**Minor spoilers**
What crap book, by Howard's no.1 fan - Mr. Sprague de camp. The poor guy just tried too hard. The whole book is just plain boring, the action is slow, the plot is...meh, and the Conan himself is not Conan at all. The book tells about young Conan, so the author had to take special care to make Conan stay consistent with his later life portrayed by REH. The author failed at that:
1. Conan learned how to fight illusion magic and hypnosis - the older Conan never had ANY arcane knowledge and REH mentioned that young Conan though that writing and reading was a "girly" skill, not to mention learning magic which Conan was deeply afraid of.
2. Conan found a true love - Conan's first true love was Belit, REH was very specific on this.
3. Conan worked as blacksmith - Conan lived by the sword until he became king of Aquilonia.
4. Conan did not solo WTFPWNed gigant spider - he always does.
Mr. Sprague de camp did not even reference the "Elephant in the tower" by REH right: Conan DID NOT fought lions guarding the tower, other thief used black lotus to kill them.
I am glad that I am through this book.
2 comments:
"It was Conan's savage instinct which made him wheel suddenly; for the death that was upon them made no sound. A fleeting glimpse showed the Cimmerian the giant tawny shape, rearing upright against the stars, towering over him for the death-stroke. No civilized man could have moved half so quickly as the barbarian moved. His sword flashed frostily in the starlight with every ounce of desperate nerve and thew behind it, and man and beast went down together.
Cursing incoherently beneath his breath, Taurus bent above the mass, and saw his companion's limbs move as he strove to drag himself from under the great weight that lay limply upon him. A glance showed the startled Nemedian that the lion was dead, its slanting skull split in half. He laid hold of the carcass, and by his aid, Conan thrust it aside and clambered up, still gripping his dripping sword."
Hi Slith, I'm Amra from the US AoC forums. Actually, Conan did kill a lion in "The Tower of the Elephant". Great threads on the EU Forums, I wish that I could post there!
my bad, I have re-read that story later, but forgot to correct this
it is still a bad book ! :D
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