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The Bloody Crown of Conan  By  cover art

The Bloody Crown of Conan

By: Robert E. Howard
Narrated by: Todd McLaren
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Publisher's summary

In his hugely influential and tempestuous career, Robert E. Howard created the genre that came to be known as sword and sorcery - and brought to life one of fantasy's boldest and most enduring figures: Conan the Cimmerian, reaver, slayer, barbarian, king. This volume gathers together three of Howard's longest and most famous Conan stories:

"The People of the Black Circle": Amid the towering crags of Vendhya, in the shadowy citadel of the Black Circle, Yasmina of the golden throne seeks vengeance against the Black Seers. Her only ally is also her most formidable enemy - Conan, the outlaw chief.

"The Hour of the Dragon": Toppled from the throne of Aquilonia by the evil machinations of an undead wizard, Conan must find the fabled jewel known as the Heart of Ahriman to reclaim his crown...and save his life.

"A Witch Shall Be Born": A malevolent witch of evil beauty. An enslaved queen. A kingdom in the iron grip of ruthless mercenaries. And Conan, who plots deadly vengeance against the human wolf who left him in the desert to die.

©2003 Conan Properties International, LLC. (P)2009 Tantor

What listeners say about The Bloody Crown of Conan

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

If you only own one Conan audiobook, this is it!

I love the Hyborian world, but it's not easy to listen to or read much of Howard's work. His constant use of lithe, writhe, and thews, drives me mad. Luckily, these books avoid that. This is definitely his best writing. The second story is so great, virtually another Lord of the Rings. So many memorable characters, so many unexpected plot twists, genuinely inventive storyline and totally impossible to put down. I find reasons to drive long distances in order to get my fix of this audiobook. Like I said in the title, if you own only one Conan audiobook, I can heartily recommend this one!

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23 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Awesome! Crom and Steel! Long live Conan!

Three great (and longer than usual) Conan stories. The narration by Todd McLaren is as great as usual. Long live Conan. "Crom and Steel!!!!"

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19 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

It's Conan!!!

I dunno. This is classic early fantasy. Love the genre or hate it, Conan is the best of the early stuff. Conan is Conan. Howard was one of the first writers to take up Lord Dunsany's mantle and run with it. Yes it's racist. Yes it's cliched. (Neither endearing but,) It's CONAN. Best to read one of the earlier stories than to start with this triptych, however. This set places Conan in late life after the many adventures in the early stories.

It's not Jordan, but without Howard, Jordan might have been writing in another genre.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Fine performance with one small nit-pick

This definitive series is doubtless the best version of Howard’s Conan, presented as it is in order of publication. The performance here is superb with one minor exception: The word “Celt” is pronounced like kelt, not selt, unless you’re just a baseball fan. And that word is used a lot in this volume. Be prepared to grind your teeth a bit when being yanked out of Howard’s world by this and other mispronunciations. Once I could let this go the experience became top notch.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Unbelievable

As great as always. I'm listening to a nearly one hundred year old story from an author who made meager wages on various short stories, when he may have been a millionaire in this age. His talent reveals that. Such a shame he died so tragically by his own hand when something much larger than life was created by the same. I pray for your soul, Howard, and am grateful for the work you did. The Conan stories are truly phenomenal.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

The longer Conan stories done well

Not as good a modulation of voices for different characters as other performers, but decent enough. The stories are always action packed but are typical escapism and rely on highly unlikely circumstance just coming true. Not as noticeably in one story, but the more you listen to in a row the more apparent it becomes.

As always, scantily clad women swooning in the arms of Conan and Howard's editor even toned down some of the sexuality originally written into the stories.

Technically, Celtic can be pronounced with a S sound like the basketball team and the football team, but more normal usage is to pronounce it with a K sound. Dictionaries will list both with the K sound preferred. The performer consistently uses the s sound which I do not prefer,

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Can't recomend this book enough.

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

These are some of the best Conan stories ever. The narrator does an excellent job.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Bloody Crown of Conan?

The story Hour of The Dragon, when Conan takes the ship. Best Conan story EVER!

What about Todd McLaren???s performance did you like?

He really seemed to know the character of Conan and read that character very well.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It made me very happy.

Any additional comments?

Anyone who claims to like Conan, and only knows the movie or comic version, is really missing out if they don't read the original REH Conan stories.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Good Stories, Uneven Narration

This volume in the series contains three of Howard’s longer works related to Conan. The first two I found very good, with the third being somewhat abridged and not nearly as engaging. The narration is again a mixed bag...the narrator has a good voice for the part, but has trouble with pronunciation. He mispronounces Cimmerian the entire way through, and even normal words like harbinger and gunwales are mispronounced.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

a landmark in fantasy writing, but not that good

Howard's lurid, pulpy 1930s sword-and-sorcery tales don't qualify as great writing or high storytelling, but his re-imagining of the mythical worlds of various ancient peoples and their barbarian ethos has certainly influenced many modern fantasy writers. A Conan collection's probably worth a checkout from your library if a) you're interested in the roots of the genre, or b) you're fourteen years old. Otherwise, Howard's successors, though they owe him a debt, offer much better reading material.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great

Best of Conan and Robert E. Howard. The best Conan story, The Hour of the Dragon.

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1 person found this helpful