Robert E. Howard Readers discussion

The Country of the Knife is one of my favourite El Borak stories (so far - not read them all yet!).

(view spoiler)[Gordon is brilliant in this story: navigating shifting currents of tribal intrigue; impenetrable (well, almost!) disguise; audacious rescues; a vast treasure of ancient, cursed gold; dreams of a bloody empire; The Great Game between Britain and Russia. (hide spoiler)] It has all the elements that I've been looking for in an El Borak story.

Howard's writing is tight and grim in this one, and the occasional unlikely coincidence is forgiveable because the story is so good. Loved it!

"The Country of the Knife," was an excellent tale. My first encounter with this story was as a much-modified, freely adapted version in The Savage Sword of Conan #11, where it was called "The Abode of the Damned." Later in college, I read it as "The Country of the Knife" in various versions of the "Son of the White Wolf" paperback, and then in the Girasol Collectable "Blood of the Gods and Other Stories."

It starts off with violence, and our main character is quickly introduced: Stuart Brent.

One of the problems with this story is that three important characters have names that start with the same letter: Alafdal Khan; Ali Sha; and Abd el Khafid. Each of these men are leaders of rival factions (Abd el Khafid is the ruler of this forbidden city, although each of these A-named characters becomes its leader for a short time). Two minor characters are also named with an A: Abdullah and Achmet). I think it is generally good advice to not have characters whose names start with the same letter, especially if the naming styles are foreign to the reader. I wasn't able to read this story in one sitting due to things going on around me, so I felt like I had to constantly look back to remember which was which. I didn't have to do that with the characters with different initial letters. I think this is a weakness of the story.

I really liked this story. It was action packed, had a lot of intrigue, lots of plans that fall awry or just don't work out as planned, a couple of plans that do work, and just a great atmosphere. Yes, every ridge is knife-edged in these stories, but it does paint a very exact picture, I think. The "twist" of Shirkuh being El Borak is so clearly telegraphed that it doesn't come off as a surprise at all. Maybe to a first time reader, but I am not so sure about that (I don't remember if that surprised me or not - that was over thirty years ago). But that's okay because I rather liked the disguised El Borak's dealings.

I really enjoyed this story.