The Conquering Sword of Conan is the third and final volume in Wandering Star's Robert E. Howard collection of Conan stories. I'll be reviewing them as I read them. That's the plan, anyway.The Servants of Bit-Yatkin: The Servants of Bit-Yatkin is a story about Conan scouring a ruined temple in the jungle for the Teeth of Gwahlur, a cache of priceless jewels. Complicating matters are the priests who have come to the temple to consult the oracle, as well as the deceased Bit-Yatkin's servants.I alw...

It's disappointing the way modern critics often fail to address issues of race as they are presented in books from earlier time periods. Sure, when writing of Howard and Lovecraft (or even Twain and Poe) critics will not fail to repeat some notion that their racism is 'an unfortunate artifact of that time and culture'--but that is not the same as actually meeting the issue of race head on and dealing with what it means in a text.The way an author approaches race is an integral part of their worl...

The third volume of the collection of Robert E. Howard's original Conan stories includes the five final Conan stories (listed below along with a rating for each): The Servants of Bit-Yakin (also published as "Jewels of Gwahlur") - 3/5 - one of the shorter stories in the collection but a fairly good effort overall, featuring Howard's more mature prose and pacing and developing the Conan character in a manner not dissimilar to that of a spaghetti western protagonistBeyond the Black River - 3/5 - a...

The back handful of REH Conan stories are presented in this book and among the best of the Conan stories highlighted by "Red Nails" which features the female swashbuckler Valeria to tag-team with Conan. The story essentially involves warring factions amidst a decayed civilization waging constant battle amidst a city out in the wilderness cutoff from the world for the most part. "Beyond The Black River" takes place in Conajohara opening with Balthus, a young frontiersman, who soon meets Conan a

I knew I had to finish my way through Howard's original Conan stories, (not to be mistaken with any of the future knock-offs in his name, nor mistaken for the comic book OR the ****ing movies, cartoons, or remakes.) The fact is, Howard, who committed suicide when he was only 30 years old, way back in the mid-30s, has become a legend. His writing is superb despite the number of encroaching racist elements that were so obvious and universal of the time. The descriptions are something quite awesome...

"I have lived in the Southwest all my life, yet most of my dreams are laid in cold, giant lands of icy wastes and gloomy skies, and of wild, wind-swept fens and wilderness over which sweep great sea-winds, and which are inhabited by shock-headed savages with light fierce eyes. With the exception of one dream, I am never, in these dreams of ancient times, a civilized man. Always am I the barbarian, the skin-clad, tousle-haired, light-eyed wild man, armed with a rude ax or sword, fighting the elem...

Howard's "Conan" stories have a legendary aura around them, but some of their mystique comes from the horrible pastiches written like Conan - and later stuff like DeCamp's actual Conan stories themselves, most of which are sub-par. DAW's third book concludes the Conan cycle with the last bits of uncut, completely raw stories, all as Howard would want them.Conan stories are best when they capture and magify the gloomy, headstrong personality of the creator, and two of the stories in here, "Beyond...

After reading this book, I have now read all 21 of the original Robert E. Howard-penned Conan stories. Some were good, some were bad, and some were excellent. I'll review the stories from this volume individually.The Servants Of Bit-Yakin: A mediocre-at-best Conan story, and one which I've read a number of times over the years, usually under the title "Jewels Of Gwahlur". It contains the usual Howard racism and simperingly idiotic female companion without much of Howard's typically highly charge...

This series was considerably better than I thought it would be. Definitely a staple for fantasy readers.

I don't know, I have the hard back but it wasn't listed... This is the third volume of the three volume set of Howard's versions of the Conan stories. It contains:"The Servants of Bit-Yakin" Beyond the Black River The Black Stranger "The Man-Eaters of Zamboula" Red Nails Untitled Notes: "The Westermark: ..." "Wolves Beyond the Border", Draft A "Wolves Beyond the Border", Draft B The Black Stranger, Synopsis A The Black Stranger, Synopsis B "The Man-Eaters of Zamboula", Synopsis Red Nails, Draft

This book is notable for two hard-to-find tales from Conan universe from the creator of the most famous barbarian himself. There is not much to say about Conan the Barbarian tales: they are still fun to read despite their age. The plot of the most stories can be outlined in the following way. A problem comes to Conan, usually started by an evil sorcerer. Conan solves the problem using his sword, or even just bare fists taking care of the bad guy along the way. I will give more details about the

Presenting the last of Howard's original Conan stories, from Hyborian lands long, long ago, before "clothing for women" was a thing, these tales are so good . . . and so racist. The stories in the prior volumes of this complete, writing-order collection of Howard's Conan stories struck me as significantly more openly racist and sexist than the prior ones. Was I simply less sensitive to it previously, or did Howard increasingly let it all hang out over time? I suspect the latter.The Servants of B...

Farewell Conan, it's been a ride of soul and sorcery and I've loved every story within these collections. I'll inevitable re-read them one day when I am again in the mood for a beefed up, raven-haired maniac with a giant sword. These stories are so much fun, Conan may take himself a little seriously but the writing is superb and each story is individual and unique.

here we go then, the last of the three Conan anthologies. Everything in these has been presented in the order they were written (not necessarily published) rather than in any attempt to create a chronology for Conan's stories. I like this for two reasons: Firstly it allows us to see how Howard developed and exactly when he fell into a formula, and when he again tried different things to still make that formula interesting; and because it feels more naturalistic this way, like we're listening to

· Introduction to the world: The Hyborian Age ★★★★· Book 1: The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian ★★★★· Book 2: The Bloody Crown of Conan ★★★★

Red Nails - 4/5Wandering across the scorching desert in search of adventure, Conan stumbles upon the beautiful and fearsome pirate Valeria. After narrowly escaping from a dragon by making clever use of a poison fruit, Conan and Valeria take refuge in an entirely walled and enclosed city named Xuchotl where generations of inhabitants have waged war against each other for hundreds of years. Conan and Valeria get swept up into some nasty affairs between the two warring clans, a storm of swords and

The Conquering Sword of Conan is the final volume in Del Rey’s three-volume collection of every Robert E. Howard Conan story. Gregory Manchess provides the illustrations for this volume, and they may be my favorite of the three. There is again a foreword by the illustration, as well as an introduction (by Patrice Louinet), notes, synopses, and drafts, a letter, and the final part of Louinet’s Genesis of the Hyborian Age essay. The letter, in particular, is interesting. It tells us essentially ev...

By finishing this book, I have now read all of the original Conan stories by Robert E. Howard. It was not always the easiest journey as some tales are certainly better than others. But the publisher’s decision to present these stories over three volumes in the order they were written instead of chronological order was the right one, I believe, as it is wonderful to see Howard’s skills as a writer grow.This volume, the final set of the Conan saga, includes only five stories, evidence of the lengt...

YES!! the Conan stories restored to their original texts. Read Conan as Howard intended him to be. You will find that Conan is more than just a big semi-naked barbarian with a sword. He speaks and reads many languages and thinks his way through a lot of what he encounters. But then when that doesn't work he can swing a sword with the best of them. Highly recommended

For one reason or another, Robert Howard had some fascination with the Picts, who make a case for being Conan's best recurring villain, which is impressive considering how many antagonists who are thought to be constant foils for Conan only really appeared in one story (I'm looking at you, Thoth-Amon). Either the Picts either came to Howard in a dream and ticked him off, or they just caught his eye to stand in for a general lack of civilization. Whatever the case is, they massed and painted pres...