Customer Reviews

Conan and the Gods of the Mountain

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

 

 

Good characters, well developed intrigues and flashes of blood, sorcery and rampaging creatures. I'll definitely join Green for another Conan adventure.

The writing is rather fun and lively with wit and good character development. You are easily sympathetic to the characters of the book. But plots holes take away some of the joy here. Something called the "Living Wind" features prominently in the book, isn't explained, shows up in the last two pages as a monster and is easily destroyed by a shaman leaving one to think "so what?!" The "god men" are never fully evolved, vague and almost irrelevent. Also, it takes a good half the book to get down to what it's about. Much too much time is spent with Conan roaming some tunnels. An average work.

Green brings back Valeria, another of Conan's she-pirates, from the REH novelette Red Nails. The story takes place immediately after that adventure (one of Howard's best). It's a rousing trek through the jungle for Conan and Valeria as they try to reach the coast. Along the way they befriend a native tribe and battle the usual assortment of creatures and shamans. Roland Green did a good job with the jungle portions of Conan at the Demon's Gate and his skill with the genre makes me wish for a little Tarzan pastiche out of him. The battle with the Golden Serpent is one of the best Conan vs giant serpent encounters ever.