Reviews

Kull: Warrior King by Robert E. Howard

wildbillbourbon's review against another edition

5.0

Action packed. Gripping prose. You can feel the bloodshed.

agentdrake's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

blchandler9000's review against another edition

3.0

Here are the three original King Kull stories that Howard published before he turned his sword & sorcery focus to Conan. The stories are fine, of varying lengths, and feature wicked wizards, snake-men, and invading Romans. Kull is an introspective soul, which sets him apart from most other sword-swinging, blood-thirtsy barbarians, but fear not, reader, he loves a good fight, too. There's plenty of skulls crushed and bodies split and stabbed by weapons of all kinds.

There's a bit of disconnect between the tales. The first story features the snake-men and, after Kull battles them, he swears to exterminate the evil race, but those antagonists are—disappointingly—never met again here. The second tale is a much more internal, philosophical piece about a magician and his magic mirrors. If the reader isn't expecting more snake-men, it's a decent story. The final piece is a time travel story, where Kull is pulled millennia into his future (still the reader's past) to battle invading Romans alongside another of Howard's heroes, Bran Mak Morn.

The book is listed as illustrated, but it's pretty bare-bones as far as the pictures go. The publishers just took what appear to be public domain photos of old swords, helmets, and landscapes, and a couple clipart barbarians and inserted them in various places in the text. They certainly didn't add much to the stories. I guess Frank Frazetta and Mark Schultz were already booked.

valmer's review against another edition

5.0

Questo volume presenta tutte le storie brevi scritte da Robert E. Howard riguardanti Kull, il barbaro esule da Atlantide che ascender�� al trono di Valusia, il regno pi�� civilizzato dell'era Thuriana.

Il volume presenta i testi originali dell'autore texano nell'ordine in cui furono scritti.

Le storie di Kull, pur rappresentando un prototipo per quelle successive e pi�� famose riguardanti Conan, si differenziano da queste ultime sia per l'ambientazione (quasi tutte riguardano un Kull gi�� re e padrone del regno di Valusia), sia per il carattere del personaggio, pi�� riflessivo rispetto al Cimmero.

Index:

Am-Ra the Ta-An (Poem)
The Tale of Amra
Summer Morn
Exile of Atlantis
The Shadow Kingdom
The Mirrors of Tuzun Thune
untitled story (Longer)
Delcardes' Cat (The Cat and the Skull)
The (Sreaming) Skull of Silence
The Striking of the Gong
The Altar and the Scorpion
The Black City (Fragment)
The Curse of the Golden Skull
untitled story (Shorter)
By This Axe I Rule!
Swords of the Purple Kingdom
The King and the Oak (poem)
Kings of the Night