Others say...

"Primal Blood and Guts Fantasy!"
This includes three of Howards longer Conan stories, including one that is full novel length, one rough draft of another story, Howards notes on the stories preceding their completion, two essays pertaining to Howard and his writings by people who helped put this book together and on top of all that its full of illustrations throughout the book. Very affordable and the quality of the stories are the top of the heap of the fantasy genre. I count Howard as being one of the my favorite writers. I can't recomend this and the other two Del Ray Conan releases any more. What a shame it was that these great works were out of print for so long. Great primal blood and guts stuff that often resembles horror as much as fantasy!

" A Book worhty of the master and Conan too."
Nobody can touch Robert E. Howard when he was at the top-of-his-game. The three stories in The Bloody Crown of Conan are not only some of his best, they are some of his best Conan stories and Conan was his greatest creation. Howard was the father of Sword & Sorcery and next only to J.R.R. Tolkien in being the largest influence of fantasy today. His stories have stark imagery that's nothing short of amazing. The action moves at break-neck speed, and despite that they were written as pure adventure "pulps", there's harsh reality that's lying just beneath the surface.

In The People of the Black Circle, a princess and her kingdom are the target of an elite group of evil sorcerers, the Black Circle. Only Conan, the chief of the outlaws ranging her land, can save her.

In The Hour of the Dragon, King Conan is struck down by a resurrected wizard from an ancient evil kingdom. Now Conan must take up a long, dangerous quest to retrieve a relic of great power; the undead wizard's weakness, and rebuild his armies in order to regain his throne and achieve his revenge.

A Witch Shall Be Born is the tale of a evil and beautiful witch, who enslaves her twin sister, the queen of the border-city Khauran and allows merciless Shemite mercenaries reign of the kingdom. However, when they nail the captain of the guard, Conan, to a cross in the desert, they make the mistake of not confirming his death.

Del Rey publishing has done an excellent job putting these; The Fully Illustrated Library of Robert E. Howard, books together. They are chockfull of commentaries, letters and notes that can be appreciated by die-hard Howard fans and newcomers alike. Gary Gianni's artwork for Bloody Crown compliments the story perfectly, as do the artists in the other books. The beautiful illustrations lend a classical feel that's well-worthy of the master that Robert E. Howard was.






"Conan is the man!"
This is great stuff, utterly action-packed! Howard has a wonderful sense of words, and--though he makes the occasional error in cognate reuse (e.g., "the courier coursed down the corridor")--he describes people, places, and events in jaw-dropping detail. You can faint from the splendor of the fabulously wealthy cities and places he word-paints ('limns', to use a favorite term of his). I could do without the all-too-frequent brutally detailed battle scenes, indicating precisely which archers and pikemen were positioned where and whose horse slipped in whose blood. Just when you're about to lose interest, rest assured that a ferocious dragon or wacky gorilla-monster lurks around the next corner. Oh, and there's some very good black magical humor, e.g., when one wizard, in the guise of an eagle, makes off with the head of a second wizard, whose headless body runs after him, muttering curses. You've got to admit that that's imaginative. I witthold my sixth star because of the uneven nature of some of the stories: indeed, the earlier tales seem to flow better than the later ones (n.b. that Conan's character chronology is unrelated to Howard's authorship chronology). Also, the dialogue occasionally seems silly or stinted: it's hard to believe that a barbarian--even though we know he's thoughtful and good-hearted--would engage in such lengthy monologues (all but monologues, I should say) while supposedly "conversing" with other characters. His words sound like what one would write, not like what one--a barbarian, moreover--would say. But never mind these nickety-pickety nitpicks: this is great, great stuff. After enjoying these, you may want to look into the other volumes (but of course!) and Howard's other works: Bran Mak Morn, Kull, and Solomon Kane. The last of these has adventures such as battling voodoo demons in darkest Africa, chasing vampire queens into forgotten cities, and engaging in swordplay with the enchanted skeletons of murdered sorcerers. Aah! That's the ticket!

"ROBERT ERVIN HOWARD"
A must read book is "Blood & Thunder - The Life & Art of Robert E. Howard"
by Mark Finn. Best book I ever read! Also, go to your local comic book store and start reading Conan (Dark Horse) and Red Sonja (Dynamite) comics. You'll be glad you did! If you can find the large black & white magazines of Savage Sword of Conan and Conan Saga back in the seventies you're in for a real treat; Stories by Roy Thomas and art by John Buscema.



"The Bloody Crown of Conan"
I've been a Conan fan for over 25 years. The insights alone were worth the purchase price. Excellent!