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Title: Conan by Robert Howard ISBN: 0-441-11665-5 Publisher: Ace Books Pub. Date: December, 1986 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $2.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.77 (13 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: The First book in the Greatest swords & sorcery saga written
Comment: Robert E. Howard is truely the master of fantasy. This is the first installment of the conan saga. This book has the first eight short stories of Conans life written by Robert E. Howard and edited by L. Sprague De Camp and Lin Carter. These stories are fantastic well written swords & sorcery by the man who started the craze. The battles in the book are so vivid that you can feel the blood splashing your face as Conan cuts his enemy down. His emotions are so well written that you can feel Conans despair as he faces his greatest fears. Heck by the end of the book you miss the guy. This book has it all fights, drinks, booty, women, and high adventure. Conan was fun and entertaining to read I reccomend it to all swords & sorcery fans. If you like this book or are interested in more swords & sorcery then I reccomend these titles: the whole conan series, Brakk the Barbarian by John Jakes, Flashing Swords edited by Lin Carter(short stories), Swords and Deviltry by Fritz Leiber.
Rating: 4
Summary: Not a perfect collection, but still a must-read.
Comment: CONAN is the first of over a dozen "numbered" Conan volumes from Ace. Though this is the book that launched a thousand love affairs with the writing of Robert E. Howard, hardcore sword and sorcery fans often look askance at the material behind the striking Frazetta cover. The controversy begins with the authors' credited; CONAN is written by Robert E. Howard, L. Sprague De Camp and Lin Carter. Though Howard was originator of the Conan tales, he only receives sole credit for four of the eight pieces in the book, and even those four are edited, sometimes heavily, by his "co-authors." The other four stories are either posthumous collaborations, or outright pastiches.
This doesn't mean that CONAN isn't a terrific read. It says a great deal about the strength of Howard's writing that it's still powerful even when passed through an editorial filter. The stories built on fragments and outlines left behind by Howard also possess some measure of his literary spirit. The Ace volumes are an attempt to organize the saga of the barbarian hero Conan's life into chronological order, filling in the gaps left after Howard's untimely death, and as such are a worthy endeavor, regardless of what the naysayers declare.
CONAN begins with the first part of an excellent "historical" essay by Howard, "The Hyborian Age," in which he lays out in great detail the development of Conan's contemporary world, casting back thousands of years and working his way forward. Like J.R.R. Tolkien and H.P. Lovecraft, who created meticulous pseudo-histories to fuel their imaginations, Howard created a foundation of the fantastic elements in his Conan stories. As a result, the world through which Conan moves - beginning with his escape from slavers in "The Thing in the Crypt," and followed by his first adventure as a self-taught thief in the classic short story, "The Tower of the Elephant" - seems as real as any true historical period. This goes a long way toward helping the reader understand why the Conan tales have endured.
For those who only know the character of Conan through the Arnold Schwarzenegger film, CONAN THE BARBARIAN, the literary Conan may be something of a shock. Howard's Conan has none of the Nietzschean baggage of the filmic character, but is instead a rough-hewn warrior lad (Conan is not even twenty-one by the conclusion of CONAN) with a moral compass forged in the straightforward traditions of his Cimmerian kinsman. Conan acts as need or desire directs him, and though he can often be counted upon to do the right thing, he's also short-tempered, violent and downright bloodthirsty. Whether his enemies are noblemen, wizards or hideous creatures, Conan does what's best for Conan, and this frequently means blood will spill.
Once again, the purists may discourage anyone from reading these altered versions of Howard's stories, but in truth only the most discerning eye will notice the shift from original and pastiche and back again. Rather, one's attention is squarely on the barbarian hero at the center of these lusty, combat-fueled adventures. Conan leaps to life from the printed page, no matter who put the words in place, and regardless of complaints, CONAN is still a great place to start.
Rating: 5
Summary: The Voice of a Cimmerian
Comment: Besides Robert E. Howard's suicide at the age of 30, the greatest tragedy of this brutally talented writer is that his work has not enjoyed the literary praise and societal acceptance that it so clearly deserves. Howard is one of the most overlooked authors of the last century, in part due to academia's refusal to seriously study the Fantasy genre. Conan, Howard's greatest character, lives, prowls, "wenches", boozes, adventures, and cajoles among the paperback pages of this first Conan book, due entirely to Howard's distinct narrative voice.
The reader feels the flexing muscle and sinew, the weathered and tanned skin, the animal reflexes, the very strength in Conan's mercenary grip when they read these short stories - beyond Howard's brilliance at character creation, the very narrative voice is written in the tune of savage ruthlessness. No matter your sex, you can't help but boil with testosterone and reel in the wicked pleasure of cleaving cut-throats with a broadsword, because the simple and powerfully persuasive narrative voice places you in Conan's world. Howard's delicate and meticulous word choice not only provide the uniqueness of his voice - a style rich with texture, details, and cinematic imagery - but it also provides the barbarian lens by which we view his world.
The stories are often dripping with blood, but the imagery is so vivid and artistic it in no way diminishes the quality of the text. The knocked out teeth and the crimson sprays seem natural, because they're natural to Conan. Few authors have ever displayed such a profound ability at placing the reader into a character's blood, brain, and hormones. Conan, after all, is not the stereotypical Hollywood action hero - he is a character designed with his own unique combination of strength and flaws. Flaws found in all humanity. He may be built and wired like a Siberian tiger, but he is plagued with a deeply embedded fear of the supernatural. His temper often gets the better of him. When times are good and the riches spill from his saddlebags, he's a boastful braggart that earns the unforeseen whack at the end of a dark alley. When times are tough, he hits the goblet. He's everything we want to be and one of us when we need him to be.
Howard's voice and style make all of this possible. This first book in the Conan series displays that voice of reluctant role model as good as any other. Finding a copy may be difficult, but for the reader that enjoys Fantasy written at the depth and quality of literary genre fiction, the search and the expenditure will yield a bountiful harvest.
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Title: Conan of Cimmeria (Conan No. 2) by Robert E. Howard, L. Sprague De Camp, Lin Carter, Robert A. Howard ISBN: 0441114539 Publisher: Ace Books Pub. Date: July, 1993 List Price(USD): $4.50 |
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Title: Conan the Wanderer (Conan, No 4) by Robert E. Howard, L. Sprague De Camp, Lin Carter ISBN: 0441115977 Publisher: Ace Books Pub. Date: September, 1993 List Price(USD): $4.50 |
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Title: Conan the Adventurer (Conan, No 5) by Robert E. Howard, L. Sprague De Camp ISBN: 0441118585 Publisher: Ace Books Pub. Date: October, 1993 List Price(USD): $4.50 |
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Title: Conan the Freebooter (Conan, No 3) by Robert E. Howard, L. Sprague De Camp ISBN: 0441118631 Publisher: Ace Books Pub. Date: August, 1993 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: Conan the Conqueror (Conan, No 9) by L. Sprague De Camp, Robert E. Howard ISBN: 044111590X Publisher: Ace Books Pub. Date: February, 1994 List Price(USD): $4.50 |
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