What
immediately strikes me about the four stories in this book is that
they are all set in the exotic fringes of Hyboria; not that any part
of it is not exotic and strange, but it highlights that Howard was
always extremely interested in his 'Oriental' work – with one tale
among the Afghulis, two in
the Black Kingdoms, and one as a corsair in the Western Ocean; that
last we'll get to in a minute. I'm not attempting to analyse the
'contributions' made by de Camp in these reviews, I should clarify; I
simply intend to take each story at its own merits. Others are far
more qualified than I to work on a more textual analysis, and I'm
reading these for inspiration, primarily. About which more later.
The
first book in this collection, 'The People of the Black Circle', is
one of my favourite Conan tales, and I think an excellent
introduction to the character. It's a classic tale that shows Conan
as a leader of men, at the height of his power, with ambitions not to
rule – but to lay waste. He is not Alaric seeking to found a Gothic
Empire on the ruins of Rome, he seeks loot and wealth for its own
sake, and has little regard for where
he does his ravaging; he speaks of returning north to other lands,
should his plans with the Afghulis fail.
We
have a classic combination here, therefore – Conan in an 'Eastern'
setting, complete with large doses of mysticism and laced with the
opulent wealth of the area, mentions of seraglios and power struggles
beyond, huge battles against difficult odds – though not all of
them are described, and even encounters with old allies from the
past. Can you tell I really enjoy this one?
'The
Slithering Shadow' fares less well, but it is standing in something
of a shadow of its own, so perhaps this is not to be wondered at.
Again, this is classic, with Conan exploring a lost city with a
female companion, but she is treated in such a limp fashion that one
almost wonders why he doesn't simply accept the wiles of the evil
sorceress he meets in the lost city of Xuthal. This one takes quite a
while to truly get going, and while a good story, fails to meets the
heights of the first one; though the descriptions are as lavish, a
true Howard mark.
Third,
we have 'Drums of Tombalku', and already I am forced to break the
rule of the first chapter – because this is really obviously
written from a Howard fragment, and I would probably have known that
without any other knowledge. The story takes forever to get moving,
the pacing way off, and the focus on a character who essentially just
wants to settle down and raise a family; we never really get engaged
with Amalric, and are constantly wanting to see more of Conan. Now,
having a Conan story with the 'lead' another character can work, but
the character in question has to engage the reader, and this one
doesn't. I did like King Sakumbe, I must admit, but again – we see
too little of the story to truly engage us. The weak one of the
selection.
Tortage?
Sigh. Howard didn't write much fiction set in the pirate age, despite
his exposure to Sabatini through 'Adventure', and his obvious
familiarity with at least some of the old materials; I find it hard
to believe that he hadn't at least read 'The Buccaneers of America',
at some point. (Truly excellent book, by the way.) This adventure
features Conan attempting to swim across the Western Ocean – yes,
swim across the Atlantic, basically – and could easily be set in
the 17th
century Caribbean. Right down to him ending up on a yacht. Having
said that, Conan as a character is strong in this story, even if at
times he seems to have swum backwards in time. (In the book, it is
suggested Conan is in his mid-thirties; I agree with other reasoning
that this is meant to take place considerably earlier in his life.)
The
collection starts strong, but doesn't really stay that way; but
they're leading with one of the best stories in the canon – in my
personal opinion – so it's only likely to descend from there in any
case. I'm going to give this one an eight out of ten as an opener.
The story fragment later turned into "Drums of Tombalku" could have been excellent if Howard chose to work with it, and indeed, there's enough there for a whole novel: you have Conan finally becoming king, after all, but having to deal with courtly intrigue, conspiracy and so forth, and he's found wanting in comparison to Sakumbe. Sakumbe also offers a mirror to Conan: a fellow barbarian like himself, but he becomes softened and complacent in rule, physically and mentally. A shame Howard never did anything with it, but then, we might not have "The Hour of the Dragon."
ReplyDeleteI agree with you; one of the elements that frustrated me a little is that there was so much more that could have been done with it. Howard could have made it a much longer piece - heck, another pastiche writer could probably have made a full novel out of it.
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