Conan and the Shaman's Curse [Mass Market Paperback]

Sean A. Moore (Author)

Book Description

Series: Conan | Publication Date: January 15, 1996

Nightmares come to life when Conan falls victim to the insidious curse of a dying shaman. Conan realizes that something deeper is at work when his nights are filled with horrific dreams of bloodshed that threaten to drive him mad. Now, Conan will need all his might--wits as sharp as his sword--to break free from the Shaman's nefarious hex. Original.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Tor Fantasy; 1st edition (January 15, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812552652
• ISBN-13: 978-0812552652
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #184,152 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Conan catches a case of Lycanthropy and kills half the world, June 4, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Conan and the Shaman's Curse (Mass Market Paperback)

What do you get when you combine a lycantherope barbarian with man-eating vultures and a race of 9-foot primatives? A really wierd Conan tale. The tale opens with a typical scene of complete carnage. Conan and a band of 200 mercenaries were hired to fight a battle, and after 24 hours of blood-spilling, head-bashing, limb-severing fun, there are only a handful of survivors. Those survivors were Conan and a dozen of the enemy troops. Conan makes short work of the enemy rabble (and in doing so becomes the sole survivor of the battle) but before the last victim dies, he puts a hex on Conan (you guessed it, the Shaman). The plot becomes even more unrealistic and disjointed as the book wears on. He burns his comrads in a pyre after the battle, then out runs a horde of vengefull horsemen, swims a mile out to sea and hops on board a pirateship, kills all the pirates....and so on, and so on.... For the most part the plot was just too unbelievable to take seriously. On top of all of this, Conan becomes a lycantherope of sorts (I think he actually turns into a killer ape when the moon is full...) as a result of the curse. For me this was very disappointing. For those of us who are Conan fans, we realize just how much the Cimmerian loathes sorcery, so to see him turned in to a were-ape, or whatever, is, in a way, tarnishing his image. I think this aspect of the curse could have been done just as well if it was one of Conan's lady friends who get's smitten. I just don't like to see Conan himself devouring human entrails and drinking blood. The story wasn't bad, just excessive. There is only so much a hero in a fantasy tale can pull off before the reader starts to think: "Oh come ON...You have GOT to be joking !" Moore just keeps piling it on until Conan is no longer a mighty Cimmerian, but a muscle bound god in a loincloth. The Verdict: If you are a die-hard Conan fan, pick it up. You may enjoy this type of Sword and Sorcery, myself, I could barely put up with it. It get's better as it wears on, but throughout the entire book I just couldn't forget the "Conan-the-Giant-Ape-Jumping-About-Eating-Pirates" style beginning. It spolied the rest of the tale

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Violent Saga with Strange Creatures A-Plenty, May 26, 2007

By 

Chess Buddhist (Long Beach, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Conan and the Shaman's Curse (Mass Market Paperback)

A more-unique Conan read for its strange creatures and atypical characters, such as a race of giants. This is one of the more violent Conan spinoffs, very bloody and unrelenting in its action. The battles against humans and creatures are vivid and gory. The cast of characters are likeable and compelling. Conan is lost on an island inhabited by a race of giants cut off from the rest of the world. Although these giants have a few feet on Conan (who is supposedly about 7 feet tall already) somehow Conan is as strong as they are. In any case, the adventure is compelling. The actual "shaman's curse" afflicting Conan is more like a side story than a central feature of the tale, so it loses points for that. There are far worse Conan tales out there. This is one of the better ones.