Conan: The Savage [Mass Market Paperback]

Leonard Carpenter (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 15, 1993

After a gambling dispute erupts into violence and death, Conan of Cimmeria is condemned to the hellish mine pits of Brythunia where no man has ever escaped--or survived. But Conan breaks free and disappears into the wilderness, far from civilization, and into the eager arms of Songa, a forest maiden. Still the demon-goddess Ninga has seized control of Brythunia and her insatiable appetite for human sacrifice threatens to devour the world. Only one man can strike at the very heart of Ninga's religion of blood. A man who carries death in his eyes.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Tor Fantasy (August 15, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812514122
• ISBN-13: 978-0812514124
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #741,986 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nifty little entry in the series, June 28, 2004

By 

raif10 "raif10" (Marina, CA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Conan: The Savage (Mass Market Paperback)

So I'm a fan of Conan, a big fan. Got a lot of the books, have a feel for the various authors that have tried their hand at writing him. Leonard Carpenter can be sketchy when penning the mighty-thewn Cimmerian. This time out, he turns in a pretty damn good yarn. Conan is in some town, gambling, drinking and wenching away the goods from his last escapade when he gets sent off to a slave mine on trumped up charges.
He wins free of the slave mine through sheer physical prowess, and washes up on the shores of a river...somewhere. Cool idea: he has no earthly idea where he is. West of a lot of places, east of more and so on. So he gets busy and survives. Really good character development as he hunts, traps and outfits himself reasonably well from nothing. Literally buck nekkid.
He then suffers another setback and winds up somewhere else. I should mention that these interludes are as a result of purely natural, non-freakish causes. So he starts over and is getting down to business when he runs across a rather stone age hunter/gatherer tribe. They're very believably primitive and naive, but Conan rises to a position of relative prominance and winds up as a noteworthy hunter. All's going well again, but then a calamity befalls the tribe and he heads out on a mission of vengance.
All the while this is happening, a truly creepy supernatural figure is rising to power elsewhere. Now, in the majority of Conan stories, there's this wizard, or sorceress, and they live in a castle, and they want to raise a demon, or retrieve a lost book of spells (e.g a first edition, virgin skin-bound copy of the Book of Skelos), or some damn talisman/jewel (Eyes/Teeth/Fangs/Heart of BelCarNatRagTharizmYarNok) or another which will give them power unknown since they fall of the dark kingdom Acheron. And so on. So they hire, beguile or somehow ensnare Conan into their plot, and he eventually kills the demon and/or the wizard (unless its Thoth Amon, who never gets around to killing Conan) and rides off with a horse, some loot and a chick. Good stuff, no doubt.
What you have here is a truly spooky-ass...character. Just plain creepy. Stephen King/Clive Barker creepy. Good job. It really isn't obvious at first, either. That brings me to one of the things I like about this novel: it's unpredictable. All of a sudden, Conan (of all people) is LOST! Credibly, but lost all the same. Big river, empty plain for miles, a few hills, not a soul in sight. You don't know how it will end, or what will happen next. It's good to go off the beaten path so long as you don't get lost, and this novel stays on-mission: the auther opens up the character and adds new layers, all the while staying true. So forget Carpenter's Conan the Gladiator (a.k.a. Conan Frigging Faints), and disregard Conan Goes To The 'Nam (I actually couldn't finish it): my man Leonard delivers the goods herein. You get sides of Conan you don't normally (suffering setbacks), doing unusual things (living in the wilderness) and all of the things you like: being strong, smart, cunning and forthright. Feral, sly, indefatigable, and above all: barbaric. Damn fine Conan, buy it.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Conan the Savage .........excellent story!, June 27, 2000

By 

"kevone" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Conan: The Savage (Mass Market Paperback)

One of the best Conan adventures, a quality story from beginning to end. All Conan fans will be pleased to own and read this book! You will be reading this book at every moment possible and sad that you finished it. Hail Conan!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must For Conan Fans, May 5, 2000

By 

Heath Lantz - See all my reviews

This review is from: Conan: The Savage (Mass Market Paperback)

I really enjoyed Conan The Savage. The author remains true to the Conan character that the great Robert E. Howard created. I recommend this book to ANY Conan fan.