Customer Reviews

Conan The Bold

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

My first ever Conan novel. I had wanted to start out reading the Conan novels by getting a collection of Robert E. Howard's, but unfortunately that was not to be as all the online, used and local bookstores had nada. Absolutely nothing by Robert E. Howard (at least in his Conan novels).

I decided on getting Conan The Bold mainly because it was one of the earliest in the list of Conan novels that is printed inside the TOR Conan books. I enjoyed it.

I was really looking forward to reading a novel in this setting as I just loved Brian Lumley's Terra Khash novels. I figured they must be similar. The setting and Conan character was quite similar. However, Lumley's Khash ran into a lot of Lovecraftian enemies and more formidable foes than Conan in this novel. Sure the final showdown between the hated foe in this novel, Taharka had it's gods in the background, but basically it was Conan and his lovely one-eyed warrior girl, Kalya chasing two bandits/slavers/murders/pirates across the world. I was totally enthralled until perhaps three quarters of the book. The best part of this book for me was the showdown in the slave pits where slaves were forced to battle each other after being drugged. Conan's entrance was thrilling. Unfortunately it continued on. Not that it was bad, but the next showdown was a big letdown. Things looked good when they caught up with them again, but somehow the bandits escaped. Then yet another time they caught up with them and they escaped (by this time I'd just about had it. It was getting redundant and boring.), then they run into them again.

Basically it's a novel where our hero chases the bad guy across the world just finding them and coming so close to killing him, yet the baddie always seems to be able to sneak away in the night.

Good halfway through the novel, but after that it got a little ridiculous and I don't want to give away the ending, but the Kalya final battle was quite predictable and a little silly.

I'll read some more Conan as the novels have been written by many different people (hopefully I can find Howard's novels quick!), but unless the cover states a really cool plot on the back, I'm going to try to steer away from another John Maddox Roberts Conan novel unless I have no other Conan options. On a technical note, there were quite a few typos in this novel, c'mon TOR get with it!

It was a powerfull book. Follows the wonderfull strength and mystery that always surounds conan of cimmeria. All the conan books make great stocking stuffers for your book worms...

A very fun book, tons of action and great characters. Nevermind that it doesn't fit the proper Conan timeline. (This adventure also spans at least a year, possibly two, right in the prime of Conan's late teens/early 20s. How could he complete his other adventures of his younger days if two years is spent on this one adventure? Let's just suspend our disbelief.) The author takes you through many lands and introduces you to many characters, always a major plus in a fantasy novel. In fact, travelling is one of the major themes of the book. The plot is essentially a revenge tale, but the tale is very well crafted. John Maddox Roberts typically doesn't disappoint when he writes a Conan tale. His "Conan and the Amazon" is also a great read. You can read one or the other first, it doesn't matter.

Conan the Bold follows our Cimmerian hero from his Northern homeland all the way to southern Stygia. The plot can be divided into four geographic settings - The first, in Cimmeria, sets the tone for the book well and gives the reader a brief glimpse of what Conan's life might have been life had he settled down at an early age. The second, in the slave pits of a backwater town were action packed with some dramatic fights. In the third setting in Ophir, dragged, before the book reached its exciting climax in Stygia.
The plot itself was a little predictable and the villians were somewhat cowardly. The strength of this book lies in the charachterization. Conan is only a teenager in this book and naive to the ways of civilization and this gets him in some trouble early on. The author also does a good job of illustrating how citizens of rival nations don't like or trust one another - something often overlooked in Conan stories. This is the only Conan tale I've read where Stygia is depicted as a place of high civilization and religion (albeit corrupt), and not of a nation of evil incarnate. For once the citizens have numerous gods to worship and not just the evil Set. It was a nice change. The heroine Kayla was written very well. Many women in this series are depicted as either shrinking violets easily woed by Conan's charms and in need of rescue or as double dealing rogues w/ a hidden agenda. Kayla was a tough warrior, w/ an inpendant nature who helped show the Cimmerian some of the ways of civilization.
This is a fun book and worthwhile for Conan fans, but not in the upper echilon on the series. I would recommend reading Conan and the Amazon by this author first.

I thought this was one of the best books out of the 5 I've read so far. I really liked the beginning; how it had him in Cimmeria. I also enjoyed how Cimmerian beliefs and customs were explained throughout the story as well. Taharka and company weren't bad villains, and the whole thing with the priests was pretty cool. One of my favorite sections of the book would have to be all of the action at Croton. I thought the part with the circus caravan was dumb, but it did serve its purpose, and it was hard imagining the bandits setting up a cave base like they did. Overall, I thought it was really good, but I gave it a 4 because of minor things that I thought were stupid and the end seemed rushed and kind of weak. However, I would recommend it.

I have had the opportunity to read just about all the books written about Conan, so I have a little different viewpoint than the other reviewers. What appealed to me most about the Conan saga was exactly that; the majority of his adventures could be listed in order, in accordance to the oft published "biography" of Conan that appeared in the 12 voloume series by Ace Books which reintroduced Conan to recent readers and periodically, in later books. That is why I have a problem with this book. It has a good story, characters, and action but doesn't fit into the the timeline. This adventure takes place apparently before his escape from the Hyperborean slave pen and his well documented trek to Zamora and his first taste of civilation. Heck, in this story he traveled the length of the western world. Plus he was friends with a PICT!!. Too bad; Roberts writes Conan better than anyone since Robert Jordan, and with a more accurate placment, this book could rank up there with the best.