Conan - Blood of the Serpent: The All-New Chronicles of the Worlds Greatest Barbarian Hero

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The adventure itself is a cool series of events and set pieces. It mostly uses the brutality of the natural world as threats rather than the supernatural. Which in a way works when you consider the pseudo-historical nature of the Conan stories. Overall, it’s a travelogue but one with a bunch of cool stops.l along the way. It’s a real challenge, finding the right authors for new Conan novels. So many factors play into creating dynamic new fiction featuring the world’s most famous sword and sorcery icon. Stirling has written a story that is in keeping with modern parlance. It is also a good introduction to the character for new readers. It shows that there is more to Conan than just swords and sandals. This is a book about survival in a harsh world where the environment can be as dangerous as any person. Some of the most epic fights in this book are against nature when Conan must go up against crocodiles or hordes of apes. Are these creatures acting on instinct, or is there more at play? The inside illustrations by Roberto De La Terre are very good. And browsing the Internet shows us that Mr. De La Terre (when allowed) can draw female warriors. There is a particular good illustration of Valeria toward the end of the book.

Prequel: This story is an immediate prequel to Red Nails, with Conan and Valeria serving in Zarallo's mercenaries in Sukhmet and the showing the circumstances that led them to where they were in that story. The final scene of this novel is actually the first scene of the novella. Conan wanders the land as a sword for hire and finds himself in Sukhnet working with a band of mercenaries. Working for a Stygian noble is no one's first choice, but the food is reasonable and at least they pay. When Conan is tasked with protecting a caravan of Stygian gold, he must consider how much may get ‘lost’ on the way. One ally is Valeria, a powerful pirate warrior. Conan takes a liking to her, but the feeling is not mutual. Can Conan curry favour with Valeria when she becomes a prime target for a slighted Stygian Lord and need a strong arm by her side? In keeping with the motivations that Howard attributed to Conan, the Cimmerian is largely motivated by lust for the blonde pirate of the Red Brotherhood Valeria, who he is serving with in Stygia. So much, that he abandons his post in Stygia and follows her, hoping that he will ingratiate himself with her by killing a vengeful Stygian sorcerer. You see, Valeria killed this sorcerer's brother when he wouldn't take no for an answer. A] richly realized story of swordplay and intrigue.”— Entertainment Weekly on the novels of The Change

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When Titan announced this book and the revitalizing of NEW Conan books, I was excited. I still am, even though this one was not fantastic. The Afterword is a sad thing. It is an apology for the righteous and indignant for Howard's "original manuscript. Raw and powerful, it's also very much of its time–written almost a century ago, when our culture could be less socially aware and genre fiction in particular often exhibited rough edges some of today's readers may find jarring."

The weird element that every Conan story should have is weak though. Stirling playfully throws in some Lovecraft but we never get a cosmic menace. Instead Conan is bedeviled by bewitched crocodiles, lions, rhinos, and even Edgar Rice Burroughs’ mangani. In Love with Your Carnage: Conan is intrigued by tales of Valeria's beauty and competence as a warrior, and when he finally sees her her beauty does not disappoint, but he really gets hot for her when sees her speed, power, and perfect control with a sword. Stirling combines complex, believable characters, meticulous research, and a fascinating setup to produce a book you won’t want to—and won’t be able to—put down. An outstanding piece of work.”—Harry Turtledove on Island in the Sea of Time Those of us who believed in Conan at the right moment in our lives never stop believing. We might not grow up to become him, but we never grow out of him, either.”—Stephen Graham Jones, author of The Only Good Indians

Read Conan – Blood of the Serpent by S. M. Stirling

In Howard’s grim and all too realistic view, the barbarians are always at the gate, and once a culture allows itself to grow soft, decadent or simply neglectful, it will be swept away by the primitive and ruthless.”—Michael Dirda, The Washington Post The artwork on this latest book has been the topic of some discussion. I’m sure the folks at Titan Books know better than I do. But I liked the old style covers. For some of the Tor Books (especially those by Roland Green) the covers were the best part! While the source material remains Robert E. Howard’s extraordinary body of work, the vast majority of his output was fiction as short as 4,000 words or less, while a full-length novel that gives readers what they deserve needs to hover closer to 80,000 words or more. Telling a story of that length requires a specific skill set. You should never judge a book by its cover, but the cover for Blood of the Serpent is unassuming. It is bland. It is safe. Certainly not the eye candy fans come to expect from this type of book. The indie crowd gets it. The redemption for Titan comes with the inclusion of interior illustrations by Roberto de la Torre. This was a very nice touch and much appreciated.

Foregone Conclusion: Anyone who has read Red Nails knows from the first chapter the broad strokes of what is going to happen in this novel, to wit: Valeria is going to kill an Stygian officer who assaults her, run into the wilderness pursued by the dead officer's brother, and Conan will follow them both because he has the hots for her.

THE ARCHIVES

I read books, and I dreamed of Mars, and the planets in those books, and of the Hyborian Age of Robert E. Howard’s Conan books…”—George R. R. Martin, author of A Game of Thrones Fans of apocalyptical thrillers like Stephen King’s The Stand will find Dies the Fire absolutely riveting…a fantastic epic work.”— Midwest Book Review Pun: In Stygia, in dice gambling, it's noted that what would be a winning throw of double sixes is "the demons" and a losing throw. Instead, the winning throw is double ones, or "Eyes of Set," known commonly and in real life as "snake eyes."

Conan travels south and meets a native warrior woman named Irawabon. New Edge Conan has sex with her, without protection, but he does ask her if she is worried about pregnancy after the deed:No Ending: The novel ends with Conan and Valeria in the middle of nowhere rushing to investigate what has just killed their horses. Anyone wanting to know what happened next will need to read Red Nails to find out how that is resolved. The first half of this book is why I titled this review as I did; on no less than 3 occasions our iron-thewed barbarian hero watches from the sidelines as Valeria participates in the main action. The first and last are excusable, the second is so utterly out of character for Conan I began to fear Valeria would usurp Conan's place in his own story. Avoiding spoilers, Conan watches from the shadows as Valeria duels a gang of men who outnumber her more than five times and not only carries the day, but does so in such good health she can scramble up the side of a building Assassin's Creed style. In case the author ever reads this I say to him; if you'd like to write a story or stories focusing on Valeria of the Red Brotherhood, I and many other Conan fans would read it happily. I adore these books. Howard had a gritty, vibrant style—broadsword writing that cut its way to the heart, with heroes who are truly larger than life.”—David Gemmell, author of Legend I've said it a million times, no one is going to top Howard. So S. M. Stirling comes in and decides he wants to build on the history of Conan by telling a story in his early years, without trying to imitate or outdo Howard in any way.