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<blockquote data-quote="Iron_Chef" data-source="post: 1335793" data-attributes="member: 4530"><p>I'm still not done with CONAN THE MERCENARY, but only have about 40 pages to go, considering all the illustrations taking up page count. I would have to agree with you that this book kind of sucks. It seems rushed, the writing is sloppy, the characters not as interesting as the other two books in Offut's Conan trilogy. It doesn't completely blow, it starts off okay, then starts losing steam quickly. There is a lot of redundancy in the descriptions, even using the same adjectives on the same page to describe the same thing! It's inexcusably sloppy and a bit of a chore to read through, though this is somewhat mitigated by its brevity (approx. 180 pages including 50 B&amp;W illustrations and two page chapter headings, LOL). I can see how this book could turn you off from reading Offut or any non-Howard Conan author's contributions to the series. My low opinion of CONAN THE MERCENARY nor does it change my extremely high opinion of Andrew J. Offut's bookends to the trilogy: CONAN AND THE SORCERER and THE SWORD OF SKELOS, which make CONAN THE MERCENARY unneccessary. Despite what some say, while there may never be another Robert E. Howard, there will always be more good Conan stories, even if they must be mixed in among the bad. CONAN THE MERCENARY, despite all its faults, is still not as painful as CONAN THE GLADIATOR by Leonard Carpenter or CONAN THE REBEL by Poul Anderson. I would say go to your used bookstore and thumb through copies of Offut's other two Conans, which, IMO, rank as some of the best non-Howard Conans I've read (and I've read a lot!).</p></blockquote><p></p>

[QUOTE="Iron_Chef, post: 1335793, member: 4530"] I'm still not done with CONAN THE MERCENARY, but only have about 40 pages to go, considering all the illustrations taking up page count. I would have to agree with you that this book kind of sucks. It seems rushed, the writing is sloppy, the characters not as interesting as the other two books in Offut's Conan trilogy. It doesn't completely blow, it starts off okay, then starts losing steam quickly. There is a lot of redundancy in the descriptions, even using the same adjectives on the same page to describe the same thing! It's inexcusably sloppy and a bit of a chore to read through, though this is somewhat mitigated by its brevity (approx. 180 pages including 50 B&W illustrations and two page chapter headings, LOL). I can see how this book could turn you off from reading Offut or any non-Howard Conan author's contributions to the series. My low opinion of CONAN THE MERCENARY nor does it change my extremely high opinion of Andrew J. Offut's bookends to the trilogy: CONAN AND THE SORCERER and THE SWORD OF SKELOS, which make CONAN THE MERCENARY unneccessary. Despite what some say, while there may never be another Robert E. Howard, there will always be more good Conan stories, even if they must be mixed in among the bad. CONAN THE MERCENARY, despite all its faults, is still not as painful as CONAN THE GLADIATOR by Leonard Carpenter or CONAN THE REBEL by Poul Anderson. I would say go to your used bookstore and thumb through copies of Offut's other two Conans, which, IMO, rank as some of the best non-Howard Conans I've read (and I've read a lot!). [/QUOTE]

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