Conan - Blood of the Serpent

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Super-Persistent Predator: The novel features a considerable variety of dangerous predators that pursue their victims with a vicious persistence at odds with their known behavior. Justified Trope because there is nothing natural about the animals' behavior, it is the result of the sorcery of a Priest of Set who is compelling them to try to kill Valeria. Said sorcerer/priest also puts a dying curse on Conan to make every predator in the region come after him. The second half of this book is a bit better, if a bit meandering. Avoiding spoilers again it is fun (if scatterbrained) sustained chase across a pre-historic Africa that sees Conan stumble into a bit of a side quest in much the same way the players might ignore the plot hooks of an exciteable DM. I am a Hyborian Age scholar. Stirling does a fairly good job. I did note he has the River Styx more south than in the maps of the Hyborian Age. Stirling knows his ancient and medieval warfare and knows how to write a battle scene. I thought it was enjoyable but maybe a little underwhelming when I first completed Sterling’s portion of the book. But the publisher did something clever. They included the original Red Nails which this new content is a prequel to. When you read the opening chapter of Red Nails you can really see the groundwork for Sterling’s novel. Conan being a bit boastful and overly exposition laden in his dialogue informs his POV voice that Sterling used. The fight with the “dragon” that focuses on the threat of the natural world(and Conan’s understanding of it) made Sterling’s very different approach to a Conan story make sense. It really made me appreciate the new material more seeing the context that inspired it and having the story conclude with Red Nails. The pulse-pounding return of Conan, the most iconic fantasy hero in popular culture, with a brand-new standalone novel by New York Times bestselling author S.M. Stirling, tied directly to the famous tales written by the legendary Robert E. Howard.

Interspersed within the book are interior illustrations by Robert De La Torre which are perfectly serviceable.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: As a final statement I have to make my discontent known about a sentence made in the afterword where Stirling gives thanks: “To the folks at Titan Books, for deciding to do a new series hewing more closely to R. E. Howard’s vision.” To my ears that sounds like a slam to what came before. I sincerely doubt this book will be as successful as the Lancer/Ace series and probably not even the Tor series. I hope I’m wrong but a slam against what I (and millions, in the case of the Lancers) enjoyed before does not seem the best foot to start the new journey. Before I forget I also wanted to bring up the other main character, Valeria. If you've read Red Nails then you know who she is. If not, no worries, because this book introduces her for the first time officially. She is a stellar character, almost equal to Conan in fighting prowess and highly intelligent. Their interactions throughout are part of what makes this story compelling. I'll say no morem Let me begin by saying this book has a lot to like. The descriptions of the food, cultures, people and natural vistas of REH's world are absolutely fantastic. Conan's reminiscing of his homeland of Cimmeria would be captivating and among the PROs I have listed but their length, timing and overuse shift it into the CON category for me. This book takes place prior to Robert E. Howard's Red Nails. Stirling has obviously done his homework and comes up with a plausible geopolitical scenario for Stygia and the surrounding kingdoms which fits into and expands upon the groundwork that Howard laid.

However, as far as this fan's concerned it didn't make much difference to me. I loved what was on offer here as I found myself immensely impressed by Stirling's knowledge and command of the lore, history, geography, peoples, cultures and characters, that when things are mentioned it feels consistent with the source material. The world and people are similar enough to me that the difference of writing style and even genre to an extent do not bother me whatsoever. I absolutely love this book for all that it is. As other reviewers stated it does drag sometimes as again we are used to Conan driving the action forward and getting to the heart of a problem and resolving it (although he needed a lot of external help during Hour of the Dragon, not gonna lie). Here, in his earlier years he is not a king, and follows other masters. He is known to have been a thief, a mercenary, a soldier, a pirate, whatever warms the bed and fills the belly. This will be a little frustrating to some who prefer Conan and his villains to mostly drive the plot as he is bound to the quest of his soldiery or mercenary band. Conan believes the difference between his time as a thief and the Sukhmet street thugs is that Conan never accosted folk on the street, instead robbing from rich and powerful in their own homes, including a magician and a fallen god. He did, indeed, try to steal from a place occupied by a magician and what could be considered a fallen god in " The Tower of the Elephant."

For me Sword & Sorcery like REH is not political correct but feels a lot more female enhancing than quite a few modern books, his Valeria is a tough and vulnerable lady who can take care of herself. And Conan is not a civilized person, he is a smart barbarian with great fighting skills and a great military mind. 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 This was my first reading of Red Nails. Coming so late to it I cannot help but look at it with apathy. Once the players are introduced everything that happens is evident long before it happens. It certainly was not the best S&S I've ever read. The menace and horror of the setting and situation is palpable and helps make up for the transparent plot. The denouement is also rather cliché to the jaded reader.

I think he has written a couple of introductions in the REH Baen series & the intro(s?) to some of the Harold Lamb Bison books. And on that note I have to mention the stellar voice narration ability from Bradford Hastings. He pronounced things a little different from what I'm used to but his characterizations, gruff and gritty Conan voice, smooth narration all came together in a much appreciable way. It was voice butter for my ear bread.Conan muses about Stygians keeping pet snakes, considered sacred thanks to the country's official god being Set, but is thankful Sukhmet doesn't have the larger serpents, like Khemi does, and notes those snakes are permitted to wander and devour whoever they want, as avatars of Set, and that Conan has killed one instead of let it eat him. Conan will face another such serpent, and kill it instead of letting it eat him, in " The Hour of the Dragon."