The Complete Chronicles of Conan

The Complete Chronicles of Conan
by Robert E. Howard

The Complete Chronicles of Conan
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Book Summary Information

Author: Robert E. Howard
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2009-04-01
ISBN: 0575077662
Number of pages: 928
Publisher: Gollancz

Book Reviews of The Complete Chronicles of Conan

Book Review: An imperfect collection
Summary: 5 Stars

If you're at all a fan of fantasy, you owe it to yourself to read the original Conan stories written by Robert E. Howard. He's one of the very few writers of pre-Tolkien fantasy whose characters are still household words a hundred years later. There's a reason. Conan is an elemental, archetypal character, and Howard's writing is masterful -- as Stephen King described it, "Howard's writing seems so highly charged with energy that it nearly gives off sparks." No one else in fantasy has ever managed to write action as ferociously primal as Howard, and Howard's original Conan stories have a madness and a ferocious joy that no other writer has ever completely recaptured. If you've only seen Conan through knockoffs or films, do yourself a favor and read the original: the difference is like whiskey to water.

I like this collection because it's a one-volume collection of all Howards' Conan stories, in order of publication without extraneous materials edited by L. Sprague de Camp or others based on Howard's notes -- for example, it foregoes including "The Treasure of Tranicos" (de Camp's edited version) in favor of Howard's original Conan story, "The Black Stranger" (which was rejected for publication, rewritten by Howard for another character named Black Vulmea, which was again re-written by DeCamp as "Tranicos"). It contains Howard's two essays on the Hyborian Age (detailing history before and after Conan, respectively), the poem "Cimmeria," and all in all contains everything it needs to contain and nothing it shouldn't -- a solid, single-volume collection of the original Conan stories by Howard, in order of publication.

There are two comparatively minor flaws with this volume.

The first is that for some of the stories herein, the editor used the text as initially *published*, rather than as initially *written*. While a great improvement over publishing de Camp's altered versions, this is still a problem because Howard's editor at _Weird Tales_ made some edits to the stories. This isn't a critical issue for most readers, but if you'd prefer to spend the extra for complete textual accuracy, the three-volume Del Rey set (_The Bloody Crown of Conan_, _The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian_, and _The Conquering Sword of Conan_) used, as much as possible, Howard's original, unedited text. So for sticklers, go with those editions.

The second flaw with this volume is the artwork. There's a great deal of magnificent Conan artwork out there, and the illustrations in this volume aren't the best I've seen. Again, not a major issue, but if this had included Frank Franzetta's Conan illustrations, it would have been a heirloom volume.

A complete list of the contents:

The Hyborian Age (essay)
Cimmeria (verse)
The Phoenix on the Sword
The Scarlet Citadel
The Tower of the Elephant
Black Colossus
The Slithering Shadow
The Pool of the Black One
Rogues in the House
Shadows in the Moonlight
Queen of the Black Coast
The Devil in Iron
The People of the Black Circle
A Witch Shall Be Born
Jewels of Gwahlur
Beyond the Black River
Shadows in Zamboula
Red Nails
The Hour of the Dragon (verse)
The Hour of the Dragon
The God in the Bowl
The Black Stranger
The Frost-Giant's Daughter
Drums of Tombalku (draft)
The Vale of Lost Women
Wolves Beyond the Border (draft)
The Snout in the Dark (draft)
The Hall of the Dead (synopsis)
The Hand of Nergal (fragment)
Notes on Various Peoples of the Hyborian Age
Afterword: Robert E. Howard and Conan by Stephen Jones.

Summary of The Complete Chronicles of Conan

Conan the Cimmerian?the boy-thief who became a mercenary, who fought and loved his way across fabled lands to become King of Aquilonia. Neither supernatural fiends nor demonic sorcery could oppose the barbarian warrior as he wielded his mighty sword and dispatched his enemies to a bloody doom on the battlefields of the legendary Hyborian age. Collected here in the chronological order they were first published are Robert E. Howard's definitive stories of Conan, exactly as he wrote them. A foreword and afterword by Stephen Jones provide a biography of Howard along with a comprehensive overview of his writing and background on the world of pulp fiction. World Fantasy Award-nominee Les Edwards contributes a black and white frontispiece, along with a gold embossed work on the leather-style cover, while Hugo Award- and Bram Stoker Award-winning editor and author Stephen Jones provides an insightful afterword. 

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