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Title: Conan, Lord of the Black
River
Series: Conan the Barbarian #23
Author:
Leonard Carpenter
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre:
Fantasy
Pages: 230
Words:
79K
This was slightly better than the
previous Conan book by Leonard Carpenter, but it really feels like
Carpenter is missing some essential ingredient to really make this
feel like a Conan novel. Whatever.
I hadn’t realized that Carpenter has
written eleven of these pastiches and did so from 1986 to 1996. As
such, it does matter which order you read them. This one, Lord of the
Black River, was the last to be written. It makes reference to
previous characters (of whom I had no idea who they were) and
situations, but it was all surface level stuff so it didn’t REALLY
matter.
Unfortunately, this was exactly the
same in tone as Conan the Hero. Why TOR allowed Carpenter to
write so many Conan novels is beyond me. Maybe because he could churn
out one a year for eleven years in a row? I have nine of the eleven
on my tbr (including this and the previous one) and I have a feeling
that I’m going to end up sounding like a recording for each one.
These are adequate hyborean age sword fantasy stories, but they are
not Conan stories.
Excitement, that is what is missing! In
one scene, Conan and the crews of the ships he is commanding are
sailing down a big river. They encounter a gigantic electric eel
(this scene is the basis for the cover) and eventually kill it. But
the entire scene lacked excitement. It should have been scary, tense,
thrilling. Instead, it was very lackadaisical and pedestrian. It was
like reading about a group of tourists crossing the street in New
York City. And even I can imagine ways to make that exciting. A
boring Conan story is anathema to me, so we’ll see how many more I
get through before trying another author. (already being in the
mindset of quitting is not a good place to be)
★★★☆☆
From Wikipedia
After successfully fulfilling his
commission to overthrow a tyrannical baron in Koth, Conan travels
into Baalur, a city-state in Shem. The queen of Baalur, Rufia, needs
his aid. Baalur is suffering from a plague cast upon it by Zeriti, an
old enemy of his previously believed dead. Zeriti seeks to settle a
score dating from Conan's previous encounter with the two women, told
in the story "Hawks Over Shem", and her curse is
transforming Rufia's subjects into hideous zombies.
With an army of Baalurian soldiers,
Conan begins his journey to retrieve a white lotus, the primary
antidote for removing Zeriti's cruse, said to only bloom near the
source of the Styx, the infamous black river. His army marches across
the city-state of Nedrezzar before reaching the port city of Asgalun,
where they set sail for the Styx, which serves as a boundary between
Shem and the ancient kingdom of Stygia. The crew follow the river
down a vast tributary to the east and travel south as it flows into
the Black Kingdoms. The expedition encounter many dangers along the
way, including pirates, hostile local rulers, religious cults, and
cannibals before reaching the Styx's headwaters.
At the source of the Styx, they face
their worst and final challenge, Zeriti's bloodthirsty undead lover.
However, the white lotus is finally secured and Conan's crewmembers
return down the river. After a final encounter with Zeriti
in Asgalun, they return to Baalur and cure the city's
inhabitants.
