A review by some_okie_dude27
The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian: Book One by Robert E. Howard

5.0

“I know this: if life is illusion, then I am no less an illusion, and being thus, the illusion is real to me. I live, I burn with life, I love, I slay, and am content.” -from Queen of The Black Coast

Robert E. Howard was a born storyteller, and once you begin to engage with his style, you find that it's hard to pull away once you start reading. While he had achieved some success with his Solomon Kane and Kull stories, I find that Conan might just be his magnum opus. I had relatively modest expectations when I started this book, but I was blown away by the surprisingly deft storytelling and language that Howard demonstrated here.

I doubt many people would disagree when I say that Howard is one of the best storytellers in fantasy, his Conan stories feel like stories that you'd hear in a bar from one of the boys. The Conan stories have a sense of feeling alive and vigorous as you read them. Howard's style and sense of mood are second to none and his sense of pure storytelling constantly had me engaged throughout this book. All of the stories in this collection are diverse, while also being bound together by the sense of tone and atmosphere. The fragmented style of Howard's stories give the feel of figments from a lost history that we didn't know about until now. It makes the world of Conan feel more mythic and ancient in scope.

Few can immerse you into a story quite like Howard can, and I was constantly taken aback by how much imagery he could impart through his descriptions alone. Howard's use of evocative, forceful language is enough to impress, and his attention to detail rose him above many of his contemporaries at the time, and even manages to outshine many of the writers working in the fantasy genre today. Howard sets a scene like a painter draws a vivd portrait, yet he is not overwrought. His language is focused and lucid, without a piece of fat or trivial attributes. Howard's sense of place and atmosphere gives his setting the type of life that you don't see as often as you would like in the fantasy genre.

While his style can sometimes be melodramatic in approach, I was impressed with Howard's gusto more often than not. His style isn't obsessively purple like his friend Lovecraft, and his sense of storytelling supersedes Lovecraft's, particularly in that Howard doesn't waste time with meaningless details and is very efficient with his storytelling. The Conan tales never feel too long or drawn out, and they end just as you start to feel them stretch out.

But for all of his talent, Howard is unapologetically a pulp writer and his stories are all unashamedly adventures. But what this book also brings is a sense of unpredictability to the types of stories that'll be told, while never losing sight of the tone as I mentioned before. You'll get a mystery story one minute, a political thriller next, and a cosmic horror story after that. His action scenes are also some of the best in the genre, often brimming with gusto and machismo without becoming too goofy. Even his flaws become enjoyable, as I humorously would pick them out as I read through the stories. Few authors can have me having fun with the story as I'm reading along, perhaps Gaiman or Mark Twain, but not many others.

Even with his flaws, Howard manages to play it much more intelligently than you'd expect from a pulp writer of the 30s, and the flaws do exist. The depiction of women might raise some eyebrows and the story "The Vale of Lost Women" certainly has some racist undertones, yet Howard isn't like Lovecraft, who used racist stereotypes with impunity and often (even if unconsciously) snuck in his own opinions about 'the other' in his work, he has a much more subtle touch, and often speaks in the voice of his characters, rather than allowing his own views to influence the story.

Even in The Queen of The Black Coast, we see a surprisingly tender and convincing romance between Conan and the titular Queen. It doesn't feel contrived or trite, and there's no sense that Conan views Belit as a prize to be conquered, but a partner based in understanding and mutual respect. Also in The Vale of Lost Women, the woman offers herself to Conan in exchange for freeing her, yet Conan laughs and says that it isn't necessary. Even if there are racist undertones with the African brigands that have kidnapped the poor woman, Howard showcases to have some more depth and complexity than people give him credit for.

The Conan stories also feels like a mission statement from Howard, about individualism and living your life the way that you want to and living life on your own terms. While that sounds like Conan is a sort of wish fulfillment for Howard, Howard proves to be much more clever in his approach than that. While he set the tone for many of the fantasy tropes to come, Howard writes Conan as the ultimate outsider: savage, yet intelligent, cunning, yet uneducated. Much of this reflects Howard's own feelings of being an outsider, but that might be reaching.

I might also dare to say that Howard rivals Tolkien in the sense of scope, which is even more impressive when you consider that Howard had much less to work with. Yet his world is just as vivid, immersive, and alive as Middle Earth is. I mean, if the old professor himself (allegedly) liked the Conan stories, then it seems that Howard was doing something right along the way.

I believe the last praise that I could give to this book is that it feels timeless. There isn't much in this book that feels too 'problematic' or worthy of concern (minus the stuff I already mentioned.) Howard has more verve, swagger, and vigor than many fantasy authors working today, and he managed to do what they couldn't with much less. I do hope that fantasy writers take more notes from Howard, but I'm hard pressed to find anyone who's yet to best him.