Robert Jordan Conan Stories, are other Conan stories like this?

OK, I'm reading a bunch of the Robert Jordan "Conan" stories, and while I'm into them and all, especially how The Red Hawk is a continuing plotline throughout quite a few, but has anybody else noticed that when it comes time for the biggest and best part of the stories, the big fights against whatever supernatural beastie Conan is going to slay(be it demon, wizard, or dragon), he boils it down to "Conan stabs it, it's dead"? It seems kinda disappointing to me.

blackshirt5 said:

OK, I'm reading a bunch of the Robert Jordan "Conan" stories, and while I'm into them and all, especially how The Red Hawk is a continuing plotline throughout quite a few, but has anybody else noticed that when it comes time for the biggest and best part of the stories, the big fights against whatever supernatural beastie Conan is going to slay(be it demon, wizard, or dragon), he boils it down to "Conan stabs it, it's dead"? It seems kinda disappointing to me.

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Well, it depends. See, Jordan isn't the only writer to do Conan. Robert E. Howard was the first, and there's also L. Sprague de Camp, who finished some Howard stories, rewrote others, and wrote some to fill in some gaps in the Conan storyline. And they're not the only ones. Each other has their own style too. Howard was the best; although most of his are stand-alone stories written for pulp magazines of the '30s, they're a lot of fun to read. I've read a few of Jordan's Conan stories, and they're usually pretty good, but they tend to be a bit more complex than Howard's stories.

Anyway, yeah Conan usually kicks the crap out of the big villain without much sweat. Maybe it's a holdover from Howard's short stories, those involved shorter plots that didn't take as long to resolve, where Jordan's stories are novel-length. I don't really know. I haven't read his Conan stuff in quite a while either, so I don't remember it that well.

Jordan's weren't bad. Some of the other modern writers did ok too, but Howards origanal stuff is by far the best.

You trying to say that Robert Jordan wrote a book a that ties up the plot in only ONE book? I say you are liar

Dagger75 said:

You trying to say that Robert Jordan wrote a book a that ties up the plot in only ONE book? I say you are liar

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I don't know a Jordan book that spends the all the time on story and then squeezes the fight into the very last page, that sounds very Jordan. Has he done any chapters that were just Conan taking a bath?

Haven't read any of the Conan books, I heard Jordan's books were ok but everybody I have ever talked to about it said the originals were the best.

Despite Jordan's masterful descriptions and incredibly interesting world histories and cultures, I see the same "anti-climactic" problems even with WoT. We usually get about 1000 pages of methodical journeying, foreshadowing & slow build-up; and then each book's "final confrontation" is squeezed into what sometimes feels like a simple 10 page splurt.


I've always been curious about the Conan books though. Hey Blackshirt5; care to give a quick summary and capsule review of each of the Jordan/Conan books you've read so far? I'd be really interested to read what you have to say.

I'm reading the Howard and De Camp stories after these ones are over, I'm on the last Jordan story I've got right now. They can all be boiled down to the basic principle of "Conan spent his coin on ale and whores, now he needs more ale and more whores, hey let's kill a sorcerer while we're writing it anyway."

I'll give a quick summary of each one:
Conan the Invincible: The first story in The Conan Chronicles, this one still sticks out as my favorite of the Jordan Conan stories; it introduces us to a few characters that makes reappearances later on(Karla the Red Hawk, and Hordo), and also features a very sinister necromancer named Amanar. Definitely one of the better stories, also scored points because Conan fails in his first attempt to kill Amanar, which we don't see a lot of in the later stories.

Conan the Defender: While in the revolution torn streets of Belverus, Conan is pursued by one woman while trying to bring down the invincible Simulacrum of Albanus. Honestly, this one didn't spark the imagination too much; not one of his better efforts. Features Disposable Wench #1(some artist, or poet or something. Disposable Wench's are those that don't appear in more than one story.). I don't remember much about this story, which is not a good sign.

Conan the Unconquered:Conan gets mixed up in the fight against a dangerous cult of doomsayers known as the Cult of Doom(inspired, eh?) who preach about the end of the world, that is lead by a dangerous foreign sorcerer. Honestly, I really liked this one, as it showed some internal conflict within Conan without really cheesing it up, and the foreign assassins are great(but of course when Conan fights them they get blown away by the mighty power of Jordan's "stab. dead." storytelling), but I was a bit disappointed not to read about the wholesale destruction that should have followed after the falling of the cult(read the story and you'll understand why). But still, a good story.

Conan the Magnificent: Wow. Ok, this story started to get me pumped, it's got a great prologue where it shows you "The Beast of Fire", a young dragon seen as a sign of divinity by the savage hill tribes. But it's got a plot hole that you could walk Conan carrying the T-800's rusted out metal corpse through(the sword Flame Slayer). Definitely on my list of stories that I'll avoid in the future. Unlike Amanar or even Albanus(from "Conan the Defender"), the mage in this story is about as scary as Louie Anderson. Also has one of the worst cop-out killings in the series(Eldran throws Conan the Flame Slayer, which is a no-no, because it was supposed to disappear if it left Eldran's person at all; Conan stabs the Beast of Fire. It's dead. Yay. Badoom-boom-boom.).

Conan the Triumphant: A much better story than the one that precedes it(Conan The Most-PlotHoley...I mean Magnificent), Conan the Triumphant has everything I could want out of a Conan story: massive amounts of slaying, good story, attractive wenches, sorcery, an enormous demon-god bent on being released from his extradimensional prison so he can continue to prey upon women, and of course, Karla the Red Hawk(who despite the fact that she just had sex with Conan and he's unconscious next to him, doesn't jam her dagger into his heart. At least she's got manners. ). Definitely a good one.

I finished reading Conan The Buccaneer by L. Sprague De Camp & Lin Carter last week. This is not the best in the series and having our barbarian hero speak pirate-talk seems wrong. I much love the original works by Howard and the novel-length books by modern-day writers almost always seem to be a let down.

I think I've actually got Conan the Buccaneer out of the library. I'll read that one next.

I have to say that if you can find them, the Conan stories written by Steve Perry are pretty decent. I lik ethem better than the Jordan ones.