Robert E. Howard's Conan the Cimmerian Barbarian: The Complete Weird Tales Omnibus

by Robert E. Howard, Finn J. D. John (Narrator)

Listening Length: 35 hours and 5 minutes

When the first Conan of Cimmeria story appeared in the pages of Weird Tales magazine in December 1932, nothing quite like it had ever before appeared in print. Author Robert E. Howard had been writing stories broadly similar to it for half a decade; but it was with Conan, and the Hyborian Age storyworld in which he was placed, that Howard finally fully doped out the sub-genre that would become known as "sword and sorcery", of which Howard is today considered the founding father.

"Conan's origins date back to an experiment in 1926 titled "The Shadow Kingdom", featuring the character Kull, exile of Atlantis. The idea - Howard's great innovation - was, at its core, historical fiction set in a pre-historical period. That pre-historical period - being, of course, lost in the mists of time - could contain anything Howard might like to include: evil races of sentient snake-things, sorcerers, undead creatures, demons walking upon the earth, anything.

In other words, Howard was creating a secular mythology.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Audiobook, Adventure, Short Stories, Horror, Sword and Sorcery

Audible Audio

Published June 27, 2017

About the author

Robert Ervin Howard was an American pulp writer of fantasy, horror, historical adventure, boxing, western, and detective fiction. Howard wrote "over three-hundred stories and seven-hundred poems of raw power and unbridled emotion" and is especially noted for his memorable depictions of "a sombre universe of swashbuckling adventure and darkling horror."

He is well known for having created—in the pages of the legendary Depression-era pulp magazine Weird Tales—the character Conan the Cimmerian, a.k.a. Conan the Barbarian, a literary icon whose pop-culture imprint can only be compared to such icons as Tarzan of the Apes, Count Dracula, Sherlock Holmes, and James Bond.

—Wikipedia

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Stephan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This volume collects all of Robert E. Howard's Conan stories (plus a couple of important predecessor stories about King Kull and Solomon Kane) published in Weird Tales. The stories are arranged in publication order, but are presented with introductions and end notes also allowing the reader to follow them in the order Howard originally wrote them.

I don't know how anybody can give this collection less than 5 stars. If Lord of the Rings is the archetypical High Fantasy, then Conan ist the archetype for Low Fantasy. Blood splatters, mighty arms are connected to a mighty chest and mighty shoulders with steely thews, allowing the hero to move with panther-like stealth and the speed of a tiger. His mighty broadsword shatters glowing skulls, severs arms and shoulders from various bodies, and disembowels the giant carnivore cannibalistic grey apes. The orgy of adjectives alone makes this worth a read! Seriously, for all its weaknesses, this is written with a raw energy and tempo that is hard to match. "Political correctness" was not an understood concept in Howard's world, but he seems to write with total abandon about all kinds of societal expectations - except those of the genre he is shaping with this writing. The hero always comes through, the women are all beautiful or ugly, good or evil - in all combinations, but with nothing in the middle. They are, however, quite a bit less stereotypical than one might expect - Valeria of the Red Brotherhood is just as adept at killing Xotalancas (or Tecuhltli, when it comes to that) as Conan.

My first contact with Conan was probably a VHS tape of the abysmal first Conan movie with Arnold in the leading role. But after that, like, I suppose for most readers, it was the Omnibus edition prepared by L.S. De Camp, who placed the stories into a narrative sequence, heavily edited them, provided transitions between different stories, and reworked and completed (often with Lin Carter) incomplete fragments and other Howard stories to fit into the story arc. Compared to these somewhat sanitized versions, the current edition feels more raw, and less polished. But that might be a good thing - it's like Satisfaction coming from Mick Jagger vs. the overproduced pop version by Britney Spears.

A highlight of the collection is definitely The Hour of the Dragon, the only full-size Conan novel written by Howard himself (edited versions have been published under the title Conan the Conqueror ). It so closely matches Campbell's monomyth that I wonder if Howard wrote it to the formula - even though that would be unexpected for such an intuitive writer. We have the Call to Adventure, we have two instances of Supernatural Aid, we have a long Hero's Journey (made longer by a number of accidents, presumably to fill more pages and to allow Howard to highlight more of Conan's career), we have a long stretch of Conan buried in Set's pyramid (The Abyss), before emerging ("being reborn") and returning with the Heart of Ahriman to triumph over the enemy. And he is even transformed, if only in the minimal sense that he decides he needs a queen and a dynasty to provide stability to his kingship.

Overall a great read for everyone interested in how Sword and Sorcery became what it is today, and for everybody who likes a roaring story without being overly picky about internal consistency, coincidences, and modern sensibilities.

[neko cam · Rating 2 out of 5]

I made it 2/3 through the collection before deciding that the gems were too few and far between to continue. Hopefully these story-by-story ratings will help someone else avoid the slog through mediocrity in future.

The Shadow Kingdom: 4/5
Set long before Conan’s time, starring Kull of Atlantis and featuring an evil snake cult – the likes of which I know appear in the later Hyborian Age stories. This is definitely a proto-Conan story and it suffers not at all for it.

Red Shadows: 1/5
A bland story included in this collection merely because its protagonist, Solomon Kane, is somewhat Conan-esq.

Rattle of Bones: 1/5
Another Solomon Kane story hardly better than the previous.

The Hyborian Age: 2/5
An essay detailing the major events of the world before and after the time of Conan. The rich mix of actual historical names along with those of various mythologies and of Howard’s own creation works surprisingly well, though it is otherwise a very dry text.

The Phoenix on the Sword: 3/5
Not what I was expecting from the first published Conan story; he is already a king, lamenting the old days when he was a simple barbarian. That sentiment reminds me of the First Law series and that’s a very favourable connection to create.

The Scarlet Citadel: 4/5
I enjoyed the weird horrors in the tomb at the beginning of the story, as well as the strange level of power that the Wizard seems to hold - a combination of actual magic and esoteric science. But I did not care at all for the drawn out military skirmish towards the end of the story.

The Tower of the Elephant: 3/5
Conan as a thief for no reason but the sake of the challenge, breaking into a strange tower wherein lies entrapped a stranger still transcosmic being.

Black Colossus: 2/5
The thief breaking into the ancient tomb and his resultant fate reminded me just a whit of Lovecraft's Crawling Chaos. But again I was not engaged by the battle between armies later in the story.

The Slithering Shadow: 3/5
A decadent desert city whose occupants sleep almost all of their lives and whose halls are stalked by a demon spun from the darkness between stars.

The Pool of the Black One: 1/5
Conan working on a ship and becoming its captain after an adventure on an island peopled by jet black beings who shrink and petrify their captives in a magical pool.

Rogues in the House: 2/5
An assassination attempt goes afoul and Conan is stuck in a house of traps where an intelligent beast has overthrown its conniving master.

Gods of the North: 1/5
The godly daughter of a frost giant enchants Conan in an attempt to lead him to death at the hands of her brothers so they can serve his heart to their father.

Shadows in the Moonlight: 2/5
An island of cursed men-turned-statues with a giant man-ape and a band of pirates who in the end make Conan their captain.

Queen of the Black Coast: 3/5
Belit, the Queen of the Black Coast, is an uncharacteristically fierce and capable anti-heroin who proves somewhat Conan’s match and mate. They pirate together for some time before an ancient ruin on poison waters guarded by a winged monstrosity and giant hyenas decimate the band and Belit is killed. Conan gives Belit a Viking funeral, setting fire to her ship laden with her treasures.

The Devil in Iron: 2/5
An ancient demon is awakened and resurrects his ancient fortress and its long-dead citizens. Conan is tricked onto the island and ultimately defeats those who lured him to the island as well as a giant serpent and the iron-fleshed demonic monstrosity that is Khosatral Khel.

The People of the Black Circle: 4/5
The Black Seers leant the story more magic than most others, which was refreshing.

A Witch Shall Be Born: 4/5
A witch replaces her twin sister as queen of a city state, bringing her into conflict with Conan who had been the captain of the queen's guard. This story spans a far greater time than is typical, and is memorable for it.

Did not read:
>Jewels of Gwahlur
>Beyond the Black River
>Shadows in Zamboula
>The Hour of the Dragon
>Red Nails

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Resource for program)

“KNOW, oh prince, that between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities, and the years of the rise of the Sons of Aryas, there was an Age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms lay spread across the world like blue mantles beneath the stars—Nemedia, Ophir, Brythunia, Hyperborea, Zamora with its dark-haired women and towers of spider-haunted mystery, Zingara with its chivalry, Koth that bordered on the pastoral lands of Shem, Stygia with its shadow-guarded tombs, Hyrkania whose riders wore steel and silk and gold. But the proudest kingdom of the world was Aquilonia, reigning supreme in the dreaming west. Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen- eyed, sword in hand, a thief, a reaver, a slayer, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandaled feet."
—The Nemedian Chronicles

This was a blast. The collection includes some of Howard’s pre-Conan tales (like King Kull and Solomon Kane) which help show how he developed as a writer, and then dives into the Conan stories that originally ran in Weird Tales, grouped into early, middle, and late periods. It even throws in “The Hyborian Age,” Howard’s invented prehistory that gives the whole world a sense of deep, mythic time. Very nice touch.

I love stories from before everything had to mean something. Howard wasn’t out to comment on society or explore injustice—he was writing to entertain, to thrill, and, let’s be honest, to get paid. And you feel that raw pulp energy on every page. This was back when men could be unapologetically muscle-bound, daring, brutal, cunning and…well, men, for good or ill. And the women! Sure, lithe and supple, even dainty at times, but also fierce and commanding, such as Valeria.

It reminds me of Edgar Rice Burroughs—Tarzan, John Carter—just good, wild adventure stories where I don’t have to remember to care about whatever modern issue someone’s trying to smuggle in. Yeah, there’s some dated stuff, especially how other cultures get “exoticized” (especially the peoples with black skin gasp), but I’d still rather wrestle with that in a pulpy fantasy setting than be lectured about climate guilt or internalized racism in every other chapter.

I have said what I said, by Crom. And if you disagree, you’re probably under the spell of the Black Lotus.

[Nathan Trachta · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve been meaning to read Conan for a number of years but it kept slipping from my mind, for shame... anyway, I had some Audible credit so I decided to try something new while bike riding and listen to a little Conan.
I’m going to open by saying Mr. Howard’s descriptions a rich! How many writers and how much could writers learn by studying Mr. Howard’s writings. His use of the English language, while dated by modern standards brings out so much more than many other fantasy or science fiction writers begin to describe. All word are rich and powerful. I will admit Mr. Howard didn’t change the words he used much (ejaculated caught me with how much he used it. Used properly for the time and usage but showing in age). His descriptions of places, people, or combat were all sharp and rich. I’ll also say that most of the tales were nicely put together and entertaining but I will warn any reader these stories were written in the 1920s and 30s and reflected what Mr. Howard knew about people at that time period. While not offensive it could shock some modern readers (note: as Mr. Howard’s writing developed things evolve t of slightly more modern look).
Problems that I had; scaling, historicalness, and sometimes a little much. The scaling is simply that when Mr. Howard says 5000 warriors of X that was a difficult to impossible feat until fairly modern times. The ability to feed and control those vast number (sometimes he used 50,000) is terrible scaling. When you read or listen to the stories just divide by 10 and the battles seem more realistic. The historicalness deals partially with the size or armies, but also the weapons and use of iron/steel. The Hyborean Age predates the Bronze Age and one has to guess that iron and steel either weren’t used or very limited (there’s some great piece on the effectiveness of bronze swords out there). This hurts a little because when reading/listening to his stories you can picture the early Bronze Age very easily. Merging in the use of heavy cavalry and pikes you really wanted to put things about 300 BCE.
Rating wise a solid 4 stars. While better Howard stories might have been included I’ll go with what they presented here. I saw the foundation of modern fantasy and could see at least to me how Mr. Howard influenced Professor Tolkien (there are several stories here where I could easily see where Professor Tolkien could have been influenced for his stories). I loved this because I got to see Mr. Howard’s writings evolve and improve by leaps and bounds and what amazes me is he did this on a typewriter and in 10 short years. I’ll also add that I loved the Audible presentation. They provided a great overview at the front that you might skip if reading and the person who read the stories was great, he nailed Conan Vocally in all but maybe two stories which I suspect he read first. Highly recommend both the book and the Audible version.

[Paul Spence · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic collection. I am mainly addressing this to those that know they are fans of Conan/Howard already. To me, this is the definitive collection for Howard’s Conan stories. My issue in the past was that I had owned most of Howard’s Conan stories, but they were spread out over a few different collections....not to mention a lot of those collections overlapped! This omnibus has every published Howard-Conan story (plus a few non-Conan ones as bonuses.) If you want all the stories in one easy collection, I believe this is your best option.

Other books that collect all the Conan stories seem to be either out of print or heavily abridged. Your other option is getting all the stories by purchasing multiple volumes. In my mind, this book is great because it gives you everything you need for a very fair price. This is seriously a must have for any fan of Conan or Howard.

And if you have never read these stories before, you are in for a treat!

[Rian Bolger · Rating 2 out of 5]

I listened to Finn J.D. John's narration of the H.P. Lovecraft omnibus a few years ago, and this sat in my Audible library for a long time as the intended next step. Six years later I'm looking for some inspiration to kickstart a new Dungeons & Dragons campaign and I thought "Where better to start than an inspiration for Dungeons & Dragons itself?"

So, Lovecraft was a racist, made obvious by his liberal use of a certain word in his stories. I've seen it said that Lovecraft was so disgustingly racist that he shocked his own contemporaries. Even if you skip the stories with slurs in them, his animosity for 90% of the human race is pretty easy to notice. Anyone who knows Howard Philip Lovecraft by name knows that he was racist. And yet, somehow, Robert E. Howard's racism (and sexism) is very arguably worse than Lovecraft's, but whether the man was a racist is somehow an unsure thing! Finn J.D. John hesitates to commit entirely to the belief in this, and another John, Howard's biographer, says the following:

"Howard's attitude towards race and racism is debated. Howard used race as shorthand for physical characteristics and motivation. He would also employ some racial stereotypes, possibly for the sake of simplification."

Now can anyone, anyone explain to me how using race to ascribe expected behaviours onto a person is somehow not racism??? What are we doing here? "Stereotypes... for the sake of simplification"? That's what a stereotype is! Every person arguing against Howard being a racist just describes exactly how racism works and then sits back and smugly crosses their arms. Are we to assume that, what? Howard predicts he has a racist reader base and just writes in a race in place of a description to save time? That's bullshit, because Christ Almighty he describes everything else in the fucking book. He meticulously describes fights, gives beat-by-beat directions as Conan sculks around dark dungeons, and more often than not notes that every black person that shows up is exotic and evil anyway. This is Edward Said's wet dream, or nightmare. He could've proven every single word of Orientalism with only Conan the Barbarian as a source. Not a single race is spared from Howard's relentless vitriol. Except of course any that correlate with a modern European nation!

Finn J.D. John notes in an introduction chapter that at least one of Howard's detractors at the time believed that Howard had been a meek kid in school, too scared to talk to girls and too timid or weak to participate in sports. And so, Howard decided to live vicariously as the rippling-muscled, invincible seducer that is Conan. I 100% believe that. I thought it was an uncharitable view until about halfway through, but you can only hear about how brilliant Conan is so many times before you start to question it. Reliably, in every story, there was about thirty seconds where I could tune out while Howard listed Conan's gorgeous black hair and piercing blue eyes and bulging muscles and domineering presence and barbaric primal disposition and an intelligence that betrayed his roguish demeanour. We would have measurements of his dick and balls down to the nanometre if only Weird Tales would've published it. Howard writes of Conan so erotically that it surpasses homoerotic and ticks over into some sort of cuckold fantasy. By the end of this, I no longer thought Howard wanted to be Conan, I got the sense he wanted to watch Conan bang his wife (luckily he never married).

The final story in the collection "Red Nails", details the attempted ritual sacrifice of Valeria of the Red Brotherhood, a Conan-ified characterisation of Novalyne Price, his one and only girlfriend, who did not believe they were exclusive and dated a friend of Howard's shortly before this story was written. Despite being touted as some feminist triumph in the vein of Red Sonja by some, Red Nails is largely a story about how by refusing the advances of Conan (Howard), Valeria (Price) opens herself up to a world of lesbianism and rape, from which only Conan can protect her. It is at the end, as with nearly every other female character in the Hyborian Age, where Valeria realises the wrong she has done by not focusing her intentions entirely on Conan and kisses him without resistance. Howard raves about the decline of civilisation making people obsessed with sex in letters to Price, in which he simply calls her "Girl". He obliviously heralds the end times by discussing the world's preoccupation with sex while describing the story that this notion has inspired, in which Price's stand-in is sexually assaulted until rescued by Conan. Despite this, Howard's misogyny is evidently thought of in the same confused, purgatorial fashion as his racism. Never mind how he has Conan call women sluts at an alarmingly increasing rate in the latter half of this collection.

Howard's skill as a writer, in describing settings and environments, or the movements of a character mid-battle, are impressive. He choreographs his fights very well without ever over-explaining. That's about the kindest thing I can say of this collection. He completely squanders this skill, again and again, by writing the exact same story over and over again. This is not a consequence of all the works being read to me back to back in a single collection. I can remember every Poe short story by name and tell you what happens, despite having the works read to me in a collection. I can remember the major Lovecraft works, and a few minor ones that I found particularly memorable, read by the same man as this and produced by the same company. With Howard, I cannot tell you a single character name besides Conan. I had to check Valeria's name there above, and I only remember Red Nails because it was the last story in the collection. I have absolutely no idea what the full-length novel at the core of this collection is called. I couldn't tell you what happens in which story, because they're all functionally identical, lazily hitting the same story beats, innovating exclusively in the realm of horrific descriptions of minorities.

[R.K. King · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a review of the audible audiobook version. I can't seem to find an entry for the audiobook.

A really great rendition of the best of Ron Howard's Conan stories, the audiobook also included a Solomon Kane tale, as well as the original Kull story, which would later be reconstructed into what would become the Conan mythos.
I'm a fan of Conan, the OG of sword and sorcery, and enjoyed every one of these stories. I am also a previous fan of the narrator, Finn J.D. John's, other work including the HP Lovecraft Omnibus audiobooks. In the Lovecraft ones, John did a great job at the narration, but in this case I felt it fall a tiny bit shorter. I wish there'd been even more of a distinction of inflection between Conan and he other characters, and since most supporting characters blend together too easily anyway, without that added inflection they were a little hard to follow or invest in.
But the stories are great, especially if you've ever wanted to see what originally carved the sword and sorcery path.

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[Michael Sorbello · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Phoenix on the Sword - 3/5

Conan is a hardcore badass that loves danger, adventure and beautiful maidens as much as he enjoys bashing in some heads with heavy weapons; man and monster alike. He might not be the deepest in terms of character, but you have to admire the sheer amount of adrenaline, excitement and gory intensity he delivers with nearly every scene he's involved in. Although this is the first tale in the Conan series, it takes place near the very end of his journey in terms of chronology. The prose in this tale is incredibly vivid but it's also a bit messy and hard to follow at times, Robert's writing improved immensely as the series progressed. Hour of the Dragon for example is one of my all time favorite sword & sorcery books. Even though it's not quite up to par with the later Conan tales, it's still an entertaining introduction to the legendary barbarian himself.

***

The Frost-Giant's Daughter - 3/5

A battle between Conan's companions and a war-party of Vanir ends with Conan, the sole survivor of his band, facing the final surviving Vanir, Heimdul. Conan is victorious but so weakened he collapses onto the battlefield. In a dreamlike state, Conan encounters Atali, the daughter of the god Ymir, in the frozen wastes of the north and chases after her as she lures him with demeaning taunts and laughter.

Conan exerts himself from chasing her until he passes out, waking up to discover that quite a few of his companions actually survived and came to his rescue while he was unconscious. Upon being reunited with his companions, Conan tells them the story of his strange encounter with the Frost Giant's Daughter. This tale steers away from action and adventure in favor of a bit of slapstick humor featuring our barbarian Conan.

***

The God in the Bowl - 3/5

Conan plies his trade as a thief in the city of Numalia. He is caught while attempting to steal a valuable object from a museum and becomes the suspect in the death of the museum's owner.
It's a taste of bloody Conan action with a detective fiction twist. The story primarily takes place over a long interrogation scene that's surprisingly well-crafted for an early fantasy tale. The twist at the end was certainly neat, but it was very rushed and could've had more build-up. It was nice to see the unshakable barbarian get a taste of fear.

***

The Tower of the Elephant - 4/5

This story really serves to flesh out the lore and history of Conan's world, adding a ton of context and emotional value to all of the previous stories as well as all that came after it. Conan teams up with the master thief Taurus to climb the Tower of the Elephant in order to obtain a rare jewel that awaits them at the very top. On their way up the tower, they encounter a massive spider and things turn nasty. After dealing with the spider, Conan makes it to the top of the tower and encounters something otherworldly. Conan’s meeting with the Lovecraftian entity is reminiscent to the wonderfully eldritch encounter in Lovecraft's Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath. We learn a lot about the lore, the setting and the history of Conan's age which adds a much-needed layer of world-building to make the stories feel more realistic.

***

The Scarlet Citadel - 3/5

Conan teams up with the mysterious sorcerer Pelias who happens to share Conan's desire for revenge against the man threatening his kingdom. After being captured through treachery and thrown into an eldritch dungeon, Conan escapes with Pelias's help and the two unleash chaos against their imprisoners. It's a massive battle sequence, an orgiastic clash of blades and magic. The story was on the weaker side but I enjoyed seeing the sadistic, shapeshifting sorcerer Pelias in action alongside Conan's usual chaotic antics.

***

Queen of the Black Coast - 4/5

Conan joins the pirate crew of Bêlit, Queen of the Black Coast, until the exploration of an ancient city and an encounter with the primordial creature that dwells within wreak havoc on the crew. Fun, exciting and the prose is candy for the eyes. It's everything I look for in a Conan story and it's a nice follow-up to Iron Shadows in the Moon which ended abruptly. My only complaint this time around is that the villain/monster felt underwhelming and had no time to develop compared to many other villains in the series. The final battle was flashy and cool, but it lacked emotional substance because of the lack of characterization. Other than that, still Conan at its finest with lots of bloody, sexy action.

***

Black Colossus - 4/5

Princess Yasmela, the city of Khoraja's remaining sovereign, has been haunted by the terrifying apparitions of the evil wizard Natohk. When Natohk threatens to bring his demonic hordes to Khoraja, Yasmela prays to the god Mitra for help. Mitra responds and tells her to place the fate of her entire kingdom into the hands of the first man she meets out in the city streets, and that man just so happens to be a drunk and feisty Conan.

Not quite as adventurous or horrific as the best works in the series, but a clean and fun ride with a creepy villain nonetheless. It was also nice seeing Conan show off his skills in front of a bunch of prudish nobles that looked down on him as a savage unworthy of their attention or respect.

***

Iron Shadows in the Moon - 3/5

Escaping a massacre that claimed his army, Conan and an abandoned princess make their way to a haunted and occupied island at the same time as a band of pirates. A fairly fun voyage, but no exciting conclusion happens as the story cuts off very abruptly and sets itself up for the next volume. I feel like both volumes should've just been included in the same story since this is literally just one half of something with no conclusion. Other than that big gripe, the writing and pacing is still superb and I hope the next volume does this one justice for all it has set up. Conan becomes the leader of a pirate crew which could prove to be a fun little escapade.

***

Xuthal of the Dusk - 4/5

Driven by the intense heat of the desert, Conan and his lovely companion seek water and food in a nearby city. Conan and his companion Natala discover the nearly-abandoned city of Xuthal in the desert, occupied only by a Stygian witch and a shadowy demon. The city of Xuthal is full of haunting imagery, as all of its inhabitants are frozen in a state of constant dreaming. Anyone that dares to wake them will be shown no mercy. It's a chilling premise with a strong Lovecraftian horror vibe. Despite how nightmarish the story is, the ending is surprisingly humorous and it left me with a smile on my face after finishing the tale.

***

The Pool of the Black One - 3/5

Conan makes himself the captain of a pirate vessel and travels to a remote island with a mysterious pool that has powers of transmutation. The violence, action and excitement were all on point as usual, but the elements of racism in this particular tale were unnecessary to the point of being uncomfortable to read. I prefer watching Conan wage epic battles against horrifying demons and armies of mad soldiers, not engage in racist drivel.

***

Rogues in the House - 4/5

Conan is drawn into a feud between a priest and a nobleman in Corinthia which leads him to be trapped in a decrepit house that contains a terrifying beast within it. Very simplistic in comparison to many other tales in the series, which is not a bad thing by any means. Instead of focusing on expanding the lore and the development of Conan, we have a straightforward plot about taking down a brutal baddie to settle a deadly dispute. Lots of horrific imagery and badass action scenes. No more, no less. Pure and simple fun.

***

The Devil in Iron - 3/5

While pursuing an enslaved princess, Conan is led into a trap on a seemingly abandoned island. On this island, Conan discovers a slumbered, resurrected city which is watched over by an ancient evil. It reads like several of the older stories stitched together with a few unrealized new ideas. Not bad, but it feels a bit uninspired at times and doesn’t bring anything new to the expanding universe. Just like Queen of the Black Coast, the villain doesn’t offer much either and the ending after Conan saves the girl feels awkward because he forces herself on her a bit too hard. She takes a liking to Conan, but it still feels a bit cringy.

***

The Vale of Lost Women - 1/5

I think this is the absolute worst of the Conan stories. I’ve enjoyed many of them and even gave Hour of the Dragon a 5 Star review, but this one is just scathing with racism, sexism and a lousy plot that can’t save it in any way. A shame.

***

The Hour of the Dragon - 5/5

The Hour of the Dragon is worth five stars alone. It combines all of the greatest elements from every other story in the Conan saga while excluding their flaws. It's an adrenaline-filled slugfest with nearly 200 pages worth of war, epic bloody battles and savage warriors against supernatural abominations. The action was incredible and the characterization of Conan is more mature and complex than ever before. The ending is surprisingly heartwarming as we watch a slave girl become a queen while Conan reclaims something precious that he once lost. A fitting finale for the legendary conqueror.

***

A Witch Shall Be Born - 4.5/5

A Witch Shall Be Born is a story about a queen that is dethroned by her evil twin that was once thrown out into the desert and left to die because she was born with the mark of a witch. The outcasted sister builds up her powerful magic and hatred over the years and turns it against the kingdom that left her to die. The sister steals the queen's place on the throne and commits countless atrocities in her name.

Conan comes along to make the evil sister pay for her crimes and restore the glory of the true queen. A thrilling tale of deception and sisterly betrayal. I ended up feeling a bit sorry for the villain this time around, I can't blame her for hating a world that cursed her to such a tragic fate the moment she was born. Salome is one of the most sympathetic villains in the entire Conan the Barbarian series.

***

The People of the Black Circle - 4/5

Hill Chieftain Conan heads into the Himalayan Mountains to rescue the Vendhyan queen, as Turanians, Afghulis, and Irakzais are caught in the machinations of demonic sorcerers of the Black Circle. It's a visceral, bloody and blindingly fast fantasy adventure that keeps up a consistent pace. It's an adrenaline rush from beginning to end.

***

Red Nails - 4/5

Wandering across the scorching desert in search of adventure, Conan stumbles upon the beautiful and fearsome pirate Valeria. After narrowly escaping from a dragon by making clever use of a poison fruit, Conan and Valeria take refuge in an entirely walled and enclosed city named Xuchotl where generations of inhabitants have waged war against each other for hundreds of years. Conan and Valeria get swept up into some nasty affairs between the two warring clans, a storm of swords and demonic sorcerey rages throughout the city until the warriors put an end to the insane clans war once and for all. It's a haunting and visceral story with lots of bloody action on par with Hour of the Dragon.

***

Jewels of Gwahlur - 3/5

Conan battles his way through Gwahlur in search of ancient jewels and riches but ends up empty handed. Although his original mission ended in failure, he got to experience the thrill of bloodshed and brought a girl that resembled a real goddess back home with him, so perhaps his journey for treasure wasn't a total waste after all. Not the best of Conan, but still a fun and quick read.

***

Beyond the Black River - 3.5/5

Conan teams up with a warrior named Balthus in an attempt to thwart the conquests of the Pictish sorcerer Zogar Sag. Just like People of the Black Circle, it's a nonstop adrenaline fest with lots of blood and guts.

***

The Black Stranger - 3/5

The story begins with Conan fleeing for the hills after being pursued by a flock of angered tribesman. While fleeing, the tribesman give up their chase upon reaching a peculiar hill that stands out from all the others. The hill turns out to hold a treasure cave along with the preserved bodies of a pirate captain, Tranicos. Conan's attempt to remove the treasure proves futile, as a demon of mist appears and attempts to strangle him. He barely escapes with his life, leaving the treasure undisturbed.

After getting away, Conan forms a thieves pact with several groups of feuding pirates to steal the forbidden treasure. Little do they know however, each person involved in the pact are manipulating each other and have a plan to dispose of each of the opposing groups once they've gotten their hands on the treasure. Debauchery, betrayal and cunning pirate trickery ensue until the last man gets away with what they came for.

***

Shadows in Zamboula - 3/5

Conan helps a dancer named Zabibi save her insane lover from a flock of cannibals and evil priests that are terrorizing her desert town. Conan fights his way through the cannibal horde does what he does best. The action was good and the setting was interesting, but the story was often ruined by a lot of unnecessary racist undertones.

[Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, I had no idea what to expect from this audiobook, but I admit I was impressed. We all know "Conan the Barbarian"; this was a cool way to experience the evolution of the character and, let's face it, the genre. Robert Howard owns this world. I did not appreciate all the history.

"This 860-page collection contains all of Robert E. Howard's Conan the Cimmerian stories published during his lifetime". Audibook was just over 35 hours. Stories were presented chronologically except where it made sense to do otherwise. Each story is precluded by the narrator talking about the publication, where Howard was at in life, etc. Was pretty interesting.

And the writing is good. Granted, some of the stories are predictable (Howard was writing to an audience for a paycheck), but it's good writing. He might get hung up on an adjective or two, but overall, I enjoyed the stories.

Thanks for the recommendation, Jim!

[Anton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like most, my only exposure to Conan was the Arnold Schwarznegger films (kino), and good as they (or the first one at least) are, they don't do justice to the character or the mythos. Most of the stories in this collection rule, even though they are very formulaic. Some of them are however really bad, there's no way around that.

[James West · Rating 4 out of 5]

Difficult to rate this. Howard was a giant in the genre of sword and sorcery, having essentially invented the barbarian sub-genre. Howard's prose is thick and purple and full of masculine grandiosity. It is racist as hell at times, and misogynist too. But it is also wonderful and fun and full of badass power fantasy action. So it's a mixed bag that will not sit well with a lot of people and will thrill others.

I listened to the audiobook version and the narrator was Finn D. J. John. At first I was not happy about that. His voice felt too high register, a bit grating on the nerves. But quickly it grew on me and I came to adore the slight little Ah-nold accent he lends to the titular character. Subtle, but clear.

All the stories are here. Some of them are quite repetitive. Conan goes to an island or lost city or lost ruin with a woman, encounters monsters or other horrors, lots of people die, he escapes with woman to sail on to other adventure. Rinse and repeat. But it's kind of delicious even when it feels a little rote.

No doubt about it, this author and this character left a huge footprint on fantasy. There's a reason why and it's definitely to be found in this massive collection.

Favorite selections include Tower of the Elephant and Queen of the Black Coast.

[Garrett · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve been in a Conan heavy mood lately, the original stories from Robert E Howard seemed like a good place to go after reading a ton of Conan comics. I read a few of these stories back in high school, but it’s been quite some time since then. I like how this book started with some of his earlier stories pre Conan with a Kull story and 2 Solomon Kane stories. It seemed each story was better then the last, culminating in the masterpiece that is Red Nails. The stories especially the middle era stories and be a bit formulaic, but what series isn’t a bit formulaic. For stories that are approaching the century mark in age, they still hold up as fun stories. If you’re in the mood for sword and sorcery, this is a must read.

5 Cimmarians Of 5

[Rumi Bossche · Rating 4 out of 5]

COOOOONNNNNAAAAAANNN.

Finished Robert E. Howard's Conan the Cimmerian Barbarian: The Complete Weird Tales Omnibus. Thats a long title! I got this book for my birthday last year from my mother and finally finished it. It is very hard to rate this collection because the quality of tales and stories are very inconsistent. It has all Conan tales from Howard anr also includes a couple other ones like the first Solomon Kane and King Kull. With 860 pages this is a big boy ! But perfect to read a story now and then. I think i could not have finished this in one go, but i liked it very much to have aside my main read(s) and just read a story whenever i feel like it. This so called multimedia bundle edition comes with the e-book, audio version which is good, and illustrations. Its also with a short bio and annotated ! Every tale begins with a short introduction how the story came to be and in what period he wrote it. Very interesting and not to long ! The hardcover is a really great deluxe book aswell and very well put together. The tales range from fantastic (The Tower Of the Elephant) to a couple not so spectaculair ones. The biggest story is a fantastic one, but with something weird as well. The Hour Of The Dragon is the longest story here and the only real novel, the rest are short stories and novellas. It is a great one but their is a but. Howard re uses aloot of his stories into the mix, making people Calling this book a sort of greatest hits. I had no real problem with that, but it needs to be mentioned. All in all i loved the book and the character,  yes some of the stories are simple and repetitive, but this was the birth of the sword and sorcery tales no doubt. And Howards contribution to this so called low fantasy is amazing.

🌟🌟🌟🌟. Would recommend if you like the character Conan or Sword and Sorcery tales. Otherwise not really.

[Josh Angel · Rating 3 out of 5]

DNF. I can appreciate the importance of these stories. There is an inventiveness apparent even now, after these stories have inspired hundreds if not thousands of authors over the decades.

There are also countless familiar names sourced from these stories, doubtless all call-backs and homages from other fantasy authors, from names of cities, to the names of characters, etc. Clearly the stories have staying power, at least within the community of Fantasy authors. Speaking of: there were several references to “Road of King’s”. Sound familiar to any Brandon Sanderson fans?

I was also surprised to find a link to Lovecraft here, perhaps not surprising since they were both published by Weird Tales and were friends in real life. Conan often faced “Cosmic Horrors” and there were even a few “Eldritch” descriptions thrown in here and there.

But putting aside the importance of the the works, I personally didn’t find them very enjoyable to read. Conan is a cardboard cutout of a character: all we know about him is that he’s big, he’s a Barbarian, and he’s a badass. And whenever he comes across a particularly difficult obstacle, he just badasses harder and it goes away. Either that or he’s just really lucky. Most of the plots boil down to ridiculous good luck on his part.

The dialogue is on par with cheesy golden/silver age comic books, with lots of grand pronouncements that are cringe-worthy and not up to most modern readers standards.

An interesting read for a Fantasy or Lovecraft fan interested in the history of the genres, but otherwise not an enjoyable read for those expecting a story with many of the modern storytelling conventions.

[Andrés · Rating 4 out of 5]

3 stars for the stories, 4 for the presentation.

A few ideas:
- Presenting the stories in context and publishing sequence adds a lot of value
- The stories are fun adventures, a bit repetitive and very outdated in some of their notions, themes and language
- it feels a bit like John Carter of Mars meets Lord of the Rings. It sits halfway through in real life publication dates as well.
- I can understand the fascination and fandom for these stories
- the world-building is quite remarkable, and much greater than I expected
- I did not expect fantasy so accomplished and polished prior to The Hobbit (but that's my shortcoming)

All in all, I'm happy I finally read these as an adult. I think I might have underestimated them had I read them earlier.

(Jan 12, 2025)

[Julien Comardelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

awesome

[J.R. R. Kruse · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally finished it! 100% worth the read! The tales of Conan The Barbarian shall always be immortalized!

[Viktor · Rating 4 out of 5]

The collection is a good way to read through the original published short stories by R.E. Howard. There are many that I found interesting and can see how they have influenced other authors down the line. They're all still mostly good reads, although it is very dated in some of its ideas. Conan, though a rogue and fighter, is still likeable.

The last two stories: The hour of the Dragon, and Red Nails, felt like they dragged on too long and like the retread the stories that have come before.

[Jeremiah Dylan Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

Robert E. Howard deserves more credit then he receives for creating and richly detailing his Hyperborean Age, which like Tolkien’s Middle-earth is a prehistoric time in our planet’s existence. Howard even beat Tolkien to the punch with his invented fantasy world being published before Tolkien’s. Additionally, while Tolkien focuses almost exclusively on a fictional history of England, only gently touching on other cultures, Howard’s world is filled with many different types of societies drawn from cultures throughout the world.

Unfortunately, despite these positives, the Conan stories too often rely on the same formula. There’s very little variation as Conan enters a conflict, deals with the conflict, and absconds with a scantily clad lass in nearly every story. Howard also seemed to make gorillas, or some variation of gorillas, the primary antagonist in every other yarn. The standout tales are the ones where Howard varies this formula. In my opinion, the best short stories are The Tower of the Elephant, The People of the Black Circle, Shadows in Zamboula, Queen of the Black Coast, and Beyond the Black River.

If you are only casually interested in Conan, I’d suggest reading The Hour of the Dragon, which is a Conan the Barbarian tale Robert E. Howard wrote to be a novel. Sadly, the company that agreed to publish it folded before the novel came to be, so the story was published in Weird Tales. The Hour of the Dragon includes all the best Conan elements in one story and culminates in a truly pulse-pounding climax. Howard also manages to present his female characters as more then objects to be won in this tale.

The writer’s portrayal of women was probably my biggest problem with getting through these stories. While I know part of the issue lies with editors at Weird Tales pushing for more sex appeal to sell their magazines, the presentation of the female characters and Conan’s interactions with them holds many of these tales back from being as timeless as they could be. There are a few standouts, but I felt that the majority were cliché damsels in distress. That said, I fully understand these tales are from a different time in history and can’t fully be measured by today’s standards.

In summary, this book is an excellent collection of Howard’s Conan the Barbarian epics. Finn J.D. John includes introductions to each story with interesting tidbits and biographical information presented. This omnibus also includes Howard’s essay detailing the Hyperborean age and two pre-Conan stories that influenced the creation of the character. Red Shadows, a tale about the character Soloman Kane, is particularly interesting, and some people claim it to be the first Sword and Sorcery tale to be published. Overall, if you write or read fantasy, I’d recommend reading some Howard to expose yourself to one of the founding fathers of the genre.

[J.P. Harker · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you thought Bond Girls were just sex objects, you ain't seen nothin' yet.

Perhaps I'm being a little harsh, but if you'd please read these words;
'supple', 'lithe', 'naked', 'muscle', and 'no civilised man could (insert action here)' You have now read about 90% of this book. Throw in some fairly low-key (for the time) racism and a HUGE amount of worldbulding exposition, and that pretty much covers it.
There are some fun action moments, a bit of ancient mystery and magic here and there, but really, I spent a lot of this book feeling either bored or awkward. SO MANY lithe and supple maidens who are lithe and supple in every lithe and supple way that anyone could ever be lithe and/or supple. Naturally, they not only fall in love with our muscle-bound hero, but frequently fall into absolute slavish devotion. Yes, it's supposed to be pulpy fun written largely for teenage boys, but the repetition of the same idea over and over was just plain boring.
My other issue with this is the classic 'he's ruthless, but we never see it' badboy cliche. We are frequently told of how much plundering and piracy Conan does, but we never really see him stealing from or killing innocent traders, which is what pirates and plunderers do (I suspect because then our readers might like him a little less..). Not quite as bad as the dreaded TOG, I'll grant, but it did remind me of a certain assassin who is repeatedly described as the greatest assassin in the world, but who we never actually see assassinating anyone (maybe she does in later books, I can't bring myself to find out).
OK, rantiness over - this wasn't by any means a complete failure of a book. The world that Howard created is vast and full of potential, and for all the repetition in style, plenty of adventures had surprising plots. Perhaps if I'd read one of these a month as a teenager I might have really liked them, alas, reading it like this as an adult, to me it was only ok.

[Eike-Henning Nießler]

Let us forego any discussion of the cultural differences that lie between Howard and our modern times. If this is a deal breaker, it will not be solved by any kind of review.

It remains that the Hyborean Age tales of Robert E. Howard are a fantastic example of early mythcraft and world building. Short story by story, novelette by novelette the weird tales formula leads us down into a the ur-example land of sword and sorcery vastly becoming as familiar to the Conan-novice as it has been to readers for over 90 years.

Still the style is fresh and gripping, and in terms of action and wordplay there is much that Howard can teach even writers of today.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

Whew, I made it through this one. I think to enjoy this as an adult, it would have helped to have discovered it as a 14-year-old male (which I didn't). 2.5 stars.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was just reading an article in the New York Times this morning about how men don't read fiction anymore (https://archive.is/T06X8). The article--which naturally refers to heterosexual white men like a species of strange insect that the author observed in the shrubs outside of his yoga ashram in Brooklyn--bemoans the fact that men no longer read like they used to, and instead spend their time listening to Joe Rogan and playing online games. Much like the Democrats recent plan to study Bro Culture, I couldn't help but laugh a bit at the observations made about men and reading: behold the Cis white identifying male in his natural habitat. Whatever could be wrong with them ? Only the New York Times...

I love to read, and have loved to read my entire life. I read around 100 books a year, mostly fiction. I love to read because I have an insane, voracious imagination that's a lot like Audrey the Killer plant in Little Shop of Horrors: "FEEEEDDDD MMMMEEEEE!" I have read many of the Great Classics of Western Civilization. I have read many 'adult contemporary fiction' selections--Oprah approved, I might add. I read because I enjoy it, and I read because it is a part of who I am. I am a voracious, passionate reader...and I don't need to be hectored by some self-hating jackass in New York who thinks that, if I'm not reading a romantasy novel, or wrestling with issues of self in a cisnormative world, I'm somehow...well, in the words of Barbie, not Kenough.

That authors overall assertion is correct: fewer men read, and for those who do read, it tends to be nonfiction. Did you catch that dig at Alan Moore's Watchmen? Listed by Time Magazine as one of the 20th centuries best fiction books, the author couldn't help himself from dinging a story that's been turned into three movies and a prestige tv series on HBO Max. Pretentious asshole.

The last graduate class I took was called Literature of the African Diaspora. In one of the novels, a man began to menstruate, and when I mentioned to my professor--a woman, teaching a class of all women besides me--that I literally had no idea what the fuck was going on, I got polite laughter. Of course I didn't. I still don't.

All of this brings us to Conan. Robert E. Howard's character, almost 100 years after his creation, still remains in print, and is--quite literally--one of my favorite things in the world. Howard was not perfect: his writing can reflect the very shitty racial stereotypes of his time (just like his penpal, H.P. Lovecraft), and his female characters tend to...let's say not have a lot of agency, but I have read and re-read these stories since I was 12 years old, and I love them. Dark, brooding, evocative, imaginative, exciting, and wildly entertaining, I am willing to bet that the author of the NYT article would need to run to his therapist after reading any of Conan's exploits because this is some red meat, sword-swinging, monster killing, wizard slaying awesomeness that's beloved by men and boys of all ages. This is what men read, friend, and have for decades.

OF COURSE this isn't all that men read, and it isn't that every man likes this sort of thing, but dismissing speculative fiction out of hand unless it's about people fucking dragons or something is just asinine. When R.A. Salvatore's books break into the best seller lists...who do you think is reading them? How does the Black Library keep producing and selling Warhammer 40k after Warhammer 40k after Warhammer 40k novel decade after decade? (Also: soon to be series on Amazon Prime!) What do you think the reading demographic is for Marvel and DC comics? Not as many men read as they used to, and that sucks, but don't ignore those many of us who do read--a lot! We just don't read what YOU read, brother. None of this is the syllabus for the How to be a Toxic White Christian Nationalist; it is just...fun. Interesting. Imaginative.

So men, I hope you read more, I really do. It's good for the mind, and good for the soul. Read widely, read well. But don't let the haters tell you that what you read is somehow less if it's not a book that caters to the priorities of oat milk crowd in NYC.

You are Kenough, brothers. You are Kenough.

[Nate Ru$$ell · Rating 5 out of 5]

!!!CROM!!!

"I know this: if life is illusion, then I am no less an illusion, and being thus, the illusion is real to me. I live, I burn with life, I love, I slay, and am content." - Conan The Cimmerian

So, so good! I have been coming back to these Conan stories since I first picked up an old trade paperback as a child. The ultimate sword and sandal fantasy tales! They are timeless, while also being a product of their time... It's really impressive how (relatively) progressive Howard was compared to his contemporaries: Men treating women with respect? Badass women holding their own (some of them, anyways) intellectually and physically in a world of terrible men and beasts? A main protagonist who bands together people of all races and skin color? I mean, this guy was writing in the 1920's and 30's, definitely not the best time to be a woman or a person of color in America. That being said, keep in mind how old these stories are, you must allow for some outdated ideas and language that would never be accepted today (for good reason). Also, for how young he was, Howard was incredibly prolific, and his ideas were pretty exotic and complex for his time. He brought in clear influences and themes from H.P Lovecraft, Poe, and Tolkein-esque fantasy into these stories. His concept of time, civilization, and humanity also feel quite modern while reading these strange tales. It's crazy to think that he wrote so much, and then killed himself at such a young age - mental health can effect anyone, regardless of talent or circumstance.

Yes, many of the stories are pretty formulaic. Conan has plot armor a mile thick. And, progressive moments aside, most of the women in the stories admittedly serve as damsels needing to be saved or kissed by or titular hero.

However, you get such a breadth of ideas and adventures! Thieves and incredible treasure, bloodthirsty pirates and raiders, unspeakable horrors from other dimensions, fantastic beasts, ghosts, ghouls, daring escapes, rescues, assassins, giants, gods, lots of snakes, prehistoric monsters, warlords, rogues, ancient civilizations, swords, sorcery, evil wizards, and heroes! It's a full on fleshed-out world, my dudes! If you haven't read these stories, you owe it to yourself as a fan of the genre. If you have read them, then may I recommend reading them again with older, wiser eyes, or enjoying the audio version - which is quite good, I must say!

I love all of the stories, but my favorites from this collection, and probably my all-time faves as well are (in no order):

1. The Hour of The Dragon - Pretty much a highlight reel of everything great about Conan.
2. Beyond the Black River - Probably the darkest and saddest of the Conan tales - cannibal warning.
3. Red Nails - A classic! Many might consider this to be peak Conan. But, it also stars a badass female warrior/rogue/pirate - Valeria! I wish we got more tales with her in it...
4. The Frost Giant's Daughter - Captivating short story that is pure fantasy and mythology.

[Jim Kettner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mighty Thews!
Coal Black Hair!
Smoldering ice blue eyes!

You know him...you love him(?) He's Conan the (Cimmerian)Barbarian...

It had been years since I had read any of these stories. I've read a smattering of Conan in my fantasy nerd history, but I've never taken a deep dive into the material. I had been wanting to scratch the original Howard stories off of my nerd to do list for a long time and I'm glad I made time for them.

There's little question the impact these stories have made on fantasy lit, not to mention the world of fantasy gaming...particularly the fast and loose murder hobo fantasies of old school Dungeons & Dragons. All the fun of that tabletop RPG experience is laid bare in these fantasy yarns. Wish fulfillment hero, lost cities, buxom damsels, piles of loot, fortune and glory. I felt myself thinking back to early D&D games constantly while reading these stories and I suppose I owe a debt to Howard not only for his stories but for a genre that I've spent a lot of time with in my imagination, particularly between the ages of twelve and seventeen.

But let me say something for the stories themselves...they've got serious chops...and I'm not just talking the swordplay, though Howard is quite deft at writing action. With so many classics, it can sometimes be rough to revisit them with older eyes, but I was very pleased at how many of these stories are crunchy and fun, with memorable thrills and fun twists.

I particularly found myself enjoying the pirate/rogue-centric stories. The ones that lean into Conan's military career lost me a little bit. Howard was definitely more dialed in when describing perilous close quarters combat than when describing military campaigns.

I also can't review this collection without talking about the racism. It is pretty gnarly, particularly towards the end of the collection, where Howard goes out of his way to not only have black characters as villains, but to also portray many of the black antagonists as inferior, and incapable unless used/led by a white/mixed race character. It is always cringe worthy, and definitely detracted from stories like Queen Of The Black Coast or Shadows in Zamboula. Pretty rough.

The other thing I have to ding the stories on is that they are repetitive. I sort of wish I had not gulped them all down together, but instead took longer breaks between stories. They work better episodically, with time in between. I only took one break in the midst of this tome and wish I had let the individual stories breathe more.

Still, I have to give full marks for the mightiest swarthiest swashbuckler of the pulps. Four Stars.

[Keith W · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice to revisit these stories after 10+ years (for most of them) and after having read a substantial amount of Robert E. Howard's other work in the same span of time.

Those who know me well probably know these stories are among my favourites because I talk about them constantly. These are the kinds of stories that inspired me to want to write as a young adult and they continue to do so today.

It's funny to think back to when I initially read some of these stories and thought "hey I could write stuff like this," because reading them again now there are so many scenes where I was thinking “wow I will never write something this good in my life.”

One reason I love the Conan stories is that they paint a broad picture of the character’s life, from his humble beginnings as a youth who has left his homeland, to being a rogue, a pirate, an adventurer, and a thief, to leading a war band of mercenaries into epic battle, to becoming king of one of the greatest empires of his time and eventually fighting against great evil to reclaim his throne.

For some reason I’ve always especially enjoyed stories which give you glimpses into nearly every chapter of a character’s life, and this is a series of stories which does this in infinitely inventive ways until it somehow feels believable that a wandering barbarian youth was able to eventually become a king.

The world of the Hyborian Age Conan inhabits feels at once primal, alien, and eerily familiar. Howard uses it to explores his fascination with ancient civilizations and the endless cycle of empires which rise and fall and become forgotten.

One thing that surprised me when I first read the Conan stories knowing very little about them is how often they tread the line of nearly being horror stories. If you enjoy both fantasy and horror they feel like absolutely essential reading, but they’re also fascinating to read just to see how many common elements in later fantasy were done by Howard first.

If you’ve never read any of REH’s work, this is probably my recommended place to start, though this particular edition is missing several stories such as “The God in the Bowl,” as it primarily focuses on reproducing the stories Published in Weird Tales magazine in their original column formatting.

If you read these and are still hungry for more REH, the Bran Mak Morn stories and his Lovecraftian horror stories are some of my other favourites.

[Benjamin Hare · Rating 4 out of 5]

Longtime fans of Conan have probably already read these stories in their various forms; the pastiches by L. Sprague De Camp and Lin Carter, and the Marvel Comics versions by Roy Thomas. All of these stories have been re-published in their pure form by Del Rey beginning in 2002, but this volume brings together all of the Conan stories printed during Robert E. Howard's lifetime in the pages of Weird Tales magazine. Each is presented in the order originally published, including some Kull stories that precede—but are motivation for—the creation of Conan. John includes a small bit of biographical/historical information about each story to orient us along the path of Howard's advancing ability.

The achievement of this book is in gathering all of these public domain stories into a single edition, something that (to my knowledge) has not been done before. The table of contents alone is worth the price of admission because it's arranged chronologically and includes bibliographic references to the specific Weird Tales issues in which they were originally published. I've long desired to have such a collection on my shelf because I can now easily reference a piece of the Conan corpus without having to drag out multiple books. I've also longed for a collection of all these stories in a single audiobook edition. Most of them already existed on audio but not in a single collection that follows the order in which they were originally published.

The audio quality is good, with no hiss, low-level rumble, compression artifacts, background noise, or distracting plosives; his recording equipment and mixing skills on this production were top notch. The only spot of complaint I have—it's minor—concerns some pronunciation issues, particularly words such as "ancient" and "poniard." I've never heard anyone else mispronounce these as John does. Despite this slight quibble I cannot recommend both the printed and audio edition strongly enough for fans of Robert E. Howard. For newcomers to Conan it's perhaps a bit much but for longtime fans it really is a dream come true. My heartfelt blessings to Finn J. D. John for putting this collection together and for taking the time to narrate all of the stories.

[D J Rout · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not giving this five sgtars because I think Howard is one of the 20th century's great writers. I was plesantly surprised by what a stylist he was, particularly in his word choice. He's not as good as Tolkien, but who is? (Joyce? Screw you guys.) He's certainly better than H.P. Lovecraft word choice.

He also does for a genre, sword and sorcery, waht Bram Stoker did for the vampire. He may not have created, but he set up rules for it that sword and sorcery authors have stuck with ever since, and have consciously broken either at their peril or just to prove they're smarter than the average Goodreads reviewer.

It would be interesting to see what would've happened had he lived longer. If he had turned his hand to SF, would he have been as influential as Stanley G. Weinbaum? Probably. Weinbaum is a better idea writer and Howard the better stylist, at least when they were starting out. There's an alternate history where they collaborated, and it really bugs me pisses me off that we'll never see that!

Anyway, it's good to see a complete collection of the Conan stories and his one Conan novel. The stories are in publicaton order but the editor has thoughtfully put links to the stories in writing order, so you have the option to see Howard's writing develop. You can also get the accompanhying adiobook, which appears to have excerpts of the stories, but I can't advise it, as the audio isn't complete and is narrated by the editor who doesn't have the voice to carry it off. Maybe Arnie will give it a go.

[Dianthaa · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of sword and sorcery short stories, novellas and a novel with Conan being strong, fighting things and usually saving the day. Creepy magic and ancient ruins a plenty.
Read for the audiobook hard mode square, and it was hard to get through. Individually the stories are fun, but after around hour 20 of the audiobook they started feeling very samey, and the outdated aspects very grating.
The good
Conan is some sort of confidence porn. The way he walks into any situation and knows he can handle it, the level of chill he’s got and his peace with “if we die we die” is inspiring. Even when he pervs on women, it’s not like the sexually frustrated Dresden desperate for something he can’t get, it’s like James Bond, swimming in pussy, appreciating it like a fine wine. (what could possibly go wrong? I could write this phrase and then somehow decide not to edit it out)
The stories are fun, there’s a lot of action, some vivid battle scenes, the atmosphere is great, if you love creepy jungles or ruins.
The bad
While it’s not necessarily bad bad, it gets samey. Especially the middle-period ones are written to a pulpy formula and it shows. There are some stories that really stand out, but many blend together. I feel like this could be avoided by not going through the whole bunch in one go.
The ugly
It’s probably a product of its time, but there’s some dated racist & sexist shit. It’s always the white strong smart man saving the damsel from the bad savage black people. And the descriptions of people of color are just … like those caricature 30s cartoons with exaggerated features, it was weird, it;s not all stories that focus on that, but some right in the beginning set the tone. There’s also the fact that a lot of the women are merely set dressing, but there are a few stories with actual heroines, a queen and pirate queen most notably.
My favorite stories in the collection: “The Tower of the Elephant.”, “The People of the Black Circle” , “Queen of the Black Coast.” and the novel at the end “The Hour of the Dragon.”

[Brendan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not a pretentious literary analysis, as Howard's Conan was written for pulp magazines. I don't care to debate the difference between high and low forms of art. Know what you're getting into and set your expectations accordingly.

I found the inclusion of Howard's essay, The Hyborian Age, to be more instrumental in establishing the tone than the Kull and Soloman Kane stories, and this is what really shows you Howard's mindset. It is true that he was a starving artist writing whatever could earn him a paycheck, and Weird Tales apparently stiffed him $1,500. Was he a product of his time? To an extent. I have read a lot of the anthropological texts from the time, the sort of content that was used to support scientific racism. Howard didn't seem to buy into most of it and preferred a nascent cultural relativism, but this is speculative. Still, kind of interesting how an Anglo in the 1920's would willfully write that race mixing doesn't weaken the resulting mixture.

Anyways...

Howard was imaginative and compelling and painted a brutal world full of brutal people. Not everything is grim, and Conan, despite being a rough man (a barbarian, even), does not lack for redeeming qualities. There are some times when he even shows weakness, though these aren't common he is still a mortal man who throws himself at danger, and is actually quite cunning and displays a good deal of wisdom, especially in the later stories. Some stories are weaker than others but even the duds are competent. I found the writing to be clever in some moments; in "The Tower of the Elephant", there is an admission that Conan does not know what an elephant is but assumes them to be big if they'd name a tower after one.

Overall, a fun romp that built a genre and inspired a lot of nerds.