The Bloody Crown of Conan

Conan the Cimmerian #2

by Robert E. Howard

In his hugely influential and tempestuous career, Robert E. Howard created the genre that came to be known as sword and sorcery–and brought to life one of fantasy’s boldest and most enduring figures: Conan the Cimmerian–reaver, slayer, barbarian, king.

This lavishly illustrated volume gathers together three of Howard’s longest and most famous Conan stories–two of them printed for the first time directly from Howard’s typescript–along with a collection of the author’s previously unpublished and rarely seen outlines, notes, and drafts. Longtime fans and new readers alike will agree that The Bloody Crown of Conan merits a place of honor on every fantasy lover’s bookshelf.

THE PEOPLE OF THE BLACK CIRCLE
Amid the towering crags of Vendhya, in the shadowy citadel of the Black Circle, Yasmina of the golden throne seeks vengeance against the Black Seers. Her only ally is also her most formidable enemy–Conan, the outlaw chief.

THE HOUR OF THE DRAGON
Toppled from the throne of Aquilonia by the evil machinations of an undead wizard, Conan must find the fabled jewel known as the Heart of Ahriman to reclaim his crown . . . and save his life.

A WITCH SHALL BE BORN
A malevolent witch of evil beauty. An enslaved queen. A kingdom in the iron grip of ruthless mercenaries. And Conan, who plots deadly vengeance against the human wolf who left him in the desert to die.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Sword and Sorcery, Pulp, Short Stories, Adventure, Classics

384 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 1, 2004

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

[✘✘ Sarah ✘✘ (former Nefarious Breeder of Murderous Crustaceans) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall rating: 3.717384861533333 stars. More or less.

The Adventures of My Barbarian Paramour, Vol. II! Let's do this and stuff!



Thrilled to see you’re as excited about this as I am, Cimmerian Cutie Pie Mine!

So there are only three stories in this collection. Which is a complete joke compared to The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian and its thirteen delicious Barbarian tales. More than a joke, it is quite the rip-off, if you ask me. Well, I guess it depends on one’s perspective and stuff. I mean, it’s a rip-off to me, but probably a blessing to you, my Little Barnacles, since it means you’ll only have to be put through three fascinating reviews instead of thirteen. So yay for you and stuff.

① The People of the Black Circle : 3.3536 stars and stuff.

I had a bloody shrimping not fun time trying to rate this one. I mean, it’s entertaining enough (my Barbarian Paramour is in it, so DUH and stuff), but it just isn’t as lusciously titillating as previous Conan stories I read. Yes, Howard’s writing is as Slightly Very Fantastic (SVF™) as ever, not to mention Evocative as Fish (EaF™), but there’s something missing here. After giving it much painful thought, I realized what it was: the story is simply not as wonderfully OTT as earlier Barbarian adventures. And that sucks big squid. (Also, Howard spends the first half of his narrative drowning the reader in Central Asian-sounding names, which 1) doesn’t add much to the story, 2) is kinda sorta not thrilling at all, and 3) is a little boring as shrimp.)

But. The Good Old Conan Basics (GOCB™) are still there, hence the not-so-crappy rating.

First and foremost, we have my Barbarian Paramour of the Ever Jovial Disposition (BPotEJD™):

“You are Conan?”
“Who else? You sent word into the hills that you wished for me to come and parley with you. Well, by Crom, I’ve come! Keep away from that table or I’ll gut you.”
[…]
“I’ll split your head like a ripe melon!”

Ah, such a sweetie, my boyfriend. He’s ever the gentleman with the ladies, too…

“He spanked her resoundingly, and she, recognizing this as merely another expression of admiration, did not feel particularly outraged.”

Said ladies, clearly being connoisseurs of all things Barbarian, know to appreciate Conan’s loving ministrations. And things get smutty faster than it takes to say “unleash the crustaceans!” when he really turns on the charm…

“She closed her eyes and drank in his fierce, hot, lawless kisses with all the abandon of passionate thirst.”

Such a hot, irresistible babe, my Cimmerian Cutie Pie. Well, okay, he can be “befogged and stupid” sometimes, but it’s usually temporary. Usually.



Then again maybe not.

Then we have the Inevitable Babe of the Week (IBofW™). In this case, Yasmina, aka the resident wench Kshatriya, Princess of the Supple Figure. I don’t like her as much as previous IBofWs, to be honest. I think she might be a little too stable and reasonable for my taste. She only thinks of silly things like her kingdom and her peasants people and stuff, meaning she’s no bloody fun at all. Still, she’s good enough IBofW™ material. I suppose. I mean, she’s got the wild sobbing and uncontrollable screaming nailed. She even does the “throwing oneself bodily upon others” quite well. And she definitely gets bonus points for “beating her breast in anguish” (ouch).



Something like that, yes. Only the breasts being beat upon are much more, um, generous and stuff.

Last, but bloody shrimping not least, we’ve got all those scrumpalicious little things that give all Conan stories that certain je ne sais quoi, that Super Extra Fluffy Quality (SEFQ) I’ve come to ever-so-slightly appreciate a little. You know, stuff like…

Black ghastly magic, a bit of blackmail, conches that bellow like oxen in pain (don’t ask), a touch of friendly kidnapping, infernally queer stuff, wild embraces that turn into strangling fests (I told you not to ask), “frenzied crescendos of human ululation,” hot babes panting hard (and not only from exertion, either), skull splitting and decapitation galore, mockery and malignity, wicked little tingles, shuddersome horror, “terrible disembowelling thrusts,” bestial grins of agony, showers of blood (yay!), and villainously villainous villains with super extra handy hypnotic powers:

“I have no more use for you. Kill yourself!”
Like a man in a trance the warrior thrust the butt of his spear against the base of the wall, and placed the keen head against his body, just below the ribs. Then slowly, stolidly, he leaned against it with all his weight, so that it transfixed his body and came out between his shoulders. Sliding down the shaft he lay still, the spear jutting above him its full length, like a horrible stalk growing out of his back.

Nice trick, that! (Note to self: take a Mesmerizing 101 class. Might come in handy with seditious shrimps and stuff.) The villain reminds me a lot of myself, actually. Like me, the poor guy has to deal with measly, insignificant little humans day in day out, and our lord shrimp knows what pains they can be.

“How can I explain my mystic reasons to your puny intellect?”

Yes! This! So much THIS! Finally, someone who understands me! Twinsies and stuff!



Sorry, what? My villainous companion and my little self don’t look nefarious at all here? Why, that’s exactly the point, my Lovely Arthropods. We aim to deceive the enemy and all that. What beautifully cunning little minds we have!

➽ Nefarious Last Words (NLW™): as one of the greatest philosophers who ever lived once said, “people who plot on roofs should remember to lower their voices.” And that, my Tiny Decapods, is 1) a scientifically proven fact and 2) the only piece of advice you will ever need. Because truer words were never spoken and all that. And also because I said so and stuff.



January 13, 2021: it was recently pointed out to me that my reviews for the Cimmerian Hottie's adventures tend to be a teensy little bit longer than said adventures themselves (pure defamation, I say!). I have therefore decided—in a most uncharacteristic show of utter thoughtfulness—to spare you, puny humans, and make the two following reviews Super Extra Short (SES™) and stuff. This has obviously nothing to do with the fact that a) I'm feeling lazy as shrimp to day and b) I don't want to risk exhausting Goodreads most miserable character allotment for reviews again (as may or may not have happened here). Quite welcome you are.



② The Hour of the Dragon : 3.432658 stars and stuff.

I was tempted to give this one a 5-star rating, but my Barbarian Paramour doesn't whack anyone with a beef bone at any point in the story, which is totally unacceptable and obviously explains my slightly revised rating.

Okay, to be honest, the story itself is not exactly super yummy, which might also explain the crappy rating. First because it's looooonnnnnnnng. You'd think reading a full-length Cimmerian Cutie Pie novel would have me feeling kinda sorta...



And that's what I thought was going to happen when I started The Hour of the Dragon, too. I mean, at the beginning of the story, Conan has officially graduated to king status (I have such a mighty hot and powerful boyfriend), which makes him go up up up a notch or three on the scrumptiousness scale. But then, the idiot ends up paralyzed after seeing a pathetic mummy and gets himself kidnapped like a moron.



Tell me about it 🙄🙄.

Then a lot of blah-blah-blah happens. Yes, there are abominable sorceries, grim monstrosities, grisly man-eaters, skewers that come in handy (don't ask), and the Babe of the Week™ has the required supple/lithe/vibrant figure (not to mention the mandatory wisp of silk twisted about her loins), but it all feels kinda sorta meh for some reason. A good thing Conan's wild, passionate and untamed ways make up for all this revoltingly bland stuff:

He caught her up in his iron arms, crushed her slim, vibrant figure to him and kissed her fiercely on eyes, cheeks, throat and lips, until she lay panting in his embrace; gusty and tempestuous as a storm-wind, even his love-making was violent.

That's my boy! Or rather, it would be my boy if he decided to tone down his moronic tendencies once in a while. I mean, even the most dimwitted of barnacles knows that doing stuff like tripping mid-leap because your foot got caught in the fold of a bloody curtain is not exactly the most (choose all that apply) cunning/bright/smooth/slick/skillful/sagacious move. Especially NOT when your name is Conan and you're supposed to be a bloody shrimping Barbarian baddass. (And a certain nefarious breeder of murderous crustacean's super hot boyfriend.)



Glad we agree on that one, Gustav dear.



③ A Witch Shall Be Born : 4.5658965846 stars and stuff.

Now we're talking! This story takes us right back to familiar Decidedly Yummilicious Barbarian Territory (DYBT™) and thank fish for that because I was beginning to think my Cimmerian Cute Pie no longer had what it takes to make my exoskeleton tingle all over and stuff.

So, what makes this one especially scrumptious, you ask? Well, the glorious violence and wondrous body count and exquisitetorture and delightful betrayal and enchanting retribution and most splendiddebauchery (infamous revelries, yay!) might have helped a tiny little bit. Maybe. There are also super fun crucifixion sessions which might or might not have inspired Monty Python.



Oh yeah, I can definitely see the similarities there.

Then we've got Salome, the wicked witch who might not be of the East but is really Quite Fabulously Villainous (QFV™) and Most Wonderfully Depraved (MWD™).

Lust and mystery sparkled in her scintillant eyes, cruelty lurked in the curl of her full red lips.

I am so in 💕lurve💕. There's a slight chance I might also be in 💕lurve💕 with Salome's marvelously malevolent partner-in-turpitude, Constantius of the Insatiable Lust and Ever Sardonic Tone, aka He Who Utterly Lacks All Characteristics Men Call Good 😍😍. (Weirdly enough, my Barbarian Paramour isn't very supportive of this newfound love of mine, and doesn't seem to be Constantius' biggest fan, either. That's just because he's jealous, if you ask me.)

But, if you want to know the honestly honest truth, it's not the bloodshed or perversion or unmitigated viciousness that really gave this lovely tale another dimension for me. It's not the Fabulous Villainous witch, either. Neither is it her magnificently vile consort. Most appallingly, nor is it my Cimmerian Toy Boy (shocking, I know). The honestly honest truth is that what made this story lusciously titillating for me is my newly acquired boyfriend Thaug, aka the Super Sexey Beast of the Lithe Limbs and Dazzling Smile.



Told you he was a sex pot.

Conan does NOT approve. Obviously.

👋 To be continued and stuff.

· Introduction to the world: The Hyborian Age ★★★★
· Book 1: The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian ★★★★
· Book 3: The Conquering Sword of Conan ★★★★

[Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Conan is continuing to make its rounds around my grey matter and settling in as one of the core, foundational fantasies of the last hundred years. The fact that the barbarian remains the most recognizable alpha male in fantastic fiction should say everything I need to say.

But it also deserves mention that these stories are not lightweight fluff pieces of fantasy. Conan himself is the ultimate rugged self-made man, preferring to take what he wants by his own efforts despite multiple offers being dropped in his lap.

This is a man who knows that the journey is always more important than the destination. And he has major scruples, too. Anyone who pricks his pride will be hoisted by their own. Magicians and crafty women never get what they expect out of him, and he, himself, is always driven by what he believes is right. Even if, at any particular moment, the massive subtle changes on the wind make him turn his back on what once might have been best, then.

He is complex and subtly shaded despite being an outward brute. The fact that he can win over many men (and women) purely by his uncompromising understanding of himself and his strength is NOT the same thing as wielding a sword to cut down all his enemies and thereby securing a kingdom. Or two.

The fact is, he loves being the underdog. He may be one brute of a man that may give any woman a look and they lose their clothes as if by magic, and he wins over converts by an overpowering charisma, but none of that would mean anything if he wasn't a man of action.

Add to this the extremely deep worldbuilding that throws so many lines of real history into a huge pot, giving us all an amazingly rich setting both familiar and not, but always big, and it's enough to spark my imagination in the same way as those from nearly a century ago must have enjoyed.


We are kinda sick of being peaceful among enemies, after all. The Conan stories are so damn close to what we already live in and the pain and the disgust are just as vital here and now as they would have been in these so-called primitive societies. To me, the stories are very much a raging against the dying of the light.

[J.G. Keely · Rating 3 out of 5]

Back when I was a young fencing coach, I had an epiphany about how skill develops that has come to define the way I approach learning. I'd be working with students who might have been fencing for a few weeks or a few months when a new face would walk in. I'd put a sword in his hand and set him up against one of the others and, as often as not, the newcomer would get a few points, despite having no foreknowledge of fencing. His frustrated opponent would sigh, shake his head, and declare "it's not my fault, he was doing weird stuff".

When we first begin to practice any activity, we have no preconception for how it's going to feel, for the rhythm or the most effective techniques--we just do what comes to mind. Then, we are taught all the basic rules, and these rules can be constraining. I could beat every one of those regular students because I knew how to deal with circle parries, ripostes, and balestras. There was nothing about the direction of attack or the changes in distance that was going to surprise me. Learning the rules changes how you think about the game, and it makes you predictable.

I've seen the same pattern in writers: often, their first few works are vivid and unusual, difficult to pin down. Writing is still a challenge to them, an unfamiliar thing which they must figure out as they go along, and creativity is always the result of trying to overcome difficulty.

After a while, they begin to settle in to a mode: they have figured out what works for them, they have the methods and shortcuts down. But without hardship to drive them, this can lead to predictable, repetitive work.

This is the second volume in Del Rey's collection of the Conan stories, and it is the only collection of all Howard's original manuscripts for those stories, untainted by later editors. As I mentioned in my review, the earlier stories from the first volume are wilder, and show more variability, depicting Conan at many points in his life, dealing with a number of different situations.

This volume is more homogenous: they are about an older Conan embroiled in political machinations, which was enjoyable for a student of history, as anyone who has read Tacitus or Sallust cannot fail to recognize Howard's stylistic inspiration.

That isn't to say that the stories do not also contain the patented bloody action which Conan is known for, but for the first time I began to feel that Conan didn't need action. His stories are always about human desires, about interaction and struggle, and open conflict is only one way to resolve such conflicts. Howard shows he is willing and capable of exploring other aspects of his world, and that, unlike other authors who wrote about the character, Howard never forgets that Conan is not merely some emotionless killer, but a man with "gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth".

But the style and tone of these stories becomes predictable. We do not get the subversive women or eccentric secondary characters, instead there are mostly cliches and placeholders, dull copies of figures we've seen in earlier stories. It seems like Howard has settled into a groove here, which isn't beneficial for pulp or weird fiction.

But there is one thing in this collection that is new for Howard: length. Many authors have tried to transition from short works to novels, and it's rarely a pretty thing to watch. For later master of Sword & Sorcery Fritz Leiber, the additional length meant a loss of pace and depth. Whereas before, a hundred pages would hold a half dozen stories, each with its own tone and setting, now it was all the continuation of a single tone.

But Howard shows that he is able to make the transition without losing his fast pace or his myriad views of the world. Though the novel-length Hour of the Dragon takes many themes and ideas from previous stories, the way they are woven together with action, intrigue, and a larger, overarching plot is skillful. There is no filler there--indeed, there are a number of scenes that could have run on longer, with more detail, without hurting the book's pace.

The larger plot is reliant on that genre standby: the fetch quest for the magical mcguffin--but Howard's treatment of it is not as simplistic or convenient as most genre books. Conan doesn't port the thing around in his pocket and pull it out to get himself out of jams, the same magic both opens and closes the action of the plot, and the item itself has its own history, distinct from the events of the plot. Beyond that, any careful reader familiar with the Mythos connection between Lovecraft and Howard will see numerous clues about how magic in Conan's world has a more insidious, cosmic source.

What was disappointing in the story was the fact that, despite depicting an ancient, pre-deluge world, the combat was all described in terms of high chivalric cavalry charges, longbows, and heavy armor. It would have been more interesting to see a take on Greek or Roman warfare instead of a rehash of Doyle's White Company , especially one so out of place with the tone Howard sets.

So it seems that after his early experiments, stories that were sometimes erratic but rarely repetitious, Howard has settled into a more predictable style, that plateau we all hit after we have learned and internalized a set of rules. But then, why learn them in the first place? The secret is that once we have mastered those rules, once they are second nature, we can begin again to experiment, and to become unpredictable.

Though many think of a 'black belt' as the sign of a master, in truth it is the sign that a student has learned all of those basic things which must be gotten out of the way before the real learning can start. It is only once those basic elements no longer occupy us, we are free to really explore. Just like my young fencing students, you begin unfettered, but also unskilled. As you learn more and more of the rules and techniques, you also become predictable. It is only when you internalize those rules, when they become second nature, that you can become unfettered again, combining knowledge and unpredictability to produce the great hallmark of the master: innovation.

It was my hope that in the next volume, Howard would be able to combine the creativity of his early works with the reliability of this middle stretch and produce final stories might live up to their reputation as the strongest of the Conan tales--but alas, Howard died too young, and never reached that peak. Though the final volume is more polished, more personal, and more thoughtful, never again does he recapture the youthful vitality of his earliest tales.

My suggested Readings in Fantasy

[Bruno Neute · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5*

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls · Rating 4 out of 5]

This second volume of Robert E. Howard's Conan stories contains three of the longest REH Conan stories published as well as some unpublished drafts and notes. There are also some illustrations by Gary Gianni. The Afterword "Hyborean Genesis" is an excellent biography of REH during the time these pieces were written, giving plenty of interesting background material about the writing and publishing of the stories.

The People Of The Black Circle - 3/5 - much heralded Conan story, but it seemed merely average, a slightly fleshed out version of many of the earlier Conan short stories

The Hour of the Dragon - 4/5 - the only full length Conan novel written by REH is much the better for the expanded scope allowed by the greater page count. Although some of the situations in the novel are very similar to early short stories, there is much to be enjoyed including numerous supporting characters with fleshed out motives and often shifting allegiances, a lengthy quest to new locations, and a deeper exploration of Conan's character.

A Witch Shall Be Born - 3/5 - another long Conan story that stands in the middle of the pack; some of the story is told from the viewpoint of another soldier and the reduced role for Conan doesn't make the story any more compelling

[Edward Gwynne · Rating 5 out of 5]

We all know I love Robert E. Howard's writing by now. No change here.

[Jean-marcel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first read the great majority of the Conan stories a number of years ago. I enjoyed them so much and quickly sought out other Robert E. Howard writings. The man has his weird quirks and sure, his stuff can be a little repetitive at times, but I would argue that in terms of pulp writers he was probably one of the more diverse, being able to work in a variety of different genres, in contemporary, historical or constructed settings. of course, one of the tricks to his apparent diversity was that he told adventure yarns, and was able to transpose stuff easily from one setting to another. For example, he could write a western, but if the market wasn't biting to his satisfaction....change the characters, names and places, throw in a bit of magic, and boom, you have a hyborean Age story fit for the pages of Weird Tales. So, yes, some of the Conan stories feel like westerns. Some have pirates and brigands; others kings and decadent civilisations. A few have hints of science fiction lurking beneath the surface. They're all bold, bloody, thunderous and a huge rush to read.

This recent collection is the second of three; within their pages are compiled all the tales Howard wrote about Conan of Cimmeria. I'll admit that Conan is not really Howard's most nuanced creation. Most of the time he did create a kind of hero archetype for each historical period/location he wrote in: usually a big, strong man, handy with all forms of weaponry and his fists too, and also, in the cases of Conan, Kull or Solomon Kane, prone to fits of brooding melancholy or budding existential angst. The Conan tales proved to be extremely popular though, and seem to have been a great boon for Howard in the 1930s, when he was really struggling financially, so he wrote about twenty of them. In The Bloody Crown of Conan, we have two of the longer novelas, plus the novel-length "Hour of the Dragon". I'm writing this now after having discovered that, somehow, while reading all the other Conan tales way back, I skipped "Hour of the dragon", either because I was just waiting to save the longest for the right time, or because I believed it was a kind of "fixup" of a bunch of other Conan stories sloppily thrown together for novel publication and thus probably not as good as the other stories.

It turns out, to my delight, that "Hour of the Dragon" is one of the best Conan tales, precisely because it's able to take advantage of a longer format. I'll be the first to admit that yes, as great as these tales are, there is a certain formulaic quality to them. I'd recommend them to a good number of people, but always with some caveats. Don't read too many of them in a row. Savour them, take breaks, don't let the tropes get too stale. Steel yourself for the kind of stuff modern writers just shouldn't be able to get away with, like pathetic powerless women and blacks who are often described as "ape-like" and speak in gutteral animalistic tones. There's also sometimes a sense that Conan is just this unbeattable, unstoppable force of nature and that nothing can significantly stand against him. usually this isn't a problem because, if you're a certain kind of reader, you just learn to roll with it and have fun as Conan takes out six guys at a time or wrestles with some eldritch monstrosity from beyond time and space. He's just that good and you want to see him victorious, want to see him crush his enemies, sweep up the lamenting women and tell the treacherous, civilised dogs just what he thinks of them before cleaving their heads from their bodies. it's cathartic, basically. But it doesn't always create good tension when Conan is the only point of view character and you know he's always going to come out on top. there are a few exceptions though, and these tend to stand out in the range. Those tales that have a Point of view other than Conan's, where Conan almost seems to arrive like a cold northern breeze, an outsider in someone else's world. You know shit is going to get real when this happens and don't always know who will survive. I can think of no better example than the excellent "Beyond the Black River" (in the next volume), or the extremely contentious (it's the race thing) "The Vale of Lost Women", which if nothing else provides some really powerful atmosphere and a female perspective for a change.

In "Hour of the Dragon" we get something a little different. The story is still very episodic, but the scope feels bigger than normal, as Conan does a lot of travelling, is captured, rescued, nearly recaptured, rescued again, struggles to regain his usurped kingdom. Usually when Conan rouses people to his side, they're pretty quick to follow, but here he gets stymied by even some of his friends and allies who keep telling him everything is hopeless. The frustration is palpable and a bit atypical for a Conan tale. Another slight subversion: Conan twice gets rescued by women. I won't say Howard is really stepping out of bounds here as the first girl throws herself at his feet for the silliest of reasons, and the noble Aquilonian Countess he later saves from the headsman's axe is basically a nonentity, but it's still kind of neat to see the tables turned in this way. There's a lot of violence, fiery masculine passion, and an underpinning of dark eldrtich horror as a milennia-old evil sorcerer is resurrected to aide Conan's enemies. Said sorcerer is not around for the huge chunk in the middle of the story, as he spends so much time in his chamber "dreaming the dreams of the black lotus", or manipulating the other antagonists (who all really hate each other) from the shadows. Still though, there's a great sense of menace at almost every turn and one can feel Conan's mounting unease as he no longer can tell who is friend or foe. The world feels properly large this time, and not just because Howard drops loads of talk about geography and races the way he normally does, but because Conan has to do a whole lot of travelling. Travelling often sows seeds of introspection, especially when one walks the road alone as Conan does, and we even get a whole lot of that here, which should put to rest the notion that Conan and his stories are all bulging muscles and clashing swords. Of course, there's loads of that, too; there's probably a huge fight every few pages. The story is just packed with incident, and we even get a proper trip into the bowels of Stygia, where Howard cranks up the horror and evil iatmosphere to near suffocating levels. I found the level of danger and suspense to be higher than normal, and I think this shows that Howard could have been a great adventure novelist had he continued writing into the following decades. Yeah, there are some inconsistencies in the text, both in the way Conan is portrayed (usually very keen and sharp-witted, except when once or twice he inexplicably isn't), and in the passage of time (sometimes it seems like just a couple of days have passed since Aquilonia has fallen to the Nemedians, sometimes months), but it's all just such headlong, fast-paced, moody, bloodthirsty fun to read that I can't really fault Howard for any of that.

"People of the Black Circle" is one of my favourite Conan tales, and it's a great way to open the anthology and possibly as good an introduction to Conan as you can find (although I would maybe suggest something shorter first, like the immensely enjoyable "Rogues in the House"). Lots of wizardry in this one, and Howard does a splendid job of capturing the reader's attention from the very first sentence. Sure, he tends to fall back on similar sorts of descriptive phrases sometimes, and occasionally repeats himself, but the man had an excellent feel for grabbing you right away with his writing and just increasing the tension until you're just racing along with him and left breathless by all the action and spirited prose. He's not immune to poetry and sometimes will surprise you with some truly gorgeous passages. You won't find anything as majestically existential as "The Mirror of Tuzun Thune" among the Conan tales (a friend once likened the opening passages of this one to Gormengast), but the grand vastness of the world depicted makes looking outward into great landscapes peopled by brigands, witches, sorcerers and kings, as well as the odd demon, monstrous serpent or ape, a supremely pleasurable experience.

"A Witch shall be Born" is certainly the weakest tale here, but it contains a few incredible scenes that are memorable indeed. One of them was lifted for the 1982 Conan film, which is really just a likable hodgepodge of elements taken from Howard's universe and watches more like a tribute to the writer than to Conan himself. "A Witch shall be Born" is really over-the-top in a selacious pulp sort of way. It's very fun to read but sometimes you just have to go along with this crazy shit and let Howard do his thing. The female villain in this one is a monstrous bisexual hellion and damn, you can just tell how much REH relished writing these scenes of a terrible beautiful witch from the pits menacing a simpering princess, turning the city into a riotous den of sin and iniquity, and making sacrifices to her toad-like Lovecraftian entity in the basement. I just can't come down hard on this guy though. I guess I can understand a certain lack of tolerance for this sort of thing nowadays and it's certainly true that even sword and sorcery itself has come a long way since Howard's day, but I always prefer to take artists on an individual basis and somewhat detach them from a big picture to come, and so I have no trouble grinning along and taking all of this happily in stride, excesses and all.

I don't think everyone will love this, and perhaps the joy of reading Howard is a little hard to articulate, but if I've been able to communicate even a part of that through these reviews, I count myself as successful. The man's work stands like a towering monument whose influence spreads far and wide, yet today it seems so few read his work. I don't really know why that is but I suggest it's probably due in part to some of the caveats I mentioned earlier. I think it's important to keep in mind that Howard was a young man living in rural Texas in the '20s and '30s who never got to travel, but whose heart was set aflame by tales of history and imagination, and who feverishly worked for a period of a mere ten years or so, churning out dozens and dozens of stories, most of which contain impeccable action writing and occasionally reach depths of melancholic, mysterious intensity. He died too young. I and I'm sure many other readers often wonder what would have happened had he not blew his brains out at age thirty; had he had the chance to travel the world and see so many of the cultures he wrote about. We'll never know what that would have been like, but in the meantime, we have the stories, and they are marvelous. Read, by Crom!

[Little Timmy · Rating 5 out of 5]

YES!! The Conan stories restored to their original texts. Read Conan as Howard intended him to be. You will find that Conan is more than just a big semi-naked barbarian with a sword. He speaks and reads many languages and thinks his way through a lot of what he encounters. But then when that doesn't work he can swing a sword with the best of them. Highly recommended

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

[Standard disclaimer that Howard was writing for popular fiction magazines in the 1930s and some of his portrayals & descriptions of various minorities and ethnic groups were Not Cool]

This is a meaty collection -- only three stories, but they're all lengthy (including Hour of the Dragon, Howard's only full-length Conan novel). They also all operate on a relatively large scale, with Conan's role ranging from bandit chieftain to King of Aquilonia, and getting caught up in fate of nations-level events.

In order, we have:

People of the Black Circle -- The king of Vendhya is dying due to Blackest Sorcery(tm). Meanwhile, Conan, who's been leading a troop of bandits harassing the borders, is trying to arrange the release of seven of his chieftains who have been captured (so as to assuage their followers, who are part of his troop). Meanwhile meanwhile, the Black Circle (practitioners of the aforementioned Blackest Sorcery(tm)) have their own designs on the kingdom. Meanwhile meanwhile meanwhile, Yasmina, the now-late king's sister and ruling queen, finds herself first kidnapped by, then grudgingly allied with, Conan against the aforementioned sorcerers, who are not without their own internal divisions. All told in Howard's fast-paced, highly-readable prose.

Hour of the Dragon -- As mentioned, Howard's only full-length novel about Conan. At this point, Conan is king of Aquilonia, but there's (of course) trouble afoot -- an invasion from neighboring Nemedia, abetted by Blackest Sorcery(tm) (the conspirators have returned to life the sorcerer Xaltotun, thousands of years in his tomb, because that never backfires) leaves everybody convinced that Conan is dead, and he has to embark upon a continent-spanning journey to retake his throne.

A Witch Shall Be Born -- Earlier in his career, Conan is captain of the guard for Queen Taramis of Khauran when she is overthrown by Blackest Sorcery(tm) (see a theme here?). After a particularly memorable incident involving crucifixion and a vulture, Conan finds himself "rescued" by one Olgerd Vladislav, leader of a group of Kozaks who might, or might not, have better things to do than to help Conan rescue Taramis and return her to her proper throne.

As with all of the Del Rey Howard collections, this one closes with an assortment of Howard's drafts and fragments, includes a nice introduction (from Rusty Burke) to put the stories in context within Howard's life and career, and (at least in the print edition) has lovely illustrations from Gary Gianni.

I'm not sure if this is the first collection of Howard's Conan stories that I'd recommend to someone -- they're all a bit tonally similar, lacking the sort of freewheeling adventure you'd find in, e.g., Tower of the Elephant or Queen of the Black Coast or Red Nails -- but they're all great stories nonetheless.

[Malum · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Hyborian age, where men were men, women were women, and giant snakes were giant snakes.

This collection contains a short story, a longer story, and the novel-length The Hour of the Dragon. I grew up on Conan pastiches, particularly the Tor editions. It wasn't until I was a bit older that I read the original Howard stories and, let me tell you, nothing compares to these original tales. They helped shape sword and sorcery fiction in the same way that The Lord of the Rings influenced epic fantasy.

In another 20 years or so these stories will be 100 years old. It is a testament to how good these stories are that they are still read and praised to this day.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was pointed out in the introduction that Howard was writing a world that was fictional but rang true to history. The people, nations, and society they lived in was a pastiche of what might have happened between the end of Atlantis and the rise of known history. I love this.

Howard’s only Conan novel “The Hour of the Dragon” appears here, and it’s a double treat as it’s a King Conan story. I always liked King Conan.

You always get meaty and straightforward storytelling from Howard. He doesn’t waste your time with too many descriptions of the world, he gives you enough to tell the story and keep it moving. Even as a novel, the story is episodic. Conan experiences a wide variety of different perils and overcomes them all, of course.

This book also has a wealth of background material, notes, and other appendices from the Howard archives.

[Michael Sorbello · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Jason Waltz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thrilling adrenaline pumping reading! First time I've ever said that a padded & repetitive novel packs a wallop with its main character: Conan leaps off the page, actually makes the book heavier and thicker and meatier at every appearance. His passion, menace, and flashing blue eyes literally can be felt, sensed and believed in. Fun, fun read!

[Nikola Pavlovic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ma Konan je zakon!

[Mike (the Paladin) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Contains:
The People of the Black Circle
The Hour of the Dragon
A Witch Shall Be Born

This is the second volume of the original, unedited Howard versions of the Conan writings.

Like many Conan is one of my first introductions into fantasy and Conan personifies the Sword and Sorcery sub-genre of fantasy. He was great to read when Howard came up with him and he's still a great read today.

[Jared Millet · Rating 5 out of 5]

The second of the Conan anthologies presents Howard at the peak of his craft, featuring some of his long-form work in a novella, a single short story, and Howard's only completed novel. While Howard didn't write the Conan stories in anything like chronological order, the barbarian of these adventures is clearly older, cannier, and more wise to the world than the young, thieving slayer of his earlier tales. The opening and closing stories of this edition feature Conan as a war-chief of various mid/far east nations (blatant analogues of Persia, Afghanistan, and India) where the hero is honing is skills not just as a mercenary but as a leader of men.

The showpiece, though, is The Hour of the Dragon, the perfect King Conan movie that we're never going to see - in which Conan is deposed from the throne of Aquilonia by a resurrected wizard from Acheron and must travel far and wide to gather the allies and magical defenses he will need to reclaim his kingdom. Not only is it evident that Howard was more comfortable with his writing and his character, but also with the breadth of mythology he'd created. Few, if any, of the Conan short stories make reference to any of the others, yet in Hour of the Dragon you can feel Howard dipping into the rich history he'd already established for the character as Conan, now in middle-age, returns to many of the places he'd adventured as a young man to call in old debts make use of his decades of experience. He's even tempted to turn his back on politics and monarchy and return to the simple life of a roaming warrior, but Conan the King is not the same man as Conan the Barbarian, and his growth over the series as a whole, if anything, makes Conan unique in the realm of pulp sword-and-sorcery.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to the 15-disc audio version of this collection; I've read the stories several times over the years in various formats. There are three stories in the collection, three of the longer ones that Howard produced; The People of the Black Circle, A Witch Shall Be Born, and The Hour of the Dragon. The stories are performed well, and it was interesting to compare Conan's character as a king and as a bandit and adventurer from one to the next. The Hour of the Dragon (which I remember as Conan the Conqueror; I read my Dad's Gnome Press edition back before the Hyborian Age ended!) was the only novel-length Conan story that Howard wrote and I think it's the best of these three. It's also interesting to note how many of the little bits and pieces that Howard mentioned were picked up and recycled by the various writers who continued the Conan adventures over the years. This edition also includes a number of unfinished fragments by Howard and some lengthy non-fiction discussions by other authors that didn't suit me as well in an audio version. I would have preferred to skim them and possibly skip over some of the questionably scholarly analyses. I enjoyed revisiting the three main stories very much, though.

[H. P. · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Bloody Crown of Conan is the second of Del Rey’s three-volume collection of Robert E. Howard’s Conan yarns. Including Howard’s only Conan novel, it has the fewest stories of any volume in the collection. The Bloody Crown of Conan is also heavily illustrated, this time by Gary Gianni, who did excellent work for George R.R. Martin’s A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms collection. I don’t like his Conan artwork quite as much (the art in my paperback copy is black and white). There is a foreword by Gianni, an introduction by Howard scholar and series editor Rusty Burke, several synopses, drafts, and notes, and the second part of editor Patrice Louinet’s long essay on the Genesis of the Hyborian Age.

The stories in this volume are longer than those in the first volume. Conan is well served by stories running more in the novelette range. The novel, The Hour of the Dragon, can’t help but feel a bit conventional, though, even with its breakneck pace. This volume might be a better introduction to Conan than The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian.

Robert E. Howard’s writing is raw and full of truth. It’s rough around the edges and occasionally a little stilted. But don’t let anyone tell you he wasn’t a great stylist. He wrote bloody, visceral action scenes. I’ll take the below passage from the first volume over R.A. Salvatore’s action scenes any day.

“Details stood out briefly, like black etchings on a background of blood. She saw a Zingaran sailor, blinded by a great flap of skin torn loose and hanging over his eyes, brace his straddling legs and drive his sword to the hilt in a black belly. She distinctly heard the buccaneer grunt as he struck, and saw the victim’s tawny eyes roll up in sudden agony; blood and entrails gushed out over the driven blade. The dying black caught the blade with his naked hands, and the sailor tugged blindly and stupidly; then a black arm hooked about the Zingaran’s head, a black knee was planted with cruel force in the middle of his back. His head was jerked back at a terrible angle, and something cracked above the noise of the fray, like the breaking of a thick branch. The conqueror dashed his victim’s body to the earth—and as he did, something like a beam of light flashed across his shoulders from behind, from right to left. He staggered, his head toppled forward on his breast, and thence, hideously, to the earth.”

Howard really wanted to be a poet, and it shows in his prose. He also had a strong command of rhetorical devices. He tended to tell, then show, but that’s a small bug for a deep reader and a feature for a shallow reader. Similarly, he uses a lot of repetition, especially when describing Conan. Definitely a feature when you’re reading stories in a magazine months apart, mildly annoying when reading the stories in rapid succession.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second of three books in Del Rey's collection of Howard's original Conan stories. The first book in this set, The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian, would be a better place to start for anyone new to reading Conan, I think the shorter stories are more accessible in terms of getting into the character.

In The People of the Black Circle, Conan attempts to use a princess as a bargaining chip for the return of his captured lieutenants, but then he's drawn into her quest for revenge. I really enjoyed the confrontation at the end, though some scenes in the middle seem to lag.

The Hour of the Dragon is Howard's only novel-length Conan piece, it's about Conan's attempt to reclaim the throne of Aquilona from the minions of an ancient wizard. I especially loved Conan's escape from captivity and a bold rescue that happened a bit later. It's gritty and entertaining, but Conan has a lot of near-misses with his goal that make it read like the serial it was first published as, so the story benefits from giving it a little space every few chapters.

A Witch Shall Be Born is about a doppelganger queen who causes havoc in a small country. The only flaw in her plan to rule is that her ally left Conan in the desert to die rather than killing him outright. Seriously, it's like some villains are just asking to die horribly. Conan's role as a bandit chief was fantastic, though I wish that the fight at the end of this one had been more drawn out.

The essay about the creation of these stories was really interesting, but I barely skimmed the rest of the book's content. Reading an author's unfinished drafts always weirds me out, it seems too much like snooping through his diary or something.

[Marc *Dark Reader with a Thousand Young! Iä!* · Rating 3 out of 5]

The definitive collection of Howard's original Conan stories, in writing order, continues with this second volume. It contains only three stories, although the middle one is a full-length novel, the only such Conan novel by Howard. The stories are mixed in quality, in ascending order. The first, The People of the Black Circle, was the first Conan story that I specifically disliked. It gets bogged down with tribal politics, and the final assault against the wizard's fortress is underwhelming, as Conan's role turns passive and he accomplished little on his own initiative, instead succeeding only by assistance provided by the main enemy's foe. The next and longest tale, The Hour of the Dragon, is of decent quality and represents a sampler platter of Conan's life, if you will. I have reviewed this novel separately elsewhere.

The real treasure of this volume is the third and final story, A Witch Shall be Born. It does not waste any pages, intrigue and action are thrown at the reader in six short chapters, featuring treachery, sorcery, debauchery, torture, revenge, war, and devotion. The second of these chapters contains a scene that is burned on my memory from a collection of Conan comics, I think from Dark Horse comics, that I read long before I ever read any of Howard's stories. Without any spoilers, it is the single moment that best demonstrates Conan's unbreakable will to live and towering strength. Conan describes this quality himself in speaking of barbarians,

But you civilized men are soft; your lives are not nailed to your spines as are ours.

Nailed to his spine, indeed.

[Jim Reddy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collects three long Conan tales by Robert E. Howard, two novellas and the only novel-length story he ever wrote, along with numerous illustrations by Gary Gianni. I like all the illustrators of the Howard Del Rey collections but Gianni is my favorite. His pen and ink illustrations really remind me of old pulp magazines.

The People of the Black Circle (5/5)

On the borders of Vendhya, the Hyborian version of India, Conan’s scheme to save some of his men doesn’t go as planned and he winds up having to face a group of sorcerers in their mountain fortress. Howard is on fire here. Action, plot twists, a great cast of characters, and new setting make for a thrilling novella. Speaking of characters, because of the decisions she made and the way she handled herself in the face of adversity, by the end of the story, Yasmina the Devi of Vendya became one of my favorite side characters written by Howard.

The Hour of the Dragon (4.5/5)

After his enemies use an ancient sorcerer to depose him, King Conan fights to regain his throne. Howard revisits ideas from earlier stories in this novel-length Conan tale and I think he does so effectively. I liked the episodic nature and the large cast of characters as an older, more mature Conan travels across Hyboria encountering past allies and foes. The chapters set in Stygia were a favorite. On the other hand, there were quite a lot of chance encounters and Conan got knocked out a lot.

A Witch Shall Be Born (4/5)

After a witch replaces her twin sister as queen of Khauran, she comes into conflict with Conan. Although there’s lots of exposition and the ending is a little anticlimactic, it was still an exciting read. This story has the iconic crucifixion scene with the vulture. That scene and how things play out afterwards do a fantastic job of showing Conan’s determination to survive and his brutal philosophy of life in the harsh Hyborian age.

Hyborian Genesis Part II Notes on the Creation of the Conan Stories by Patrice Louinet (5/5)

This essay provides lots of interesting details. The background information about The Hour of the Dragon helped me to appreciate the story more.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like my Conan in shorter form than these three stories. I really liked the first story. The second story was looooooooong, seemed to never end, and seemed like multiple stories smushed together that didn't go together. Third one was good. I also enjoyed the essay about how REH created his world.

[Eric Fomley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great collection. Conan is a great character and I envy Howard's ability to write great Heroic fantasy. Highly recommended.

[Michael Battaglia · Rating 5 out of 5]

For the second volume of Conan stories, the editors took a different tactic and instead of printing everything in strict chronological order, they put together three of the longer stories into one volume. Which means that the hit-miss ratio has to be better than the first go-round. In the first volume there were like twelve stories and if a couple of them were duffers it didn't matter too much. If only one of these were just Howard going through the motions then it would be almost a third of the book.

Fortunately, after taking some time off writing about the finest barbarian ever to swing a sword at hideous menaces from beyond time and space, he had come back somewhat inspired. Given the chance to write longer tales, he makes good use of the extra space and fills the stories with all sorts of memorable sequences, some of them not even including. What makes it interesting to read these is that it seems that Howard was beginning to see his most popular character as kind of a deus ex machina . . . he didn't become a bystander or supporting character in his own story but there are quite a few sequences scattered around the stories where Conan is absent for great lengths of time (sometimes right from the get-go) and seems to affect events purely by his sheer presence (his well-muscled body and extremely sharp sword don't hurt either), as if his sinews could warp reality. Heck, in "The Hour of the Dragon" he's almost absent for the entire climax, wandering back in for a timely "By Crom!"

Which is to say, it seems that Howard has grown more confident and at the same time more visceral. The stories seem to be more violent, which doesn't mean these are graphic gory beasts (let's keep in mind it's still the 1930s) but there are some sequences that may give you pause and go "Ew". The most famous sequence in "A Witch Shall Be Born" (and pretty much the reason everyone remembers the story) is where Conan is crucified and there's a definite loving attention to his efforts to escape from the nails, and even more detail paid when it comes time to take Conan down from that cross. Pulp scholars the world over have written about the symbolism inherent in such a sequence, that it depicts Conan crossing from human to superhuman and immortal. To me it seems more like Howard was just trying to prove how tough Conan is (for comparison another character gets crucified at the end and Conan goes out of his way to point out what a sissy he is and that he'll be dead soon). The callousness of his villains hit new highs as well, aside from the aforementioned crucifixion sequence, there's another bit where a woman is taken away and the person doing the taking away is all like, "Might I rape her?" and the villain gives the go-ahead with a casual "Rape away, Rapemeister", which probably also made the audiences back then go "Whoa, wait." But it never seems exploitative, which is remarkable in itself. Civilization stinks, Howard seems to be saying, and it's all the worse because we claim we're so civilized. Conan isn't noble, but his consistency of moral code and tendency to do what he says makes him stand out from pretty much everyone else.

But all of these are pretty decent and Howard seems to be going out of his way not to repeat himself. "The People of the Black Circle" has Conan nearly becoming a diplomat, negotiating various factions and pitting against each other in his inimitable way, as he kidnaps a princess who's got her own issues in order to rescue some hillmen that he's chief of, while she wants to use him to avenge her brother's death. Meanwhile magic comes in play and is downright creepy for once (a bit where the evil mystic does some mental hocus-pocus on a guardsman and has him impale himself gladly on his own spear is gruesome in how tossed off it seems) as the Black Seers really seem like the kind of people you don't want to mess with. But Howard handles all the various tribes and armies deftly, with everyone having their own motivations they have to either compromise on or keep close to their chests if they want to get their way, which makes for a Conan story that depends more on everyone navigating a narrow political line through their own desire than heads getting lopped off, although that happens too.

"The Hour of the Dragon" is the big gun, the only true Conan novel that Howard ever wrote and judging by the notes at the end of the volume, he went through quite a few drafts to get it right. We're back to Conan being king and although the initial situation is similar to "The Scarlet Citadel" (King Conan gets deposed in battle, has to get his kingdom back), there's much more thought put into this than that earlier story that makes it more than a do-over and instead more of an expanded rethink. As I mentioned, Howard uses all the extra space wisely, showing us the effects of Conan being deposed and how the kingdom is systematically being ruined, while also dancing between the conflicting desires of all the conspirators. Finding the jewel that would restore his kingdom almost seems besides the point with all the intercutting as things gradually devolve into chaos before Conan has to save the day (with so many threats to his throne, you wonder why he even bothered, unless it was out of pure stubbornness). Again, memorable setpieces abound, with my favorite when the weird mystic touches someone with his staff (from across the room!) and the fellow appears to fall to the floor with his bones all melted inside of him. There's so much going on that you barely notice, which is one of the nice things about this novel, for a character that mostly existed in short stories, there's very little vamping. I won't say that every scene is essential but there's not a lot of repetition going on either. Howard is so good at this point that one of his most memorable female character is only around for a few chapters, and she's still memorable.

"A Witch Shall Be Born" is remarkable for a few reasons, one of which is the already discussed crucifixion sequence and the other how Conan only appears in like two chapters and yet you rarely notice with all the other plotting and scheming going on around him. Conan makes the most of his limited screentime and it's fun to see Howard going for broke with debauchery as the evil princess turns the city into the lovechild of Sodom and Gomorrah simply because she can, leaving it up to Conan to straighten out the mess. Even the addition of a Lovecraftian monster, which was once the centerpiece of most stories, is introduced and handled almost in the same page. The prose never seems lazy and you get the sense that Howard is actively attempting to better it, to make it rise above the typical pulp histrionics. As good as Howard was in general, there's a definite singularity of purpose to his best Conan stories that a lot of his other tales don't match and what I find most interesting isn't the battle sequences and fights (although there are plenty of those and they are fairly decent) but the plotting, the attempts to write sword and sorcery tales that transcend the genre. He half-succeeded, as Conan is still remembered today, but mostly as the musclebound sword-slayer who says "Crom!" a lot but if the stories weren't so strong to begin with, the cliches would have never survived for this long.

[Zardoz · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit of a mixed bag. This edition contains Howard’s only full Conan novel as well as a good novella and a short story.
The People Of The Black Circle 4 stars
The Hour Of The Dragon 3 stars
A Witch Shall Be Born 2 stars

There is also a great introduction to the book and the Miscellanea and Appendices help the reader understand Howard’s motivations and writing process.

[Austin Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another excellent collection of Conan stories. With almost every tale I am swept away into the worlds Howard has created and lost in the adventures therein.
Here's my ratings for each of the stories in this volume:

The People of the Black Circle: 4.25⭐
I think this one is my favorite, by a small margin, and probably only for that castle siege at the end, where Conan and his small band of rogues infiltrate the castle inhabited by four wizards, known as the People of the Black Circle.
What ensues is a hectic and intense battle between the brawn and steel of men and the necromancy of the evil wizards, and it was oh, so glorious.

The Hour of the Dragon: 4.25⭐
This is the one and only Conan novel that Howard wrote, and it's easy to see why. While I enjoyed this grand and epic journey, it did feel a bit disjointed, and at times slow/unevenly paced. Howard's writing is definitely more suited to the short story and novella format, but it's still cool to experience this larger scale story that is perhaps the most unique of the Conan yarns, for that reason.
Flawed, but still very enjoyable.

A Witch Shall Be Born: 3.5⭐
Oh, boy. I was so excited going into this one and starting out with the first few pages. This story offers up some unique lore on witchcraft that I found interesting, and also gets insanely dark with a plot that involves a witch taking over her sister's rule of a kingdom, and plunging them into degeneracy and depravity as they partake in orgies and sacrifices and other diabolical acts.
While I loved the setup to this, it unfortunately takes a bit of a left turn and seems to lose its direction as a result. There's some random side character POV's that don't add much to the story, a drawn out middle section as Conan plots his retaliation against the witch, and a very rushed ending and climax that left me feeling a bit soured.
This was still a good story, but it felt like a rough draft and with some revision and maybe a few extra pages (this is the shortest story here) this one could've possibly been the best.

Overall this book was very good and I can't wait to dive into the third and final Conan volume.

[Vlad]

schemes and sorceries employed to gain power shattered by the enduring and cunning brute

[A. E. S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two of these are novellas, and The Hour of the Dragon can be construed as a complete book, the only book Howard wrote for Conan the Cimmerian. See my review of The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian for Dale Rippke's ordering.

A Witch Shall be Born: This novella deals with themes of paranoia, twist plots and extreme irony, sometimes the cruel type. A queen discovers her evil twin, a witch, has survived being left in the desert to die. Queen Tauramis is arrested and thrown in the dungeon, where it's up to defiant Conan, captain of the queen's guard, to save her. 5/5

The People of the Black Circle: Another king's-sister (king is killed, she vows revenge), Queen Yasmina is kidnapped by Conan and held hostage in exchange for seven of his men. They were kidnapped by HER to try to force him to kill the Black Seers of Yimsha. Kerim Shah, the man who killed the king, is leading an army through the mountain pass during the turmoil, and Conan is going to need all the allies he can get. 3/5

The Hour of the Dragon: Conan is around 45. Continuity in the plot of The Scarlet Citadel is seen as it returns to the problem of Numidedes being slain by Conan, and his heir Valerius returning to the storyline. Desiring the throne, Valerius and his men resurrect Xaltotun, an evil 3,000 year old sorcerer, doubling back on an earlier plotline from a short story. Conan is defeated in battle and captured, but then freed by a slave-girl, Zenobia. The only thing that can defeat the evil Xaltotun is the exact same object that resurrected him - the Heart of Ahriman. His journey takes him through all the lands of Hyboria, Conan promises to return for the beautiful slave, whom he vows to make his queen. 5/5

[Benjamin Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book compiles three of Robert E. Howard's longer Conan works, including the only full length Conan novel that he ever wrote, "The Hour of the Dragon." It also contains "The People of the Black Circle" as well as "A Witch Shall Be Born" which contains probably the most famous scene in all of Conan literature: the one where he gets nailed to a tree, crucified really, and left to the mercy of the hungry vultures and the elements. As the title implies, all three stories are from Conan's later days, when he is king.

As in all of these Del Rey editions of Howard's work, the book also contains several untitled synopsis (synopses? synopsizes?), fragments, etc. as well as a thought-provoking essay on Howard and his life and times as it pertains to the included stories.

I think the noble nature of Conan really comes out in these stories, particularly in "The Hour of the Dragon". When Conan has the opportunity to conquer a neighboring kingdom he says, "Let others dream imperial dreams. I but wish to hold what is mine. I have no desire to rule an empire welded together by blood and fire. It's one thing to seize a throne with the aid of its subjects and rule them with their consent. It's another to subjugate a foreign realm and rule it by fear." As Patrice Louinet says in the essay, "Whoever had the idea of retitling Howard's novel, 'Conan the Conqueror' had evidently not understood its theme: Conan is anything but a conqueror by nature."

Enjoyable reading and, of course, absolutely required reading for Conan enthusiasts.

[Leothefox · Rating 5 out of 5]

I guess I'm a confirmed Howard fan-boy at this point, since I can't get enough of his stuff. Here was no exception, since "People of the Black Circle" and "Hour of the Dragon" are among his better stories. "A Witch Shall be Born" is less strong, but it does have the crucifixion scene, so that counts for something.

Some of these stories I already own in other collections, but I picked this book up new at Barnes & Noble as part of my personal crusade to preserve physical bookstores.

It was a nice tidbit seeing Howard's outlines and the "Untitled Draft", which I'd read earlier as completed by L. Sprague de Camp.

Anyhow, this is the real stuff. Sword and sorcery should be like this, not stuffy and quaint like Tolkien or slow and bogged down in politics like Martin or Goodkind. And while I'm on the subject, Robert Jordan was no damn good at writing Conan, those books were like a paint-by-numbers TV version of the character. Accept no substitutes. Read Howard!