and anthologies. Perry is perhaps best known for the Matador series. He has written books in the Star Wars, Alien and Conan universes. He was a collaborator on all of the Tom Clancy's Net Force series, seven of which have appeared on the New York Times Bestseller list. Two of his novelizations, Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire and Men in Black have also been bestsellers. Other writing credits include articles, reviews, and essays, animated teleplays, and some unproduced movie scripts. One of his scripts for Batman: The Animated Series was an Emmy Award nominee for Outstanding Writing.
Perry is a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, The Animation Guild, and the Writers Guild of America, West
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
June 9, 2022
This is a fine heroic fantasy/swords & sorcery adventure, but not a very good Conan pastiche. It has more of the feel of a particularly lusty D & D landscape than of Howard's Hyborian world, and the young protagonist would have been much more acceptable with a different name. It's a fun and action-packed story that Perry wrote before he became rich and famous for becoming Tom Clancy, and the story is told with a lot of enthusiasm; there's an acknowledgement page thanking George Reeves, Clayton Moore, Jock Mahoney, Duncan Renaldo, and Johnny Weissmuller for their indirect help in the writing, and then the story starts "Ten million years before the birth of the first man" on the next page. I thought it was a lot of fun, but don't look for much Howard among the selkies and lizard people; it has more of the feel of a zany Ron Goulart book.
March 28, 2025
Conan helps some folks that live in an incredibly large tree that is powered by a magical nut. The nut gets stolen by some fishy folks ruled by a sorcerer cursed with being made of mist. Some lizard folks get involved, Conan has sex with a sexy lady lizard, she starts her own quest to kill Conan so he doesn’t squeal to her King Lizard Hubby. There are monsters to slay. That pretty much sums it up.
It doesn’t feel like REH’s world. The Conan I pictured in my mind was not rendered by Big John or Frank Frazetta—I pictured Arnold, but not from Barbarian, nope, from Destroyer.
It doesn’t feel like REH’s world. The Conan I pictured in my mind was not rendered by Big John or Frank Frazetta—I pictured Arnold, but not from Barbarian, nope, from Destroyer.
September 20, 2020
This was another good Conan book. It had everything you’re looking for when you read one of these. it’s not groundbreaking it’s just good old fun in fantasy land. This is still definitely better than some of the others I’ve read but it doesn’t bring anything new to the table.
April 8, 2017
The picture of the shark monste on the cover was the best part of this book. recommended read for anyone who loves train wrecks
March 28, 2021
Denna har så hiskeligt dålig prosa och karaktärisering att jag övergav den. Undvik den.
September 7, 2015
Conan for "Young Adults". Perhaps this would make a good fantasy book, but it made a terrible Conan book. The world of Conan is a gritty dark place and it's something that Steve Perry just didn't portray. Perry handles everything in a very adolescent way - some cartoony deaths, the way he handles implied sex, and perhaps one of the simplest Conan stories of them all.
Perhaps Perry did this on purpose since this is suppose to be one of Conan's first adventures. For those who know the timeline this takes place before Conan becomes a famous thief but after he received his unique famous sword.
Another thing that shows Perry's lack of the world of Conan is evident in it's inhabitants. Robert E. Howard portrays the world to be occupied by humans, beasts, and demons. There are rarely any sentient humanoids to occupy this world. Yet Perry tosses in whole civilizations of fish and lizard people. It just doesn't fit in with the mythos that Howard set up. To make matters worse it the fact that Perry attempts to portray the queen of the lizards as a very sexualized female.
This is officially the worst of the Conan books I've read thus far.
Perhaps Perry did this on purpose since this is suppose to be one of Conan's first adventures. For those who know the timeline this takes place before Conan becomes a famous thief but after he received his unique famous sword.
Another thing that shows Perry's lack of the world of Conan is evident in it's inhabitants. Robert E. Howard portrays the world to be occupied by humans, beasts, and demons. There are rarely any sentient humanoids to occupy this world. Yet Perry tosses in whole civilizations of fish and lizard people. It just doesn't fit in with the mythos that Howard set up. To make matters worse it the fact that Perry attempts to portray the queen of the lizards as a very sexualized female.
This is officially the worst of the Conan books I've read thus far.
February 3, 2013
Better than the last book, Conan the Indomitable, although there were some moments shared between the two.
One thing about Steve Perry's Conan novels I enjoy is the sharing of viewpoints between the characters. This novel wasn't as confusing as the last, and some of the characters were genuinely likeable. Conan also shined more in this novel than the last.
One thing about Steve Perry's Conan novels I enjoy is the sharing of viewpoints between the characters. This novel wasn't as confusing as the last, and some of the characters were genuinely likeable. Conan also shined more in this novel than the last.
July 3, 2018
Another "chase" novel by Steve Perry. This time Conan is one of the hunters instead of being hunted, but it's still several different groups chasing after a guy with a centuries old magician trying to get one last doodad to take over the world. Conan continues his interminable quest to get to Shadizar to begin his life as a professional thief, and is once again sidetracked by a beautiful woman. He saves the life of a sexy muscular wench and is invited to spend some time with her people. She is one of the tree people living in a city high in the trees and, after a brief battle with Crom, is present when their most valued talisman is stolen. Conan agrees to help them get it back and thus the chase is on.
Their quarry is one of the selkies, working for the Mist Mage who needs the talisman so he can demystify and become solid once again and torture-kill everything within 1000 miles. Conan follows the selkie and meets up with the Queen of the lizard people. A group of tree people follow the selkie, the King of the lizardmen follow the selkie, a group of tree people with Conan follow the first group of tree people, the Queen follows Conan, and the Mist Mage sends a monster to fetch the selkie. One begins to feel for the poor old selkie just trying to do his job without getting killed.
Conan fights selkies, lizardmen, their lizard-dogs, a giant spider, mermaids, and an electric eel. So much death and destruction follows Conan in this novel that it reminds me of Groo the Wanderer. An entire town and possibly two entire races are rendered extinct before he is through. It's a decent read with tons of action, and Conan proves himself to be, depending how you look at it, either devoid of racial bigotry of simply uncontrollably horny by having sex with a bald, blue skinned lizard.
Their quarry is one of the selkies, working for the Mist Mage who needs the talisman so he can demystify and become solid once again and torture-kill everything within 1000 miles. Conan follows the selkie and meets up with the Queen of the lizard people. A group of tree people follow the selkie, the King of the lizardmen follow the selkie, a group of tree people with Conan follow the first group of tree people, the Queen follows Conan, and the Mist Mage sends a monster to fetch the selkie. One begins to feel for the poor old selkie just trying to do his job without getting killed.
Conan fights selkies, lizardmen, their lizard-dogs, a giant spider, mermaids, and an electric eel. So much death and destruction follows Conan in this novel that it reminds me of Groo the Wanderer. An entire town and possibly two entire races are rendered extinct before he is through. It's a decent read with tons of action, and Conan proves himself to be, depending how you look at it, either devoid of racial bigotry of simply uncontrollably horny by having sex with a bald, blue skinned lizard.
September 20, 2022
Another goofy instalment by Steve Perry. My thoughts on this book are basically exactly the same as Perry's previous pastiche, Conan the Indomitable - though I think I preferred that to this one, truth be told.
Though not a particularly good Conan story, this was again an enjoyable enough sword and sorcery book. The action is constant, the creatures and threats are as wacky as they are varied, and even though Conan the Free Lance is hardly well-written, it is a lot of easy fun. I raced through this one quickly, so I can safely say I was never bored at least.
Still, Perry's main flaw of having way too many storylines is as prevalent here as ever. Once again, rather than actually flesh out the main plot and make it more compelling, Perry opts to repeatedly flit back and forth between five or six separate barely-developed plots and two-dimensional characters, even when absolutely nothing of note is happening with most. This makes Conan one of many side characters rather than the central focus... and who wants that when reading a Conan book?
Perry also somehow gets Crom entirely wrong, describing him as "fond of jesting" with a sense of humour. Having Crom actually appear in a Conan pastiche is always a risky choice at best, but portraying him this inaccurately undoubtedly brings the book down a peg or two.
But even with such flaws, this was still a hoot to read. Like I've already said, Perry's Conan pastiches might be silly and hard to take seriously, but they're never duds. The last couple especially have felt more like unhinged Dungeons and Dragons campaigns than gritty sword and sorcery tales... but they kept me entertained. Conan the Free Lance is no different in that regard, and for that reason this book just about scrapes 3 stars from me!
Though not a particularly good Conan story, this was again an enjoyable enough sword and sorcery book. The action is constant, the creatures and threats are as wacky as they are varied, and even though Conan the Free Lance is hardly well-written, it is a lot of easy fun. I raced through this one quickly, so I can safely say I was never bored at least.
Still, Perry's main flaw of having way too many storylines is as prevalent here as ever. Once again, rather than actually flesh out the main plot and make it more compelling, Perry opts to repeatedly flit back and forth between five or six separate barely-developed plots and two-dimensional characters, even when absolutely nothing of note is happening with most. This makes Conan one of many side characters rather than the central focus... and who wants that when reading a Conan book?
Perry also somehow gets Crom entirely wrong, describing him as "fond of jesting" with a sense of humour. Having Crom actually appear in a Conan pastiche is always a risky choice at best, but portraying him this inaccurately undoubtedly brings the book down a peg or two.
But even with such flaws, this was still a hoot to read. Like I've already said, Perry's Conan pastiches might be silly and hard to take seriously, but they're never duds. The last couple especially have felt more like unhinged Dungeons and Dragons campaigns than gritty sword and sorcery tales... but they kept me entertained. Conan the Free Lance is no different in that regard, and for that reason this book just about scrapes 3 stars from me!
September 2, 2023
Our hero, after escaping another ambush, enjoys moments of peace among the tree people. His barbaric morality, however, compels him to help them against their enemies who threaten to destroy them. The rest I don't need to describe, they are known, wizards, monsters and lustful women, with the sword providing the solution. The problem is that these are done in fast forward, with the action being unstoppable and the author not spending much time on specific descriptions. Fun book but rushed.
Ο ήρωας μας, αφού ξεφύγει από άλλη μία ενέδρα, απολαμβάνει στιγμές ηρεμίας ανάμεσα στους ανθρώπους των δέντρων. Η βαρβαρική ηθική του, όμως, του επιβάλλει να τους βοηθήσει απέναντι στους εχθρούς τους που απειλούν να τους καταστρέψουν. Τα υπόλοιπα δεν χρειάζεται να τα περιγράψω, είναι γνωστά, μάγοι, τέρατα και γυναίκες λάγνες ερωτιάρες, με το σπαθί να δίνει την λύση. Το πρόβλημα ότι είναι ότι αυτά γίνονται σε fast forward, με τη δράση να είναι ασταμάτητη και το συγγραφέα να μην αναλώνεται σε ιδιαίτερες περιγραφές. Διασκεδαστικό βιβλίο αλλά βιαστικό.
Ο ήρωας μας, αφού ξεφύγει από άλλη μία ενέδρα, απολαμβάνει στιγμές ηρεμίας ανάμεσα στους ανθρώπους των δέντρων. Η βαρβαρική ηθική του, όμως, του επιβάλλει να τους βοηθήσει απέναντι στους εχθρούς τους που απειλούν να τους καταστρέψουν. Τα υπόλοιπα δεν χρειάζεται να τα περιγράψω, είναι γνωστά, μάγοι, τέρατα και γυναίκες λάγνες ερωτιάρες, με το σπαθί να δίνει την λύση. Το πρόβλημα ότι είναι ότι αυτά γίνονται σε fast forward, με τη δράση να είναι ασταμάτητη και το συγγραφέα να μην αναλώνεται σε ιδιαίτερες περιγραφές. Διασκεδαστικό βιβλίο αλλά βιαστικό.
April 5, 2019
Still, another train wreck. Too many creatures involved that are so unrealistic. I understand it is fantasy but enjoy the realism of Robert E. Howard's Conan stories. It is just to ridiculous seeing a creature in a tavern ordering drinks. WTH!!!
I am reading the Conan books in chronological order and these books take place when Conan is young and so just getting through these.
I am reading the Conan books in chronological order and these books take place when Conan is young and so just getting through these.
December 16, 2022
Jeden ze slabších Conanů. Tento autor píše hodně krátké kapitoly a příběhem přebíhá od jedné postavy k druhé až moc rychle. Je to zbytečně natahované a neustále se děj opakuje dokolečka aniž by se děj posunul kupředu. Příběh jako takový není špatný, ale to podání je katastrofa.
February 7, 2011
I'M A FAN OF THE CIMMERIAN ADVENTURES, BUT THIS ONE DID NOT MAKE IT.
November 7, 2011
So far so good, half naked warrior women, mist mages, and dragon men.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews