Mildly sexy and exuberantly violent, these tales make for an excellent escape from humdrum modernity, where life's Gordian knots cannot be simply hewn asunder with a mighty sword stroke. Naive as a child in many ways, unfamiliar with the sophistry of civilization, he was naturally intelligent, jealous of his rights, and dangerous as a hungry tiger. If you're uncomfortable reading excessive young female nudity and Black men being described as naked savages, I'd advise against reading this series in general.

A heist story, where Conan is nothing short of a valid candidate to join Ocean's 13 gang of misfits. As a result, it's entirely possible to "know" Conan without really knowing the original stories in their original forms — a problem that this weighty collection addresses nicely. My favorite stories in this are The Tower of the Elephant, The Slithering Shadow, Red Nails, and The Pool of the Black One.Worth a read for anyone that wants to see how much darker the original Conan is compared to many of the more modern interpretations of his character. Or we find him shackled, or on a ship, or as a king, or a drunkard or any other outlandish setting for which simply takes a lifelong time to get to. The book contains all of his stories published or not without editing or changes, the stories the great man wrote himself. Then the court waxed wroth, and the judge talked a great deal about my duty to the state, and society, and other things I did not understand, and bade me tell where my friend had flown.

Simple thievery becomes a rescue mission and the original thrust of the story is turned on its head in a third act climax worthy of the name.Near the end of Conan's career as a wandering thief, mercenary and pirate, when he has finally settled down as king of Aquilonia, one of the lands in what roughly corresponds to modern-day Europe in Howard's map of the Hyperborean age. The book is hardback with black leather and gold artwork celebrating a century from the birth of R E Howard. The Pool of the Black One: "He watched with the calm alertness of a wolf, and when he struck it was with the devastating suddeness of a thunderbolt -" With echoes of Sun Tzu, The Odyssey, and Sinbad the Sailor, this story hits a new high, evoking a genuine sense of mysterious horror that threatens not just the body but the soul itself.

The text for both stories were unfortunately taken from the bowdlerized Conan library published by Donald M. Regarding Conan’s characterization — it is important to remember that Conan isn’t really a hero in the classic sense. That's not to say the women are all weak - some are very capable and deadly, and they surprise Conan.The Slithering Shadow Howard ups the erotic tension in this one with suggestions of depraved orgies and a girl-on-girl whipping scene. The Conan stories haven’t aged much, or rather not as badly as I feared; and Conan isn’t as dumb and transparent a character as I erroneously thought. The reason for my delay is twofold: firstly, I thought these stories hadn’t aged well considering that they had been published for the most part in 1934, which is three years before The Hobbit itself was published (so to those out there who think that Tolkien created modern Fantasy, well, sorry guys, but even if his contribution is hugely seminal, Howard was there first. Sign in to PlayStation Network is not required to use this on your primary PS4, but is required for use on other PS4 systems.