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Adventures of Conan
Conan and the Manhunters
Conan the Cimmerian braves the wrath of Ahriman, a terrifyingly evil god, and his ferocious minions to steal a fortune in gold and jewels from the temple. Reissue.
288 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1994
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About the author
John Maddox Roberts
127 books253 followersaka Mark Ramsay
John Maddox Roberts is the author of numerous works of science fiction and fantasy, in addition to his successful historical SPQR mystery series. The first two books in the series have recently been re-released in trade paperback.
John Maddox Roberts is the author of numerous works of science fiction and fantasy, in addition to his successful historical SPQR mystery series. The first two books in the series have recently been re-released in trade paperback.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
April 29, 2019
Conan pastiche is always a sticky subject. There are REH purists that will not read them on principle, and there are Conan fanatics that make little distinction. I fall somewhere in between.
Early to late 80’s, I fell deep into Conan fandom; first, it was my discovery of the Marvel Conan comics, particularly The Savage Sword of Conan, second and of great lasting power, I watched the 1982 Conan the Barbarian movie. In my mind, anything Conan was at least vaguely connected to my love of Dungeons & Dragons, which made it Metal. Metal was of prime importance.
During the 80’s and into the early 90’s, I read a steady diet of Tor Conan novels by various authors. This is the first I’ve read in decades, and did so after cleaning my garage and finding a nearly forgotten box of Tor Conan’s. Many read before, some not. To the best of memory, I had not read this one before. Who can say? I know for a fact I’ve read all of the Robert Jordan Tor Conan’s, but for the life of me could not describe the plot of any. The Tor Conan’s are ephemeral. They take little time to read, are often fun, but have no lasting power.
In my 30’s, I became a hard nosed REH fan. Having read a large percentage of his true, unedited, works. I prefer the pure REH to pastiche; however, I still read the pastiche of de Camp and Carter, but mostly through the lens of Roy Thomas and his band of, my favorite, Conan artists. Leaving the comics equation out of it, I would call the de Camp/Carter Conan: de Conanter.
I also enjoy reading the the S&S REH imitation works of John Jakes, Gardner F. Fox and L Carter. Heroes with names like Brak, Kyrik and Thongor. Call these: Clonans, Clones of Conan.
Perhaps a third category is needed: Tornan’s, Tor Conan?
The Tor Conan’s feature REH’s creation, and sometimes even resemble the Cimmerian, but they never get it exactly right. Take the novel in review here: in this book, Conan trusts and depends a bit too much on Sorcery. He allows himself to be bullied into a plot that he wishes no part of. Conan is more of a thinker than many give him credit for, but the Conan of John Maddox Roberts is a bit too cautious. JMR makes a distinction between sorcerers and priests. In the S&S works of Howard, no difference was ever made, they were interchangeable and often one in the same. Also, JMR develops “schools” of magic that seem not very Hyborian age-ish, at least REH never developed magic this way. The magic of JMR is a bit too flashy for my taste. I prefer subtle and mysterious.
As an adventure story, Conan and The Manhunters is not terrible. It clips along at a steady pace. It gives some memorable characters. At its heart, it is a heist story wrapped up in a chase plot, flavored with revenge. It even has some nice horror elements within the temple of Ahriman, but less Lovecraft and more splatter-punk. Like all good, or at least average, heist novels it is full of unseen complications and double crosses.
It also has its weaknesses. The Manhunters of the title are a professional group of bounty hunters hired to bring Conan and his misfit pack of brigands to justice. Their leader is a badass Aquilonian promised to possibly be Conan’s equal in battle. It’s hinted at, their inevitable confrontation is built up, built up and summarily handled in a page and a half.
Also, and this is a gripe of mine, the EVIL priests of the Destroyer and pure EVIL god, who is so EVIL even Set and his priesthood said “this Dude has to go”; the priesthood is EVIL and wants to bring their god into the realm of men so he can devour it all and set them up as rulers of....wait? Of what? This bad ass dude is going to devour it all, so what are you going to be kings of? Did this subject never come up at your EVIL tea-party social hours?
If it wasn’t disguised as a Conan book, and was instead a Clonan, I would have enjoyed it more.
Early to late 80’s, I fell deep into Conan fandom; first, it was my discovery of the Marvel Conan comics, particularly The Savage Sword of Conan, second and of great lasting power, I watched the 1982 Conan the Barbarian movie. In my mind, anything Conan was at least vaguely connected to my love of Dungeons & Dragons, which made it Metal. Metal was of prime importance.
During the 80’s and into the early 90’s, I read a steady diet of Tor Conan novels by various authors. This is the first I’ve read in decades, and did so after cleaning my garage and finding a nearly forgotten box of Tor Conan’s. Many read before, some not. To the best of memory, I had not read this one before. Who can say? I know for a fact I’ve read all of the Robert Jordan Tor Conan’s, but for the life of me could not describe the plot of any. The Tor Conan’s are ephemeral. They take little time to read, are often fun, but have no lasting power.
In my 30’s, I became a hard nosed REH fan. Having read a large percentage of his true, unedited, works. I prefer the pure REH to pastiche; however, I still read the pastiche of de Camp and Carter, but mostly through the lens of Roy Thomas and his band of, my favorite, Conan artists. Leaving the comics equation out of it, I would call the de Camp/Carter Conan: de Conanter.
I also enjoy reading the the S&S REH imitation works of John Jakes, Gardner F. Fox and L Carter. Heroes with names like Brak, Kyrik and Thongor. Call these: Clonans, Clones of Conan.
Perhaps a third category is needed: Tornan’s, Tor Conan?
The Tor Conan’s feature REH’s creation, and sometimes even resemble the Cimmerian, but they never get it exactly right. Take the novel in review here: in this book, Conan trusts and depends a bit too much on Sorcery. He allows himself to be bullied into a plot that he wishes no part of. Conan is more of a thinker than many give him credit for, but the Conan of John Maddox Roberts is a bit too cautious. JMR makes a distinction between sorcerers and priests. In the S&S works of Howard, no difference was ever made, they were interchangeable and often one in the same. Also, JMR develops “schools” of magic that seem not very Hyborian age-ish, at least REH never developed magic this way. The magic of JMR is a bit too flashy for my taste. I prefer subtle and mysterious.
As an adventure story, Conan and The Manhunters is not terrible. It clips along at a steady pace. It gives some memorable characters. At its heart, it is a heist story wrapped up in a chase plot, flavored with revenge. It even has some nice horror elements within the temple of Ahriman, but less Lovecraft and more splatter-punk. Like all good, or at least average, heist novels it is full of unseen complications and double crosses.
It also has its weaknesses. The Manhunters of the title are a professional group of bounty hunters hired to bring Conan and his misfit pack of brigands to justice. Their leader is a badass Aquilonian promised to possibly be Conan’s equal in battle. It’s hinted at, their inevitable confrontation is built up, built up and summarily handled in a page and a half.
Also, and this is a gripe of mine, the EVIL priests of the Destroyer and pure EVIL god, who is so EVIL even Set and his priesthood said “this Dude has to go”; the priesthood is EVIL and wants to bring their god into the realm of men so he can devour it all and set them up as rulers of....wait? Of what? This bad ass dude is going to devour it all, so what are you going to be kings of? Did this subject never come up at your EVIL tea-party social hours?
If it wasn’t disguised as a Conan book, and was instead a Clonan, I would have enjoyed it more.
August 4, 2021
This made the Ultimate Conan book sin….. it was boring and dull. Not much to say here because nothing really memorable stood out. What a disappointment
June 27, 2015
A decent fantasy story. Didn't feel a lot like Conan to me. This character is less impetuous and more controlled than Howard's Cimmerian at this time in his career. I'd probably rather just read about a new character.
March 6, 2021
Trots lite löjliga namn, såsom Volvolicus, och lite löjliga namnrippar som Ahriman och Osman, så var detta en nöjsam läsning. Den var precis så okrävande som bra genrelitteratur skall vara.
October 31, 2020
Conan wakes up chained up in a prison, expecting an execution after what I suppose is an unsuccessful date. Fortunately for him, a fellow prisoner busts him up and they decide to rob the treasury of the province for revenge. This I suppose is the "A" plot. The "B" plot, is that the treasure is stored in a temple of Ahriman, whose priests want to revive the god and bring the world to a terrible end. You may notice a slight discrepancy in scale here. Unfortunately, the B plot is dominated by characters much more powerful and much less interesting that Conan, so the story we actually care about is constantly interfered with by some pesky mages who want to save the world or some shit, leaving no room to present the manhunters from the title, who are tasked with catching Conan, as a credible threat.
In the end most threads are resolved with Conan having precious little to do with any of it, resulting in a very unsatisfactory conclusion.
In the end most threads are resolved with Conan having precious little to do with any of it, resulting in a very unsatisfactory conclusion.
May 2, 2024
When it comes to John Maddox Roberts, I tend to find his Conan pastiches consistently entertaining, well-written, and mostly faithful to Howard's world and character without ever quite blowing me away - and Conan and the Manhunters was no exception.
There was a lot I enjoyed about this one. It had all the usual Conan tropes, including an ancient cult trying to summon a Lovecraftian-esque god (possibly my favourite part of the story), evil politicians and generals scheming to bring down our favourite Cimmerian, and Conan doing his usual by defying men and gods alike whilst seeking vengeance against those who have wronged him. I also love exploring new reaches of the Hyborian Age, so visiting Iranistan for the first time was another highlight for me.
Roberts also did a solid job of tying Howard's Conan canon into this one, with the inclusion of the Stygian sorcerer Thoth-Amon, an Aquilonian warrior with a grudge against Cimmerians since the battle of Venarium, and an ending that seems to lead nicely into one of Howard's classic Conan tales, Shadows in Zamboula.
As for the cons, Conan and the Manhunters slightly suffers from Roberts' constant and brazen use of magic. Here, there are wizards whipping up spells at every turn, from making tons of gold fly away in broad daylight to having multitudes of conjured creatures defending their home. It's fun to read, but it's a bit overkill and it takes away from the dark, mysterious, horror-esque feel that sorcery has in Howard's tales when it rears its ugly head from the shadows. I also thought there were just too many characters and plot lines at play here, and the book could have done with some streamlining.
Still, this one delivered, and it was a blast to see Conan leading a group of bandits whilst besting his enemies with his wits as much as his steel. This pastiche gets a soft four stars from me, and it's one I certainly wouldn't be averse to reading again someday.
There was a lot I enjoyed about this one. It had all the usual Conan tropes, including an ancient cult trying to summon a Lovecraftian-esque god (possibly my favourite part of the story), evil politicians and generals scheming to bring down our favourite Cimmerian, and Conan doing his usual by defying men and gods alike whilst seeking vengeance against those who have wronged him. I also love exploring new reaches of the Hyborian Age, so visiting Iranistan for the first time was another highlight for me.
Roberts also did a solid job of tying Howard's Conan canon into this one, with the inclusion of the Stygian sorcerer Thoth-Amon, an Aquilonian warrior with a grudge against Cimmerians since the battle of Venarium, and an ending that seems to lead nicely into one of Howard's classic Conan tales, Shadows in Zamboula.
As for the cons, Conan and the Manhunters slightly suffers from Roberts' constant and brazen use of magic. Here, there are wizards whipping up spells at every turn, from making tons of gold fly away in broad daylight to having multitudes of conjured creatures defending their home. It's fun to read, but it's a bit overkill and it takes away from the dark, mysterious, horror-esque feel that sorcery has in Howard's tales when it rears its ugly head from the shadows. I also thought there were just too many characters and plot lines at play here, and the book could have done with some streamlining.
Still, this one delivered, and it was a blast to see Conan leading a group of bandits whilst besting his enemies with his wits as much as his steel. This pastiche gets a soft four stars from me, and it's one I certainly wouldn't be averse to reading again someday.
April 3, 2019
Conan is thrown in the dungeon(again) because of a woman(again). While waiting to be publicly executed he hears of a massive treasure. The Sultan of Shahpur has collected an entire year's worth of taxes and stored them in the new temple to Ahriman. After escaping from prison(surprise!) Conan rejoins the bandit gang he has been leading and convinces them to steal the treasure. Conan is actually more interested in getting revenge on the Sultan and his General than the treasure itself, since they severely wronged him by capturing him and trying to execute him just because he is the most notorious thief in the region.
A year's worth of taxes is more than Conan's band can get away with easily, so they engage the services of a wizard to help. The wizard refuses to go into thieving at first, but when he hears the treasure is in a new temple to Ahriman he agrees. He also calls a convocation of all the world's greatest wizards, including Thoth-Amon, since Ahriman is such an evil god that even Set himself fears him and his return would be BAD.
The treasure is stolen and thus begins the long chase. A group off professional manhunters is called in to track and kill the bandits and Conan. They follow them through the desert, to Iranistan and back, and both bands are much depleted by fighting and sorcery before they even meet. And then the Big Wizard Showdown!
A good read. Conan is a well seasoned bandit leader here, and the manhunters are a very interesting lot. The goings on in the temple of Ahriman are sufficiently creepy, and the sorcery flies with impressive fury and effect.
A year's worth of taxes is more than Conan's band can get away with easily, so they engage the services of a wizard to help. The wizard refuses to go into thieving at first, but when he hears the treasure is in a new temple to Ahriman he agrees. He also calls a convocation of all the world's greatest wizards, including Thoth-Amon, since Ahriman is such an evil god that even Set himself fears him and his return would be BAD.
The treasure is stolen and thus begins the long chase. A group off professional manhunters is called in to track and kill the bandits and Conan. They follow them through the desert, to Iranistan and back, and both bands are much depleted by fighting and sorcery before they even meet. And then the Big Wizard Showdown!
A good read. Conan is a well seasoned bandit leader here, and the manhunters are a very interesting lot. The goings on in the temple of Ahriman are sufficiently creepy, and the sorcery flies with impressive fury and effect.
June 11, 2021
Another good adventure from John Maddox Roberts. JMR was the most consistently entertaining of the TOR authors. This book has some wild stuff (levitated treasure hurtling across the desert), some old hat stuff (the old resurrect the evil god plot), and has some comic book stuff (a meeting of all the powerful wizards with a Thoth Amon cameo), but it all works and makes for an entertaining story. Considering JMR has reworked classics like Red Harvest and King Solomon's Mine, I was sort of expecting this to be a reworking of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid when I read the blurb about efficient and dangerous manhunters giving Conan the chase of his life. But the similarity ended there. This novel moves very fast for the most part and only bogged a little at the end. JMR should receive his due someday as a great S&S writer. The Conan pastiches helped keep S&S going in the 90s. Even though there were some clunkers several books in the series were quite good. I think a reevaluation of their benefit to the genre is in order.
December 16, 2022
Obálka vypadá zajímavě a povedeně. Příběh sám o sobě se dobře čte a je poměrně kvalitní pro rozšíření Conanovského světa. Je psán tak, že se odvíjí pomaleji a autor šetří na soubojích nicméně zde čtenář může poznat zase další nový kus mapy. Conan a jeho kumpáni jsou tentokrát na útěku po vydařené loupeži obrovského množství zlata, naštěstí to pro ně není až tak jednoduché.
March 8, 2018
3.5 would be a more accurate rating. A fun sword & sorcery adventure with thieves, a daring heist, sorcery, twists etc. As pointed out by other reviewers though, this Conan does not really fit with the Howardian Conan and there is probably too much magic as well. A good read though.
January 13, 2019
Fun read. Typical Conan.
February 21, 2021
Enjoyable little book with all you expect from a Conan story. Treasure stealing, wizards, the wizard's daughter, old gods, bandits and of course manhunters. Lots of fun.
December 31, 2021
Just finished this Conan pastiche by John Maddox Roberts. Absolutely not close to Howard's Conan, but just above okay.
August 3, 2010
It's ok. In my opinion Maddox's Conan is way too civilized considering that he is among rogues and at a very early age in his adventures. Anyway, an ok read.
February 3, 2011
PLENTY OF ACTION AND A DARING THEFT BY CROM!
May 24, 2015
Not to shabby
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews