Conan the Valiant

Adventures of Conan

by Roland J. Green

In the Ibar Mountains the necromancer Eremius is raising a demon-spawned army, using in of the fabled Jewels of Kurag. Snared in the court intrigues of Aghrapur, trapped by Lord Misrak, the King's deadly master of spies, Conan of Cimmeria must ride to comfort Ermius, accompanies against his will by the sorceress Illyanan. But Illyana herself carries the second Jewel, and whoever possesses both will gain power to challenge the gods. Plots and treachery loom at Conan's back, but those who seek to catch him in their web do not know that they face Conan of Cimmeria, Conan the Valiant.

Genres: Fantasy, Sword and Sorcery, Fiction, Novels

288 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published October 1, 1988

About the author

Roland James Green is an American science fiction and fantasy writer and editor. He has written as Roland Green and Roland J. Green; and had 28 books in the Richard Blade series published under the pen name 'Jeffrey Lord'.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one reminded me a lot of the Richard Blade series of books that ran for thirty-seven volumes from 1969 through 1984; Green wrote twenty-seven of them, all of which were published under the house name of Jeffrey Lord. In this one a young Conan sets off to secure a magical stone from an evil sorcerer who is planning to use its power to aid him in taking over the world. With him is sorceress Illyana, carrying another of the Jewels of Kurag, and her beautiful bodyguard, Raihna. If the two wonder stones are ever held together, then the power that sank Atlantis will be released. Much nudity and violence and many intimate encounters and battles later, after some court intrigue and old bad feelings intervening... well, you know. Howard wouldn't have written it, but I'm sure he'd have enjoyed the read. This first trade edition has a good cover from Ken Kelly that features Conan ready to chest-bump an ogre while a young lady wielding a knife looks on, and I believe she may be wearing more clothing than any other Conan cover heroine ever did.

[Phil · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a great outing for the Conan franchise. I remember reading these in the 80s and several authors contributed to the 'series'; Roland Green's The Valiant follows a young Conan on something of quest. Conan currently works as the head of the town guard, but rumors and more of demons and strange magic compel the head spy, something like Conan's boss, to send him and a female wizard (and her henchwoman) out to investigate...

This was not so much an adventure story as it was soft-core porn. I lost track of how many comely woman Conan took to bed; it seems all the women are 'curvy' and pleasing and just cannot wait to go down with a real man. It read like a bad exploitation film from the 70s. Maybe the target audience was horny teens, but in any case, expect lots of sex and a trail of dead bodies.

[East Bay J · Rating 2 out of 5]

So... This one starts out pretty good and I was into it and thinking, "Yeah, Green, you GO!" Then the story kind of bogged down and everything just got weird and meandering.

Worst sentence in the book:

"Demons and men alike died in uncounted numbers in the time needed to gulp a cup of wine."

Second worst sentence:

"Now Conan's training in the rude school of survival and Raihna's training from master Barathres merged as easily as their bodies did in love."

Ouch. That may actually be the worst sentence.

Then there's this kind of crap:

"Both Conan and Raihna were bleeding from a dozen minor wounds. Their muscles twitched and ached, their breaths rasped and neither of them had enough intact clothing to garb a tavern dancer."

Every time there's a battle, someone's naked. They might start naked or end up naked, but it's blood and nudity by the end of it. This is an honored tradition in pulp adventure fiction but it's the kind of thing one might choose to avoid. Some folks probably think it's "fun," but I think it's "ridiculous."

Anyway... not great. Good cover art from Ken Kelly, though. Except, why is Conan standing like he's challenging that Transformed to a dance off?

[Sotiris Karaiskos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Conan continues his journey to the Far East getting involved in a very serious situation. A wizard has created an army of mutants that destroys everything in its path, so he has no choice but to get involved. At his side are some beautiful sensual women with special abilities and light clothing who help him by getting him out of difficult situations and he makes sure to please some of them in his own way. Fast-paced adventure, some humor and more sex, I can't say the author leaves us particularly unsatisfied.

Ο Κόναν συνεχίζει το ταξίδι του στην άπω Ανατολή εμπλεκόμενος σε μία πολύ σοβαρή κατάσταση. Ένας μάγος έχει δημιουργήσει έναν στρατό από μεταλλαγμένους που καταστρέφει τα πάντα στο πέρασμά του, οπότε δεν έχει άλλη επιλογή από το να ανακατευθεί. Στο πλευρό του είναι μερικές πανέμορφες αισθησιακές γυναίκες με ξεχωριστές ικανότητες και ελαφρύ ρουχισμό οι οποίες τον βοηθάνε βγάζοντας τον από δύσκολες καταστάσεις και αυτός κάποιες από αυτές φροντίζει να τις... ευχαριστήσει με το δικό του τρόπο. Περιπέτεια σε γρήγορους ρυθμούς, λίγο χιούμορ και περισσότερο σεξ, δεν μπορώ να πω ότι ο συγγραφέας μας αφήνει ιδιαίτερα δυσαρεστημένους.

[Truls Ljungström · Rating 3 out of 5]

Utmärkt genrelitteratur - om man struntar i de första 20 sidorna.

[Lewis Stone · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was bad. The worst of the fifteen Conan pastiches I've read so far, and the first I genuinely disliked.

I'll start with what I enjoyed, which wasn't much. It opened well, the plot was classic Conan, some action was decent, and the Transformed were a gnarly threat. Penned by a more skilled author, this could have been a much better book.

Otherwise, it soon devolved into a total mess. Green has no idea how to paint a scene, build an atmosphere, or shape a solid story - at least, he didn't in this book. There were practically no descriptions of any kind, making it very difficult to visualise settings, geography, and characters unless you already have a strong imagination and can fill in the blanks. The story was very sporadic, and it felt like Green had no grasp on Howard's world. He repeatedly got things about the peoples and lands of the Hyborian Age wrong. Even Conan wasn't Conan-like. He was constantly gushing over a general just for being capable at their job, he took insults far too easily, and just wasn't very 'Conan'.

This was also undoubtedly the horniest book I've ever read. Don't get me wrong, I like my sword and sorcery a bit saucy... but this got so ridiculous it felt like a parody. All the characters ever thought about was banging, even in the face of immediate danger. The author constantly found extremely forced ways to make them naked in every chapter, even IN BATTLE, referencing nudity multiple times per page, page after painful page. If Green spent as much time setting a scene as he did projecting his rampant sex drive into this book at every possible turn, it might have been more than a softcore porn sleezefest.

Topped off with a completely forgettable villain that we learn nothing about, this is a book I'm glad to be done with. I give it two stars... and that's a generous rating, even from someone who generally really enjoys Conan pastiches. I can't say I'm eager to read Green's future Conan books, but eh. Maybe he'll surprise me.

[Stuart Dean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Conan is Captain of Mercenaries in Aghrapur when he runs afoul of the foppish son of an important Lord. Others convince him that it is best to leave town for awhile, and the Master of Spies has a job that will keep him busy for weeks. Conan will escort a beautiful sorceress and her maidservant to the mountains. There an opposing sorcerer is transforming people into demons and building an army.

Not the best written book ever, and Conan spends an inordinate amount of time arguing and confused. I lost count of the number of times somebody knew something but no power on Earth could make them reveal what the knew. Also, everyone finds a way to end up naked with the regularity of people bursting into song in a musical. Of course, everyone knows that you can't perform magic with your clothes on, right?

This one started out well enough but descended into a muddled mess. Because of the beginning I will give it 2.5 stars. Readable but not memorable.

[Mikel Pfeiffer · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story, while not original, is not bad, filled with sorcerers, monsters and lots of sword fights. The problem was the writing. It just wasn't good. I couldn't visualize a lot of the action and the conversations between Conan and anybody were just bad. The whole middle section could have been edited down then maybe a decent novella could have come from it. I'm a big fan of reading Conan so this was a let down. At least this book gave me a clue not to pick up anymore books by Roland Green.

[Jerimy Stoll · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, There were some parts of this story I liked, but also some I disliked. Overall I would give this book a 2.65-star rating. The ending was good. I probably would have given the story a 2.9 if the main character had a different name. It wasn't Conan, that's for sure.

[Jeff Mayo · Rating 1 out of 5]

This Conan adventure was published in 1988. It was Green’s first of seven Conan novels. He gives more background information than most of his predecessors. The book is not the better for it, as all of that is just padding.