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| Author: Robert E. Howard
Publisher: Del Rey
Category: Book
List Price: $16.95
Buy New: $7.47
You Save: $9.48 (56%)
New (39) Used (27) Collectible (2) from $4.10
Avg. Customer Rating:  97 reviews
Sales Rank: 8839
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 463
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.2
ISBN: 0345461517
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780345461513
ASIN: 0345461517
Publication Date: December 2, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
Super Reader August 2, 2007
A very nice packaging of quite a lot of the Conan stories, and the Hyborian Age guide, as well as a few other bits and pieces. This includes : 01 The Phoenix on the Sword02 The Frost-Giant's Daughter03 The God in the Bowl04 The Tower of the Elephant05 The Scarlet Citadel06 Queen of the Black Coast07 Black Colossus08 Shadows in the Moonlight09 The Slithering Shadow10 The Pool of the Black One 11 The Vale of Lost Women12 The Devil in Iron13 The Phoenix on the SwordKing Conan is bored. Politics and statecraft and maps, and all that stuff.In a dream, a man magically enhances his sword, and that certainly comes in handy later when the odd traitor and demon relieves the tedium of the ruling class.3.5 out of 5 Conan meets a very pale woman after fighting a battle in the frozen north. She is haughty, and arrogant, and summons a couple of her brothers to fight Conan. Giant men they might be, but the Cimmerian grabs them, and then grabs the girl.4 out of 5Conan is indulging in a bit of thievery and is busted by the local constabulary, right near a dead body. Conan proclaims his innocence, which they find hard to believe, but are not going to fight him over it.3 out of 5Conan is in thieving mode here. In a tavern, he is asking the assembled crowd of nogoodniks why no-one has stolen a famous jewel from this tower.3.5 out of 5King Conan's army of Aquilonians has been smashed by a far superior force, led by a wizard. Conan refuses to sign over his kingdom, and the wizard throws him in a dungeon.4.5 out of 5One of the classic Conan stories. The barbarian goes a-reavin', and finds another of the rare women that can match him.4.5 out of 5Princess Yasmeela is visited by the sorceror Natokh, in an unearthly appartion. Terrified, she consults the oracle of Mitra, who tells her to make the first man she sees head of her armies.4 out of 5Conan comes across an Hyrkanian battle leader who has slaughtered the mercenaries he was with. He slays him and allows a girl the dead man had captured to come with him.4 out of 5Conan and the woman with him find a strange city in the desert, after attacks and problems, they finally come across two weird inhabitants, a man and a woman :"..I am Thalis the Stygian," she replied. "Are you mad, to come here?"4 out of 5 Conan has escaped an island where he was in trouble, and swum out to a nearby ship, boosting himself over the side and inviting himself onto the crew.4 out of 5Conan is war chief of the Bamulas, and the story is told from the point of view of an Ophirean woman that is a captive of the group he is leading.3.5 out of 5Conan, working as a hetman of the Free Peoples is on the trail of a girl he had met in camp. He comes across an odd, dreamlike area, but soon encounters yet another giant defender, but this one even he cannot kill.4 out of 5King Conan is bored. Politics and statecraft and maps, and all that stuff.3.5 out of 5
 Great stories; terrible artwork July 19, 2007
Wonderful compilation marred by absolutely horrid artwork. This guy draws Conan like a Ken Doll! How I long for the old Frank Frazetta covers that used to bless the cover of Conan books.
Swords, magic and confusion. June 1, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Conan the Cimmerian turned out to be a much better book than I foresaw. A series of short stories, placed in the order of their creation, they really do show us a cross-slice of Conan's life. Young thief, assassin, pirate, noble and King, he was everything you could think of.
The setting is loose and wild. Robert E. Howard refused to pin anything down with too many details or solid facts which gives him a lot of room to play with. Also, while there is magic it is treated was respect and no little fear. Seems only the bad guys use it, so it can't be used by Conan to get out of problems and traps. He has to use his brains and his brawn. Fully illustrated and with tons of extras in the forms of maps and material never before published, this is a great find.
Great Role-Playing prep for the Conan MMOG May 20, 2007
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
If you plan on playing the massively multiplayer Conan game and you don't know much about the setting which ranges from jungles to plains to mountains to seas, or the pantheon of gods and the cults that worship them, or the diverse political associations of the secondary characters, or what the original Conan was really like, then this is an outstanding introduction to the rich, compelling fantasy world and the complex hero who adventured in it.
For example I was surprised to learn of all the different 'careers' that Conan had including king, mercenary, thief, and even pirate.
Howard's storytelling style is great and, like the quests in the game, the stories themselves vary, from large scale strategic battles to tales of supernatural intrigue where Conan is on his own.
If you want to get a feel for the 'backstory' of the game world and have a richer deeper gameplay experience, I highly recommend this book.
 No depth here. May 17, 2007
1 out of 15 found this review helpful
This collection of shorts from R.E. Howard is more like a clear, shallow puddle of rain water than a vast ocean of quasi historical fiction, which is what it claims to be. Where is the depth? The cultures, characters, and places all seem so paper thin. For someone who was such a student of history (and who actually wanted to write historical fiction, but didn't want to go through the hassel of all of the research) you would think that you would get a better sense of who these people were, but it never really comes across. I think this has something to do with the medium that Howard was working with. It is hard to convey really deep characters, and cultures in the context of a short story. Having said that, I was marginally satisfied with this read, and sometimes more than a little entertained.
To be honest, I quite think the film Conan the Barbarian did a much better job in layering the Conan mythos with images and story that evoke past cultures and peoples.
All in all, not a bad read, but not great either.
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