Conan - Blood of the Serpent: The All-New Chronicles of the Worlds Greatest Barbarian Hero

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And the interior black-and-white art by Roberto De La Torre evokes the John Buscema illustrated Conan the Barbarian comics of the 1970s. Some have compared the novel to an extended African big-game jungle safari and it does have that feel. Conan, and REH, not to mention ERB’s Tarzan, are not only what made me into a bookworm, but transformed me into the total fantasy geek I am today. Conan and Valeria, along with other members of Zarallo’s mercenary band, have to escort a Stygian contingent to a gold mine.

The reason I mention this is because unlike Jordan, Stirling in Blood of the Serpent has captured Conan almost perfectly, at least to me. I think that this one is pretty good, better than many I’ve read, but not quite up to the level of someone like John Maddox Roberts.If Stirling hadn’t felt compelled to include “Red Nails” as his finale, the events in this novel, minus Valeria, could have been the main plot elements of a wholly original novel. Particularly the aftermath of the Stygian slave revolt and what could have been an interesting gold heist story. A copy of Howard's Red Nails is at the end of the book, and the first chapter will point out the stark differences in character and mood.

It rings of a coarseness that Howard would have avoided, and he wasn't shy of writing Conan in to the arms of a woman or two. being caught in such a movement would be another pain in the arse' (137), or more simply, 'Nice arse' (p. It really made me appreciate the new material more seeing the context that inspired it and having the story conclude with Red Nails. And of course it’s Conan, this is a character we bring a lot to as readers, and it’s wonderful to experience new adventures with him again.Well, I've read every Howard Conan story, but not many pastiches, so I can't compare to other non-Howard tales.

What Titan does, is take this exposition and blow it up into a 304-page trainwreck of a “novel” that functions as a slipshod prequel to Red Nails. The monotony of garrison life is shaken up, however, when he encounters a new addition to the band: Valeria. From what I've seen, many people criticized the stories for being cliche, and Conan being a bit out of character.So she kills him and has to run, leaving Conan with a decision to make, especially when he discovers she is being hunted by someone using magic. He has the space to directly show us aspects of Conan’s character (his mastery of wilderness survival, for example) that are generally mentioned in passing in Howard’s own work. A bit boring, and sometimes unnatural: a few times I got that creepy feeling that the world and interactions were too modern in style.