Audiobook17 hours
The Conquering Sword of Conan
Written by Robert E. Howard
Narrated by Todd McLaren
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5/5
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About this audiobook
In a meteoric career that covered only a dozen years, Robert E. Howard defined the sword and sorcery genre. In doing so, he brought to life the archetypal adventurer known to millions around the world as Conan the barbarian.
This collection features Howard at his finest and Conan at his most savage. Truly heroic fantasy at its best, this volume contains "The Servants of Bit-Yakin," "Beyond the Black River," "The Black Stranger," "The Man-Eaters of Zamboula," and "Red Nails," which is perhaps Conan's most famous adventure.
This collection features Howard at his finest and Conan at his most savage. Truly heroic fantasy at its best, this volume contains "The Servants of Bit-Yakin," "Beyond the Black River," "The Black Stranger," "The Man-Eaters of Zamboula," and "Red Nails," which is perhaps Conan's most famous adventure.
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The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bloody Crown of Conan Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Conquering Sword of Conan Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
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Reviews for The Conquering Sword of Conan
Rating: 4.555555555555555 out of 5 stars
4.5/5
9 ratings4 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is the third of three books that collect Robert E. Howard's original stories of Conan the Cimmerian, along with some of Howard's drafts and background material written by Howard scholar Patrice Louinet. I wrote some overall details in my review of the second book, "The Bloody Crown of Conan," so I'll simply rate the stories here:"The Servants of Bit-Yakin" (also known as "Jewels of Gwahlur") - 3.5 stars - Conan has traveled to the kingdom of Keshan, in the sourthern jungles, in search of the fabled jewels of Gwahlur. Conan locates the ancient temple where the jewels are kept, but a rival treasure-hunter has tricked the locals of Keshan to aid him in recovering the jewels for himself. Little do any of them suspect that the monstrous servants of an ancient traveler still dwell in the ruins. This Conan story is relatively straightforward and unremarkable, though it does have a stand-out scene near the end where Conan must choose between recovering the jewels and saving a girl."Beyond the Black River" - 4.5 stars - Conan is a scout for Aquilonia in the Bossonian Marches, at the edge of the Pictish wilderness. He meets a settler, Balthus. Together, they seek to stop a Pictish shaman from rallying many tribes and destroying a border fortress and nearby town. Unable to stop the attack, they seek to warn the people, to give them time to flee. This is a very unusual Conan story that seems to be a disguised U.S. Western tale of settlers vs. Native Americans. Conan is a skilled woodsman and starting to resemble a civilized man himself, rather than a barbarian, in this tale. "Beyond the Black River" is sometimes cited as exemplifying Howard's philosophy of the struggle of civilization against barbarism, and barbarism's inevitable, eventual triumph."The Black Stranger" - 4 stars - Conan, escaping from Pictish tribesmen, has wandered far into the wilderness and stumbles upon a cave containing an ancient treasure. Meanwhile, a Zingaran noble has fled his homeland to escape a demon that takes the form of a dark-skinned man. He has set up his household in a coastal fortress nearby. Two different pirate crews arrive, seeking the treasure, and the three factions must make a temporary alliance with Conan to recover it before the Picts overrun the area. An exciting story that provides a look into the pirates and nobles of the Hyborean Age."The Man-Eaters of Zamboula" - 4 stars - Conan is staying in a city in Zamboula where dark-skinned cannibals roam the streets at night, capturing and eating those they can find. Conan saves a woman from the cannibals. She explains that a potion she received from an evil priest drove her lover mad. She asks Conan to assist her in killing the priest and securing an antidote for her lover. While the plot is nothing special, this story is filled with memorable scenes and images, such as Conan's revenge on an evil innkeeper who allows the cannibals to take his guests in the night."Red Nails" - 5 stars - Conan and Valeria, a female warrior and traveler, defeat a dragon. They enter a bizarre city that consts of nothing but rooms and corridors. They stumble into the middle of a feud between two factions that has raged for decades, each barricaded in its own quarter of the city/building, sending out parties to try to capture, torture, and kill members of the other faction. This is the only Conan story to earn a 5-star rating from me, for its inventive setting, its excellent rendering of a dystopia and the decline of "civilized" man. It's also notable for including a woman who is far more capable than Howard's typical female characters.The book also includes two drafts of an unpublished, perhaps unfinished, story that does not feature Conan directly, "Wolves Beyond the Border" - 1.5 stars. Gault, an Aquilonian border ranger, stealthily witnesses a ceremony where a Pictish shaman exchanges the minds of a captured Pict from a rival tribe and a great serpent. He observes a caucasian man there, before he shoots at the shaman and is forced to flee. Later, when reporting to a border fort, he realizes that the commander of the fort is the caucasian man at the ceremony and is secretly in league with the Picts. This story, like "Beyond the Black River," seems to be inspired by U.S. Westerns, but it feels incomplete (perhaps it is).
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Some more good blood and thunder type stuff, if you're already familiar with the character and know what you're getting into and want it you wouldn't be disappointed with what you get here. The Black Stranger in particular in particular is a favorite of mine, with four or five different factions of rogues plotting against each other and Conan at his most cunning in playing against them, lurking in the background for a good chunk of the story. Unfortunately those (like me) who hoped to get a female counterpart to the character in Valeria would be disappointed in Red Nails. She gets a food good whacks in but is consistently treated as another damsel in need of saving, her agency undermined by her reliance on Conan and the way she's targeted by her story's antagonists.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Here's Conan in all his gloriously unedited best written by the originator Robert E. Howard. Not only do you get the final volume of Howard's Conan compilation, but contained within are "Beyond the Black River", "The Black Stranger, and "Red Nails", which many claim are the three best Conan pieces written by Howard. I'll vouch for "Red Nails" because of the strong characters. There's no doe eyed female goggling over Conan or overblown villain just pure purpose set to pen. Conan is the ultimate action character who truly knows how to live in the moment. So kick back and let the warrior in you live through the conquering sword of Conan.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is Robert E. Howard! If you are into adventure, sword and sorcery and action their is no author better