Conan: The Hour of the Dragon by Robert E. Howard (Unexpurgated Edition)

by Robert E. Howard

This Halcyon Classics ebook contains the only Robert Howard novel published during his lifetime, 'The Hour of the Dragon,' which was republished in paperback as 'Conan the Conqueror' in 1967. In this epic, Conan fights to recover the throne of Aquilonia from Nemedian invaders aided by the Acheronian wizard Xaltoltun. This edition also includes 'The Hyborian Age,' a description of the times and lands that Conan was familiar with. Includes an active table of contents for easy navigation.

Genres: Fantasy, Adventure, Heroic Fantasy

210 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1935

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

[Little Timmy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent collection of the 8th year of Robert E. Howard's writing in weird Tales Magazine. Howard is my all time favorite writer, no one can write a more fast paced action story. Highly recommended

[Иван Иванов · Rating 5 out of 5]

Доста се мотах, докато го мина този том, просто защото съм чел и препрочитал "Часът на дракона" (публикуван също като "Конан завоевателя") много пъти. Все пак не исках да го прескачам, защото това е връх в творчеството на Хауърд и героичното фентъзи изобщо, и винаги ми е доставял удоволствие. Така стана и сега.
Това е също и най-мащабното произведение на Робърт Хауърд за Конан, както като обем, така и като размах, и въпреки че рециклира някои идеи от разказите, не ги копира буквално. Романът (или дълга новела?) е бил написан по поръчка на английско издателство, което обаче фалира, преди да го издаде, затова в крайна сметка е публикуван на части в "Уиърд тейлс", за съжаление посмъртно.
Няма смисъл да разказвам сюжета, ще кажа само, че тук Хиборийската ера най-после е разгърната в целия си блясък и е жив и дишащ фон на приключенията на Кимериеца. Задължително четиво за всеки, който поне малко се интересува от героично фентъзи!
В книгата е включено и есето на Хауърд "Хиборийската ера", написано първоначално от автора за собствена употреба, за да си избистри сътворения от него свят, но впоследствие превърнало се едва ли не в Библия за всички негови последователи и имитатори.
Не мога да дам друга оценка, освен отличен 5!

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

Howard's only Conan novel encompasses the bulk of this collection with his Hyborian Age history taking up the last bit of the book. _Hour of the Dragon_ is perhaps Howard's best Conan story containing all the elements that Howard fans love about the character and genre: epic battle scenes, an undead sorceror, conspiracies, a hairy beast, blood, plenty of violence, a damsel, and a "chase" scene that takes up most of the story itself. All of this adds up to a great Conan yarn that reads rather quickly.

[Zare · Rating 5 out of 5]

Conan is now king of Aquilonia. Although he brought freedom to the Aquilonians from the previous despot-king, nobles despise him and soon terrible and ancient evil is unleashed in order to kill Conan and install despot-king's heir upon the throne.

Fight for his very life will take Conan all the way to the lands of mysterious Stygia and then back to Aquilonia.

Great adventure novel, highly recommended.

[R.D. Villam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hari ini saya terjebak di jalanan Jakarta selama hampir 6 jam. Dengkul sampe sakit nginjek kopling, tapi sisi bagusnya, saya jadi bisa beresin baca ini (lagi) di tablet saya. :-D

Hours of the Dragon adalah buku terakhir dari serial Conan the Cimmerian a.k.a. Conan the Barbarian karya Robert E. Howard. Terbit tahun 1936, dan satu2nya yg berupa novel; cerita2 Conan sebelumnya berupa short story. Dan walau banyak orang bilang novelnya gak sekeren cerpen2nya, its still among the best. Long before Tolkien conquered the world, Howard already did.

Di sini Conan sudah menjadi raja di Aquilonia, namun gara2 kemunculan penyihir kegelapan yg kembali dibangunkan setelah dijadiin mumi selama ribuan tahun, pasukan Conan kalah perang dan ia harus kehilangan kerajaannya. Ia pun berkelana, kembali hidup dg gaya barbarnya yg keren seperti dulu, mencari cara untuk mendapatkan lagi tahtanya.

Ceritanya simpel, seru, page turner. Intinya, sekadarnya. Hehe. Maksudnya, sekadar pembuktian bahwa jika dirimu mau nyari yg terbaik, bacalah yg klasik. Dan bagi penggemar genre sword and sorcery, serial Conan the Barbarian is simply the best, a must read before you die (whether it by sword, by sorcery, or else). :-D

[Stuart Dean · Rating 4 out of 5]

King Conan is killed in battle and that puts him in a foul mood. Kings from countries bordering Aquilonia band together with a 3000 year old sorcerer(also dead) to kill Conan and seize his crown. This leads Conan on a world spanning quest to regain the heart of his kingdom, likely covering the most ground in any story to date. Conan meets a witch in the hills of Aquilonia, is killed again on his way to the coast, dies again at the seashore, and simply has an all around bad time of it. On the way we get the most introspection ever exhibited by a barbarian, as Conan's travels remind him of his days of brigandry and piracy and he wonders if being a king is really worth all the trouble.

There is a great deal of political intrigue in this story. Not by Conan, who needs to have it explained to him that leaving the kingdom with an heir is really important. But three kings, a priest, and a wizard all conspire against each other to form an empire. There is the usual swordplay, some impressive magic, and a real clash of armies battle scene. As usual several gorgeous women swoon at the idea of having sexy time with Conan, and he kills another snake and another gorilla. Possibly also he kills a man eating goblin, but that might have gotten away.

[Pablo Magnifico · Rating 4 out of 5]

It has a careless racism throughout, but that isn't integral to the story. A product of the society it was written in I supose. The story was good. It had me hooked.

[Eve Peets · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tis is a wonderful historical fantasy novel. Highly recommend

[Homer Young · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was not one of Howard's best efforts.

[Thom Brannan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will be the first to admit, I came into Conan and all his adventures by way of the 1982 Arnie movie, which I loved to pieces, and that led me to the books. My father had a set of paperbacks on his shelf, the series of Howard books which were edited and finished by L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter, you know the ones. I dove into those with gusto, but still didn't know (or care, I guess) that I wasn't getting Robert E. Howard in the raw.

Now, later in life, I am more conscious of what I'm reading, and I'm very happy to have read this book as my first new read of 2022. It's got everything I've come to look for in a sword and sorcery work, even if there are a few story-serving coincidences I could have done without. Robert E. Howard, in the words of Joe Lansdale, has got that story-tellin' mojo, and it's on display in spades in this, the only real Conan novel he wrote.

Now I'm off to watch Kull the Conqueror, which apparently has a plot loosely adapted from this book. Wish me luck.

[Amanda Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's good for what it was, I didn't realize when I first got it that it was Conan the Barbarian. It was ok, better than I was expecting but not something I would try again of my own will

[Joshua Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Howard's only novel-length story of Conan the Barbarian is probably his best work. 4.5/5

[Kyle]

Im just starting the book.