Customer Reviews

Cormac Mac Art

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

 

 

I recently purchased several REH books published by Baen - Kull, Solomon Kane, Cormac Mac Art and Bran mak Morn. I am reading Bran at the moment, and enjoying it, - so this review may be a bit premature, but I enjoyed Cormac the best.

Cormac is definitely in the mold of Conan et al, and the stories are immensely readable. There is a tangible excitement expressed here for a life of danger, plunder, and guile. For those moments that you are reading, you too are living a life of adventure!

For rovers, these characters show a bit of chivalry and compassion. I enjoyed the repartee between Wulfhere and Cormac. Their relationship breathes a bit of life into what might otherwise be flat, mechanical characters. (Not that most readers of this genre expect character development.)

I highly recommend the REH stories. The 4 stars are for the book overall - DD's story at the beginning suffers from violent, irrational, cardboard characters. It was a mistake on Baen's part to put his pastiche first...

I've read a lot of Robert E. Howard (the entire Conan series and some of the BAEN series) and Cormac Mac Art, an Irish pirate, is probably one of his best characters, although many of his stories are incomplete. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough complete material to fill this book, so David Drake (another fantasy author) took it upon himself to write a full length story in the style of Howard, as well as completing one of Howard's unfinished stories. I usually don't mind when outside authors try to finish, edit, or emulate Howard's work (as was done successfully by Carter and DeCamp with the Conan series) but in this case, the results were unsatisfactory and very un-Howard. It's almost as if the characters of an existing (and rather boring) fantasy story were re-named as "Cormac" and "Wulfhere". Even less fortunate is the fact the Drake's story is the first in this volume, and without reading the introduction one might believe that it is actually Robert E. Howard's work, and thus throw away the book before getting to the good stuff.

Contrary to what some of the other reviewers have said, there are TWO complete stories by Howard in this book. What remains is either incomplete, or created by Drake. Here's a summary which should clear up any confusion regarding this issue.

1.) THE LAND TOWARD THE SUNSET (David Drake)
2.) TIGERS OF THE SEA (Robert E. Howard, completed by David Drake)
3.) SWORDS OF THE NORTHERN SEA (Robert E. Howard, Complete)
4.) THE NIGHT OF THE WOLF (Robert E. Howard, Complete)
5.) THE TEMPLE OF ABOMINATION (Robert E. Howard, Fragment)

I strongly suggest that you SKIP THE FIRST STORY if you want to experience the real Cormac Mac Art, unadulterated by foreign pens.

there are only two complete Howard stories in this volume, with one complete Drake story, one uncompleted Howard story completed by Drake, and an unfinished Howard story with completed synopsis. I've got nothing particular against Drake, but in this genre he is an inferior writer, and there is nothing in the information given about this book by Amazon to make clear how little of it is Howard. Unless you read the intro, and a small blurb in the front cover itself, you won't know how little of this is Howard. The book should have been listed as written by David Drake, Robert E Howard, and edited by Glenn Lord. Yes, it's not expensive, but here you get what you pay for. Buyer beware, and shame on Baen for whoring on Howard's work without disclosing the true content of a volume.

Back in the mid-90's, Baen Books had an ambitious project of reprinting much of Robert Howard's best fiction in a series of economical paperbacks. This was the first--and, unfortunately, least--of the series, though this is none of Howard's fault. Cormac Mac Art is an intriguing character in that he is one of Howard's sword and sorcery creations whose world is more mundane than fantasy. The Cormac tales Howard wrote are breathtakingly paced, crisply conceived, and stunningly executed--that is, the fragments we have of them are. Only Swords of the Northern Sea and The Night of the Wolf among Howard's own stories are complete. It should come as no surprise these serve as the nexus of the book and serve to whet our appetite for more. Tigers of the Se is half-Howard and half-Drake, with the Howard half being, despite its rough edges clearly the better of the two parts. Temple of Abomination--the last story--is excellent up to the point it trails off and leaves us frustrated Howard didn't live to flesh out the bones of this potentially excellent story. Fortunately, David Drake saw fit to include the outline so we can see where Howard was planning to take this incomplete gem. Finally, The Land Toward Sunset, Drake's entry into the collection is badly written, creakingly paced, and completely at odds with the character and world Howard created for Cormac. I wish the editors had seen fit to give us only the unexpurgated Howard undiluted with Drake's pap. That said, Drake's contributions to the book are not all bad: His foreword provides some valuable information both about Howard and about Cormac, while as noted earlier, his inclusion of the outline for Temple of Abomination serves to give us some clue of what Howard would have done with that story had he lived. Had it not been for Drake's unnecessary intrusion in Howard's world, this volume would easily deserve five stars. Nonetheless, it is worth seeking out and reading.

This man's work has influenced me in all aspects of my life. I own all the books in this Baen series, and, (although they are extremely hard to locate nowadays) I have succesfully completed the collection of the ORIGINAL Conan tales.

High fantasy, wonderful imagination, and a lot of dark images. Not even the immortal Tolkien can match this man.

He is the unquestioned god of fantasy.

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Drake. Later on in his career, he wrote some good fantasy. Truth is though, "The Land Towards Sunset" by Drake at the beginning of this collection, is TERRIBLE. The tales later in the book such as "Tigers of The Sea", are true Howard stories and though not all finished, will be very interesting to his fans. However, before you buy this just make sure you understand that a full THIRD of this book is not by Robert E. Howard, and little of what he did write is finished. If you're not a big follower of Howard or pulp fiction, you may be disapointed.

Adventure on the high seas with Vikings and Irishmen. Cormac Mac Art is one of Howard's most dynamic heroes. He stands tall amongst other howardian creations such as Conan and Kull. If you like fast paced sword and sorcery with an historical flavor, this one's for YOU! Why the 9 rating? Well nobody is perfect, but Howard came awful close with this one. See you on the battlefield...

howard is forever the mater of describing battles. and in this book it's battles, battles, battles. filled with action. man slashes man. great descriptions. great writing. great......great. men fights men. blood floats.

Saucy, violent and unrelenting, super great fics from REH. Tigers of the Sea nd other great works of the master abound here. Buy it. Luv it