The Conquering Sword of Conan (Conan of Cimmeria, Book 3) (Paperback)

by Robert E. Howard (Author)
Key Phrases: firing ledge, altar hut, oracle chamber, The Conquering Sword of Conan, Red Nails, The Black Stranger (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
“Howard’s writing seems so highly charged with energy that it nearly gives off sparks.”
–Stephen King

“Howard honestly believed the basic truth of the stories he was telling. It’s as if he’d said, ‘This is how life was really lived in those former savage times!’ ”
–David Drake

“For stark, living fear . . . what other writer is even in the running with Robert E. Howard?”
–H. P. Lovecraft


From the Trade Paperback edition. --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Review
“Howard’s writing seems so highly charged with energy that it nearly gives off sparks.”
–Stephen King

“Howard honestly believed the basic truth of the stories he was telling. It’s as if he’d said, ‘This is how life was really lived in those former savage times!’ ”
–David Drake

“For stark, living fear . . . what other writer is even in the running with Robert E. Howard?”
–H. P. Lovecraft

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Del Rey (November 29, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345461533
• ISBN-13: 978-0345461537
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #78,917 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Conan's Swan Song, September 18, 2006

By	amsterdamaged - See all my reviews

The Conquering Sword of Conan is the third and final volume in the Wandering Star/Del Rey collection of Howard's complete "Conan of Cimmeria". For fans of Robert E. Howard, this is a major achievement, because its the first time all of the Howard Conan stories have been published in the order that they were written, completely uncensored and pastiche free. Now, we are able to get a much more accurate look at the both the evolution of the character, as well as Howard's skill as a writer. In the Lancer/Ace editions, the stories were placed in chronological order and peppered with dreadful pastiches. The problem with this is that it was never Howard's intention for his stories to be read that way. The Conan saga is not a unified Joseph Campbell style hero's journey such as "Star Wars" or "Lord of the Rings". Rather, it's more akin to James Bond. Each story can be read and enjoyed on its own, without any prior knowledge of the events or characters in previous stories. In fact, in no Conan story are the plot details of any other Conan story ever even mentioned, except in the most general of terms (Conan gives a brief overview of his career in "Red Nails"). This was by nature, a matter of necessity, as these "pulp fiction" stories were geared towards the casual magazine reader who might be picking up a copy of "Weird Tales" for the first time.

Of the five stories in this volume, three of them are considered by fans and literary scholars to be among the best work that Howard ever produced. They are "Beyond the Black River", "The Black Stranger, and "Red Nails".

Beyond the Black River: this is generally considered Howard's finest work, transcending the level of pulp fiction and worthy of serious critical analyses. Even if viewed as a simple adventure story, it's unbelievably exciting and entertaining. In order for this story to fit into the genre that he invented, which would later be known as "Sword and Sorcery", Howard populates it with the traditional elements, such as an evil sorceror and supernatural monsters. However, these elements are downplayed. This is the most realistic and true to life Conan story that Howard wrote. Its basically an American frontier saga transported to the Hyborian age. The Picts in "Beyond the Black River" bear little of no resemblance to the Picts of Bran Mak Morn or King Kull's time. Here, they serve as thinly vealed stand-ins for native Americans. The story also contains Howard's most famous quote: "Barbarism is the natural state of mankind. Civilization is unnatural. It is a whim of circumstance. And barbarism must always ultimately triumph".

To those who have never read Howard, who think of Conan as a sort of monosyllabic Tarzan on steroids, I urge you to read the aforementioned story. You'll never see Conan the same way again.

The Black Stranger: what's really amazing about this story is that this is the first time most of us have ever read it in its original form. In the Lancer/Ace editions, this story was heavily edited and rewritten by the self serving L. Sprague de Camp so that it could be used to set the stage for his mind numbingly dreadful pastiche, "Conan the Liberator". He also changed the name to "The Treasure of Tranicos". His justification for doing this was equally ludicrous. He claimed he was concerned that the readers would become "confused" with so many Conan stories with "black" in the title (Black Colossus/Pool of the Black One), as if we're a bunch of four year olds.

It continues many of the themes started in "Beyond the Black River", and is once again a thinly vealed American frontier story transported to the Hyborian Age.

Red Nails: This is the most hardcore Conan story of all. Dr. Freud would have field day with this. Graphic violence, deviant sex, sadomasochism; all are here in full display. The editor of these editions, Patrice Louinet, suggests that this story is a subconsious projection of Howard's relationship with Novalyne Price and resulting conflict between this and his VERY unhealthy relationship with his own mother.

One thing that strikes me about this story is Howard's much more realistic portrayal of the female pirate Valeria, when you compare her to Howard's earlier character Belit, from "Queen of the Black Coast". In "Queen", Belit basically throws herself at Conan at their first meeting, and they immediately have sex right there on the deck of the Tigris with the entire crew looking on. While its a very memorable and well written scene, it does come off as an adolescent fantasy of someone who hasn't had much experience with women. In "Red Nails", Valeria is portrayed much more realistically, like a real woman would behave around a man she's attracted to. She sits on Conan's lap and lets him play with her hair. In one scene, she gives him a "you're not getting any tonight" look and slams the door in his face. She doesn't relent until the end of the story, after Conan proves his worthiness by rescuing her. I have no doubt that this new found maturity on the part of Howard's writing is due, at least in part, to his relationship with Ms. Price.

The two lesser stories are "The Servants of Bit-Yakin" and "Shadows of Zamboula". "Shadows", while more of a conventional Conan story, benifits from outstanding writing and some really good scenes. The strangulation scene, and the dance of the cobras are particalrly memorable. I won't go into any detail about "Servants", other than to say it is worth reading. While some are obviously better than others, there are no bad Howard Conan stories.

I really like the artwork by Gregory Manchess. Its an entirely new take on the character, especially the depiction of Conan in a Captain Hook outfit on page 141. While I didn't like the artwork at first, preferring Gary Gianni's interpretaions in the previous volume, it has really grown on me over the months. I can't wait for the Wandering Star edition to be released so that I can finally see these in full color. It's way overdue.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a brilliant finale for Howard's greatest character, April 21, 2007

By	Jay "SarahsJay" (Douglasville, GA, USA) - See all my reviews

After years of execrable garbage foisted on us by L Sprague de Camp, Lin Carter, and others (though some of the pastiches by other authors than these are decent), we finally get Conan as R. E. Howard envisioned him. Lacking the softer, milder imitation work of the aforementioned writers, this final volume in Wandering Star/Del Rey's reverent reissue of Howard's original work is a brilliant tour de force. All of the stories here range from passable (Servants of Bit-Yakin, Man-eaters of Zamboula) to great (Beyond the Black River, The Black Stranger) to outstanding (Red Nails, of course). Red Nails--the last story Howard wrote about Conan--is my favorite of them all. In the story, Conan is lustful of the voluptuous Valeria but adherent enough to a code of honor not to force himself on her. (Yes, she does finally give in to his advances.) More than the brilliant interpersonal relationship between the two leads though is the theme of death and decay surrounding the city of Xuchotl (an obvious stand-in for Howard's own home in the year before his untimely death). Both Conan and Valeria come to vivid life on page and drag the reader into Howard's fictional universe by sheer force of will. Howard's writing is full-throttle all the way to the bloody (and surprising) climax. What a way for the Dark Barbarian to exit the stage! As for the other stories, they all have their merits as much as Red Nails, some more so than others. What shines through each though is Howard's clear writing and dark, visceral vision of his savage world. Coupled with all this are drafts of some of the stories, an outline of the history of the writing of the Hyborian Age tales, and the letter Howard wrote to fans Miller and Clark detailing some previously unknown things about Conan. While Howard probably would never have written about Conan again even had he lived, what we have from him is brilliant and worth reading over and over. Thanks to Howard and his publishers for bringing the iconic Barbarian to life for us.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Robert's Final Realization of Conan!, May 10, 2007

By	J. Lyon Layden "Author: The Other Side of Yore" (Savannah, Georgia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The Servants of Bit-Yakin- In exemplary Wierd Tales Robert E. style, this one starts with Conan almost inexplicably scaling the side wall of an ancient city in a place we've never heard of. The barbarian has come to this place through information gleaned on adventures that Robert never told us about, as though the author had some Hyborean Silmarillion stashed somewhere that the recyclers have never found.

It's an excellent story that may have equal claim to several genres; horror, fantasy, sword and sorcery, and maybe even prehistoric fiction. Howard had an uncanny knowledge of those days when ice age species still survived in remote places, and had incredible insight into theorizing what it must have been like in the days when civilization vied with barbarism. What's interesting to me is that we're finding out these days that civilization is alot older than we think, but in Howard's day anything older than 3000 BC was considered prehistoric. Conan's era was around 9000 BC, with embellishments from many other eras in different places where civilization was replacing barbarism. Certainly, we now know, there would have been ancient deserted structures at this time, maybe even with remnants of antedeluvian archaic homo sapien living therein. Certainly Jericho had walls before Conan's time, and both cro-magnon and the southeast asian hominid dubbed "the hobbit" lived at least up until 10,000 BC. But how did Howard know it? How did his imagination describe so vividly and personally how life must have been in those brutal and barbaric times?

Beyond The Black River- WOW! This is probably Howard's most memorable Conan tale, told from the perspective of a hardy and valiant but lesser man who's lot in life is to travel and fight with Conan for a spell. Through this frontiersman's eyes, we understand Conan as a character perhaps better than we ever have before. The illustration of the Balthas's last charge, dog at side, flashes in my mind when I think of this tale.
"He was a man," said Conan "I drink to his shade, and to the shade of the dog, who knew no fear."

The Black Stranger is a pirate tale and frontier yarn that is among Howard's most developed plot structures, characterization, and writing skill.

The Man-Eaters of Zamboula melds fantasy and horror like only Robert E. can, a wicked tale of treachery and ancient necromancy.


Red Nails is definitely one of the greatest of the Conan stories. Again Howard shows uncanny preternatural knowledge, with an ancient city very much like some of the stranger ones excavated in the middle east, and a realistic dragon more like Megalania Prisca than Saphira and her influences.



In the appendix, Wolves Beyond the Border is a special rare treat.

Enjoy and enjoy again the genious of Robert E!

J. Lyon Layden
The Other Side of Yore