Conan: the very name suggests raw, primal savagery. This Cimmerian warrior fulfills the fundamental archetype of a hero who wants nothing more than to slay enemies, conquer kingdoms, confront beasts, and enjoy the pleasures of women. The stories capture the mysticism and allure of a place and time beyond all history, venturing into dark and deeply imaginative and territory. Thus, the adventures of Conan the Barbarian are a graphic, uncompromising, hardcore type of pulp fantasy fiction that's rarely seen in the mainstream.
Reading these stories can be a bit dry. Robert E. Howard tends to be wordy and flamboyant, much in contrast to what's seen in Conan's other appearances in media (the films, comics, video games). However, the stories don't disappoint in the level of savage action and imagination; just about every tale pits the titular hero against foreign armies and wicked sorcery. Each story offers an imaginative fantasy landscape that takes Conan from one end of the Earth to the other, from deserts to mountains to lost cities and the high seas. Even if there is a little drag, the stories are truly larger than life.
This edition specifically features five popular stories: The Phoenix on the Sword, The People of the Black Circle, The Tower of the Elephant, Queen of the Black Coast, Red Nails, and Rogues in the House. They all cover similar ground: in each story, Conan appears to resolve some issue using sheer brawn and brutal cunning. He usually finds an ally, fights hoards of enemies, fights some source of evil (usually a monster, god, evil magic, something), and then he moves on. Despite being formulaic, some stories succeed more than others. Red Nails is probably the biggest standout, which unites Conan with an ally named Valeria and takes them into the depths of a lost city torn apart by tribal feuding. Queen of the Black Coast has its neat moments, as a pirate-themed tale on the high seas. The Tower of the Elephant is a pretty simple and easy story to digest. I thought that the others were alright. Character building never seems to be a priority in these stories; most side characters and villains tend to be one-sided. It's hard not to love Conan though, for even though little is revealed about his background, the stories underscore his motivations and desires enough to reveal him as a simple man with simple pleasures. Even with all the bloodshed and brutality, Conan is a brute we can root for, because he is so easy to understand, and embodies pure characteristics that everybody (or at least all dudes) can relate to.
Robert E. Howard's writing style is quite elegant; the man flexed some impressive writing muscle with his vocabulary and sentence structure skills. He did a great job of conjuring up vivid and highly-detailed imagery, without going too far overboard. Dialogue is not too bad either. Best of all, he fleshed out an entire world and mythology that feels as real as it is primal; it's a universe full of weird-sounding nations and ancient beasts, but always with attention to geography and myth, and it embodies elements from all different parts of the world.
The Conan stories are well-written, pretty exciting, and the character is a seminal hero. I did find the stories a bit dry and formulaic, but they have their moments, with Red Nails being the biggest must-read of the lot. If you want a type of fantasy fiction that's blood-soaked and brutal, it doesn't get much classier than this.
4/5 (Entertainment: Pretty Good | Stories: Pretty Good | Book: Very Good)
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