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Title: Conan: Road of Kings by Karl Edward Wagner ISBN: 0-7653-4020-8 Publisher: Tor Fantasy Pub. Date: 14 October, 2001 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.8 (5 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: best of the lot
Comment: a good book, the greatest by howard's "successors". great opening. good battle descriptions. but there were also moments where nothimg much happened, and some things didn't feel so natural. but a good book, mind you.
Rating: 3
Summary: Not the Real Conan, but B for effort
Comment: The late and lamented Karl Edward Wagner, who wrote this pastiche, was the first to say that nobody could write like Robert E Howard but Howard Himself. Paradoxically enough, this came from the man who was best qualified to imitate the first and Greatest master of Sword and Sorcery.
This homage has some very good points, the compact, efficient prose with the right word where it is needed, and the often grim atmosphere, the violent and graphic action, natural and not so natural horrors and monsters, horror from indescribable gulf of space and antiquity... these are all elements found in the original stories, and very well rendered by Wagner.
However, Wagner, perhaps trying to outdo the Master, has committed a series of bad mistakes that detract from the book's value as a Conan yarn : First, and to my point of view worst, is getting Conan to a very high post and so close to getting a throne : if such an episode were to be added to his biography, then some of the stories set by Howard after he seizes the throne of Aquilonia would have turned differently, because he would have known of the price of power. Then, there is a problem with atmosphere: Howard's tales are characterized as very grim, this one has far too much humor, even verging on the comic... last, but not least is the fact that in this book, women are treated in a way that could never have happened in a Howard yarn: yes, he was a male chauvinist, (though beware such of his characters as Valeria, Bêlit or Red Sonya), yes his tales are written by the conventions of his times, which no longer apply, still I believe that pastiches should respect some of the original's specifications...
All being said, No, this is not quite the equal of the dark page turners Howard extracted from his tormented mind, but Yes Wagner has still produced a decent story that will please fans of the genre (or of the character) more than the general public, but for those who like a solid adventure yarn, this is your stuff, get it while you can.
Rating: 5
Summary: Check this one out...
Comment: Karl Edward Wagner has done a masterful job at creating another fantastic adventure for Conan and the reader. He is a welcome addition to the ranks of Conan authors. There is no shortage of action and intrigue in this Conan novel. For any Conan fan this one is a must and for any who have never read a Conan novel this is a good one to start with. I look forward to more from Wagner...
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Title: Conan: Sword of Skelos by Andrew Offutt ISBN: 0765340216 Publisher: Tor Fantasy Pub. Date: 18 February, 2002 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Conan and the Grim Grey God by Sean A. Moore ISBN: 0812590627 Publisher: Tor Fantasy Pub. Date: 15 November, 1997 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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Title: Conan and the Gods of the Mountain by Roland Green ISBN: 0812514149 Publisher: Tor Fantasy Pub. Date: 15 May, 1993 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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Title: Conan the Rebel by Poul Anderson ISBN: 0765300737 Publisher: Tor Books Pub. Date: January, 2003 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: Conan and the Emerald Lotus by John C. Hocking ISBN: 0812590619 Publisher: Tor Fantasy Pub. Date: 15 September, 1999 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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