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Conan the Barbarian
Conan of the Isles
As the Red Terror, a bizarre, magical dark force whose victims disappear without a trace, descends upon Aquilonia, King Conan sets out to destroy its source, evil, conquest-hungry sorcerer-priests from across the sea. Reissue.
Paperback
First published January 1, 1968
About the author
L. Sprague de Camp
694 books287 followersLyon Sprague de Camp, (Pseudonym: Lyman R. Lyon) was an American science fiction and fantasy author and biographer. In a writing career spanning fifty years he wrote over one hundred books, including novels and notable works of nonfiction, such as biographies of other important fantasy authors. He was widely regarded as an imaginative and innovative writer and was an important figure in the heyday of science fiction, from the late 1930s through the late 1940s.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews
December 12, 2021
This is the twelfth and final volume of Lancer's editions of the Conan saga, though it was published far earlier than some of the chronologically earlier books. 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 into the '70'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 (though this one does not have a Frazetta, but one by John Duillo) are canon, and then there are those who accept or reject the Bantam titles, the Robert Jordan series (and/or/or not the other Tor titles), the comics versions, and on and on and on... They're all right and all wrong.... This Lancer series is the one I read while growing up, so I'm all for it. I can accept comics hero stories by different writers, and pulp heroes frequently had different writers under a house name, so... This one features an old Conan, in his sixties and has no content by Howard. It's a novel-length story in which an old guy and his old pirate buddies battle evil and then sail off into the Western sunset... literally. It's not a bad sword and sorcery story, but it lacks Howard's flavor. I suppose if they'd just written the story and called the hero Nanoc they would have better received. Howard was the consummate pulp adventure writer, and I think de Camp and Carter enhanced his legacy without tarnishing it, though the last two books in the Lancer series didn't help it much. After all is said and done, though, they helped Conan become one of the most universally recognized literary characters of all time.
March 12, 2022
Flat out this was the best non-Howard written novel that I have read. Featuring an older 60 something version of King Conan in what essentially is his last written adventure it opens with attacks by mysterious red shadow creatures on the people of Conan's court and population in not only the city of Tarantia, but Aquilonia and elsewhere presumably, a dream vision to Conan and his decision to sail westward to remove the threat.
De Camp hits the right beats in throwing everything at our hero as he seeks to uncover the mystery of the attacks. Just an enjoyable read and though it isn't Howard I found myself enjoying the hell out of the adventure.
De Camp hits the right beats in throwing everything at our hero as he seeks to uncover the mystery of the attacks. Just an enjoyable read and though it isn't Howard I found myself enjoying the hell out of the adventure.
July 22, 2020
The simple version of the story is that someone asked L. Sprague De Camp, Lin Carter and Bjorn Nyberg to complete some of Howard’s unfinished Conan stories, to rewrite some of his non-Conan stories as Conan stories and to write some whole new Conan stories or pastiches. The idea of finishing and rewriting and writing these Conan stories may or may not have been a good idea, depending on whatever stance you care to take, but getting De Camp, Carter and Nyberg to do it was a huge mistake, a very unfortunate decision.
Mainly, this is because they completely fail to capture the character as Howard created him and because none of them is able to write like Howard. In fact, based on Conan Of The Isles, it’s safe to say De Camp and Carter are, or at least were in 1968 when it was published, more or less hacks. This is very mediocre writing. I mean very mediocre. The same quality as all those countless fantasy and sci fi novels you might read and forget because the authors weren’t much good at authoring. Just have a big guy swing a sword and boink some women and kill some bad guys and make it about 150 to 200 pages and call it good.
In the introduction to this novel, De Camp says, “Although he had his faults as a writer, Howard was a natural storyteller, whose narratives are unmatched for vivid, gripping, headlong action.” True, but it seems egregiously audacious for De Camp to say anything negative about another author’s abilities as a writer. De Camp has his faults as an author including the fact that he is anything but a natural storyteller. Carter’s clearly no better or this would have been a better book.
De Camp is the author of a book called The Science Fiction Handbook, which proposes to teach budding writers how to plot, write and sell science fiction. I can just imagine:
STEP 1: Write anything about a big guy with a sword who goes on some kind of quest involving bad guys, monsters, mostly naked women and some magic.
STEP 2: Edit your writing just enough to get all the spelling and grammar more or less correct then STOP.
That’s it! You’re finished! You are an author!
It’s just bad. There is far better unpublished fan fiction out there than this. I’m having a difficult time figuring out where to begin. The way these guys describe things and explain things is either tedious or ridiculously brief. They go into huge detail about what Conan’s pal, Sigurd, is wearing not once but twice! Is it that important? Often, it’s much more information than you want with sentences like:
“As Conan heaved on the great bronze wheel in the passage below the square of the pyramid, a crack appeared in the painted plaster that covered the vertical wall of the bay in the side of the pyramid.”
WHAT?!? What the hell kind of sentence is that?
In other sections, they say, y’know, this happened then that happened and there you go. At the end, they go on and on about Conan’s journey through these tunnels and how he comes upon these lizards and escapes and frees his pals then it’s a few paragraphs summing up how the people of the city came back and killed the priests and the other priests came back and tried to kill the people but Conan and his pirates “took them in the rear and sent them fleeing again.” Being taken in the rear by Conan and a bunch of pirates would make me flee, too but, again, that’s not the point. The point is the crappy writing. Admittedly, if they had done all detail, all the time, this diabolical book would be even longer and be even more diabolical, but the point is that the writing is uneven.
Another thing that bugs me are things like this:
“Breathing hard, Conan hauled himself up to the platform and sat down on the edge with his booted feet dangling. The last hour had seen him through some of the closest calls of an adventurous life.”
I seriously doubt Conan would sit there and think, “Wow! The last hour has been crazier than all the adventures I’ve ever seen!” Characters don’t think that way and writers shouldn’t write that way. Another crap part:
“Crom, but it felt good to have a solid deck underfoot again- even a cursed strange deck like this one!”
Conan doesn’t actually say this. No one does. So, is Conan thinking this or are these guys assuming he would or what? Seriously, it’s like, suddenly, in the middle of a chapter, we’re now able to know Conan’s thoughts. It’s clumsy and it’s indicative of just this kind of mediocre writing.
Let’s see, what else bothered me…
At one point (again, during a retrospective of his career) they describe how Conan has fought snakes “over fifty feet long, with heads as big as those of horses.” Pinhead snakes? Really? He fought a bunch of fifty foot pinhead snakes? ‘Cause a horse size head on a fifty foot snake is a tiny head for such a large reptile.
In chapter 10, Conan’s crew is captured. We don’t hear from them again for the next four chapters until chapter 15. I thought that was pretty clumsy and it had a jarring effect.
Another thing that irritates me is shaky use of a words combined with use of “big words” for whatever effect. For example:
“Still, he had urged Conan to find some more wholesome way into the forbidden citadel.”
Given the context, that’s really stretching the meaning of “wholesome.” I’ll concede the usage makes sense, essentially, but it’s shaky. Then, he correctly uses the word “obdurate” (stubborn) in the same paragraph. Really? Who says “obdurate?”
You know what else bugs me? These guys calling people from Vanaheim “Vanr.” Howard himself used the term “Vanir.” Why would these clowns change it? Makes no sense.
And scuba gear? Really? Give me a break.
Boris Vallejo's cover art is beautiful, as his work tends to be, but I prefer Frazetta's images of the Cimmerian.
De Camp calls this kind of literature “escape reading,” which I like. He talks about having to suspend your disbelief in goblins and demons and stuff, but I can’t seem to suspend my disbelief in bad dialogue, characterization, plotting, etc. That’s asking too much, Mr. De Camp. I remember having a very difficult time getting through Conan Of The Isles when I first read it. Reading it again reminds me why. Bad, unrealistic, unbelievable, tired, overblown, boring writing. Truly awful. Another very good reason to be happy you can now buy the original Howard Conan stories untouched by these clowns.
Mainly, this is because they completely fail to capture the character as Howard created him and because none of them is able to write like Howard. In fact, based on Conan Of The Isles, it’s safe to say De Camp and Carter are, or at least were in 1968 when it was published, more or less hacks. This is very mediocre writing. I mean very mediocre. The same quality as all those countless fantasy and sci fi novels you might read and forget because the authors weren’t much good at authoring. Just have a big guy swing a sword and boink some women and kill some bad guys and make it about 150 to 200 pages and call it good.
In the introduction to this novel, De Camp says, “Although he had his faults as a writer, Howard was a natural storyteller, whose narratives are unmatched for vivid, gripping, headlong action.” True, but it seems egregiously audacious for De Camp to say anything negative about another author’s abilities as a writer. De Camp has his faults as an author including the fact that he is anything but a natural storyteller. Carter’s clearly no better or this would have been a better book.
De Camp is the author of a book called The Science Fiction Handbook, which proposes to teach budding writers how to plot, write and sell science fiction. I can just imagine:
STEP 1: Write anything about a big guy with a sword who goes on some kind of quest involving bad guys, monsters, mostly naked women and some magic.
STEP 2: Edit your writing just enough to get all the spelling and grammar more or less correct then STOP.
That’s it! You’re finished! You are an author!
It’s just bad. There is far better unpublished fan fiction out there than this. I’m having a difficult time figuring out where to begin. The way these guys describe things and explain things is either tedious or ridiculously brief. They go into huge detail about what Conan’s pal, Sigurd, is wearing not once but twice! Is it that important? Often, it’s much more information than you want with sentences like:
“As Conan heaved on the great bronze wheel in the passage below the square of the pyramid, a crack appeared in the painted plaster that covered the vertical wall of the bay in the side of the pyramid.”
WHAT?!? What the hell kind of sentence is that?
In other sections, they say, y’know, this happened then that happened and there you go. At the end, they go on and on about Conan’s journey through these tunnels and how he comes upon these lizards and escapes and frees his pals then it’s a few paragraphs summing up how the people of the city came back and killed the priests and the other priests came back and tried to kill the people but Conan and his pirates “took them in the rear and sent them fleeing again.” Being taken in the rear by Conan and a bunch of pirates would make me flee, too but, again, that’s not the point. The point is the crappy writing. Admittedly, if they had done all detail, all the time, this diabolical book would be even longer and be even more diabolical, but the point is that the writing is uneven.
Another thing that bugs me are things like this:
“Breathing hard, Conan hauled himself up to the platform and sat down on the edge with his booted feet dangling. The last hour had seen him through some of the closest calls of an adventurous life.”
I seriously doubt Conan would sit there and think, “Wow! The last hour has been crazier than all the adventures I’ve ever seen!” Characters don’t think that way and writers shouldn’t write that way. Another crap part:
“Crom, but it felt good to have a solid deck underfoot again- even a cursed strange deck like this one!”
Conan doesn’t actually say this. No one does. So, is Conan thinking this or are these guys assuming he would or what? Seriously, it’s like, suddenly, in the middle of a chapter, we’re now able to know Conan’s thoughts. It’s clumsy and it’s indicative of just this kind of mediocre writing.
Let’s see, what else bothered me…
At one point (again, during a retrospective of his career) they describe how Conan has fought snakes “over fifty feet long, with heads as big as those of horses.” Pinhead snakes? Really? He fought a bunch of fifty foot pinhead snakes? ‘Cause a horse size head on a fifty foot snake is a tiny head for such a large reptile.
In chapter 10, Conan’s crew is captured. We don’t hear from them again for the next four chapters until chapter 15. I thought that was pretty clumsy and it had a jarring effect.
Another thing that irritates me is shaky use of a words combined with use of “big words” for whatever effect. For example:
“Still, he had urged Conan to find some more wholesome way into the forbidden citadel.”
Given the context, that’s really stretching the meaning of “wholesome.” I’ll concede the usage makes sense, essentially, but it’s shaky. Then, he correctly uses the word “obdurate” (stubborn) in the same paragraph. Really? Who says “obdurate?”
You know what else bugs me? These guys calling people from Vanaheim “Vanr.” Howard himself used the term “Vanir.” Why would these clowns change it? Makes no sense.
And scuba gear? Really? Give me a break.
Boris Vallejo's cover art is beautiful, as his work tends to be, but I prefer Frazetta's images of the Cimmerian.
De Camp calls this kind of literature “escape reading,” which I like. He talks about having to suspend your disbelief in goblins and demons and stuff, but I can’t seem to suspend my disbelief in bad dialogue, characterization, plotting, etc. That’s asking too much, Mr. De Camp. I remember having a very difficult time getting through Conan Of The Isles when I first read it. Reading it again reminds me why. Bad, unrealistic, unbelievable, tired, overblown, boring writing. Truly awful. Another very good reason to be happy you can now buy the original Howard Conan stories untouched by these clowns.
November 24, 2020
"Geriatric Conan and the Pirates vs. the Fantasy Aztecs." Also vs. a giant octopus, giant shark, giant rats, and multiple dinosaurs. The last book (and chronologically the last tale) of the "Lancer" Conan series. Other than creating the character and world, Howard has nothing to do with this story. I'll give this a high 2 stars or a very low 3 - let's call it 2.5. Readable not one of de Camp and Carter's better interpretations.
July 6, 2013
aaaargh...time for some conan! he's an old man (relatively speaking) in this one, king, w/a son (and possibly other children), listening to some tax dispute, hungering for the hunt, gray (the word is silver...for kings and such...honest plumbers from sheboygan have gray...i call it blonde but that's just me) showing in his hair and beard, some weight lost...
conan of the isles, #12, 1968
there's a map...there's a
dedicated to john jakes, fritz leiber, michael moorcock, and jack vance--our colleagues in s.a.g.a.--the swordsmen & sorcerers' guild of america, ltd.
...there's an introduction (that i did not read)...and there's two paragraphs that must contain info about the preceding, conan of aquilonia...that #11? i don't know. i have not read that one...and there is some info in these two paragraphs that contain dreaded spoiler material...
chapter 1 is called "red shadows"
a quote prefaces:
from gulfs profound wherein yet dwell age-old,
forgotten, nameless things,
the shadows came on silent wings as crimson
as the heart of hell
--the visions of epemitreus
story begins:
king conan sat on the judgment throne in the hall of justice in his palace at tarantia, the royal capital of aquilonia. beyond windows of stained glass, blue skies curved over green gardens bright and fragrant with blossoms. and beyond the gardens, square towers of white stone thrust into the sky, and domes of green copper, and the shapes of houses, temples, and palaces roofed with red tiles. for this was the most princely city of the world's west in these ancient days of the hyborian age.
onward & upward.
chapter headings
i. red shadows
ii. the black heart of golamira
iii. the cup & the trident
iv. scarlet tongue
v. the black kraken
vi. magic fire
vii. the phantom warriors
viii. the casket from atlantis
ix. voyage on an unknown sea
x. dragon fire
xi. terrors of the sea
xii. lost city
xiii. thieves of ptahuacan
xiv. the black labyrinth
xv. dungeon of despair
xvi. in the dragon's lair
xvii. a day of blood and fire
xviii. gates of doom
xix. the crystal talisman
xx. gods of light and darkness
time place scene settings
conan, as you know, lived thousands of years after the sinking of atlantis, thousands of years before recorded time
*time's passage is noted w/phrases like "the last three days and nights"...'700 citizens disappeared in the next halfmonth"...it was dawn of the third day
*it was several days later (heh! cause conan takes a spanish pause)...once a day the captives were fed...lost all sense of time...
*hall of justice in tarantia, story opens here
*palace at tarantia
*royal capital of aquilonia
*river khorotas
*the cup & the trident, a seaside inn near the harbor of messantia in argos
*tortage, pirate port
*conan's ships of the past: the galley tigress, the caravel red lion and the carack westral
*barachan isles
*western ocean
*sea cave
*ptahuacan, last surviving city of the atlanteans on earth
*the msot sordid sections of the ancient city
*headquarters of the thieves
*street of harlots
*a dungeon below the anteroom of the gods
*square of the great pyramid
*mayapan...a place they will travel to...
*the winged dragon...the final ship of the story
characters
*conan of cimmeria, conan of aquilonia, and a new one, conan of the isles. conan is sixty-odd years, king...later in the story, we learn that metemphoc had called conan "kukulcan"
*the nobles: young gonzalvio, viscount of poitain
*his father, old trocero
*count monargo of couthen
*dexitheus, archpriest of mitra
*prince conn, conan's son
*the shadows of terror
*conan's black dragons
*degenerate king numedides
*700 citizens...disappeared
*wisest men, hoary sages, learned doctors, priest of mitra, ishatar, and asura
*spies and police agents
*wizards and occultists
*black-winged ka, the bird of creation
*gayomar, the first of all men
*nameless old ones
*set, the old serpent
*the prophet epemitreus
*sorcerer kings of old atlantis/emblem of the black kraken
*sailors, fishermen, and occasional traveler
*a fat, perspiring innkeeper
*a burly, tawny-haired argossean, strabo, tavern bully
*his comrades
*a silent, catlike figure, who later is revealed to be king ariostro, king of argos
*a towering giant, sigurd of vanaheim, a fat old walrus, sigurd redbeard, old friend of conan's younger days
*calls conan, amra of the red lion
*publius, the chancellor, gone (conan)
*pallanties, the general, gone/conan
*zenobia, conan's lass, dead/gone birth to
*a daughter
*a wench of sig's...frigga
*a crop of squalling grats
*king ariostro's guardsmen
*the red brotherhood
*belit, the shemitish, she-pirate
*yasunga, giant kushite, a gigantic grinning black from the southern jungles & he will be the navigator on conan's red lion
*a zingaran, black-clad, sallow man, black alvaro of the falcon of zingara
*a pompous zingaran admiral
*a crew of rogues
*yakow, bowmaster on the red lion...conan's new vessel
*goram singh of vendhya
*a one-eyed shemitish ruffian
*the strange one on the green galley
*a cabin boy
*a tall gaunt figure
*an argossean helmsman...taken by the red shadows
*ship's carpenter
*a harem of shapely concubines
*marco...one of ship's crew
*a colossal shark...dragons...an octopus...rats, big honkers...luminous grubs/caterpillars
*fishermen, a naked brown child, a few beggars, a yawning, sleepy-faced slave
*several women...catlaxoc...one of them
*a huge figure wrapped in a weird cloak of feathers
*a sly-eyed man in a tattered kilt...itzra, a thief
*a fat merchant...hatupep by name
*metemphoc, local lord of thieves in ptahuacan
*ahriman, one of the crew
*artanes the zamorian, one of the crew
*thousands of the richer classes among the antillians
*the common folk, drummers.
*the hierarch, the sacrificer, a slave soman
*milo, the boatswain
*mitra...
*the demon god of darkness
some fun stuff
there's all these exclamations the characters use...make a note of them and pepper your speech with them...perhaps they will come back:
*by crom's iron heart!
*by crom's hoary balls! (nah, not really, but this is where the fun starts)
*who wrought this mischief!
*by the jaws of moloch!
*by the scarlet bowels of hell!
*by the hammer of thor!
*& the fires of baal!
*by the green whiskers of lir!
*by shaitan's tail and the star of ningal!
*by hillary's swollen ankles and the jughead ears of barack!
*by the loins of nancy pelosi!
*by the green beard of lir & the red heart of nergal!
*by the heart of ahriman & the loins of tammuz!
*by heimdal's horn & tanit's veil!
*by the sun disc of shamash & the silver crescent of demetria!
some cool stuff
a scene early on...these shadows come down and engulf this old man character...reminiscent of koont'z Odd Thomas &
Seize the Night...where koontz makes use of a like-kind exchange of the spirit world...too, later on, conan has a kind of out-of-body experience, a dream, and from this experience, he is provided the reason for his quest, provided w/a talisman to take with him.
words
smaragdine depths of the unknown sea
decardiate
update, finished, 6 jul 13, saturday early evening, 7:45 p.m. e.s.t.
an entertaining read...lots of special effects...neato stuff happening...a quest story, a beginning, a middle, an end. good read. i wouldn't worry what the pikers have had to say about the story. if you're not averse to digging for worms and using same on the end of a hook to fish, go for it. if you're some purist, by crom's hoary balls!...keep on trucking.
conan of the isles, #12, 1968
there's a map...there's a
dedicated to john jakes, fritz leiber, michael moorcock, and jack vance--our colleagues in s.a.g.a.--the swordsmen & sorcerers' guild of america, ltd.
...there's an introduction (that i did not read)...and there's two paragraphs that must contain info about the preceding, conan of aquilonia...that #11? i don't know. i have not read that one...and there is some info in these two paragraphs that contain dreaded spoiler material...
chapter 1 is called "red shadows"
a quote prefaces:
from gulfs profound wherein yet dwell age-old,
forgotten, nameless things,
the shadows came on silent wings as crimson
as the heart of hell
--the visions of epemitreus
story begins:
king conan sat on the judgment throne in the hall of justice in his palace at tarantia, the royal capital of aquilonia. beyond windows of stained glass, blue skies curved over green gardens bright and fragrant with blossoms. and beyond the gardens, square towers of white stone thrust into the sky, and domes of green copper, and the shapes of houses, temples, and palaces roofed with red tiles. for this was the most princely city of the world's west in these ancient days of the hyborian age.
onward & upward.
chapter headings
i. red shadows
ii. the black heart of golamira
iii. the cup & the trident
iv. scarlet tongue
v. the black kraken
vi. magic fire
vii. the phantom warriors
viii. the casket from atlantis
ix. voyage on an unknown sea
x. dragon fire
xi. terrors of the sea
xii. lost city
xiii. thieves of ptahuacan
xiv. the black labyrinth
xv. dungeon of despair
xvi. in the dragon's lair
xvii. a day of blood and fire
xviii. gates of doom
xix. the crystal talisman
xx. gods of light and darkness
time place scene settings
conan, as you know, lived thousands of years after the sinking of atlantis, thousands of years before recorded time
*time's passage is noted w/phrases like "the last three days and nights"...'700 citizens disappeared in the next halfmonth"...it was dawn of the third day
*it was several days later (heh! cause conan takes a spanish pause)...once a day the captives were fed...lost all sense of time...
*hall of justice in tarantia, story opens here
*palace at tarantia
*royal capital of aquilonia
*river khorotas
*the cup & the trident, a seaside inn near the harbor of messantia in argos
*tortage, pirate port
*conan's ships of the past: the galley tigress, the caravel red lion and the carack westral
*barachan isles
*western ocean
*sea cave
*ptahuacan, last surviving city of the atlanteans on earth
*the msot sordid sections of the ancient city
*headquarters of the thieves
*street of harlots
*a dungeon below the anteroom of the gods
*square of the great pyramid
*mayapan...a place they will travel to...
*the winged dragon...the final ship of the story
characters
*conan of cimmeria, conan of aquilonia, and a new one, conan of the isles. conan is sixty-odd years, king...later in the story, we learn that metemphoc had called conan "kukulcan"
*the nobles: young gonzalvio, viscount of poitain
*his father, old trocero
*count monargo of couthen
*dexitheus, archpriest of mitra
*prince conn, conan's son
*the shadows of terror
*conan's black dragons
*degenerate king numedides
*700 citizens...disappeared
*wisest men, hoary sages, learned doctors, priest of mitra, ishatar, and asura
*spies and police agents
*wizards and occultists
*black-winged ka, the bird of creation
*gayomar, the first of all men
*nameless old ones
*set, the old serpent
*the prophet epemitreus
*sorcerer kings of old atlantis/emblem of the black kraken
*sailors, fishermen, and occasional traveler
*a fat, perspiring innkeeper
*a burly, tawny-haired argossean, strabo, tavern bully
*his comrades
*a silent, catlike figure, who later is revealed to be king ariostro, king of argos
*a towering giant, sigurd of vanaheim, a fat old walrus, sigurd redbeard, old friend of conan's younger days
*calls conan, amra of the red lion
*publius, the chancellor, gone (conan)
*pallanties, the general, gone/conan
*zenobia, conan's lass, dead/gone birth to
*a daughter
*a wench of sig's...frigga
*a crop of squalling grats
*king ariostro's guardsmen
*the red brotherhood
*belit, the shemitish, she-pirate
*yasunga, giant kushite, a gigantic grinning black from the southern jungles & he will be the navigator on conan's red lion
*a zingaran, black-clad, sallow man, black alvaro of the falcon of zingara
*a pompous zingaran admiral
*a crew of rogues
*yakow, bowmaster on the red lion...conan's new vessel
*goram singh of vendhya
*a one-eyed shemitish ruffian
*the strange one on the green galley
*a cabin boy
*a tall gaunt figure
*an argossean helmsman...taken by the red shadows
*ship's carpenter
*a harem of shapely concubines
*marco...one of ship's crew
*a colossal shark...dragons...an octopus...rats, big honkers...luminous grubs/caterpillars
*fishermen, a naked brown child, a few beggars, a yawning, sleepy-faced slave
*several women...catlaxoc...one of them
*a huge figure wrapped in a weird cloak of feathers
*a sly-eyed man in a tattered kilt...itzra, a thief
*a fat merchant...hatupep by name
*metemphoc, local lord of thieves in ptahuacan
*ahriman, one of the crew
*artanes the zamorian, one of the crew
*thousands of the richer classes among the antillians
*the common folk, drummers.
*the hierarch, the sacrificer, a slave soman
*milo, the boatswain
*mitra...
*the demon god of darkness
some fun stuff
there's all these exclamations the characters use...make a note of them and pepper your speech with them...perhaps they will come back:
*by crom's iron heart!
*by crom's hoary balls! (nah, not really, but this is where the fun starts)
*who wrought this mischief!
*by the jaws of moloch!
*by the scarlet bowels of hell!
*by the hammer of thor!
*& the fires of baal!
*by the green whiskers of lir!
*by shaitan's tail and the star of ningal!
*by hillary's swollen ankles and the jughead ears of barack!
*by the loins of nancy pelosi!
*by the green beard of lir & the red heart of nergal!
*by the heart of ahriman & the loins of tammuz!
*by heimdal's horn & tanit's veil!
*by the sun disc of shamash & the silver crescent of demetria!
some cool stuff
a scene early on...these shadows come down and engulf this old man character...reminiscent of koont'z Odd Thomas &
Seize the Night...where koontz makes use of a like-kind exchange of the spirit world...too, later on, conan has a kind of out-of-body experience, a dream, and from this experience, he is provided the reason for his quest, provided w/a talisman to take with him.
words
smaragdine depths of the unknown sea
decardiate
update, finished, 6 jul 13, saturday early evening, 7:45 p.m. e.s.t.
an entertaining read...lots of special effects...neato stuff happening...a quest story, a beginning, a middle, an end. good read. i wouldn't worry what the pikers have had to say about the story. if you're not averse to digging for worms and using same on the end of a hook to fish, go for it. if you're some purist, by crom's hoary balls!...keep on trucking.
April 17, 2020
This book probably doesn’t deserve 5 stars but it’s really fun.
Of all the Carter/de Camp pastiches this one I found to be the best. Does it get Howard, no, does Conan feel like Conan, not exactly. But since the barbarian is in his late 60s in this adventure it’s more forgivable.
So why did I love this book.? Well Conan being an old king, who abdicates to go on one last adventure just worked. It’s a great pirates story. The aged hero set out for one last glorious journey. He travels into the uncharted west to discover new lands. It just worked really well. It had a great sense of swashbuckle and exploration to it.
Would I have liked it better had not been REH’s Conan and world. Definitely. However, as a stand alone sword and sorcery book this has everything great S&S needs. Swashbuckle, adventure, discovery, babes, black magic, a defiance of death etc.
The writing can be shoddy here and there.
But overall this is by far the best De Camp/Carter Conan story.
4.5/5
Of all the Carter/de Camp pastiches this one I found to be the best. Does it get Howard, no, does Conan feel like Conan, not exactly. But since the barbarian is in his late 60s in this adventure it’s more forgivable.
So why did I love this book.? Well Conan being an old king, who abdicates to go on one last adventure just worked. It’s a great pirates story. The aged hero set out for one last glorious journey. He travels into the uncharted west to discover new lands. It just worked really well. It had a great sense of swashbuckle and exploration to it.
Would I have liked it better had not been REH’s Conan and world. Definitely. However, as a stand alone sword and sorcery book this has everything great S&S needs. Swashbuckle, adventure, discovery, babes, black magic, a defiance of death etc.
The writing can be shoddy here and there.
But overall this is by far the best De Camp/Carter Conan story.
4.5/5
May 1, 2022
A much older Conan reunites with a few comrades and sets out on a voyage into the unknown lands of the West. Entertaining and concise this story moves rapidly and never overstays its welcome.
June 20, 2018
A dynamic and breezy romp, if hardly imaginative and riddled with most basic cliches. More enjoyable than I would expect looking at some of the reviews here, but I put the 'blame' on polish translator hiding behind initials JD who seemed to improve on the original writing immensely.
June 27, 2022
Conan på besök i inkatek-byzans. Långt ifrån överväldigande, men inte katastrofalt dålig.
February 25, 2016
Although L. Sprague de Camp et al. did a good job of filling in the gaps that Conan’s creator Robert E. Howard left behind in the character’s history, I feel that they should’ve done one of two things after “Conan the Conqueror”:
1) Condensed their ideas into one book instead of three
2) Write no more and let “Conan the Conqueror” have the final word
My reasoning for option one is that the last three books in the original series of twelve are good in parts but average on the whole. One aspect that particularly bugs me is the recurring references to Conan’s past adventures, all of which are featured in the earlier books.
“Conan of the Isles” at one stage dedicates two paragraphs to needless reminiscences. The opening line to the first of these paragraphs aptly sums up how the authors rely on this weak method of writing:
“Again and again they recalled the deeds of Conan …”
It’s like certain TV series that come to, say, their fourth season, and the writers decided to feature one episode that consists largely of flashbacks from the first three series. It’s cheating the viewer of a new episode, other than snippets used to connect the flashbacks.
Anyway, the original Conan series would’ve been better served had those last three books been condensed into one novel with all the references to past glories omitted, along with the other weak parts, of which there are enough to remind the reader that no one writes Conan like Robert E. Howard.
Alternatively, regarding my second point, one reason why it may have been even better to not have followed on at all after “Conan the Conqueror” is because the ending to that story is very definitive and it would’ve closed Conan’s career in his high prime and glory. Another reason is that “Conan the Conqueror” is pure Howard.
Anyway, things are as they are, thus Conan fans can take “COTI” or leave it. It does have its merits, though it fails to grip me. I do like the idea that Conan is still a force to be reckoned with in his early sixties, though I dislike the idea of him giving up his kingship having fought so hard for it.
Another gripe: now we are of course expected to suspend belief of many things when it comes to fantasy writing, but it struck me as beyond ridiculous that Conan could learn a new language during a few days spent with a harlot. Neither she nor he had ever heard the other’s language before, yet in about five days Conan has mastered this tongue well enough to negotiate with the district’s prince of thieves, who also manages to understand every word spoken by the foreigner Conan.
1) Condensed their ideas into one book instead of three
2) Write no more and let “Conan the Conqueror” have the final word
My reasoning for option one is that the last three books in the original series of twelve are good in parts but average on the whole. One aspect that particularly bugs me is the recurring references to Conan’s past adventures, all of which are featured in the earlier books.
“Conan of the Isles” at one stage dedicates two paragraphs to needless reminiscences. The opening line to the first of these paragraphs aptly sums up how the authors rely on this weak method of writing:
“Again and again they recalled the deeds of Conan …”
It’s like certain TV series that come to, say, their fourth season, and the writers decided to feature one episode that consists largely of flashbacks from the first three series. It’s cheating the viewer of a new episode, other than snippets used to connect the flashbacks.
Anyway, the original Conan series would’ve been better served had those last three books been condensed into one novel with all the references to past glories omitted, along with the other weak parts, of which there are enough to remind the reader that no one writes Conan like Robert E. Howard.
Alternatively, regarding my second point, one reason why it may have been even better to not have followed on at all after “Conan the Conqueror” is because the ending to that story is very definitive and it would’ve closed Conan’s career in his high prime and glory. Another reason is that “Conan the Conqueror” is pure Howard.
Anyway, things are as they are, thus Conan fans can take “COTI” or leave it. It does have its merits, though it fails to grip me. I do like the idea that Conan is still a force to be reckoned with in his early sixties, though I dislike the idea of him giving up his kingship having fought so hard for it.
Another gripe: now we are of course expected to suspend belief of many things when it comes to fantasy writing, but it struck me as beyond ridiculous that Conan could learn a new language during a few days spent with a harlot. Neither she nor he had ever heard the other’s language before, yet in about five days Conan has mastered this tongue well enough to negotiate with the district’s prince of thieves, who also manages to understand every word spoken by the foreigner Conan.
April 27, 2018
Conan the Barbarian becomes Conan the Senior Citizen. After 20 years of ruling Aquilonia Conan is now in his mid 60s. He's grey bearded, wrinkled, and bored. His wife is dead, he's 40 years older than his oldest child, and many of his old friends are dead. In the midst of this a bunch of red demons appear from nowhere and swallow up some of his buddies right there in his thrown room, then disappear. A dream reveals to Conan that to stop these demons he must cross the Western Ocean and discover the New World, and do it alone.
By alone Conan takes to mean 60 or so of his old pirate buddies. They travel the ocean blue and meet with descendants of Atlantis who are really into human sacrifice. Conan battles them, some rats, some lizards, and they even RELEASE THE KRAKEN!
It's an entertaining treatment of Conan as an aging warrior. He misses the old days, worries about his children, and notices the aches and pains he would have ignored in his younger days. He sits with his old pals and talks about past battles, tires much sooner than he once did, and is actively looking for one last great adventure. Realistic portrayal of the aging veteran.
Not as well written as the Robert E. Howard books, and the plot is little more than "Conan meets the Mayans". Though de Camp did a fine job fitting out some of REH's unfinished works, this entire story is based on nothing more than a single paragraph in a letter to Howard's editor shortly before his death, like "Maybe in his later years Conan crossed the ocean and met with new adventures." I would like to think that REH would have come up with a more creative plot. Also, the editing leaves something to be desired. There are some mistakes, some quite glaring, that should have been caught, like when Conan holds his broadsword in his teeth (a highly problematic action at the best of times) while wearing a full face helm. De Camp, like many of his generation, is also overly found of puns, which are like humor just with the funny parts removed. And despite an obvious effort to explain it away Conan becomes fluent in Ancient Atlantean in 3 days. My guess is the publishing deadline must have been coming up fast. Still, it's a reasonable bookend to the Conan series, not great but not terrible either.
By alone Conan takes to mean 60 or so of his old pirate buddies. They travel the ocean blue and meet with descendants of Atlantis who are really into human sacrifice. Conan battles them, some rats, some lizards, and they even RELEASE THE KRAKEN!
It's an entertaining treatment of Conan as an aging warrior. He misses the old days, worries about his children, and notices the aches and pains he would have ignored in his younger days. He sits with his old pals and talks about past battles, tires much sooner than he once did, and is actively looking for one last great adventure. Realistic portrayal of the aging veteran.
Not as well written as the Robert E. Howard books, and the plot is little more than "Conan meets the Mayans". Though de Camp did a fine job fitting out some of REH's unfinished works, this entire story is based on nothing more than a single paragraph in a letter to Howard's editor shortly before his death, like "Maybe in his later years Conan crossed the ocean and met with new adventures." I would like to think that REH would have come up with a more creative plot. Also, the editing leaves something to be desired. There are some mistakes, some quite glaring, that should have been caught, like when Conan holds his broadsword in his teeth (a highly problematic action at the best of times) while wearing a full face helm. De Camp, like many of his generation, is also overly found of puns, which are like humor just with the funny parts removed. And despite an obvious effort to explain it away Conan becomes fluent in Ancient Atlantean in 3 days. My guess is the publishing deadline must have been coming up fast. Still, it's a reasonable bookend to the Conan series, not great but not terrible either.
July 3, 2015
onan of the Isles, by by L. Sprague de Camp, Lin Carter, was first published in 1968 and is the last book (book 12) of the "original" Conan series.
Conan has been ruling Aquilonia for some twenty years, and has consolidated his power and neutered his enemies. Aquilonia has flourished under his rule and Conan finds himself tired of the life of a king and nostalgic for his old days of adventuring. His wife Zenobia is dead, having passed in childbirth, and his oldest son, Conn, is now twenty years of age.
When Aquilonia comes under attack from mysterious "red shadows", sorcerous apparitions that appear to be kidnapping his subject, Conan receives a vision from the mage Epemitreus who tells him he must abdicate his throne and head west, past the horizon, to an unknown land where descendants of Atlantic still ply elder sorceries. The hunger of the god the Atlanteans worships is growing and could eventually threaten to engulf the world. So Conan passes his crown to his son and begins his last recorded adventure.
Read more at SFReader: Conan of the Isles, by L. Sprague de Camp, Lin Carter
Conan has been ruling Aquilonia for some twenty years, and has consolidated his power and neutered his enemies. Aquilonia has flourished under his rule and Conan finds himself tired of the life of a king and nostalgic for his old days of adventuring. His wife Zenobia is dead, having passed in childbirth, and his oldest son, Conn, is now twenty years of age.
When Aquilonia comes under attack from mysterious "red shadows", sorcerous apparitions that appear to be kidnapping his subject, Conan receives a vision from the mage Epemitreus who tells him he must abdicate his throne and head west, past the horizon, to an unknown land where descendants of Atlantic still ply elder sorceries. The hunger of the god the Atlanteans worships is growing and could eventually threaten to engulf the world. So Conan passes his crown to his son and begins his last recorded adventure.
Read more at SFReader: Conan of the Isles, by L. Sprague de Camp, Lin Carter
April 23, 2022
This book was written as the definite end to the saga of Conan. In his mid-sixties, longtime king of Aquilonia, his beloved wife having died and his son now an adult, Conan has become weary of his now dull existence as a monarch. However, a new threat suddenly appears, namely red shadows appearing and snatching away people from Aquilonia and presumably elsewhere. In a dream, he visits the wizard he has similarly visited in other stories, who gives him a small item which he tells will help him in the end, and the wizard says that he and Conan will never meet again. Conan abdicates and gives his throne to his son Conn, for he must sail west to deal with the source of the red shadows. Conan does so, gathering up old comrades for a crew, and sailing to an unknown land inhabited by the descendants of the lost continent of Atlantis.
Not some unpredictable story where Conan faces moral dilemmas, but one where the story indicates that this is his last canon adventure. He is still strong and skilled, but definitely old, and the ending indicates he may go on to new adventures, but we can never be sure. Not among the best Conan stories, but definitely a strong exit.
Not some unpredictable story where Conan faces moral dilemmas, but one where the story indicates that this is his last canon adventure. He is still strong and skilled, but definitely old, and the ending indicates he may go on to new adventures, but we can never be sure. Not among the best Conan stories, but definitely a strong exit.
December 24, 2012
Back in the day, I went through a sword and sorcery phase and had owned all 12 of the Ace Conan paperbacks. They were nice paperbacks, with Boris cover art and all that, but the phase ended and one day I needed space on the ol' shelves and I ended up getting rid of all of them but this one. Conan of the Isles was the story of Conan's retirement. He hands over the throne of Aquilonia to his son Conn and heads off on a nice Atlantic cruise. ... Okay, so Conan's idea of a nice cruise is to recruit a crew of pirates and sail west to stop some evil sorcerers from mystically snatching away innocent Hyborians. Anyway, rereading this again now that my own hair is turning gray, I was a bit surprised how unsophisticated the story was. It was still fun, sure, but less of a classic than I had remembered. Oh, well. just because I demoted it to waiting room material, don't let that stop you from enjoying it.
August 15, 2016
A 2005 gift from a former co worker, this book sat on the shelf until 2016. This is the first non R.E. Howard Conan book I have ever read ( I own all the originals in hardcover ). As a longtime fan, it is reminiscent of the old comic books which were mostly by Roy Thomas. Unfortunately it is astonishingly bad, dreadfully laughable dialog and predictable stereotypes abound. It amazes me that such drivel came from the pens of two such highly respected science fiction and fantasy writers as L. Sprauge De Camp and Lin Carter. It was only tolerated and finished because I was on vacation and its dreadfulness was amusing to my camp mates. Ultimately only good for killing mosquitos in my tent. Read only for amusement if you dare.
December 5, 2021
Published in 1974, this was a full length novel by Lin Carter and Lin Sprague de Camp, but with no input from Conan's creator, the late Robert E. Howard. As I have explained in other reviews, to my mind the later stories do not quite give me as much pleasure as Robert E. Howard's originals. I often ask myself why that is and the reason I come up with is that the newcomers perhaps take themselves a little too seriously and the plots are sometimes a little too complicated. Robert E. Howard is simpler, more ecapist and more entertaining. In the Howard versions the mighty thewed barbarian doesnt think too much, he just crushes all the bad guys in his path.
However, this is a worthwhile read and a valued part of my collection.
However, this is a worthwhile read and a valued part of my collection.
July 31, 2014
The last of the original Conan books. Conan of the Isles (book 12) was an entertaining book to read, full of adventure and barbarism. Conan's wife Zenobia is dead and Conan's son Conn takes on the crown of Aquilonia, the mightiest kingdom on the known planet. After passing on the crown to his son, Conan crosses the Western Ocean for an adventure in a surviving Atlantian nation, which is basically Aztec. Conan and the crew of his pirate ship \find themselves facing human sacrifice and fighting dragons. This book was a lot of fun, and I'll definitely be looking forward to reading some of the other Conan books out there.
November 15, 2014
A correct pop corn story. The plot is pretty straightforward and its main strength is that we are dealing with an old Conan here, which makes it a bit different than the other pastiches. The Aztec flavor is interesting as well (even though we have to suspend disbelief hard to accept that Conan master the local tongue in just a few days). It is a pity no other pastiche author tried to write an adventure in the last years of Conan's reign.
February 15, 2016
Another of the heavily edited collections of Robert E. Howards stories. I am a purist when it comes to a writers works. I know some of these stories are no longer PC but they should be read as Howard wrote them and understood that he wrote in another period. Don't read this book unless you just can't find any others of Howard's unedited books to read. Message me if you need a list of what is good from this awesome fantasy and action writer.
December 27, 2017
Probably one of my favourite Conan stories not written by Robert E. Howard. I have read this many times in the past but apparently last in 2003 (Yeah, I keep count) and still recall certain scenes vividly. Fun read!!
Probably the final chapter in Conan's saga. Old friends feature as do recollections of other Conan adventures, as the aging Conan abdicates his kingship to his son and heads out on another fantastic quest across the western sea.
Probably the final chapter in Conan's saga. Old friends feature as do recollections of other Conan adventures, as the aging Conan abdicates his kingship to his son and heads out on another fantastic quest across the western sea.
October 22, 2022
Given that this is supposed to be the final grand adventure of one of the greatest fictional characters ever, this was a sad and disappointing affair. The only good thing about it was the New World setting, Everything else, however, was a let down. This could, and absolutely should, have been something special with more effort put into it.
July 6, 2023
I went into this with low expectations, and was pleasantly surprised. Ostensibly the last chronological tale of Conan, it had less of an issue with Conan not feeling true to the character (as can happen with de Camp and Carter's tales), probably because REH never wrote of Conan in his sixties. And what we get is a brawling, epic tale in under 200 pages.
November 28, 2020
Is this a good Conan story? No. But is it a good fantasy book? Also no.
December 9, 2022
A typical sword and sorcery novel featuring the mighty Conan. No surprise just a rip roaring book of high adventure, bloody swordplay and lashings of 'by Crom' flung around. A great weekend read.
September 4, 2020
Actually not fully written by Robert E Howard, but still a reasonable entertaining book about Conan and his continuing adventures. I can identify the parts of the book Lin Carter wrote. Those maybe only a dozen paragraphs, but they are easily identified by lack of detail and discontinuity within the story. L. Sprague De Camp was an inferior writer to Robert E Howard, but in trying to ghost write in the style of REH, De Camp improved his own writing skills. I appreciate his efforts to continue the lost REH manuscripts into another Conan book.
September 20, 2022
Velmi pohodové čtení a pro změnu zde vystupuje Conan již v pokročilém věku. Dle popisu by mu mělo být kolem 60. Děj nás tedy seznamuje se stárnoucím Conanem, který jak už to tak bývá myslí na pořádně šťasnatý souboj při němž by završil svůj divoký život. Kralování se mu již spíše zajídá. Jakmile mu začnou mizet dvořané, setká se s věštcem a celé dobrodružství může začít. Je to Conanovka jako řemen, pořádně odvázaná a plná alkoholu, žen i soubojů. Prostě perfektní čtení pro každého dobrodruha.
March 20, 2017
for some reason I thought Conan was going to die in this one, he was an old man, he gave up his kingdom and set out on one last adventure, as far as I know this was the last story chronologically although it has been a good 20 years since I read any Conan story.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 3, 2018
An average Conan novel, plenty of superlatives, maybe not enough brooding.
Read
August 30, 2024It was a good sword & sorcery tale but I didn't feel that vibe that I get from a Robert E. Howard Conan story. It could have been any sword wielding warrior in Conans place.
August 25, 2024
Conan Of The Isles by L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter.
Conan, now in his sixties, has been king of Aquilonia for twenty years. The dullness of ruling is broken when mysterious red shadows begin to spirit away people in his kingdom. A divine vision tells him only he can save his kingdom and possibly the world. This leads to a darkness journey across the ocean to an undiscovered land to the west, a remnant of Atlantis ruled by cruel priest kings serving an old dark god of evil that thirsts for human souls.
Conan defeats all odds and prevents the destruction of the world while rescuing his pirate crew and causing the collapse of half the city.
A fantastic read, really enjoyed this one. The ending with Conan facing the possibility of exploring (and conquering) a new land, giving him a new purpose for his life and feeding his need for new adventure was particularly satisfying.
Conan, now in his sixties, has been king of Aquilonia for twenty years. The dullness of ruling is broken when mysterious red shadows begin to spirit away people in his kingdom. A divine vision tells him only he can save his kingdom and possibly the world. This leads to a darkness journey across the ocean to an undiscovered land to the west, a remnant of Atlantis ruled by cruel priest kings serving an old dark god of evil that thirsts for human souls.
Conan defeats all odds and prevents the destruction of the world while rescuing his pirate crew and causing the collapse of half the city.
A fantastic read, really enjoyed this one. The ending with Conan facing the possibility of exploring (and conquering) a new land, giving him a new purpose for his life and feeding his need for new adventure was particularly satisfying.
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