Review Page: The Conan Chronicles by Robert E. Howard
| Title: |
The Conan Chronicles |
| Author: |
Robert E. Howard |
| Format: |
Collection |
| Genre: |
Fantasy |
| Publisher: |
Millenium |
| Date of Publication: |
2000 |
| ISBN: |
1-85798-996-1 |
No. of Reviews: 1
Av. Rating: 9/10
Buy this book from the Amazon website.
15.01.2001 - Agema - 4/10
List of Reviews | Bio
A large barbarian whips out sword, dices all enemies whether man,
beast or demon, causing white-skinned beauty to swoon with desire. Repeat ad nauseam, and a legend is born.
This is part of the Fantasy Masterworks series, which I really have to say
is shaping out far worse than the SF Masterworks. Classic fantasy this may
be, but good it ain't.
Well, let me correct myself. It *could* be good; but there's really nothing
to it other than the basic outline above. Okay, sometimes Conan is a thief,
other times an adventurer, a general and so on, but it is basically the same
thing repeated again, and again. I suppose in it's original format of magazine publishing, it wouldn't be so bad - on the other hand, I haven't
trawled through many stories at one sitting, but it gets steadily harder to
return to them.
The world is attractive enough; it's clearly a shot at some ancient style
of world rather than the middle ages approach favoured by modern authors,
and to be honest, I rather prefer that. Conan though is just a wee bit too
good to be true. Obviously he's not a guy it's wise to get in a fight with,
but it's made clear that he is keenly intelligent, and every single thing he
turns his hand to he is good at. He outfights warriors, outsteals thieves,
outgenerals generals... On top of that, his barbarian code of ethics is
always shown to be superior to that of 'civilised' races, just for that extra dollop of perfection.
I suppose the main problem is just that none of the stories have depth.
Conan isn't filled out that much throughout the course of the book, we just
get repetition. I think he's described as like a wolf in every tale, and
sometimes several times in each. The stories read also a bit like an
adolescent fantasy: behaving any way you please, being supremely good at
everything, chopping up enemies and then getting the beautiful woman who has been itching for you since the moment she saw you. Refreshing maybe in these times of PC, but mostly just a little embarrassing.
All in all, it's fair enough for a light breeze-through. Although I'd
recommend the film Conan the Barbarian (which is great!) over this book.