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Conan the Barbarian
Conan and the Spider God
Conan is back, and at the top of his form!SFWA Grand Master L. Sprague de Camp was revered in the genre of fantasy for both his fiction and nonfiction. Booklist praised his novel The Honorable Barbarian, €œThe action is brisk, and the worlds and characters are described with de Camp's deft, light touch . . . thoroughly agreeable entertainment,€ while Kirkus Reviews said of The Pixilated Peeress €œthe unassuming style and verve of the telling keep the pages turning. Pure prose junk-food.€ But more important, L. Sprague de Camp wrote Dark Valley Destiny, the definitive biography of Conan€™s creator, Robert E. Howard, leaving little wonder as to why Conan and the Spider God is considered one of the finest novels in the canon of Conan.Son of a blacksmith, a former slave and thief, Conan the Cimmerian has risen to the rank of Captain of the Royal Guard. But as usual, trouble is his bedfellow
Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1980
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 53 reviews
May 4, 2022
This is a Conan novel inspired by the Robert E. Howard originals but written by L. Sprague de Camp, who edited and expanded the originals, and did more than anyone else to keep the character alive for many years. I believe this is the only Conan novel solely attributed to him; it's the fifth of six new Conan books that Bantam published as follow-ups to the massively popular Lancer/Ace series that began to appear in the 1960s. De Camp's dialog is a bit more florid and refined that what we are used to reading from Howard, and his pacing is much more relaxed, but it's a good story set when Conan is in his early twenties and working as a blacksmith. De Camp's description of the spider god is especially creepy and well crafted... arachnophobia indeed!
July 9, 2024
Ha estado bien, quizás un pelín menos intenso que otros anteriores.
En este caso Conan huye de un cargo de asesinato y se asienta en una ciudad gobernada por los sacerdotes del culto al dios Zath, el dios araña, la cual que pertenece a Zamora.
Valoración: 6.5/10
Sinopsis: Hijo de un herrero, un antiguo esclavo y un ladrón, Conan el Cimmerio ha ascendido al rango de Capitán de la Guardia Real. Pero, como de costumbre, los problemas son sus compañeros de cama.
Obligado a matar mientras se defiende, Conan debe huir de la venganza del Sumo Sacerdote de Erlik. Buscando comida a través del campo y el bosque, encontrándose con amigos y enemigos, Conan se abre paso a través de asesinos y cazarrecompensas hasta el siniestro templo de Zath, donde se encuentra con el enorme y horrible Dios Araña. Enfrentándose a una muerte segura, Conan se convierte en el cazador . . . y el cazado.
En este caso Conan huye de un cargo de asesinato y se asienta en una ciudad gobernada por los sacerdotes del culto al dios Zath, el dios araña, la cual que pertenece a Zamora.
Valoración: 6.5/10
Sinopsis: Hijo de un herrero, un antiguo esclavo y un ladrón, Conan el Cimmerio ha ascendido al rango de Capitán de la Guardia Real. Pero, como de costumbre, los problemas son sus compañeros de cama.
Obligado a matar mientras se defiende, Conan debe huir de la venganza del Sumo Sacerdote de Erlik. Buscando comida a través del campo y el bosque, encontrándose con amigos y enemigos, Conan se abre paso a través de asesinos y cazarrecompensas hasta el siniestro templo de Zath, donde se encuentra con el enorme y horrible Dios Araña. Enfrentándose a una muerte segura, Conan se convierte en el cazador . . . y el cazado.
September 15, 2024
It needed much more Spider God and a lot less of Conan whining about falling in love with a dancing girl.
July 27, 2022
Conan scoppiò a ridere, perché sapeva bene che le compagnie di ventura disoccupate si davano al brigantaggio: era questo il significato dell'eufemismo.
« Non vedo ragione di mettersi a ridere » disse aspro Morcante, con uno sguardo di disapprovazione.
« Non volevo offenderti » disse Conan, tornando serio. « Ma anch'io ho messo in vendita la mia spada, e conosco le abitudini dei mercenari. »
Conan e il Dio-ragno è un romanzo apocrifo ispirato alle opere originali di Robert E. Howard scritto da L. Sprague de Camp, primo curatore editoriale ad allestire un'edizione in volume del ciclo di Conan il cimmero, il quale revisionò ed alterò numerosi racconti per organizzare la serie attorno a una trama orizzontale marcata, dandole un ordine cronologico e scrivendo di persona storie aggiuntive come quella contenuta in questo libro, da me recentemente trovato in una libreria dell’usato ed acquistato senza indugio per una cifra a dir poco irrisoria.
Che avesse o no il potere di trasformarsi in un essere vivente, Conan non era disposto a riconoscergli la qualifica di dio. Sentiva che i sacerdoti di Zath non facevano altro che ingannare i creduli zamoriani; privarli di una parte delle loro ricchezze sarebbe stato un atto di giustizia.
La storia si è rivelata essere davvero niente male e piacevole da leggere, con un Conan ventenne che si ritrova a dover fuggire dal Turan per venire poi derubato da una carovana di truffaldini mercanti e ritrovarsi coinvolto nel rapimento di una concubina reale e nelle losche trame ordite dai sacerdoti del tempio di Zath, il mostruoso dio-ragno.
Fece qualche passo indietro e si girò, di modo che un occhio brillasse rapidamente alla luce della fiamma. L'immane sacca dell'addome strusciò contro le pareti della galleria, e il ragno si precipitò verso la voce. Conan sentì un urlo terrorizzante: poi silenzio, a parte il ticchettio delle appendici cornee sulla pietra, che s'allontanava.
E in quel preciso momento la torcia si spense.
Una lettura più che godibile, anche se sicuramente non all’altezza dei racconti originali di Robert E. Howard, ed alcuni tra i fan più accaniti del barbaro icona del genere Sword & Sorcery probabilmente inorridiranno nel leggere di un Conan più vulnerabile, amichevole, ed umano del solito.
Era un duplicato in miniatura di Zath, e le sue dimensioni erano circa la metà di quelle del dio-ragno; nonostante questo, era più grosso dell'esemplare che Conan aveva affrontato qualche anno prima nella Torre dell'Elefante. Una sola di quelle bestiacce era in grado di ucciderlo, e nella caverna dovevano essercene centinaia.
Tre stelle hyboriane per originalità ed intrattenimento.
March 14, 2021
Despite the fact that there is a huge difference in the writing between Robert E. Howard and L. Sprague de Camp, I found myself enjoying this novel which finds Conan in the guise of blacksmith Nial in the desert city of Yezud. A story which chronologically comes between "The Curse of the Monolith" and "The Blood-stained God".
de Camp never really captures the single mindedness, intensity, or determination of the Howard stories, but with this tale he plays the long game and we get a rare look at Conan playing a role other than thief, guard, or frontiersman. It plays out more like a Conan soap opera I found with the various priests, bar keeps, guards, dancing girls along with a kidnapping plot and giant spiders. Not as much blood and sweat like the REH yarns BUT one does get tears (yeesh).
de Camp never really captures the single mindedness, intensity, or determination of the Howard stories, but with this tale he plays the long game and we get a rare look at Conan playing a role other than thief, guard, or frontiersman. It plays out more like a Conan soap opera I found with the various priests, bar keeps, guards, dancing girls along with a kidnapping plot and giant spiders. Not as much blood and sweat like the REH yarns BUT one does get tears (yeesh).
March 19, 2016
I was almost ready to give this book two stars because, I have to admit, DeCamp seems to have learned to write a better novel in the nine years between Conan The Buccaneer and Conan And The Spider God. But then his shaky plotting, ridiculous word choices and ultimately clumsy writing come crashing down around my ears and I think, “Nope. No good.”
DeCamp truly excels at failing to understand and interpret the character of our brooding Cimmerian. In Spider God, as in his previous Conan pastiches, he casts the Cimmerian as this sort of fun loving roustabout. He falls in love with dancing girls, leaves his sword at home, runs from giant spiders and names his horses. Conan doesn’t seem like the horse naming type. Maybe the guy would fall in love with a dancing girl but mooning over them seems to run completely against the nature of the character as Howard created him. While Conan was possessed of giant mirth as well as giant melancholy, it feels as if DeCamp wants him to be more likable to the reader and does so by making him weaker, friendlier, less capable than Howard might have liked. At one point, DeCamp says Conan “fought down a panicky urge to run screaming.” Who did that? Conan? I seriously doubt it.
The biggest failure for DeCamp, however, is the dialogue. None of the dialogue is great and DeCamp throws in words like “nonce” and “prithee” like his life depended on it. He actually does better with descriptive passages than he had in the past but the dialogue stinks. Conan’s dialogue in particular is extremely difficult to swallow.
Howard had Conan speak like this (from Beyond The Black River):
“The best land near Thunder River is already taken. Plenty of good land between Scalp Creek – you crossed it a few miles back – and the fort, but that’s getting too devilish close to the river. The Picts steal over to burn and murder – like that one did. They don’t always come singly. Some day they’ll try to sweep the settlers out of Conajohara. And they may succeed. Probably will succeed. This colonization business is mad, anyway. If the Aquilonians would cut up some of the big estates of their barons, and plant wheat where now only deer are hunted, they wouldn’t have to cross the border and take the land of the Picts aweay from them.”
DeCamp has Conan speak thus:
“When I served at the palace, I heard rumors of this favorite, but I never clapped eyes upon her. It was said that Yildiz was a simple, easygoing fellow who relied on this particular wife to make all his hard decisions. She was more king than he. I daresay the camel was her mount. But even had I rescued the lady from the Zamorians, I have no wish to continue in Yildiz’s service.”
He’s got a few of the short sentences that Howard has Conan speak but the manner of speech is like a knight out of a tale of chivalry. “Easygoing fellow,” “but even had I,” “never clapped eyes upon” don’t sound like things Conan would say. I mean, “I daresay the camel was her mount.” You daresay? Who are you and and what have you done with Conan? You get the sense this is how DeCamp would have every protagonist speak.
Though I did say DeCamp’s writing seems to have improved, it’s still clumsy and heavy handed. For example:
“Across the front of the creature’s head – or what would have been its head if members of the spider tribe possessed heads distinct from the forward segment of their bodies – a row of four great eyes gleamed with a bluish radiance in the lamplight.”
GAH!!! He could have just said, “Across the creature’s head a row of four great eyes…” and it would have been a solid sentence. Instead, we get some weird arachnid anatomy lesson.
DeCamp has Conan sing a song for some Zamorians (he doesn’t seem like the singing type, either) but, thankfully, gives us only the incredibly trite and amateurish “We’re born with sword and axe in hand, for men of the North are we.” Thank Crom he didn’t go any further!
There’s a whole section where Conan returns to Shadizar and runs into a soldier who lost his job in Yezud. He talks to the bartender, Tigranes, saying he needs work. Why the hell would Conan need work when he’s trying to find the people who stole his horse? Tigranes sells him out but Conan is long gone, for which Tigranes receives a beating and swears vengeance on Conan. But he never shows up again. Conan would have ended up in Yezud, regardless. The whole scene is totally unnecessary.
I can’t tell if this story is more full of holes or sh*t.
The Tim Kirk drawings scattered through the book are cool, but the captions are kind of funny. There will be a drawing of severed heads on lances and the caption says, “lances with severed heads.” They are sometimes useful, though, if, for example, you didn’t know what a baldric was. I assume the cover is by Kirk as well; it's not bad.
We’re also treated to another re-write of DeCamp and Carter’s typical intro. Why they bothered to re-write the wretched thing is beyond me. The first sentence into the second illustrates DeCamp’s inabilities. The first sentence: “Conan, the magnificent barbarian adventurer, grew up in the mind of Robert Ervin Howard, the Texan pulp writer, in 1932.” The very next sentence starts, “As Howard put it, the character “grew up in my mind…” Yes, yes, you just said that. Didn’t anyone edit this crap?
To be fair, the introduction contains one of the best paragraphs I’ve read from DeCamp so far:
“The Conan stories belong to a sub-genre of fantasy called heroic fantasy, or swordplay-and-sorcery fiction. The art form was originated in the 1880’s by William Morris, the British artist, poet, decorator, manufacturer and reformer, as a modern imitation of the medieval romance, which had been moribund since Cervantes burlesqued it with his Don Quixote. Morris was followed in the United Kingdom in the early twentieth century by Lord Dunsany and Eric Rucker Eddison and in the United States by Robert Howard, Clark Ashton Smith and many others.”
Maybe DeCamp should have stuck to writing about writers.
At another point in the intro, DeCamp takes the time to define the pastiche, “a form of literature in which a living author tries to recapture both the spirit and the style of a predecessor.” He finishes by saying, “To what extent any of us can recreate the vividness of Howard’s narratives and the excellence of his style, the reader must judge for himself.” This reader has judged. You have failed.
DeCamp truly excels at failing to understand and interpret the character of our brooding Cimmerian. In Spider God, as in his previous Conan pastiches, he casts the Cimmerian as this sort of fun loving roustabout. He falls in love with dancing girls, leaves his sword at home, runs from giant spiders and names his horses. Conan doesn’t seem like the horse naming type. Maybe the guy would fall in love with a dancing girl but mooning over them seems to run completely against the nature of the character as Howard created him. While Conan was possessed of giant mirth as well as giant melancholy, it feels as if DeCamp wants him to be more likable to the reader and does so by making him weaker, friendlier, less capable than Howard might have liked. At one point, DeCamp says Conan “fought down a panicky urge to run screaming.” Who did that? Conan? I seriously doubt it.
The biggest failure for DeCamp, however, is the dialogue. None of the dialogue is great and DeCamp throws in words like “nonce” and “prithee” like his life depended on it. He actually does better with descriptive passages than he had in the past but the dialogue stinks. Conan’s dialogue in particular is extremely difficult to swallow.
Howard had Conan speak like this (from Beyond The Black River):
“The best land near Thunder River is already taken. Plenty of good land between Scalp Creek – you crossed it a few miles back – and the fort, but that’s getting too devilish close to the river. The Picts steal over to burn and murder – like that one did. They don’t always come singly. Some day they’ll try to sweep the settlers out of Conajohara. And they may succeed. Probably will succeed. This colonization business is mad, anyway. If the Aquilonians would cut up some of the big estates of their barons, and plant wheat where now only deer are hunted, they wouldn’t have to cross the border and take the land of the Picts aweay from them.”
DeCamp has Conan speak thus:
“When I served at the palace, I heard rumors of this favorite, but I never clapped eyes upon her. It was said that Yildiz was a simple, easygoing fellow who relied on this particular wife to make all his hard decisions. She was more king than he. I daresay the camel was her mount. But even had I rescued the lady from the Zamorians, I have no wish to continue in Yildiz’s service.”
He’s got a few of the short sentences that Howard has Conan speak but the manner of speech is like a knight out of a tale of chivalry. “Easygoing fellow,” “but even had I,” “never clapped eyes upon” don’t sound like things Conan would say. I mean, “I daresay the camel was her mount.” You daresay? Who are you and and what have you done with Conan? You get the sense this is how DeCamp would have every protagonist speak.
Though I did say DeCamp’s writing seems to have improved, it’s still clumsy and heavy handed. For example:
“Across the front of the creature’s head – or what would have been its head if members of the spider tribe possessed heads distinct from the forward segment of their bodies – a row of four great eyes gleamed with a bluish radiance in the lamplight.”
GAH!!! He could have just said, “Across the creature’s head a row of four great eyes…” and it would have been a solid sentence. Instead, we get some weird arachnid anatomy lesson.
DeCamp has Conan sing a song for some Zamorians (he doesn’t seem like the singing type, either) but, thankfully, gives us only the incredibly trite and amateurish “We’re born with sword and axe in hand, for men of the North are we.” Thank Crom he didn’t go any further!
There’s a whole section where Conan returns to Shadizar and runs into a soldier who lost his job in Yezud. He talks to the bartender, Tigranes, saying he needs work. Why the hell would Conan need work when he’s trying to find the people who stole his horse? Tigranes sells him out but Conan is long gone, for which Tigranes receives a beating and swears vengeance on Conan. But he never shows up again. Conan would have ended up in Yezud, regardless. The whole scene is totally unnecessary.
I can’t tell if this story is more full of holes or sh*t.
The Tim Kirk drawings scattered through the book are cool, but the captions are kind of funny. There will be a drawing of severed heads on lances and the caption says, “lances with severed heads.” They are sometimes useful, though, if, for example, you didn’t know what a baldric was. I assume the cover is by Kirk as well; it's not bad.
We’re also treated to another re-write of DeCamp and Carter’s typical intro. Why they bothered to re-write the wretched thing is beyond me. The first sentence into the second illustrates DeCamp’s inabilities. The first sentence: “Conan, the magnificent barbarian adventurer, grew up in the mind of Robert Ervin Howard, the Texan pulp writer, in 1932.” The very next sentence starts, “As Howard put it, the character “grew up in my mind…” Yes, yes, you just said that. Didn’t anyone edit this crap?
To be fair, the introduction contains one of the best paragraphs I’ve read from DeCamp so far:
“The Conan stories belong to a sub-genre of fantasy called heroic fantasy, or swordplay-and-sorcery fiction. The art form was originated in the 1880’s by William Morris, the British artist, poet, decorator, manufacturer and reformer, as a modern imitation of the medieval romance, which had been moribund since Cervantes burlesqued it with his Don Quixote. Morris was followed in the United Kingdom in the early twentieth century by Lord Dunsany and Eric Rucker Eddison and in the United States by Robert Howard, Clark Ashton Smith and many others.”
Maybe DeCamp should have stuck to writing about writers.
At another point in the intro, DeCamp takes the time to define the pastiche, “a form of literature in which a living author tries to recapture both the spirit and the style of a predecessor.” He finishes by saying, “To what extent any of us can recreate the vividness of Howard’s narratives and the excellence of his style, the reader must judge for himself.” This reader has judged. You have failed.
January 2, 2022
This was o.k.. De Camp'a writing style is very different than Howard's. Howard's sword and sorcery is so distinct and has an emotional intensity. De Camp's sword and sorcery is more mellow, less about gigantic meloncholies and gigantic mirths and more humdrum and stationary. This novel was more "slice of life" than you'd expect from a sword and sorcery tale and kind of reminded me of De Camp's *Lest Darkness Fall* (which is essentially an entrepreneurial drama). The general premise here is that Conan has fled his previous life after killing an important person and is lying low in the temple town of Yezud, the City of the Spider God "Zath." Conan goes by the name Nial, becomes a blacksmith, and begins a romantic relationship with a temple dancer, Rudabeh. Conan even considers settling down and marrying. One thing that did intrigue me about this was how Conan is forced to acknowledge how dangerous his lifestyle is. Contrasted against the domestic elements of the story, this anti-adventure, pro-maturity ethos was surprising.
May 23, 2023
Howard's Conan this is not. This is the second non Howard story I have read to much of my regret. Turning him in to almost a buffoon. Doing things that I could never picture Conan doing. Throwing in a few of Howard's phrases doesn't make a Conan story.
Maybe I'm to harsh of a judge. Seeing this has an average rating of 3.92. I guess I don't like seeing Conan not being good at things that make the character great. Several throws of a grappling hook, getting taken by surprise to often. Just didn't feel like the hero I enjoy.
Maybe I'm to harsh of a judge. Seeing this has an average rating of 3.92. I guess I don't like seeing Conan not being good at things that make the character great. Several throws of a grappling hook, getting taken by surprise to often. Just didn't feel like the hero I enjoy.
May 8, 2018
Un muy buen Conan, lo considero al nivel del original.
La primera mitad en la que nuestro bárbaro sale huyendo de la ciudad por haber matado a quien no debía es genial. Una pura aventura por el campo que cambiara el huir a la búsqueda al enterarse de un robo.
La última mitad salvo el final se vuelve algo monótona, en la que vive en una ciudad gobernada por un dios quien cree que no existe. Pero el final molara.
La primera mitad en la que nuestro bárbaro sale huyendo de la ciudad por haber matado a quien no debía es genial. Una pura aventura por el campo que cambiara el huir a la búsqueda al enterarse de un robo.
La última mitad salvo el final se vuelve algo monótona, en la que vive en una ciudad gobernada por un dios quien cree que no existe. Pero el final molara.
February 20, 2024
One of the least Conan-feeling Conan novels that I have read. Conan is self-admittedly slow witted, gets snuck up on easily, consults fortune-tellers several times (wouldn't Conan just say "A man makes his own fate"?), weeps uncontrollably when someone he knows dies, accepts something from an old witch because he "doesn't want to hurt her feelings", and plays an instrument and sings. Besides that, the plot is as slow as molasses.
Probably my least favorite Conan pastiche after Conan the Gladiator.
Probably my least favorite Conan pastiche after Conan the Gladiator.
September 21, 2023
Our hero's journey continues but this time forced as he finds himself being pursued for something he didn't do. At some point he meets some old acquaintances and a beautiful female being, whom he is called upon to save from a strange religious cult and clear his name along the way. This difficult mission requires him to think more and implement a plan but when needed he can always use his fighting skills. All this adds up to a Conan book that has everything we need in the right proportions, without the monotony that often characterizes related books. For that I appreciate it a little more.
Το ταξίδι του ήρωα μας συνεχίζεται αλλά αυτή τη φορά αναγκαστικά καθώς βρίσκεται καταδιωκόμενος για κάτι που δεν έκανε. Κάποια στιγμή συναντάει κάποιους παλιούς γνωστούς και μία όμορφη θηλυκή ύπαρξη, την οποία καλείται να σώσει από μία περίεργη θρησκευτική λατρεία και στην πορεία να καθαρίσει το όνομά του. Αυτή η δύσκολη αποστολή απαιτεί από τον ίδιο περισσότερη σκέψη και εφαρμογή ενός σχεδίου αλλά όταν χρειαστεί μπορεί πάντοτε να χρησιμοποιήσει τις πολεμικές του ικανότητες. Όλα αυτά συνθέτουν ένα βιβλίο για τον Κόναν που έχει ότι χρειαζόμαστε σε σωστές αναλογίες, χωρίς τη μονοτονία που πολλές φορές χαρακτηρίζει σχετικά βιβλία. Για αυτό το εκτιμώ λίγο περισσότερο.
Το ταξίδι του ήρωα μας συνεχίζεται αλλά αυτή τη φορά αναγκαστικά καθώς βρίσκεται καταδιωκόμενος για κάτι που δεν έκανε. Κάποια στιγμή συναντάει κάποιους παλιούς γνωστούς και μία όμορφη θηλυκή ύπαρξη, την οποία καλείται να σώσει από μία περίεργη θρησκευτική λατρεία και στην πορεία να καθαρίσει το όνομά του. Αυτή η δύσκολη αποστολή απαιτεί από τον ίδιο περισσότερη σκέψη και εφαρμογή ενός σχεδίου αλλά όταν χρειαστεί μπορεί πάντοτε να χρησιμοποιήσει τις πολεμικές του ικανότητες. Όλα αυτά συνθέτουν ένα βιβλίο για τον Κόναν που έχει ότι χρειαζόμαστε σε σωστές αναλογίες, χωρίς τη μονοτονία που πολλές φορές χαρακτηρίζει σχετικά βιβλία. Για αυτό το εκτιμώ λίγο περισσότερο.
January 2, 2023
This is what i was looking for in a Conan pastiche. Conan is in full display as a mercenary, a thief, a fighter, intelligent, and cunning. The story aspects are all taken right from a REH story without being derivative. Is Conan exactly how REH wrote him? No, but I think de Camp did a damn fine job.
December 7, 2013
Bastante buena, una historia no muy complicada con un excelente inicio y un final inesperado. Me gustó mucho.
November 12, 2022
Conan mi attira sempre, anche quando a scrivere i racconti non è Howard.
Però qui De Camp scrive di un personaggio che non è Conan: è un barbaro che assomiglia a Conan, ma non ha lo stesso modo di agire e di parlare a cui ci hanno abituato i racconti, i fumetti della Marvel, i film.
Va bene dare una propria interpretazione del personaggio, ma certi paletti della personalità, della psicologia, dell'essenza andrebbero rispettati.
Qui invece il nostro parla come un cavaliere, agisce con una insolita bonarietà ed ingenuità, si innamora addirittura... quando anche i sassi sanno che ci sono state solo due o tre donne nella sua vita che gli hanno fatto battere il cuore, e sicuramente nessuna di queste era una popolana.
Al di la di queste considerazioni sul personaggio, il romanzo parte bene, poi la trama si decomprime e la narrazione inciampa, fino al prevedibile finale.
Però qui De Camp scrive di un personaggio che non è Conan: è un barbaro che assomiglia a Conan, ma non ha lo stesso modo di agire e di parlare a cui ci hanno abituato i racconti, i fumetti della Marvel, i film.
Va bene dare una propria interpretazione del personaggio, ma certi paletti della personalità, della psicologia, dell'essenza andrebbero rispettati.
Qui invece il nostro parla come un cavaliere, agisce con una insolita bonarietà ed ingenuità, si innamora addirittura... quando anche i sassi sanno che ci sono state solo due o tre donne nella sua vita che gli hanno fatto battere il cuore, e sicuramente nessuna di queste era una popolana.
Al di la di queste considerazioni sul personaggio, il romanzo parte bene, poi la trama si decomprime e la narrazione inciampa, fino al prevedibile finale.
June 9, 2020
Conan becomes a smithy in this one as he has eyes on the spider god's "eyes."
November 17, 2018
Conan is Captain of the Guard when, as usual, an encounter with a superior officer's woman leads him to leave town suddenly. On the same day he leaves the King's favorite wife is kidnapped, so naturally Conan is marked as the man suspect. While on the run he encounters a group of "merchants" who steal his horse and all his money. He tracks them to a mountain fortress which is the home of the spider god cult, and takes a job as blacksmith under his father's name Nial to plot his vengeance. He meets a cult dancing girl and falls in love.
Conan plots his revenge. He woos the dancing girl who is sworn to virginity by the cult. He plots to steal some valuable gems from the temple. He works as a blacksmith, making door latches and weapons and lots of nails. Then he plots some more, and the dancing refuses to run away with him unless he settles down and gets a regular job. He fights drunkards and a tiger while plotting some more. And he makes some nails.
De Camp does a good job writing Conan, even if his use of language is more stilted than REH. But a love sick Conan mooning over a dancing girl is not paticularly interesting. Conan is far more emotional than usual, both with the girl and with unfamiliar fearfulness when facing danger. He spends weeks working as a blacksmith in the same city as those who stole from him when in the past he did not allow such an affront go unpunished for minutes after locating the thieves. De Camp has done a good job in other works but in this one not so much.
Conan plots his revenge. He woos the dancing girl who is sworn to virginity by the cult. He plots to steal some valuable gems from the temple. He works as a blacksmith, making door latches and weapons and lots of nails. Then he plots some more, and the dancing refuses to run away with him unless he settles down and gets a regular job. He fights drunkards and a tiger while plotting some more. And he makes some nails.
De Camp does a good job writing Conan, even if his use of language is more stilted than REH. But a love sick Conan mooning over a dancing girl is not paticularly interesting. Conan is far more emotional than usual, both with the girl and with unfamiliar fearfulness when facing danger. He spends weeks working as a blacksmith in the same city as those who stole from him when in the past he did not allow such an affront go unpunished for minutes after locating the thieves. De Camp has done a good job in other works but in this one not so much.
August 3, 2017
Non mi è per nulla dispiaciuto questo romanzetto con protagonista il cimmero più famoso della letteratura, nella personale interpretazione di Sprague de Camp. Sicuramente non al livello di Robert E. Howard ma comunque godibile.
October 5, 2014
Excellent novel. One of the finest novels in the canon of Conan.
July 22, 2024
A very good idea terribly executed. L. Sprague de Camp is not a bad writer but he lacks the narrative vitality that Conan needs. He transforms a character characterized by sharp common sense, born leadership and stoic pragmatism, into a sort of ridiculous medieval peon, a hick who upon leaving the mountains where he comes from, is surprised to enter big cities, meet beautiful women or opulent kings, a guy who must bite his tongue not to say what he thinks all the time, creating supposedly comic situations in which, I imagine, must sound the canned laughter of a sitcom from the sixties.
And the premise is certainly interesting: Conan flees the city where he presides over the military captaincy, since he is falsely accused twice. One accusation is of cold-bloodedly murdering a superior and attempting to molest his wench, and the other is that he is accused of kidnapping the king's favorite. The antagonists are quickly introduced: the vicar of a strange sect that wishes to engage in a power struggle between religions in the territory of Zamora, a land full of murderers, thieves, prostitutes and mercenaries. Then the main action takes place in the doomed city of Yezud, home to a sinister cult of the mysterious Zath, the bloodthirsty spider god.
There you go, the perfect pitch for a Conan story.
However, most of the book is about Conan interacting with a bunch of insufferable NPCs, asking obvious questions like an idiot, dealing with a rather problematic puberty at 25 (obsessed with a temple dancer, as if he had ever seen a woman or was a character in an Isekai), naming his horses and making nails, lots of nails because he changes his name and is now a blacksmith.
A good title for this book would be “Conan, The Blacksmith” a slice of life in a horrendous Hyborian village.
And I'm not going to talk about what he did to Rudabeh (the best character in the story by far) or how Conan doubts the existence of the giant monster even though this story is supposed to take place after “The Tower of The Elephant” where Conan fights a SPIDER and meets a GOD.
Anyway, I don't recommend it.
And the premise is certainly interesting: Conan flees the city where he presides over the military captaincy, since he is falsely accused twice. One accusation is of cold-bloodedly murdering a superior and attempting to molest his wench, and the other is that he is accused of kidnapping the king's favorite. The antagonists are quickly introduced: the vicar of a strange sect that wishes to engage in a power struggle between religions in the territory of Zamora, a land full of murderers, thieves, prostitutes and mercenaries. Then the main action takes place in the doomed city of Yezud, home to a sinister cult of the mysterious Zath, the bloodthirsty spider god.
There you go, the perfect pitch for a Conan story.
However, most of the book is about Conan interacting with a bunch of insufferable NPCs, asking obvious questions like an idiot, dealing with a rather problematic puberty at 25 (obsessed with a temple dancer, as if he had ever seen a woman or was a character in an Isekai), naming his horses and making nails, lots of nails because he changes his name and is now a blacksmith.
A good title for this book would be “Conan, The Blacksmith” a slice of life in a horrendous Hyborian village.
And I'm not going to talk about what he did to Rudabeh (the best character in the story by far) or how Conan doubts the existence of the giant monster even though this story is supposed to take place after “The Tower of The Elephant” where Conan fights a SPIDER and meets a GOD.
Anyway, I don't recommend it.
April 26, 2024
Ο Κόναν βρίσκεται κυνηγημένος. Όχι μόνο σαλιάριζε με τη γυναίκα του ανωτέρου του στο στρατό, αλλά πολύ λογικά… τον σκότωσε. Παράλληλα, η πριγκίπισσα απαγάγεται και εξαφανίζεται την ίδια μέρα που ο Κόναν το σκάει, με αποτέλεσμα οι υποψίες να στραφούν πάνω του. Αν ήταν Ρέιμοντ Τσάντλερ ή Ντάσιελ Χάμετ, θα είχαμε ουίσκι σε χαμηλά ποτήρια, τζαμένιες πόρτες γραφείων ντετέκτιβ πίσω από τις οποίες φαίνονται σκιές και αναζήτηση στοχείων με νότες σαξόφωνου στο βάθος. Επειδή όμως είναι Κόναν, έχουμε αιματοκύλισμα, αλογοκλοπές, κρασίλα σε καπηλειά, καψίματα μαγισσών, μαγικά μαραφέτια, τεράστιες αράχνες και πανέμορφες κοπέλες με ελάχιστα ρούχα (ΟΚ, αυτό συμβαίνει στα νουάρ που προανέφερα).
Η ίδια η ιστορία δεν έχει να προσφέρει πολλά από πλευράς πρωτοτυπίας, για την ακρίβεια έχει ΟΛΑ τα σ��ερεότυπα του είδους, λες και τσεκάρανε κουτάκια. Φυσικά, το ίδιο το είδος βασίζεται στα στερεότυπα, οπότε προχωράμε. Είναι μια απλή και σχετικά αφελής ιστορία, στην οποία μάλιστα ο βάρβαρος ήρωας εμφανίζεται περισσότερο σαν Πέπε Λεπιού απέναντι στις κυρίες και όχι ως ο κλασικός «μπαίνω (από κάτω) μέχρι αμυγδαλές, αφήνω τετράδυμα και φεύγω» μπρουτάλ Κιμμέριος, σε σημείο που φτάνει να… ερωτευτεί και να σκέφτεται γάμους και settle down.
Αν εξαιρέσει κανείς αυτό το ολίσθημα, η ιστορία αντέχεται, ου μην και διαβάζεται ευχάριστα. Φυσικά, το τέλος τον βρίσκει στο δρόμο, σε αναζήτηση νέων περιπετειών. Κάτι σαν Τζακ Ρίτσερ με πέτσινο βρακί και χωρίς οδοντόβουρτσα.
Η ίδια η ιστορία δεν έχει να προσφέρει πολλά από πλευράς πρωτοτυπίας, για την ακρίβεια έχει ΟΛΑ τα σ��ερεότυπα του είδους, λες και τσεκάρανε κουτάκια. Φυσικά, το ίδιο το είδος βασίζεται στα στερεότυπα, οπότε προχωράμε. Είναι μια απλή και σχετικά αφελής ιστορία, στην οποία μάλιστα ο βάρβαρος ήρωας εμφανίζεται περισσότερο σαν Πέπε Λεπιού απέναντι στις κυρίες και όχι ως ο κλασικός «μπαίνω (από κάτω) μέχρι αμυγδαλές, αφήνω τετράδυμα και φεύγω» μπρουτάλ Κιμμέριος, σε σημείο που φτάνει να… ερωτευτεί και να σκέφτεται γάμους και settle down.
Αν εξαιρέσει κανείς αυτό το ολίσθημα, η ιστορία αντέχεται, ου μην και διαβάζεται ευχάριστα. Φυσικά, το τέλος τον βρίσκει στο δρόμο, σε αναζήτηση νέων περιπετειών. Κάτι σαν Τζακ Ρίτσερ με πέτσινο βρακί και χωρίς οδοντόβουρτσα.
October 12, 2022
Bored after two years in the army Conan has risen to captain of the royal guard, which he discovers is a bit boring. Lured into a tryst he's forced to kill a superior when confronted in the bedroom. Thus he flees as the officer he killed is the son of the high priest. There are travels and encounters and eventually Conan finds himself posing as a blacksmith in Yezud, city of the Spider God, in order to elude the bounty hunters looking for him.
This story takes place after Conan has given up his first spurt of thieving so he is in his early 20's. The is knowledgeable about the subject matter but there just seems to be something lacking in the presentation.
This story takes place after Conan has given up his first spurt of thieving so he is in his early 20's. The is knowledgeable about the subject matter but there just seems to be something lacking in the presentation.
January 8, 2019
Este libro no lo escribió el autor original de Conan, pero aún así el trabajo que L.Sprague de Camp realizó es muy digno.
Se acerca más a las aventuras que el bárbaro vivió en la serie de dibujos de TV o en las películas protagonizadas por Arnold Schwarzenegger. La narrativa es muy sencilla de seguir, ideal para niños o para gente que no quiera realizar un tremendo esfuerzo intelectual.
En esta historia Conan vive aventuras, causa muerte, destrucción y como es habitual se agarra algún culazo. Muy recomendable para leer cagando o en ratos libres pero no os va a cambiar la vida.
Se acerca más a las aventuras que el bárbaro vivió en la serie de dibujos de TV o en las películas protagonizadas por Arnold Schwarzenegger. La narrativa es muy sencilla de seguir, ideal para niños o para gente que no quiera realizar un tremendo esfuerzo intelectual.
En esta historia Conan vive aventuras, causa muerte, destrucción y como es habitual se agarra algún culazo. Muy recomendable para leer cagando o en ratos libres pero no os va a cambiar la vida.
July 16, 2018
I generally enjoy the Conan books and have heard about this book for years. However, I must admit it is lackluster compared to other entries in the Conan saga. de Camp almost feels like he doesn't really have any real plot in mind until past the halfway point, and it just did not hold great. It also felt like the character of Conan was poorly pastiched versus the actual character that is Howard's creation.
December 17, 2018
I've never read a Conan book before but I found this one remarkably appealing. The writing is very elegant but the story is spare with few digressions and Conan is a most human hero. OK, he has a temper and he's a really really big man, but he's also intelligent and he has an exacting code of honor. And he knows his limitations. In this episode he confronts the Spider God with surprising results.
September 17, 2022
Written by L. Sprague de Camp, this book was going to be better written than the earlier Conan books. It is very light swords and sorcery. A quick read. Conan is surprised by his lover's husband. She cries rape and Conan is forced to kill the man. He has to give up a cushy job in the King's Guard and sets out on the run, eventually winding up in the city of the Spider God. Conan reverts to his bandits ways.
August 17, 2024
This was a good, well-rounded novel that allowed us to look at Conan when he was an inexperienced youth learning his ropes in all aspects of life. There are lots of action, adventure, mystery and humour in this tale. But, all said and done, it's like nothing like Howard's canon— irrespective of use of archaic words and place-names mentioned in the original works.
Nevertheless, recommended as a one-time read.
Nevertheless, recommended as a one-time read.
June 17, 2020
OK grundidé. Juvinal Conan, faktiska försök till karaktärer utanför huvudpersonen, fortfarande med tendensen till att yttre faktorer avgör händelseförloppet. Stämningen är inte rätt och skrivsättet är långt ifrån Howards.
Detta sagt är den utmärkt badkarslitteratur, och går att läsa på en timme mellan två möten.
Detta sagt är den utmärkt badkarslitteratur, och går att läsa på en timme mellan två möten.
July 19, 2018
Sprague de Camp nos cuenta esta historia para rellenar un hueco en la vida de Conan, como él mismo dice en el prólogo, intenta respetar al máximo el estilo de Howard, y en mi opinión lo consigue, es uno de los libros escritos por otros autores que mas fiel me ha parecido.
December 22, 2022
Kniha je psána jednoduchým a poměrně přímočarým stylem a příběh z Conanova mládí rozhodně potěší. Kouzla, iluze i magické předměty čtenáře nenechají na pochybách, že Zamora bude trochu odlišné téma. Každopádně slušný průměr.
February 11, 2019
Probably the best L.Sprague de Camp “Conan” stories, but that is a low bar, and this book does not rise to the level of “good.”
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