So my last article about Conan went quite long. From here on out, I'm going to try and keep things a little more concise. Fortunately, the formulaic nature of the franchise will help with that. Also, I can feel my interest in Conan waning, so after this set, I will be mixing things up more in my reading choices, though I suppose you won't see them until I do my end-of-year article. As for Conan, I do still intend on getting through the rest of what I planned to read, but the rest of these articles may take some time before I get through. For now, here's the next four Conan books in my journey.
The second of this classic series largely continues the pattern of the first: largely disconnected stories where Conan gets in over his head and has to fight his way out. Here, we see our hero really wandering around, starting in the cold northern countries before making his way south to the nations of black peoples, where he tends to stand out like a sore thumb.
The quality is definitely a mixed bag, and doesn't seem to be easily matched with the different writers. While this collection contains classics like "The Frost Giant's Daughter" and "The Queen of the Black Coast," it also some pretty lackluster stories, such as "The Blood-Stained God" (originally a historical fiction story revised into a Conan one), and "The Vale of Lost Women" (which is at least somewhat novel by choosing one of Conan's many damsels in distress as the perspective character). I suppose when you have this many short stories, among this many authors, consistency will be hard to maintain.
One major difference I'm noticing with a lot of these shorter pieces is that Conan seems to have a lot less agency, often simply stumbling into situations and making do with whatever circumstances he finds himself in. Maybe that's just the old-school pulpy nature coming out, but when the novels do better at giving Conan a goal to pursue, the narrative just feels stronger to me. It could also just be a consequence that a novel allows for more space where a short story or a novella has to keep things pretty tight. In any case, it's interesting to contrast how these shorter tales feel compared to the Tor novels I've been reading.
Still, it's not like this collection is just a bunch of fluff. "The Frost Giant's Daughter" sees Conan dipping more into the setting's mythological roots while "The Queen of the Black Coast" provides one of Conan's more prominent, if brief, lovers in Belit, the Pirate Queen. Finally, "The Snout in the Dark" has plenty of intrigue that could have been expanded into a full-on novel, wrangling with the complicated politics of Kush. For whatever reason, de Camp and Carter were content with turning that particular Howard fragment into just a novella. In any case, it's a pretty average collection of tales that occasionally have some interesting moments.
Once again, we have a few more books taking place between the short stories of the second Lancer/Ace collection. At this point, Conan is heading further west, finding himself in the city of Belverus in the nation of Nemedia. However, this one has quite a different feel from the previous ones, as not only is Conan interested in becoming the leader of a mercenary army, but also he gets caught up in quite some political intrigue.
Right off, he runs into his old friend Hordo, who is currently working in a smuggling ring, but he also befriends Ariane, a poet and a leader of various artists and philosophers, all of which are building moment for a rebellion against King Garion. However, it turns out that this rebellion is simply a tool for a handful of conspirators, led by the villain Albanus, who seek to use the confusion to take the throne for themselves. At first, Conan doesn't want anything to do with it, but when he unassumingly stumbles into the conspirators' plan, they put him on their hitlist, forcing Conan to step up, if only to save his own life.
This shift into city politics and conspiracy is a welcome one. While it certainly is entertaining to see Conan go to bizarre places and face strange creatures, I do feel that the short stories and novellas do get tedious from time to time, so I don't mind that Defender is willing to get more complicated. It does have quite the cast of characters, but they generally feel relevant to the various threads going around, even if some of them don't survive to the end. Nevertheless, the plot remains pretty clear, and allow for Conan to be a bit of a detective, even if his style of investigation involves stomping on the people who have the answers. From there, the story has some pretty satisfying twists and turns, even bringing back a former ally in the end, even though she has her own arrogant agenda mucking things up.
At this point, Jordan's writing style is pretty familiar. He still does a great job of giving the city of Belverus a lot of life and diversity. However, I'm afraid I'm kind of getting used to the majority of the women in these stories having little to offer other than their bodies and their charms. That's not to say they're all completely shallow, as Ariane's ideals and schemes are given a good share of the story, but even she can't escape the lustful magnetism that radiates from the barbarian. I suppose most Conan fans feel like such things are simply a part of the character and world, for better or worse. Still, it's not like their tantalizing descriptions really dominate the story in any way. Again, your mileage may vary with these elements.
That being said, I do think that this one is about as good as Victorious, if not better. The story does hold up pretty well, and the mad dash to the end feels earned, as the rebellion gets underway, forcing a solid sense of urgency on our hero to save those to whom he was sworn. Perhaps it could have gotten away with a bit more meat in its plotting, but otherwise, this is might be best Conan stories I've read so far.
And we finally come to the last of the Jordan books. As teased at the end of Defender, Conan takes his Free Company to the nation of Ophir, gaining employment with one of the nobles in Ianthe, a city rife with intrigue, as the dying king has caused a succession crisis, with various nobles vying for the throne. When Conan's patron is suddenly assassinated, he finds himself in the service of Synelle, a noblewoman who secretly seeks the crown herself by relying on the power of an ancient and evil god named Al'Kiir. She even casts a charm on Conan himself, causing him to doubt his own feelings as he wrangles with this new set of intrigues, especially when a woman of his past also becomes another of his problems.
This one definitely feels a lot like Defender, with the various characters and agendas moving about. However, I don't know if Triumphant handles them as well as Defender did, especially when there's a little too much set up and not enough pay off. It takes a while to get going, with things slowly escalating bit by bit, until everything comes at a rush at the end. While the climax mostly satisfying, the road getting there could have been smoother.
By now, the repetitive nature of these books is starting to get to me, and while Jordan is still doing a great job breathing a lot of life into the settings for each book, it's often a lot of the same. The cities and nations nearly interchangeable as Conan wanders from place to place, tavern to tavern, brothel to brothel. Perhaps it's a consequence of binging these books so quickly, but I'm feeling quite ready to move on from Jordan's Conan. Even the saucy descriptions of women are starting to wear me down, especially with Synelle's somewhat kinky rituals that are apart of her efforts to revive her dark god. This book was probably the worst when it came to the raunchy elements, though mainly by a matter of degrees. Still, I think Jordan has set a standard for what a Conan book can be, at least when it comes to the Tor publications. While Triumphant is probably in the middle of the six I've read in terms of quality, they've all been generally pretty decent and engaging, quibbles notwithstanding.
Shifting to a different author, Roland Green gives us another tale full of political intrigue, this time deep in the merchant-ruled nation of Argos. Conan suddenly finds himself the leader of another Free-Company, but Argos is pretty content with its defenses and holdings, not really needing his army of mercenaries. However, after saving a nearby village from a water dragon, Conan is recruited to defend Lady Livia in the capital city of Messantia from strange sorceries that are disturbing her house. Before long, Conan is wrapped up in conspiracies involving all kinds of sorcery.
Right off, Green definitely has a more straight-forward style of writing. Gone are all the long-winded descriptions Jordan provided, replaced with actual character moments. Lady Livia in particular provides quite a bit of range, showing sides of both strength and weakness as she seeks to maintain her bloodline in a web of houses and their politics. Alongside her is her head servant Reza, a wise old soldier from the east that initially sees Conan as a rival for his job. A suitor to Lady Livia and his mother enter the picture, throwing in their own wrinkles, and even the villains have their own little tweaks and complexities that imply something deeper than just a desire for power. In all honesty, these are the strongest characters I've seen thus far in my reading. We're still not in Shakespeare territory, by any means, but the effort is there, and it's appreciated.
However, this novel doesn't have as strong of a sense of excitement. While there is some decent banter, it often feels like the story is somewhat padded with characters, both good and bad, discussing their plans to take on their opponents. The action provided is not bad, as Conan cuts his way through man and monster alike, but it feels a bit more lackluster compared to Jordan's frenzied melees. Also, towards the end, the plot starts to get a little convoluted, as the various pieces come together in a rather hap-hazard way, resulting in a rather chaotic climax that's only somewhat satisfying. Still, it was somewhat refreshing to read a new author give his attempt to series, mixing in both the expected traditions as well as a handful of his own ideas.
It may be difficult to properly wrap up these articles, as there really just isn't a whole lot to say about them collectively other than they're a decent set of tales. Reading the different authors does make the journey a little more interesting, as each has their own take on the barbarian and his world. However, I do feel that the novels are maybe a little too similar to each other in a number of ways. From here, I'll be diving more into the short stories, so hopefully they'll change things up a bit.
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