An amazing and fulfilling tie-in to one of the most chilling Conan Tales written by R E Howard

This book does not get enough love. An epic journey across the Hyborean equivalent of Africa, two supporting black characters who are done justice by Stirling and the most richly detailed and compelling Conan story I’ve had the pleasure of reading. Much more engaging than Emerald Lotus and City of the Dead. The majority of this text is the story of the Blood of the Serpent and features Conan in his career as a mercenary leader under the command of Zerrallo alongside the fiery pirate Valeria who suffers no-man who displays a licentious interest in her and is a whirlwind force of nature in her own right.

The lush backdrop of a mythical African landscape with epic battle with great beasts both real and fictional that Conan journeys across made the story an enchanting one to listen to. I felt loathe to continue listening as I neared the end because I rarely find such a treasure to listen to for the ears with this story.

Included is of course Red Nails as well, narrated by the same brilliant narrator who gives Conan the commanding growl and presence he deserves.

Another note- I certainly was happy that the author included two additional black characters for Conan to ally himself with, one a leader of a lion hunting tribe who joins Conan in his mercenary escort mission and another a warrior priestess in desperate need to save her fellow priestesses from the clutches of a bandit horde as Conan pursues Valeria to rescue her from the Stygian officer. Conan is shown to be both nuanced, well learned in the languages of other people and also very diplomatic and respectful of other cultures and religions, which I’m sure makes up the rather blithe and sadly racist throwaway line he says to Valeria at the start of Red Nails about not liking women of a certain ethnicity, or the unflattering way the warring people in Red Nails are described as well. The story actually retcons the line to be something of a barefaced lie just so he does not risk suggesting that he finds women who look anything other than like Valeria attractive, at the risk of spoilers. You’ll have to read or listen to the story to figure it out.

This story is one of the perfect and riveting translations of Conan for the modern day audiences and makes me believe that Conan continues to deserves his place in the spotlight. I hope to see more of these stories from the author about Conan and look forward to reading or listening to it if or when he releases it.

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Blood and Poetry

This book will fill your hunger for Sword and sorcery with splattering's of blood and poetic writing, it's a must for all those who have fierce women and men inside them.

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Good

I thought it was ok, I was hoping for more action, fights and Conan trouble but it was a bit light on danger.

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1 person found this helpful

This is Conan alright 🙂

Not a pastiche of Howard, style very different and a longer form, but by Crom it has his spirit! 🙂

The narrator has a wonderful Conan voice too, hope more of these turn up.

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1 person found this helpful

Epic Conan saga

For those that enjoy Conan stories this just up uour street. We'll read with a good about of detail in the country to help emmerse you into the adventure without losing pace.

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Includes Red Nails

And to be honest that is by far the best part of this book, great narration

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1 person found this helpful

Be aware, this doesn't include Red Nails!

The story itself was ok if you like long treks through the countryside with mostly animal attacks and shoehorned references to other Conan stories, but it wasn't really a Conan book, more like a clumsy caricature of Conan. The performance was so so, the voice used for Valeria was grating. Most disappointing, the audiobook version doesn't include Red Nails despite clearly saying it does.

Returned for a refund as I was already disappointed with the book, but thought I would at least get an audio version of Red Nails, but nope.

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