Customer Reviews

Conan 01

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Besides Robert E. Howard's suicide at the age of 30, the greatest tragedy of this brutally talented writer is that his work has not enjoyed the literary praise and societal acceptance that it so clearly deserves. Howard is one of the most overlooked authors of the last century, in part due to academia's refusal to seriously study the Fantasy genre. Conan, Howard's greatest character, lives, prowls, "wenches", boozes, adventures, and cajoles among the paperback pages of this first Conan book, due entirely to Howard's distinct narrative voice.

The reader feels the flexing muscle and sinew, the weathered and tanned skin, the animal reflexes, the very strength in Conan's mercenary grip when they read these short stories - beyond Howard's brilliance at character creation, the very narrative voice is written in the tune of savage ruthlessness. No matter your sex, you can't help but boil with testosterone and reel in the wicked pleasure of cleaving cut-throats with a broadsword, because the simple and powerfully persuasive narrative voice places you in Conan's world. Howard's delicate and meticulous word choice not only provide the uniqueness of his voice - a style rich with texture, details, and cinematic imagery - but it also provides the barbarian lens by which we view his world.

The stories are often dripping with blood, but the imagery is so vivid and artistic it in no way diminishes the quality of the text. The knocked out teeth and the crimson sprays seem natural, because they're natural to Conan. Few authors have ever displayed such a profound ability at placing the reader into a character's blood, brain, and hormones. Conan, after all, is not the stereotypical Hollywood action hero - he is a character designed with his own unique combination of strength and flaws. Flaws found in all humanity. He may be built and wired like a Siberian tiger, but he is plagued with a deeply embedded fear of the supernatural. His temper often gets the better of him. When times are good and the riches spill from his saddlebags, he's a boastful braggart that earns the unforeseen whack at the end of a dark alley. When times are tough, he hits the goblet. He's everything we want to be and one of us when we need him to be.

Howard's voice and style make all of this possible. This first book in the Conan series displays that voice of reluctant role model as good as any other. Finding a copy may be difficult, but for the reader that enjoys Fantasy written at the depth and quality of literary genre fiction, the search and the expenditure will yield a bountiful harvest.

Robert E. Howard is truely the master of fantasy. This is the first installment of the conan saga. This book has the first eight short stories of Conans life written by Robert E. Howard and edited by L. Sprague De Camp and Lin Carter. These stories are fantastic well written swords & sorcery by the man who started the craze. The battles in the book are so vivid that you can feel the blood splashing your face as Conan cuts his enemy down. His emotions are so well written that you can feel Conans despair as he faces his greatest fears. Heck by the end of the book you miss the guy. This book has it all fights, drinks, booty, women, and high adventure. Conan was fun and entertaining to read I reccomend it to all swords & sorcery fans. If you like this book or are interested in more swords & sorcery then I reccomend these titles: the whole conan series, Brakk the Barbarian by John Jakes, Flashing Swords edited by Lin Carter(short stories), Swords and Deviltry by Fritz Leiber.

This is the first of the Lancer Books collection of Conan stories, which were edited for publication in 1966 by L. Sprague De Camp, a REH fan who had access to the estate of Howard's literary agent. De Camp 'completed' several Conan stories from outlines found after Howard's 1936 suicide. 2 of the stories included ("The Hall of the Dead" and "The Hand of Nergal") are 'completed' stories; they are fair pastiches of other REH adventures. Another 2 stories are by De Camp and fantasist Lin Carter ("The Thing in the Crypt" and "The City of Skulls".) I thought them pretty poor.

The original Howard tales, however, are superb stories and amoung the best of the Conan cycle. They are:

"The Tower of the Elephant", in which Conan follows a master thief into a mighty wizard's abode, and unleashes a supernatural revenge;

"The God in the Bowl", in which Conan burgles a museum and uncovers a supernatural revenge;

"Rogues in the House" is a clever combination of violence and intrigue as Conan is hired to assassinate a powerful priest;

And first and least, "The Hyborian Age", Howard's introduction to his hero's period and environment.

I love these Conan books and purchased this one to help complete the series I have (as I have a scatter of the volumes). The book came fast and in great condition.

I was 11 or so when my dad gave me this book. Conan captured my imagination and really got me reading. Howard can really captivate your imagination with his incredible scenes and combat. I read every Conan book as a child and those written by other authors as well. As an adult, I have different tastes now. But I will always remember my Conan stories.

This compilation contains :-

Howard's Letter to Miller

The Hyborian Age
Conan : The Thing In the Crypt
Conan : The Tower of the Elephant
Conan : The Hall of the Dead
Conan : The God In the Bowl
Conan : Rogues In the House
Conan : The Hand of Nergal
Conan : The City of Skulls


This is not a story as such, but an account of the fictional history of Howard's world through the ages, to the time of Kull and Atlantis down to the entitled time when Conan ran amok. Quite nicely done.

4 out of 5


The Thing in the Crypt

A young Conan has been fighting wolves, and they are still after him. He finds a door in a rock wall, but it leads him to an encounter with a skeletal mummy thing. He learns why DnD clerics use maces against the undead, and manages to get out of there.

3 out of 5


The Tower of the Elephant

Conan is in thieving mode here. In a tavern, he is asking the assembled crowd of nogoodniks why no-one has stolen a famous jewel from this tower.

They tell him because it is guarded by some very nasty things.

He, of course, investigates, and meets a master thief attempting the same thing.

Humans, animals, a giant spider and a wizard are to be encountered, not to mention an alien.

3.5 out of 5


The Hall of the Dead

De Camp completed this from an outline of Howard's that was found. Conan has left Shadrizar to look for the treasure of Larsha, and a squad of soldiers, out to arrest him for other larceny are on his trail.

He deals with most of them, but the leader, Nestor is not dead and follows him into the city, meeting him in the treasure room after he deals with a giant slug.

They leave, quickly, when mummified warriors come to life and the building starts collapsing. Their loot is not too stable, and not enjoyed for long.

3 out of 5


The God in the Bowl

Conan is indulging in a bit of thievery and is busted by the local constabulary, right near a dead body. Conan proclaims his innocence, which they find hard to believe, but are not going to fight him over it.

Some digging reveals a local wastrel nobel is involved, up to ears in debt, but he ends up with a few problems with the God In the Bowl, of the mortal kind. When he orders Conan restrained, the constabulary lose a few body parts, and others more than that.

3 out of 5


Rogues in the House


Conan is yet again in trouble because of drinking and wenching. A crime has gone wrong, and a woman he was with has betrayed him to the authorities.

He is offered a way out, if he will kill a man. This man is Nabonidus, The Red Priest.

The only problems involve breaking in, a huge hulking ape-man servant, and then The Red Priest himself and his powers.

3.5 out of 5


The Hand of Nergal

Another story fleshed out from an outline.

Conan is fighting as Turanian irregular cavalry when large mystical bat creatures attack the force he is fighting with. Their morale breaks, leaving them easy prey, all except the Cimmerian who happens to have found The Heart of Tammuz amulet.

A local scholar sends his girl slave to find Conan and hire him to help him get rid of the evil sorceror using The Hand of Nergal to summon the bat creatures, and worse.

Conan is not able to do much, and is a lot of trouble until the girl arrives, and is able to employ the amulet. As a reward, he takes her with him, out of servitude.

3.5 out of 5


The City of Skulls

A pretty ordinary story. Conan's Turanian warrior band is destroyed by Meruvian raiders. He is taken captive there, with a friend and a girl. A spider-idol monster causes some havoc.

2 out of 5

After reading and analyzing five of Howard's Conan series, it is apparent that the author is a master of English prose. His word choice is amazing, his syntax is rich and diverse, his knowledge of rhetoric is comparable to any of the great story tellers of the past. In addition, his ability to plot and to create fascinating settings puts him in the forefront of imaginative authors. To a reader who wants to be entertained artfully, there is no better work or author to be found -- anywhere or anytime.

Conan, a runaway slave, is new to civilization and has to turn to a life of crime. Ultimately, he becomes a pirate, a mercenary soldier in the various Hyborean kingdoms, and finally the king of Aquilonia, when he kills the depraved King Numedes. Conspirators plot to overthrow and kill him. He's taken prisoner twice and has to win back his throne from the usurper Valerius. On his wedding day, his bride's stolen by a Khitan wizard, and he searches the world for her. He tracks the wizard Thoth-Amon to his hideout in Sytgia, and defeats him. He visits Epimetreus the Sage for one last time and he tells him to abdicate in favor of his son, Prince Conn, and head out to stop the Red Shadows. That was his last adventure. Blair Colquhoun @cybertours.com