The Bloody Crown of Conan (Conan the Cimmerian, #2) in Sword & Sorcery: "An earthier sort of fantasy"

Sep 04, 2022 Joseph rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

[Standard disclaimer that Howard was writing for popular fiction magazines in the 1930s and some of his portrayals & descriptions of various minorities and ethnic groups were Not Cool]

This is a meaty collection -- only three stories, but they're all lengthy (including Hour of the Dragon, Howard's only full-length Conan novel). They also all operate on a relatively large scale, with Conan's role ranging from bandit chieftain to King of Aquilonia, and getting caught up in fate of nations-level eve [Standard disclaimer that Howard was writing for popular fiction magazines in the 1930s and some of his portrayals & descriptions of various minorities and ethnic groups were Not Cool]

This is a meaty collection -- only three stories, but they're all lengthy (including Hour of the Dragon, Howard's only full-length Conan novel). They also all operate on a relatively large scale, with Conan's role ranging from bandit chieftain to King of Aquilonia, and getting caught up in fate of nations-level events.

In order, we have:

People of the Black Circle -- The king of Vendhya is dying due to Blackest Sorcery(tm). Meanwhile, Conan, who's been leading a troop of bandits harassing the borders, is trying to arrange the release of seven of his chieftains who have been captured (so as to assuage their followers, who are part of his troop). Meanwhile meanwhile, the Black Circle (practitioners of the aforementioned Blackest Sorcery(tm)) have their own designs on the kingdom. Meanwhile meanwhile meanwhile, Yasmina, the now-late king's sister and ruling queen, finds herself first kidnapped by, then grudgingly allied with, Conan against the aforementioned sorcerers, who are not without their own internal divisions. All told in Howard's fast-paced, highly-readable prose.

Hour of the Dragon -- As mentioned, Howard's only full-length novel about Conan. At this point, Conan is king of Aquilonia, but there's (of course) trouble afoot -- an invasion from neighboring Nemedia, abetted by Blackest Sorcery(tm) (the conspirators have returned to life the sorcerer Xaltotun, thousands of years in his tomb, because that never backfires) leaves everybody convinced that Conan is dead, and he has to embark upon a continent-spanning journey to retake his throne.

A Witch Shall Be Born -- Earlier in his career, Conan is captain of the guard for Queen Taramis of Khauran when she is overthrown by Blackest Sorcery(tm) (see a theme here?). After a particularly memorable incident involving crucifixion and a vulture, Conan finds himself "rescued" by one Olgerd Vladislav, leader of a group of Kozaks who might, or might not, have better things to do than to help Conan rescue Taramis and return her to her proper throne.

As with all of the Del Rey Howard collections, this one closes with an assortment of Howard's drafts and fragments, includes a nice introduction (from Rusty Burke) to put the stories in context within Howard's life and career, and (at least in the print edition) has lovely illustrations from Gary Gianni.

I'm not sure if this is the first collection of Howard's Conan stories that I'd recommend to someone -- they're all a bit tonally similar, lacking the sort of freewheeling adventure you'd find in, e.g., Tower of the Elephant or Queen of the Black Coast or Red Nails -- but they're all great stories nonetheless. ...more

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Oct 18, 2022 Jason Waltz rated it it was amazing

Shelves: keeper, own, awesome-characters, heroic, series, s-s, fantastical, collections, favorite-authors, conan

Thrilling adrenaline pumping reading! First time I've ever said that a padded & repetitive novel packs a wallop with its main character: Conan leaps off the page, actually makes the book heavier and thicker and meatier at every appearance. His passion, menace, and flashing blue eyes literally can be felt, sensed and believed in. Fun, fun read! ...more

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