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Adventures of Conan
Conan and the Amazon
Roaming the hills of Brythunia Conan comes face to face with a legend--Achilea, once Queen of a tribe of savage women, is a consummate warrior, as fierce as she is beautiful. Together they set out to uncover the riches of the long-lost Janagar, a mighty city that stood tall for five thousand years. It was abandoned by its people, who fled on one strange night, never to return. Treasure hunters beware! Deadly horrors are waiting for Conan and Achilea deep in the bowels of Janagar.
Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
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243 people want to read
About the author
John Maddox Roberts
125 books251 followersaka Mark Ramsay
John Maddox Roberts is the author of numerous works of science fiction and fantasy, in addition to his successful historical SPQR mystery series. The first two books in the series have recently been re-released in trade paperback.
John Maddox Roberts is the author of numerous works of science fiction and fantasy, in addition to his successful historical SPQR mystery series. The first two books in the series have recently been re-released in trade paperback.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
May 30, 2022
I've always enjoyed searching-for-lost-city-treasure stories, and this is a good one. Conan, an Amazon queen and her companions, a dwarf, some Hyrkanian tribesmen, some very unusual twins... it sounds like the set up for a dirty joke, but it turns into a fine swords and sorcery adventure quest. Achilea is one of the more memorable of the characters introduced in the Tor series. Robert E. Howard wouldn't have written it this way, but he'd have enjoyed reading it. The Ken Kelly crocodile cover is one of his best Frazzetta-inspired efforts.
February 25, 2023
A rousing adventure as Conan finds himself in search of a hidden, forbidden city alongside an Amazon Queen. I thoroughly enjoy stories dealing with lost and forgotten cities and this one for not disappoint in the search nor the discovery.
September 17, 2017
I liked it OK, although it seemed longer than it needed to be. I still think that sword and sorcery works best at novella length. Most S & S novels seem a little padded. I'm sure the instructions were clear for John Maddox Roberts regarding word count. The back cover blurb provides a very accurate description of the plot so I won't repeat it here. I will at that Maddox's Conan evokes the barbarian of Robert E. Howard better than most of the Tor pastiches.
September 14, 2017
This Conan story is a little more generic than the other two John Maddox Roberts Conan pastiches I’ve read, but it still may be my favorite. As he so often does, Conan finds himself in the story by chance. In need of sword work in a disreputable town, he quickly meets a pack of Hyrkanians, four Amazons, and a dwarf. They are all hired to help an enigmatic pair of twins find a lost desert city.
“Conan’s heart thudded within his ribs. She was like a magnificent lioness: powerful, proud and deadly.”
The titular Amazon queen is the highlight. Roberts wrote very good feminine foils for Conan. Achilea has a scarred, weather-beaten face, the hands of a swordsman, and is almost as tall as Conan. But she is “not in the least masculine,” with “full and womanly” breasts and “sleekly rounded hips and buttocks.” Roberts may have had Cory Everson in mind when he wrote Achilea.
I won’t spoil the story, but things get pretty darn science fictional in the latter half of the book, in the best pulp tradition. And speaking of being pulpy, the fight with a crocodile that is depicted on the cover really does happen, and it is awesome.
“Conan’s heart thudded within his ribs. She was like a magnificent lioness: powerful, proud and deadly.”
The titular Amazon queen is the highlight. Roberts wrote very good feminine foils for Conan. Achilea has a scarred, weather-beaten face, the hands of a swordsman, and is almost as tall as Conan. But she is “not in the least masculine,” with “full and womanly” breasts and “sleekly rounded hips and buttocks.” Roberts may have had Cory Everson in mind when he wrote Achilea.
I won’t spoil the story, but things get pretty darn science fictional in the latter half of the book, in the best pulp tradition. And speaking of being pulpy, the fight with a crocodile that is depicted on the cover really does happen, and it is awesome.
June 15, 2019
Solid lost city adventure, but nothing outstanding. Meh with sprinkles.
July 19, 2020
This was John Maddox Roberts' final Conan pastiche. Unfortunately despite the fairly high quality of Roberts' previous work in the Tor series, it's only slightly above average.
As with many of the author's books in the Conan vein, Conan is at his nadir at the beginning, having come to a backwater rogues' village in search of employment. Here, he meets Achilea, the Amazon of the title, a displaced queen of a misandrist tribe with three of her Amazons and a dwarf in tow. To get out of the city, they take a commission with some weird (ultimately in the Weird Tales sense) twins to find the Lost City of Janagar.
Along the way, Roberts gives us some interesting characters and his usual overload of factions seeking the thing Conan is looking for before taking us to Janagar itself, a blighted metropolis in the tradition of those Robert Howard himself would create in the canonical stories.
Unfortunately in the middle, the story drags as Conan and Achilea face the Lost race of Janagar, semihumans seeking to breed with the best normal humans to try to make their race wholly human again.
This subplot takes up a big chunk of the book but feels like padding, not least because Roberts goes out of his way in unbelievable manner to ensure Conan doesn't sleep with the Queen of Janagar because the Cimmerian is now obsessed with Achilea.
This dovetails into another criticism because although Conan wants Achilea and ultimately consummates his goal with her, their relationship mostly feels disjointed and unnatural. It feels as if Roberts wanted to incorporate an Edgar Rice Burroughs-style love story into his Conan novel. For the most part, the two story types don't mesh, though Roberts does use the love story as a means to provide a breathtakingly described battle involving the two and a giant crocodile that is the highlight of the book.
In sum, Conan and the Amazon feels like a novel that should be better than it is. It has a solid heroine and an overall interesting take on familiar material combined with interesting characters and the standard complex plotting Roberts favors in his Conan novels. Unfortunately the love story at its core isn't particularly well developed while the scenes in Janagar drag far too long before the climax. It is above average for the Tor series, but given Roberts' usual high standards, feels subpar for him.
As with many of the author's books in the Conan vein, Conan is at his nadir at the beginning, having come to a backwater rogues' village in search of employment. Here, he meets Achilea, the Amazon of the title, a displaced queen of a misandrist tribe with three of her Amazons and a dwarf in tow. To get out of the city, they take a commission with some weird (ultimately in the Weird Tales sense) twins to find the Lost City of Janagar.
Along the way, Roberts gives us some interesting characters and his usual overload of factions seeking the thing Conan is looking for before taking us to Janagar itself, a blighted metropolis in the tradition of those Robert Howard himself would create in the canonical stories.
Unfortunately in the middle, the story drags as Conan and Achilea face the Lost race of Janagar, semihumans seeking to breed with the best normal humans to try to make their race wholly human again.
This subplot takes up a big chunk of the book but feels like padding, not least because Roberts goes out of his way in unbelievable manner to ensure Conan doesn't sleep with the Queen of Janagar because the Cimmerian is now obsessed with Achilea.
This dovetails into another criticism because although Conan wants Achilea and ultimately consummates his goal with her, their relationship mostly feels disjointed and unnatural. It feels as if Roberts wanted to incorporate an Edgar Rice Burroughs-style love story into his Conan novel. For the most part, the two story types don't mesh, though Roberts does use the love story as a means to provide a breathtakingly described battle involving the two and a giant crocodile that is the highlight of the book.
In sum, Conan and the Amazon feels like a novel that should be better than it is. It has a solid heroine and an overall interesting take on familiar material combined with interesting characters and the standard complex plotting Roberts favors in his Conan novels. Unfortunately the love story at its core isn't particularly well developed while the scenes in Janagar drag far too long before the climax. It is above average for the Tor series, but given Roberts' usual high standards, feels subpar for him.
July 20, 2012
John Maddox Roberts Conan books were always some of my favorites from the Tor era. 'Conan and the Amazon' is no exception! A good, fun read! This was actually a great Conan story. I enjoyed it immenseley.
May 24, 2019
As everyone knows, Ferengi Rule of Acquisition #34 states, "War is good for business." And, of course, #35 states, "Peace is good for business". Both are true, unless you are Conan and all your marketable skills include either killing or thieving, then peace sucks. Such is how Conan finds himself when peace suddenly breaks out in the land. He makes his way to the Brythunian town of Leng, a lawless place in the hinterlands where the outlaws of 5 kingdoms are congregating while they wait for better times. Kind of like a Hyborian version of Deadwood. There he meets up with some out of work Hyrkoneans and four massive warrior women, one of whom claims to be Queen of the Amazons, though that is not what they call themselves. Leng is boring and when a couple of rich twins show up looking for guards they all join up for a road trip.
The twins are looking for the lost city of Janagar, deep in the Dead Man's Desert. Conan doesn't like the whole deal from the beginning, and weird things keep happening that don't make him doubt himself. There are also others looking for Janagar and they cause problems. When they reach the city(spoiler) things don't get better. Conan is almost killed by bandits, a sandstorm, winged demons, the desert sun, a crocogator, and nearly sexed to death by an albino demon queen. And all the while the 200 lb Amazon Queen keeps rebuffing his amorous advances. And threatening to kill him.
A good travel tale with sufficient action, with the harrowing desert trip and the lost city being particularly well scripted. The revealed lore of Janagar was far more intricate than is usual for the history of lost cities in Hyboria, and thus more interesting. Best is that we have an older, more seasoned Conan. The others treat him like a nervous old woman who constantly complains for no reason and is worried about shadows and the like. They keep telling him to live for the day and not to worry about tomorrow, which is exactly how Conan started out about 30 books ago. Now he is the one urging caution, which doesn't stop him from charging 20 bandits single handed. And Roberts' acknowledges that Conan exists in the shared Conan universe, with Conan constantly referring to his vast travels and service in numerable armies. And his less lawful activities as well. At the border: "Conan, why are we stopped?" "I'm trying to remember if this is one of the places where they want to hang me." You've lived a full life when you can't even keep proper track of which places have a death warrant out on you. (SPOILER: It is one of those places.)
Not that it means anything, but if the albino queen looked anything like Stahma Tarr the way I imagined she does and she wanted to keep me as her sex slave I would still be there now.
The twins are looking for the lost city of Janagar, deep in the Dead Man's Desert. Conan doesn't like the whole deal from the beginning, and weird things keep happening that don't make him doubt himself. There are also others looking for Janagar and they cause problems. When they reach the city(spoiler) things don't get better. Conan is almost killed by bandits, a sandstorm, winged demons, the desert sun, a crocogator, and nearly sexed to death by an albino demon queen. And all the while the 200 lb Amazon Queen keeps rebuffing his amorous advances. And threatening to kill him.
A good travel tale with sufficient action, with the harrowing desert trip and the lost city being particularly well scripted. The revealed lore of Janagar was far more intricate than is usual for the history of lost cities in Hyboria, and thus more interesting. Best is that we have an older, more seasoned Conan. The others treat him like a nervous old woman who constantly complains for no reason and is worried about shadows and the like. They keep telling him to live for the day and not to worry about tomorrow, which is exactly how Conan started out about 30 books ago. Now he is the one urging caution, which doesn't stop him from charging 20 bandits single handed. And Roberts' acknowledges that Conan exists in the shared Conan universe, with Conan constantly referring to his vast travels and service in numerable armies. And his less lawful activities as well. At the border: "Conan, why are we stopped?" "I'm trying to remember if this is one of the places where they want to hang me." You've lived a full life when you can't even keep proper track of which places have a death warrant out on you. (SPOILER: It is one of those places.)
Not that it means anything, but if the albino queen looked anything like Stahma Tarr the way I imagined she does and she wanted to keep me as her sex slave I would still be there now.
June 24, 2024
This is John Maddox Roberts' last Conan pastiche, and it's a good one. It's well-written, Conan feels like Conan, it's faithful to Howard's world, and it ticks the classic Conan boxes; a lost city, sorcerers battling cosmic powers, desert demons... all the good stuff.
Yet, for all it got right, there was a huge misstep I can't ignore and need to touch upon in length (SPOILERS AHEAD). Achilea is an exiled queen from a tribe of women whose only involvement with men is capturing them for breeding, then slaying them or selling them as slaves, since they see men as inferior. They even slaughter any male babies that come from this breeding. And so, the reason Achilea was exiled from her tribe is that she fell in love with her male slave and freed him along with the infant boy she later birthed.
Anyhow, a direct parallel occurs in the book - the people of the lost city of Janagar capture Achilea and intend to use her and her followers for breeding before slaying them. This is EXACTLY what Achilea's people have done to countless men, and it's entirely fitting for them to almost suffer the same... but Achilea learns nothing from it. At no point is this used this as a moment of character growth, a chance for Achilea to see the error in her peoples' ways. The author just doesn't connect the dots at all. Hell, even when Achilea confesses the reason for her exile (freeing her male slave and baby boy), it's clear she only did it for selfish reasons - NOT because she actually saw how barbaric her tribe's practices are.
The book even ends with Achilea none the wiser, preparing to retake her throne and continue her ways of using male breeding slaves, even after barely escaping that same fate. She even says to Conan "there will be no place for a man at my side", showing she has learnt nothing. This was a very sour spot, as it left me feeling like it would actually be justice for Achilea to end up dying as a breeding slave after all, since she's spent her life doing it to others and still plans to continue even AFTER almost experiencing it for herself.
Anyway, I DID mostly enjoy this one, and it got a lot right for a pastiche. However, that glaring plot issue, along with some other minor gripes, knock it down to a soft four stars. Good, but could have been better with more attention to detail.
Yet, for all it got right, there was a huge misstep I can't ignore and need to touch upon in length (SPOILERS AHEAD). Achilea is an exiled queen from a tribe of women whose only involvement with men is capturing them for breeding, then slaying them or selling them as slaves, since they see men as inferior. They even slaughter any male babies that come from this breeding. And so, the reason Achilea was exiled from her tribe is that she fell in love with her male slave and freed him along with the infant boy she later birthed.
Anyhow, a direct parallel occurs in the book - the people of the lost city of Janagar capture Achilea and intend to use her and her followers for breeding before slaying them. This is EXACTLY what Achilea's people have done to countless men, and it's entirely fitting for them to almost suffer the same... but Achilea learns nothing from it. At no point is this used this as a moment of character growth, a chance for Achilea to see the error in her peoples' ways. The author just doesn't connect the dots at all. Hell, even when Achilea confesses the reason for her exile (freeing her male slave and baby boy), it's clear she only did it for selfish reasons - NOT because she actually saw how barbaric her tribe's practices are.
The book even ends with Achilea none the wiser, preparing to retake her throne and continue her ways of using male breeding slaves, even after barely escaping that same fate. She even says to Conan "there will be no place for a man at my side", showing she has learnt nothing. This was a very sour spot, as it left me feeling like it would actually be justice for Achilea to end up dying as a breeding slave after all, since she's spent her life doing it to others and still plans to continue even AFTER almost experiencing it for herself.
Anyway, I DID mostly enjoy this one, and it got a lot right for a pastiche. However, that glaring plot issue, along with some other minor gripes, knock it down to a soft four stars. Good, but could have been better with more attention to detail.
November 21, 2020
Not with a whimper, but a train crash.
Peace has come to the north, and all the brigands and mercenaries, without employment or hopes of plunder, can think of nothing better than to all congregate to the town of Leng, which is also without employment or hopes of plunder, and sit there waiting for a convenient plot device to show up. Among these are Conan, our hero, and Achilea, a deposed queen of the Amazons. Is the stage set for a journey into the mysterious land of the Amazons to explore a new land and reconquer a queendom? Of course not. Achilea is there simply to give Conan someone to bang, and for the author to ply his hand at attempts at humour. The actual plot device are a pair of camel riding twins who are evidently unnatural and probably malevolent, and are seeking Conan and Achilea in particular to accompany them to loot a mysterious abandoned city. Why Conan and Achilea? Because the twins end up being a space travelling monstrosity out to destroy the world, and only Conan can stop it. So if it had just left Conan and Leng it would have succeeded, which probably violates some space monstrosity code.
It doesn't get better. Nothing makes sense. Plot devices are picked up and forgotten, then half heartedly wedded at the end. Characters are not particularly interesting, and die quickly. Conan stabs a couple of things, but it feels awfully routine. Of the three antagonists none are truly defeated by Conan, but he does get to bang Achilea at the end. So I guess he got what he came for, but the reader didn't.
Peace has come to the north, and all the brigands and mercenaries, without employment or hopes of plunder, can think of nothing better than to all congregate to the town of Leng, which is also without employment or hopes of plunder, and sit there waiting for a convenient plot device to show up. Among these are Conan, our hero, and Achilea, a deposed queen of the Amazons. Is the stage set for a journey into the mysterious land of the Amazons to explore a new land and reconquer a queendom? Of course not. Achilea is there simply to give Conan someone to bang, and for the author to ply his hand at attempts at humour. The actual plot device are a pair of camel riding twins who are evidently unnatural and probably malevolent, and are seeking Conan and Achilea in particular to accompany them to loot a mysterious abandoned city. Why Conan and Achilea? Because the twins end up being a space travelling monstrosity out to destroy the world, and only Conan can stop it. So if it had just left Conan and Leng it would have succeeded, which probably violates some space monstrosity code.
It doesn't get better. Nothing makes sense. Plot devices are picked up and forgotten, then half heartedly wedded at the end. Characters are not particularly interesting, and die quickly. Conan stabs a couple of things, but it feels awfully routine. Of the three antagonists none are truly defeated by Conan, but he does get to bang Achilea at the end. So I guess he got what he came for, but the reader didn't.
June 11, 2021
This was a letdown. JMR wasn’t at his best with this one. It is a serviceable adventure but seems overly padded. It is a bit like REH’s The Slithering Shadow in that Conan and his erstwhile paramour end up in a lost city where the leaders lust after them and when they are injured there is a magic elixir/lotion to fix them right up. Conan even makes the same type of joke about him being irresistible to the opposite sex.
The book features several wizards and Conan and the Amazon have to do a lot of fighting and suffering before finally getting to the lost city and the climax of the book.
A readable book but not an engrossing one. It is not the worst of the series but the weakest one by JMR.
The book features several wizards and Conan and the Amazon have to do a lot of fighting and suffering before finally getting to the lost city and the climax of the book.
A readable book but not an engrossing one. It is not the worst of the series but the weakest one by JMR.
November 27, 2022
definitely a good read. Highly recommend it. Not as cheeky as the other Conan novels I've read—it's like the author actively didn't want you to get aroused while reading this story, in order to focus more on the convoluted plot, which didn't really matter to me, because I personally was looking for more action to happen between Conan and Achilea.
What the author gave was good enough, I guess. He did a good job balancing the Masculinity and the Sword and Sorcery elements I've known Conan novels to have as a staple in each of its tales.
Chapter 14 was definitely an info-dump of a chapter, but I'll let that slide.
What the author gave was good enough, I guess. He did a good job balancing the Masculinity and the Sword and Sorcery elements I've known Conan novels to have as a staple in each of its tales.
Chapter 14 was definitely an info-dump of a chapter, but I'll let that slide.
January 9, 2024
Pretty good Conan book with a slightly ambiguous ending that I really rather enjoyed. All in all, this is basically a Conan/Red Sonja tale. Not Red Sonja in name, but as close as you are going to get in book format. In the end, Conan is Conan, and this books gives you all the things you would expect from a Conan tale. Sometimes, that can be a bad thing, but Maddox Roberts seems to really understand the character as well as the world in which Conan roams.
If this is your first Conan book. . . . . honestly, not a bad choice. If you've been reading Conan for a while and just haven't gotten to this one yet, you shouldn't be disappointed.
If this is your first Conan book. . . . . honestly, not a bad choice. If you've been reading Conan for a while and just haven't gotten to this one yet, you shouldn't be disappointed.
December 1, 2022
Z této knihy mám docela smíšené pocity jelikož jedna část autorovi jde moc dobře a druhá už není žádná sláva. Autor umí dobře popisovat krajinu a celkové prostředí, ale osobně mi hodně vadila neustálá tendence vysvětlovat a poučovat. Jako plus je zajisté zápletka, která se netočí pouze kolem mága. Bohužel další hřebíček je zdlouhavost, kdy se dopracujeme k nástinu zápletky prakticky v polovině knihy. Navíc často vyprávění začne nějak a končí úplně jinak přičemž prostor vlastně vyplní jen Conanovy svaly. Není to moc povedené.
March 13, 2021
Very fun little book. Conan meets female Conan abd is very impressed. All the characters in the book are interesting and there are some nice twists near the end Loved it!
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews