Say what you will, Howard was a master craftsman at his trade: story telling. I find his fantastical world engaging and entertaining. Howard's Conan isn't going to solve any philosophical questions; he just takes you for a ride.

The jewel in the crown of this collection is most definitely "Queen of the Black Coast". The rest are ok and of varying quality.

Still 3 stars. Better than the first Conan. Little more nuanced, stories longer, settings more varied. As I mentioned in my review of the first book, the writing is not nearly as bad as I feared it would be and the pre-history Pangea truly is a stroke of genius. I liked the "Queen of the Black Coast", "The Castle of Terror", and "The Snout in the Dark". Supernatural in ancient ruins is a tried and true staple of Mr. Howard which the first two employ. I wish "Queen of the Black Coast" had been lo...

From 5th to 8th grade, I was deeply involved in Howard's Conan series. I traded 'em away for comics pretty much immediately after reading each, but found one at a flea market a year or so ago. Now I am deeply disturbed that I was weaned on them--but they are still cool. If you enjoyed the Conan experience, you might want to rent The Whole Wide World which tells the story of the young Robert Howard.

Conan with his incredible physical ability, natural leadership, and primitive goodness stalks across a vividly painted world, meeting conniving nobles, ancient evils, and sparsely clad women. Another book from the cache in grandpa's attic that I recently reread - I am coming to see more clearly where the warps in my world view appeared.

This is the second volume of Lancer's editions of the Conan saga. L. Sprague de Camp, with the help of Lin Carter, expanded Howard's original Conan stories and edited them into chronological sequence in a twelve-volume series in the late 1960's, and the controversy has never quite died off completely. Many people believe that only Howard's original versions of the complete stories are acceptable, and many believe that the Lancer series with the original Frazetta covers are canon, and then there

The more I read the Conan series, the more I realize the genius of Robert Howard. Despite the pulp fiction nature of the stories, he vividly portrays the exploits of a seemingly simple yet nuanced character in a way few authors have achieved. It's no wonder Conan remains a household name and the father of so many fantasy tropes til this very day!

In order to enjoy pulp fiction, one must often make allowances for the backward racial attitudes of the time. Since this collection of stories finds Conan adventuring in the Black Kingdoms, such unfortunate references are more pervasive than usual and detracted from the pleasure of the reading experience. In addition, most of these stories are of the monster-of-the-week type, which loses interest even when well written. As usual, self-appointed collaborators Lin Carter and L. Sprague de Camp fil...

Typical Conan - monsters, sorcery, women, treasure, swordfights...gotta love it!

Probably one of my all time favorite book covers. This cover is pure Conan. Just look at him battling 2 frost giants! awesome. This was the first Conan book I ever read. I instantly became a fan of Robert E Howard and this character. I probably spent endless hours redrawing this cover and dreaming of battling giants with swords and axes through most of my early teens ( 12 - 15). I quickly went to the library and checked out all the other books in the series.

Here's Book 2 in my re-read of the Conan series by Robert E. Howard.The Curse of the MonolithL. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter kick things off by having Conan get stuck to a magnet on which “a monster of living jelly” is called forth by the flute of a scheming Duke (he’s either a Duke, or his name is Duke- I really wasn’t sure).The Bloodstained GodA Howard and de Camp story that bears a lot of similarities to The City of Skulls, which closed out Book 1. I didn’t care for that story and I don’t l...

Robert E Howard rocked hard.The godfather of sword and sorcery.No crap. No bullshit. If you like Feist, Goodkind, Martin or any thing like that.Then you might not like anything by Howard.In other words.No wussies!

This is one of the Lancer Conans. Some of you will hate them because they are not only NOT the pure Howard stories, but they also include stories made from notes and pastiches by other authors. I enjoyed them, maybe not so much as the pure Howard stories, but they are good. I don't have all of them anymore and they are hard to find...if you can find them they are worth a try. Wish someone would reissue them.

Hard to beat the original Conan. The character never dies... Conan is forever.

The continuing adventures of Robert Howard's legendary character Conan the Barbarian, as presented by messrs. L. Sprague deCamp and Lin Carter. Conan of Cimmeria features seven Conan short stories, but only three of them are among Howard's original 21. The other four are all either pastiches by DeCamp and Carter, or Howard stories originally featuring lesser-known characters that DeCamp took and re-wrote as Conan stories. The result is a book of wildly varying quality from one story to the next....

Conan, the meta-physician:from the story, "Queen of the Black Coast"Belit, the pirate queen and Conan's lover, asks, "'Conan, do you fear the gods?'"'I would not tread on their shadow,' answered the barbarian conservatively. 'Some gods are strong to harm, others, to aid; at least so say their priests. Mitra of the Hyborians must be a strong god, because his people have builded their cities over the world. But even the Hyborians fear Set [ancient snake-god]. And Bel, god of thieves, is a good god...

These books are difficult to get next to because of the additions by L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter. What they were attempting was fun and worthwhile but just not as good as the muscular dynamism of Howard's prose. Why four stars then? Because there are three of Howard's stories in here and they are still wonderful. I gave this book four stars on the strength of Queen of the Black Coast and The Frost Giant's Daughter alone.

"First there was the blackness of an utter void, with the cold winds of cosmic space blowing through it. Then shapes, vague, monstrous, and evanescent, rolled in dim panorama through the expanse of nothingness, as if the darkness were taking material form. The winds blew and a vortex formed, a whirling pyramid of roaring blackness. From it grew Shape and Dimension; then suddenly, like clouds dispersing, the darkness rolled away on either hand and a huge city of dark green stone rose on the bank

Yeah, this is one of the classics of early fantasy. Who doesn't love stories about barbarians chasing the ice giant's daughter through the snow in a fit of lust and rage? Unleash your inner teenage nerd!

Up until now I'd primarily read Howard's original and restored Conan stories, without the contribution of others. I'd seen remarks from purists about other versions basically being bastardizations of the creators work, which naturally made me curious. I recall my brother beginning to read these expanded Ace editions back when I was beginning to read Edgar Rice Burroughs (that's 18 years ago, if it matters) and I always sort of assumed these were in novel form... So, there is good news along with...