The Conquering Sword of Conan

De: Robert E. Howard

Narrado por: Todd McLaren

In a meteoric career that covered only a dozen years, Robert E. Howard defined the sword and sorcery genre. In doing so, he brought to life the archetypal adventurer known to millions around the world as Conan the barbarian.

This collection features Howard at his finest and Conan at his most savage.

Truly heroic fantasy at its best, this volume contains "The Servants of Bit-Yakin", "Beyond the Black River", "The Black Stranger", "The Man-Eaters of Zamboula", and "Red Nails", which is perhaps Conan's most famous adventure.

©2005 Conan Properties International, LLC (P)2009 Tantor

For Conan fans, apparently by Conan fans.

Unfortunately there are no chapter titles in the contents. This is a volume with several stories, not a novel. It's nice to be able to pick an individual tale out.

The Narrator...

Conan is as great as ever. the Narrator on the other hand...

I actually like him. overall, I like him. he has a good voice and i enjoyed him in the Halo novels.
but he has a gaping flaw in that he just mispronounces the oddest of words, seemingly having never been corrected on it in his life.
"Mjölnir" For example, he pronounces like "Ma-jol-ner'
"sword" He pronounces like "Sward"
oddly enough, he will pronounce made up words in stories just fine. "Derketo" "Dagon" And "Bit Yakeen" but ask the man to pronounce some fairly common English words and...

it's not a huge issue admittedly. but it's definitely noticeable and it takes you out of it for a moment.

Third Book in the Series

This is the third book in this series, not that such matters a great deal as Conan's takes do not require a reading based on a timeline. As always the tales are epic. Red Nails, in particular, comes to vivid life here and by itself is worth the price of admission.

By Crom! What a Listening Experience!!!

If you could sum up The Conquering Sword of Conan in three words, what would they be?

Fascinating, Riveting, Compelling

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Conquering Sword of Conan?

Conan tricking Nafertari. Who does she think she was, trying to get him to do all this stuff for him, after he completes even more missions. He never said a word, took that ring and was out!!!

Which scene was your favorite?

The strangling of Baal-pteor... i can't help it. I read this scene about 2 years ago, and was happy to know that this book had Shadows in Zamboula.

Any additional comments?

I'm a different sort of Conan fan. I started off, as a young child reading my brothers Savage Sword of Conan mags, then getting into myself, reading hundreds of regular Conan and King Conan books of Marvel. Saw the Conan movies, got treated to 2 different Cartoon Conan series, then took it upon myself to star reading the non-Robert Howard created books like Conan The Wanderer etc. Now i find myself, being fully versed in Howard's work, as with the work of others as sort of an authoritarian of sorts. I can't tell you how many times i've read / listened to Red Nails.

Quintessential Conan

Herein lies some of Howard’s best work on Conan. Everything you could want in a sword and sorcery yarn is present, almost mythical in its ability to make you feel like you’re stepping into an age undreamed of.

Legacy of Adventure

Including accounts of Robert E Howard’s own life along with his works is an inspired choice.
Red Nails was a particular stand out for me! Facing a city spanning palace housing feuding citizens, giant lizard monsters and mad sorcerers!

The definitive Conan

This is the definitive Conan compilation presented as they were originally written by R. E. Howard and published by Weird Tales. Excellent commentary on Howard’s life and the backstory on how he came up with the character and the stories.

Tod Mclaren brings the character and scenes to life much better than the other single volume “Conan the Cimmerian Barbarian” narrated by J.D. John. For years since first reading these stories in the Lancer editions published in the 60s and butchered by L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter, I had always pronounced “Cimmeria and Cimmerian” with an emphasis on the second syllable - Ci MER rian. McLaren gives a much better pronunciation as Cima RIAN with the first R silent. A much better way to say it . Rolls off the tongue easier but it took some getting used to as I had 50 years of the old way in my head from the print versions. Plus he gives Conan a bit of an Irish brogue voice which I found pleasing. The other Conan compilation mentioned earlier gives Conan a voice that sounds too much like Arnold Swartzenegger. Overall I found this version much better narrated.

I liked this compilation so much that I’ll probably get the print versions for my library with a CD(s) attached with the audiobooks.

Audio is a mixed blessing

The stories are good, they are original Conan, but the audio...for the most part the narrater is really good, but his attempts at women's voices are cringworthy. Whenever he voices a woman, it takes me right out of the story. If we can't get a woman to do those parts, it would be much better just to use his normal voice. He also irritates me with his pronunciation of the word Cimmerian (he says simmer- ri-un not si-mare-ri-an) and celts (as selts). Otherwise he is very clear and strong. Also, the chapters are listed numerically, but no hint to what stories they belong, making it hard to jump to a specific story. With some improvements I could like this format, but I still prefer my Savage Sword adaptations.

Conan stories are timeless

Some of the very best are found this volume. Longer and by a writer that is much more in command of the tools needed to write a good story.

However, these were aimed at a pulp market and not meant to be high literature. There also are many passages that use racial stereotypes and that step over the line to be racist. Plus obvious sexism.

The stories are fun and escapist but certainly express older views on the world.

Howard at his peak

I really appreciate having the Conan stories in publication order in these three volumes. I’m also pleased that what we have here is pure Howard without the editing and rewriting of earlier Conan collections. The commentary is also very helpful to understand some aspects of Howard’s approach to the stories in the context of his writing career and personal life.

The only real issue is the reader’s consistent mispronunciation of “Cimmerian”. Otherwise, he did fine work.