Conan

Conan has long been my favorite literary character. if you're a fan of the original pulp books than this is for you. most of Howard's story's in one great package. my only complaint is the narrator pronounces Cimmerian, kinda bugs me, but what can you do.

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Worth every penny

Great audio book. Very happy with it. Worth every penny. I would buy it again.

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Robert E Howard was the best

Robert E Howard has to be the most underrated author who ever lived! His skill as writer is unmatched whe it comes to painting the scene in your head. The narrator does a wonderful job except in The hour of the dragon which for some reason he uses a different voice for Conan than all the other stories!? I assume it is because it was the first story recorded and then the voice was changed . Other than that the narration is really great. Highly Recommend this for any Conan fan.

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This was everything I hoped them to be.

I was so entertained by these familiar stories I’ve read in several versions from the comics. Except the comics offer much less of the small details to difficult to describe within the limited pages and format of a comic.
The reader differentiates voices well enough and I wouldn’t expect a great female voice so I can’t critique that. A man doing a female voice just made them sound old but by no means did it take way how the women’s actions or descriptions described.
I will be starting this over on my commute home today, and would recommend it.
I wish a good tv series could be made of these stories with a correct depiction of Conan.

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Overall great

Great to get into the stories which birthed the sword and sorcery genre.

My only complaint was the Heart of the Dragon. The same narrator but he used a different voice and tone for Conan. The performance was great throughout the entire book but this seems like it’s just a separate project that was edited into this audio book and it shows as the narrator’s performance differs so greatly.

Otherwise it’s a great set of stories and I’ll listen to it more than once that’s for sure. Narrator is still 8/10 overall as well.

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1 person found this helpful

Amazing stories

Robert E Howard was an artist when he told his stories with characters that jumped off the page and settings that made me think I was there. I started listening because I started playing Conan exiles and wanted to know more lore but what I found was so much more. I also have to say that the narrator was incredibly brilliant in his way of telling the story my only wish is that he would do more audio books for more of Robert E Howards work. Finn D. J Jhon was made to read Robert E howards work.

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Amazing!!!!

I wish people still wrote books this good!!! Had me captivated from start to finish, truly an original gem.

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A great collection of much of the Conan stories

This collection is well worth the buy. There's a great deal of variety in the stories and the author of the collection and it's notes also does a fairly good job of narration - often reminding me of the style of LeVar Burton.

The stories are excellent and varied. Early fantasy fiction at its finest. Today, we certainly would expect more complete character development and a little less Mary Sue from our protagonists, but largely Howard achieves a fun and immersive world, defining tropes along with compatriates such as Lovecraft and Tolkien.

The author/narrator misses something I feel is very important. He fails to note much of the language we simply wouldn't use today could potentially be jarring to someone with modern sensibilities. By not mentioning these things, I feel it does a disservice to the original works in potentially turning off new audiences to Howard's works.

For example, the earliest descriptions do cite that this is a version of our world before recorded history - a forgotten time. As such, when the Howard does highlight that there are very isolated tribes and therefore distinct in every way such as skin colour and manarism. A character would then likely describe others by their perceived "savagery" or the "blacks" or "browns" or "ivories" of skin tone. Even concepts such as "race" are more heavily leaned on, as was typical of Howard's time. Clearly, we wouldn't write this today. Again though, it's important to see that each character - especially Conan - are written of in much the same way. Each is "barbaric", or "savage" as described by and in relativity to each other character or group.

Even Howard's writing of women is potentially alarming. I do think the author of the collection and it's notes does a better job of describing how to get published Howard had to write damsels in distress amongst other tropes that could have him printed or even better paid by being featured on the cover of Weird Tales. Historically, the clout earned by Howard allowed him to give heroines their own prime time, which largely was unheard of in his era.

If anyone doubts Howard as a man who loved and respected women, there's a great letter he wrote to a friend when goaded by other friends to do so. He highlights his love and respect for women.

In terms of race, we see him using short hand of the day and often referencing specific groups/tribes/kingdoms as being "cannibals" or other terrifying sorts, though these are specific to these groups. We also see his writing grow by having slaves of other groups freed or by offering to support whole communities he's only just met. And it's also important to remember that Conan has traveled from the West of this pre-history world into the regions where most people would not be of his tribe, his skin colour or his likeness of any sort. So it would be jarring to see such descriptions that one would otherwise reasonably wonder about his social leanings without appropriate consideration and context.

Take this work of Howard with a grain of salt. Know that he wasn't a perfect person, but seems to have evolved his writing to showcase power, vitality and freedom as his main objective for all his protagonists.

Then just sit back and enjoy the stories.

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Feel Free To Ignore The Commentary

"Sword & Sorcery" fantasy is an established genre thanks to Robert E. Howard.. and this painstakingly-compiled collection of every Depression-era 'Conan The Barbarian' story ever published demonstrates why it became so popular - spawning comicbooks & graphic novels, influencing countless films & books, and informing many of the best RPGs available. The formula is strikingly sophomoric [every story involves confronting unnatural foes, wantonly killing with naked steel, and ravaging (eventually willing) wenches], but Howard's characters are surprisingly rich, the action is well-scripted, and descriptions - while often fairly subdued - prompt mind's-eye imagination.
The introductory remarks and short recaps before each Howard story by author/annotator Finn J.D. John are scholarly and collated authoritatively from newspaper critics, English Lit professors, and books written on the author, but they're honestly pretty dry. Yes, John's insights (and organization) put the imaginations of Mr. Howard into context, but the fantasy itself is the true star of this audiobook.

Two observations:
1. As John points out, Conan plots are unapologetically superficial and quite trope-y - but I think that's more due to the short novella format that publication in 'Weird Tales' demanded than the simple need to write something commercial and pay bills. Regardless, the writing is fed by a broad vocabulary and is actually pretty sophisticated
2. The accompanying PDF is incredibly useful: those who like reading along with the audiobook will doubtless appreciate it (I used it more for the Index and map of Conan's world). Many thanks are owed to the producers for this brilliant addition.

Regarding the performance: Finn J.D. John clearly loves his subject matter and reads with remarkable emotiveness, but his amateur status as a narrator shows through: His diction, timbre, and cadence are creditable, but his tone is slightly too serious, he reads a little too slowly (I found listening at 1.10X was optimal), and his voice-acting is burdened with stereotypes & melodrama: Female characters have a chuckleworthy falsetto and his Conan sounds like Arnold Schwarzenegger playing the bad guy in a Bruce Lee movie, for example.
Pulp-Lit Productions probably should have insisted on a professional reader.

Fans of Fantasy/SciFi like me will absolutely enjoy this iteration of the complete Conan catalogue. It's a little too much to listen to all 139 Chapters of this audiobook consecutively (I recommend breaking the collection up and listening to something else intermittently), but it's an excellent diversion over a few days.

Altogether, this recording would be a 9 star production with better performance, but as it stands, I still judge the product worthy of 7.5 stars out of 10. Enjoy.

TO THE PRODUCERS: The Chapters in the Audiobook are off from the PDF guide by one. Simply renaming the Opening Credits "Chapter One" would fix this..and yield a 139 chapter recording as listed

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4 people found this helpful

Excellent writing paired with a talented narrator.

I didn't truly appreciate the narration of Finn J. D. John until I listened to something else - this was my first try at a true audio book experience.

As for the stories of Conan; I found the writing of Robert E. Howard to be very interesting and exciting - I realize that the stories don't age well - and will likely offend many thay listen to it as it comes of as incredibly racially insensitive or sexist at several parts - if you can look past this, and immerse yourself in the world Robert has laid out, and you enjoy fantasy stories of the Sword & Sorcery genre (Robert E. Howard is often credited as being the father of said genre.), then Robert E. Howard's Conan the Cimmerian Barbarian: The Complete Weird Tales Omnibus is definitely worth giving a shot.


(I've listened to it several times already; Finn's narration truly is something to be appreciated - I don't find it difficult to imagine the characters he's portraying, even when the character is female - he has a very wide range and is a talented storyteller - I find it helps to evoke the powerful imagery Robert uses in his writing.)

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2 people found this helpful