Customer Reviews

Conan the Gladiator

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

 

 

I heartily agree with the other reviewers that this is the worst of the Tor series of Conan pastiches, of which I have read many. Leonard Carpenter seems to have read more DeCamp than Howard, and it shows. In point of fact, he dedicated this book to DeCamp.

In his works, Carpenter has always toned down Conan's superhuman strength, speed, and prowess. While it makes for a weak novel having an invincible hero, Conan as an everyman is also a step in the wrong direction. It is taken to such an extreme that Carpenter's Conan receives a drubbing from almost everyone he fights, and this book is no exception. One would think that a gladitorial arena would be the ideal showcase for Conan's savage talents, but in this book, poor Conan loses almost every battle he participates in. To add insult to injury, Conan becomes a pacifist later in the book, after fainting at the sight of a bloody wound, no less! In all fairness to Carpenter, Conan always had a code of honor and a distaste for needless killing, but for Conan to turn his back and walk away from a known enemy who literally pushes him around after threatening him? No way. The REH Conan might make one weak attempt at chivalry before crushing the offender's skull with a massive fist. Further travesties include Conan (who has grappled with giant apes and cave bears and could probably out wrestle Gilgamesh on his best day) being beaten by a wrestler; being unable to jump across a span that his female companion has just leapt across; and most glaringly, regularly being "dazed and exhausted" after running and climbing for just a few minutes. Yes, the same Conan who could climb almost before he could walk, and was able to run for days on end without rest.

In spite of all this, Carpenter has created some interesting supporting characters, and built up his plot with some degree of skill. In this case, as in his Conan The Hero, it all amounts to nothing in the end. Once again, Carpenter carefully builds tension, then throws it all away by having a deus ex machina of a catastrophe literally sweep everything away so the climactic battle just... never happens. It makes for a lazy and very unsatisfying finish.

As a final note to the reviewer who found Conan's use of a phalanx out of place, Conan served as a field commander for many armies over the years, and his knowledge of advanced military tactics was peerless, so the phalanx idea made perfect sense. It's interesting to note just how many elements of this 1988 book found their way almost verbatim into the movie Gladiator. Maybe John Logan liked this book more than we all did. :-)

I had high hopes for this book, the cover was cool and the idea of Conan competing as a gladiator ala the movie, seemed sound. However I can honestly say this is the absolute worst Conan I have ever read in twenty plus years. The biggest problem seems to be that Conan's brain has been replaced by that of a 19th century English gentleman. After he is slapped on the had by a circus dwarf, Conan exclaims "Wait, fellow, that was most ill-mannered...I only meant to invite the lass to stop awile and talk, or mayhap share a puncheon of ripe cider. I would compliment you all on your fair costumes and fine talents." Seriously he says that. It is as though Leonard Carpenter had never read an actual Conan book before pulling this out of his behind. That type of dialogue belongs in Regency Romances and Merchant Ivory films, not Conan. If you are a fan at all of Robert E. Howard I would strongly caution you against buying or reading this book.

I just finished this book on early this morning and while it is not the best Conan book I've read, it is not the worst. The worst was Conan the Valorus, also a Carpenter penned book.

Yes, the fact that Conan gets defeated by clowns he should have been able to swat like flies really irked me. His turn to pacifism enraged me even more! Since when would Conan begin to second guess himself? Granted, he had a code, but it would never keep him from defending himself from those who are attacking him, nor would he have ever been ansy about making profit over the deaths of those who held weapons against him. That being said, Conan's code was exhibited fairly well when he felt queasey about killing those whom he considered either helpless or friends (See The Stygian Rebels & Muzudaya).

I must agree with a couple of other reviewers who said that the book was a good fantasy creation with good ideas, but not really a Conan novelization. I concur with that assesment.

I liked the supporting characters. Sathilda, Roganthus, Commodorus (I Was Sorry To See What His Fate Was In The End) and the black Kushite Muzudaya were great. Only Dath was underdeveloped. The book's location was well-developed. I liked that very much. I'd never seen Luxor described before and it was a delight to journey to that city through the eyes of Conan. The Circus was a remarkable creation and I'm certain Carpenter must have done a fair amount of research to describe such remarkable details concerning the gladiators, beasts and aqueducts necessary to fill up a huge colloseum like that. John Norman's Assassin of Gor goes into tertiary details of an arena like this but never hits the nail on the head. Carpenter does-- and he does it with a realistic and highly detailed simplicity that Norman was unwilling or unable to convey. In the end, Luxor's fate had me wondering what would eventually become of the city years in the future.

No, Conan the Gladiator is not a great book, but in my opinion it's not that bad, either. A lukwarm entry in the Conan canon, that's all.

A. Nathaniel Wallace, Jr.

I'll try to be brief here, as you can read the other, better written reviews for more details and things from a more literary slant. For me, hands down, worst Conan book I've ever read, and besides all the Howard stories, I've read probably 25-30 books (John Maddox Roberts being my favorite so far). Basically, this book has a character "named" Conan in it, but doesn't act like the Conan we all know who's from Cimmeria. No revenge for repeated and severe wrong-doings done against him, just let's everything roll off his back. Yes, he's strong, and fairly smart when it comes to battle, but that's any number of heroes in fiction. All the things that make Conan "Conan" are missing from this story. It feels like Carpenter took an existing story he had and just changed the protagonist's name to "Conan" without bothering to update the character. Very disappointing, a total waste of money, and a stain on all the books that carry on Robert E. Howard's vision. Crom is not happy.

I should first probably note that I read this book about 10 years ago, and I don't really recall all that much, except the profound pain I had penetrating my skull after finishing the book. I was just browsing Conan books after finishing the collection of Robert E. Howard's original stories, "The Conquering Sword of Conan" (absolutely incredible, by the way) when I came across this tragedy of a Conan story. Now, unless I'm completely off, this is the one where Conan somehow gets thrown into a colleseum and becomes a gladiator. Sounds a worthy tale for our Cimmerian warrior, right? Wrong. After the initial fight scenes, Conan somehow gets talking with a priest in the colleseum, who consequently CONVERTS CONAN TO PACIFISM. Read that sentence again and let it sink in. Conan, the irresistable elemental force who serves as the prototype for all barbarian heroes in modern sword and sorcery, begins to question his violent way of life. I don't remember how the story ends, but I'm sure it was pretty awful. The only positive point was the addition, near the begining, of the character "Roganthus the Strong Man". Thinking back, I'm not really sure why I liked this guy, perhaps it was just the comedic name. Anyway, what was Leonard Carpenter thinking? Shame on you sir. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you were either drunk or suffering a mild concussion when you wrote this one.

If you leave out wars, battles, skirmishes, raids, self-defense and defending the weak and helpless, what need is there for sword fighting? Well, how about entertainment? That's right. In the Hyborian Age they didn't have Monday Night Football to watch. But what they did have was the next best thing -- Gladiators! Conan must be having a slow day (which resembles the starting pace of this book) when he decides to join a traveling circus troupe. Of course it's his code of honor dictating that, because he busted up the show's strongman, Conan should become the newest attraction. The troupe heads south to the newly renovated city of Luxur where they encounter one gladiatorial episode after another in the big Arena, trying to survive and hopefully, make a big enough profit to retire from show business. Would the Conan we all love and admire really stoop to killing for entertainment? The book is a decent read, and actually has some interesting character development but, nevertheless, is definitely NOT one of Carpenter's better efforts.

A simple unsophisticated Conan tale. Slightly different in tone with Conan being a Gladiator rather than a free roaming death dealer. Not terrible but not great I would recommend if you want a generic Conan fix.

Well,....what can I say. The book is pretty weak. The plot would've been better suited to the Conan cartoon series (remember it?),seriously folks. I honestly can't see Conan staying that long in a city being a gladiator, no less. Also, he strikes me as too intelligent throughout the book. For example, in the arena, he orders them to form a phalanx! He's a barbarian from Cimmeria! How's he gonna know what a phalanx is? I thought the priests of Set might be cool,too, but they were more like Renaissance scientists or something. I only read this book because I want to read all of the Conan books. The end battle was cool, but that's about it. This wasn't one of the better books.

What first catches your attention is the terrible, stilted style of writing. Very flat with corny dialogue. Not enjoyable to read, more of a chore. Perhaps a younger reader may enjoy it for the simplified language, although there are some adult themes in the books. A real dud. Avoid it.