What do you think?
Rate this book
Adventures of Conan
Conan the Great
Conan of Cimmeria, who swaggered into the civilized lands as a youthful warrior with a strong sword and arm, has now used that sword to take a kingdom. He is King Conan of Aquilonia, but armies--led by a bloodthirsty, long-forgotten god--march to pull him down.
288 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1989
2 people are currently reading
195 people want to read
About the author
Leonard Carpenter
51 books18 followersLeonard Paul Carpenter (born 1948) is an American technical writer and author of fantasy, historical and futurist fiction. He began by selling horror/fantasy tales and Conan the Barbarian sequels, eleven novels totaling a million words. This is more of the Conan saga than any other author living or dead, including Conan's inspired creator Robert E. Howard in the 1930's. Now Carpenter breaks out of sci-fantasy with his mainstream historical opus Lusitania Lost, a wartime epic of the sinking of the luxury liner in 1915 by a German U-boat, which ultimately caused the US to enter WWI. This is the first novelization of an event more dramatic and significant than the Titanic tragedy 3 years earlier. Carpenter has also written the screenplay adaptation of this book. Another novel of his, the future-history thriller Biohacker, is available on Amazon Kindle. Carpenter is the widowed survivor of a 50-year courtship and marriage, proud father of 3, and owner of a superstar Frisbee dog, Lizzie. He spends his time traveling and writing about a Cuban fantasy quest and real-life engagement in his just-published novel, Tropic of Cuba, now serialized on Kindle Vella at Amazon (first chapters free!)
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
July 2, 2022
This was Carpenter's fifth of eleven Conan novels and was published just a couple of months after Conan the Hero. In this one, Conan is established as the king of Aquilonia, but is insecure about his advancing age. There were no Corvettes or movie starlets in the Hyborian age for him to work out his mid-life crisis with, but there's always swords and sorcery mayhem available to show that he's still got it... perhaps the title might have been Conan the Greying? There's an interesting dwarf jester/advisor for Tyrion fans, and a cool Ken Kelly cover for arachnophobes. Not too memorable, but a fun fantasy adventure story.
February 21, 2021
Good popcorn read by Carpenter. The Conan franchise is pretty hit or miss, but usually good for some lite escapist reading. Carpenter's CTG has a middle aged Conan as king of Aquilonia, alongside his queen and young son. A young upstart (Armiro) has united Koth to the south and war seems to be in the cards. CTG is a little slow for a Conan novel, but also has more intrigue than most. An ancient, forgotten god has recently been awakened and wants to be worshiped once more. The god is a master of dreams, and neither Conan nor Armiro know that in a way, they are simply doing the bidden of the old god.
The god's only priest is a dwarf, a court jester, that Conan found after a long battle with the kingdoms to the south. While he formerly served the bested king, he quickly latches onto Conan and becomes a trusted advisor. Slowly, he fills Conan with visions of being king over all the lands! So, Conan sets out to conquer, with his main enemy Armiro seemingly of the same inclination...
While of course there are battles, CTG really is more a story of court intrigue. It was nice to see Conan aging gracefully, although still very much a he man and warrior. I read most of the Conan books back in the 80s, but game them away somewhere along the way and I can see why. Still, a good popcorn read for a rainy day. 2.5 stars rounding up!
The god's only priest is a dwarf, a court jester, that Conan found after a long battle with the kingdoms to the south. While he formerly served the bested king, he quickly latches onto Conan and becomes a trusted advisor. Slowly, he fills Conan with visions of being king over all the lands! So, Conan sets out to conquer, with his main enemy Armiro seemingly of the same inclination...
While of course there are battles, CTG really is more a story of court intrigue. It was nice to see Conan aging gracefully, although still very much a he man and warrior. I read most of the Conan books back in the 80s, but game them away somewhere along the way and I can see why. Still, a good popcorn read for a rainy day. 2.5 stars rounding up!
June 19, 2022
Undoubtedly the worst Conan pastiche of the eighteen I've read in the Tor series so far. By now, I'm convinced Leonard Carpenter actively hated writing Conan.
For context; his first two pastiches, Conan the Renegade and Conan the Raider, were great. His third, Conan the Warlord, was okay but uninspired, like he was bored of writing the character after his first two. By his fourth, Conan the Hero, Carpenter seemed entirely done with Conan. That book was just an anti-Vietnam war book with Conan shoehorned in.
Then comes Conan the Great, and it's anything BUT great. It's like Carpenter was begrudgingly writing Conan solely to pay the bills, and spitefully so by making him as unlikable and un-Conan-like as possible.
This book sees an insecure, middle-aged King Conan unnecessarily start a war just to prove he's "still got it". He slaughters unarmed nobles, berates his closest friends, openly cheats on Queen Zenobia, ignores any advice from his trusted advisors, and worse. He's extremely easily manipulated, blinded by his own ego, and at one point even starts musing that he's on the path to becoming a god. No, I'm not joking. Conan the Barbarian actually starts seeing himself as a literal deity.
This book is laughable. It goes out of its way to NOT deliver a good Conan story. It's topped off by an abysmal ending that sees Conan not kill his manipulator because "they were friends once" (even though they were never friends, and the character was manipulating Conan from their first exchange). Instead, he has his men kill them. Again, you read that right. Conan the Barbarian doesn't even kill his own adversary, but steps aside to let others do the dirty work for him.
This is an awful Conan book written by someone who either doesn't understand the character at all or was actively trying to sabotage him. Considering Carpenter has shown that he CAN write Conan before this, I'm guessing it's the latter. I'm now dreading the six remaining Carpenter pastiches, and I hate that the completionist in me won't be able to rest until I've painfully dragged myself through them.
For context; his first two pastiches, Conan the Renegade and Conan the Raider, were great. His third, Conan the Warlord, was okay but uninspired, like he was bored of writing the character after his first two. By his fourth, Conan the Hero, Carpenter seemed entirely done with Conan. That book was just an anti-Vietnam war book with Conan shoehorned in.
Then comes Conan the Great, and it's anything BUT great. It's like Carpenter was begrudgingly writing Conan solely to pay the bills, and spitefully so by making him as unlikable and un-Conan-like as possible.
This book sees an insecure, middle-aged King Conan unnecessarily start a war just to prove he's "still got it". He slaughters unarmed nobles, berates his closest friends, openly cheats on Queen Zenobia, ignores any advice from his trusted advisors, and worse. He's extremely easily manipulated, blinded by his own ego, and at one point even starts musing that he's on the path to becoming a god. No, I'm not joking. Conan the Barbarian actually starts seeing himself as a literal deity.
This book is laughable. It goes out of its way to NOT deliver a good Conan story. It's topped off by an abysmal ending that sees Conan not kill his manipulator because "they were friends once" (even though they were never friends, and the character was manipulating Conan from their first exchange). Instead, he has his men kill them. Again, you read that right. Conan the Barbarian doesn't even kill his own adversary, but steps aside to let others do the dirty work for him.
This is an awful Conan book written by someone who either doesn't understand the character at all or was actively trying to sabotage him. Considering Carpenter has shown that he CAN write Conan before this, I'm guessing it's the latter. I'm now dreading the six remaining Carpenter pastiches, and I hate that the completionist in me won't be able to rest until I've painfully dragged myself through them.
October 29, 2021
Sometimes, when the world seems less bleak than usual, I start thinking that maybe some day I actually will realise my dreams of becoming a fiction author. On very rare occasions I pick up a pen, but more commonly I just daydream about all the great books I would write. One of these is Conan the Senile, starring an aged Conan, with pecs that are sagging with age, a manhood that doesn't always answer the call, a thousand stories of questionable veracity of former glories always at the lips. Well, it seems Carpenter beat me to the punch.
Conan the Great take place in the later years of Conan's life, when Conan is the King of Aquilonia and is desperately trying to prove to his retainers that he still has it. They're none too convinced, but seeing how, on the advice of a deranged dwarf, Conan escalated a border skirmish into a bid to take over the world, they're kind of forced on for the ride. What follows is some unconvincing Hyborian geopolitics and a plot to resurrect an elder god that the author just can't force himself to take seriously. It's not very exciting, and Carpenter's prose no longer keeps the book afloat.
He still has six Conan books after this. Maybe I should take a break.
Conan the Great take place in the later years of Conan's life, when Conan is the King of Aquilonia and is desperately trying to prove to his retainers that he still has it. They're none too convinced, but seeing how, on the advice of a deranged dwarf, Conan escalated a border skirmish into a bid to take over the world, they're kind of forced on for the ride. What follows is some unconvincing Hyborian geopolitics and a plot to resurrect an elder god that the author just can't force himself to take seriously. It's not very exciting, and Carpenter's prose no longer keeps the book afloat.
He still has six Conan books after this. Maybe I should take a break.
November 8, 2016
Honestly, don't know why I bothered reading this one. Leonard Carpenter consistently gets the lowest rating from me. By the time anything interesting happened, I just wanted the book to be over with.
August 23, 2019
World War Hyboria. Conan is King of Aquilonia, wife and son at his side, when the greedy kings of Ophir and Nemedia decide to invade his country. Conan deals with them and rescues a dwarf on the battlefield who turns out to be court jester to one of the offending kings. Conan takes the dwarf to be his own jester and personal advisor, and before he can fully finish off Ophir and Nemedia the new Tyrant of Koth moves into the east to take advantage of the situation. Aquilonia and Koth face off, and after an inconclusive battle in Ophir the two armies go their separate ways. Conan sweeps across Nemedia and the Tyrant moves westward on Argos. Brythunia, Corinthia, and Zingara become involved. All of the world rests on the outcome of the battle between these two men.
Conan as king. An interesting setup to see how a lifelong adventurer would adjust to the life at court. Not well, really. Conan is naturally restless and finds governance irritating. And now he's about 50 years old, and very sensitive about it. Anybody who makes even the slightest hint that maybe he should slow down or hold back is immediately shouted down and Conan goes out of his way to prove how young and vigorous he still is. So when he gets back on the campaign trail and gets a few victories he sees no reason to stop. Why settle for being king of one land when you can be king of all the lands? That's what Conan thinks, and those weird dreams he's been having clearly back him up on it. Plus the Tyrant of Koth is a total scumball and he needs to be killed.
Conan is well served in this book. His touchiness about his age, his restlessness at court, his mild disappointment at the softness of his son Conn, his eagerness for one more great battle, all fit in with what one would expect of an ageing warrior. Most of the book is battle heavy so it's not big on introspection, but Conan is still shown to have gained a bit of worldly wisdom with his years. And he kills a lot of guys and wrestles a spider.
Conan as king. An interesting setup to see how a lifelong adventurer would adjust to the life at court. Not well, really. Conan is naturally restless and finds governance irritating. And now he's about 50 years old, and very sensitive about it. Anybody who makes even the slightest hint that maybe he should slow down or hold back is immediately shouted down and Conan goes out of his way to prove how young and vigorous he still is. So when he gets back on the campaign trail and gets a few victories he sees no reason to stop. Why settle for being king of one land when you can be king of all the lands? That's what Conan thinks, and those weird dreams he's been having clearly back him up on it. Plus the Tyrant of Koth is a total scumball and he needs to be killed.
Conan is well served in this book. His touchiness about his age, his restlessness at court, his mild disappointment at the softness of his son Conn, his eagerness for one more great battle, all fit in with what one would expect of an ageing warrior. Most of the book is battle heavy so it's not big on introspection, but Conan is still shown to have gained a bit of worldly wisdom with his years. And he kills a lot of guys and wrestles a spider.
August 11, 2020
Boken har en häftig grundidé, men levererar inte; möjligen för att den är skriven med em fascination för teman som tillhör andra subgenrer än vad boken utger sig för att vara.
Basfrågan är hur en äldre medelålders conan skulle regera, och vilka orosmoment skulle en sådan kung conan ha och leva med. Så långt illustrerar boken mycket väl, om än med väl många scener stulna ur peplum-filmer.
Vad som händer därefter är däremot illa skrivet och utan röd tråd. Intrigen är trivial och förutsägbar. Texten blommar enbart under personmyter, dueller och dunkla möten och förhandlingar. Däremellan finns slag och fälttågsbeskrivningar som är så illa skrivna att författaren själv måste ha varit uttråkad när han skrev, för det syns inte okunskap om ämnet i texten. Jag undrar om det inte var så att författaren hade vunnit mer på att skriva äventyret som en hovintrig vid något slags internationellt möte, snarare än som runtkuskande militärroman; det verkar ju ha varit vad han ville.
Basfrågan är hur en äldre medelålders conan skulle regera, och vilka orosmoment skulle en sådan kung conan ha och leva med. Så långt illustrerar boken mycket väl, om än med väl många scener stulna ur peplum-filmer.
Vad som händer därefter är däremot illa skrivet och utan röd tråd. Intrigen är trivial och förutsägbar. Texten blommar enbart under personmyter, dueller och dunkla möten och förhandlingar. Däremellan finns slag och fälttågsbeskrivningar som är så illa skrivna att författaren själv måste ha varit uttråkad när han skrev, för det syns inte okunskap om ämnet i texten. Jag undrar om det inte var så att författaren hade vunnit mer på att skriva äventyret som en hovintrig vid något slags internationellt möte, snarare än som runtkuskande militärroman; det verkar ju ha varit vad han ville.
November 17, 2020
There were a lot of interesting ideas put together here that I don’t think where really developed to their fullest. I do enjoy the king Conan premise and would like to see more of it .The story started off seeming that Conan was experiencing a coming of age crisis and multiple characters were taking advantage of him. In this case they sort of where but things were just a little clunky and all over the place and a lot of the characters were cardboard cut outs. Great ideas but no follow through 2.5
March 9, 2011
I prefer the books about his earlier life, when he was an adventurer, before he became king.
Kthantos and Delvyn were the two most interesting characters.
Kthantos and Delvyn were the two most interesting characters.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews