Conan the Rebel by Poul Anderson

Not so hot

I was feeling the need to read something different, so as I walked past the new books section at the library I saw a Conan book. I've never read Conan, but one of my friends is a giant fan, so I picked it up.

Poul Anderson (1926-2001)

The plot was pretty simple (hero gets even with sworn enemies who have wronged him in many ways, along the way he gets to use a magical weapon and fulfill some prophecy), but it was entertaining enough, especially in the middle. The ending was way too abrupt (he completes all of the above parenthetical accomplishments in 35 pages) and the language was too clunky. I realize its a style thing, but it's like Mr. Anderson sat in front of his typewriter with a thesaurus and looked for the more macho version of each verb used to describe Conan's behavior. He never throws anything, he heaves it. He always cleaves skulls, rather than splits them. I got tired of it rather quickly.

I rate this book 2 stars out of 5.

Reviewed on August 21, 2004.