The Complete Chronicles of Conan

Robert E. Howard. Orion Publishing. (944p) ISBN: 9780575077669
The Complete Chronicles of Conan

The Complete Chronicles of Conan

Decided to stop reading this early as it was really not for me any longer, enjoyed it in the past but it is so boring now.

Always a big Conan fan though even at an early age I could see the racist stereotypes that he used throughout his works, and though he always liked buxom women there were quite a few strong female characters that didn’t always need rescuing, but these stories are still incredibly dated.

and this is a bit of a worry, I’ve not read any Conan for about 25 years and could see myself possibly hating them now, but going to give them a try as I know I’m still capable of reading Lovecraft, but I never put down Lovecraft for a period of time so not sure what I’ll get out of Howard.

Conan the Cimmerian: the boy-thief who became a mercenary, who fought and loved his way across fabled lands to become King of Aquilonia. Neither supernatural fiends nore demonic sorcery could oppose the barbarian warrior as he wielded his mighty sword and dispatched his enemies to a bloody doom on the battlefields of the legendary Hyborian age.

Collected together in one volume for the very first time, in chronological order, are Robert E. Howard’s tales of the legendary hero, as fresh and atmospheric today as when they were first published in the pulp magazines of more than seventy years ago.

Compiled by and with a foreward and afterword by award-winning writer and editor Stephen Jones.

The Hyborean Age

All my worries aside I’d completely forgotten how turgid and long-winded a lot of Robert E. Howard’s writing could be. This is a short fictional history that places the world and peoples of the Conan cycle within our world, all pre-cataclysmic and it is here we get a flavour of his racist views as the language he uses is very much weighted about savages and barbarians.
Taking all this into account though we get a glimpse of his imagination and world building and it feels very thorough.

Cimmeria (verse)

About as pompous as fantasy verse can get, not for me.

The Phoenix on the Sword

Was a bit thrown by this being near the end of the Conan storyline and that the stories aren’t necessarily going to be in chronological order, but this was still a solid story of Conan against enemies and beasts from the pits of darkness. The thing about being out of order is that there is no character growth/depth as we are meant to already have all that knowledge, but I suppose there has never been any real depth to the character anyway. We meet Thoth-Amon once more but massively changed, the whole story felt a bit thin and rushed though.

The Scarlet Citadel

The Tower of the Elephant

Black Colossus

The Slithering Shadow

The Pool of the Black One

Rogues in the House

Shadows in the Moonlight

Queen of the Black Coast

The Devil in Iron

The People in the Black Circle

A Witch Shall Be Born

Jewels of Gwahlur

Beyond the Black River

Shadows in Zamboula

Red Nails

The Hour of the Dragon (verse)

The Hour of the Dragon

The God in the Bowl

The Black Stranger

The Frost-Giant’s Daughter

Drums of Tombalku (draft)

The Vale of Lost Women

Wolves Beyond the Border (draft)

The Snout in the Dark (draft)

The Hall of the Dead (synopsis)

The Hand of Nergal (fragment)

Notes on Various People of the Hyborian Age


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Everything Is Fine

Mike Birchall. Panini Publishing. (264p) ISBN: 9781804912133
Everything Is Fine

Everything Is Fine

OK that was well weird…

Set in a dystopian world of box houses on estates that are identical to each other for as far as the eye can see. Sam and Maggie live a perfect life, with a perfect dog, perfect neighbours, and with no need to forget anything as everything is perfect.

This perfection doesn’t last long as there are hints of something not quite right from the very start, like images at the corner of your eye that when you try to bring them into focus disappear.

The darkness in this perfect world builds throughout the book, especially when Tom arrives on the scene, but there are dark edges from the very beginning you just have to be in tune to some of them.

A great read and I’m so looking forward to Volume 2, well worth a dive in for a light horror with complex storytelling in a very simple format.

I received this from Panini Publishing in exchange for an honest review.


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Wild: Tales from Early Medieval Britain

Amy Jeffs. Quercus Publishing. (224p) ISBN: 9781529426816
Wild: Tales from Early Medieval Britain

Wild: Tales from Early Medieval Britain

This came into the shop early and didn’t even have time to hit the floor before I had bought it I was looking forward to it so much.

I had really loved the storytelling and art work in Storyland and when I found out that there was a sequel coming out covering the early medieval period in a similar fashion I was excited.

Once more I consumed this whole book in a couple of sittings (I’m on holiday so have the spare time) and loved the way that the author takes old stories, this time mainly from the Exeter Book, and reinvigorates them with a modern sensibility.

For me this gives the poems and tales far more immediacy and a way to relate to them more than reading a translation, no matter how good. There is a genuine attempt at real storytelling which seems to be lacking in straight translations, making them a living and breathing thing once more as they would have been when originally written.

Once more Amy Jeffs supports these tales with beautiful ink prints at the start of each story, this time wood engravings, which tease the tale in graphic form.

My only real disappointment is that there weren’t more tales to read, another beautifully researched and produced book.

Looking forward to the next (fingers-crossed).


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The Serpent and the Wings of Night

Carissa Broadbent. Pan Macmillan. (592p) ISBN: 9781035040957
The Serpent and the Wings of Night

The Serpent and the Wings of Night

Another I picked up as a couple of close friends loved it, and I’ve got to say that their taste has been impeccable so far, but don’t tell them that!

Sometimes you think the vampire thing has been done to death and then someone comes along with a great play on all the tropes and refreshes the genre for you, this is what The Serpent and the Wings of Night has done here.

Set in a world where competing vampire clans rule a portion of it under the protection of their Goddess Nyaxia who was ejected from the main Pantheon. A group of petty and cruel gods who are definitely along the Greek style where they are as nasty as their worshipers.

The Kejari trial is a cruel and bloody contest where the winner is granted a wish from Nyaxia.

The character and world building in this book is magnificent, getting to the depths of most of the main characters (knowing some of them are being filed away for bigger parts in the future), exploring the different societies, hinting at human held lands outside of the vampire territories, and really describing the powers of each clan and their interactions so thoroughly.

You would have thought that this would have distracted from the story telling but the pace and tension was perfect for practically the whole book and was on it’s way to being a solid five star read for me, but then…

Got to admit I found the chapter with the sex scene in it so cheesy that it feels added on rather than natural, for me it cheapened all the build up throughout the book of their mutual bond. The love, trust, sacrifice, and mutual respect turned into a block of M&S Chilli Cheddar (other brands are available) and really didn’t add anything to the story.

Looking forward to book 2 to see where the sroty unfolds and hopefully for the return of Mische, and I had my suspicions about what Raihn was.

Even with my reservations I’m looking forward to hand selling this one as it’s such a ‘can’t put down’ read.


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How to Read a Tree

Tristan Gooley. Hodder & Stoughton. (320p) ISBN: 9781529339628
How to Read a Tree

How to Read a Tree

I had to pick this up as soon as I saw a paperback copy of it as I always love a good piece of nature writing, especially about trees!

The book is built into chapters that explore aspects of the structure of a tree or how it interacts with its environment.

For example the chapter ‘The Roots’ talks about how roots are influenced by various environmental interactions and how these can be used to navigate using these signs.

This idea of using trees as a navigational aid is the core of the book, but this is always supported with how the tree interacts with its environment and what type of tree it is, tortoise or hare.

Really enjoyed this format for looking at natural phenomena as it worked for my mind, each chapter had fascinating facts which built on and reinforced the facts and ideas from the previous chapters helping to build a complete picture of how to use all this information that was coming in great small packets.

This is a great book to read in a couple of sittings, but is also prefect to dip in and out of when you have five/ten minutes as each chapter is broken down into small sections within it.

Even better as it’s not that heavy a book is to have it with you as you explore trees, looking for the signs that Tristan explains (which is what I’m going to do 😁)

A great addition to any natural history collection which helps to get to know our natural world a little bit better and appreciate out leafy neighbours better.


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20 Books of Summer 2024

#20BooksofSummer24

#20BooksofSummer24

I tried to do this once previously but found I kept getting distracted and didn’t quite get there in the end.

So I’ve decided to try this again and I’m using it as another stick/carrot to keep up to date with the ARCs from NetGalley that I’ve been given.

I’m going to pin this post so that you can see the progress throughout the three months from 1st June to 1st September.

This is the 10th year of the annual Summer challenge that originated with Cathy on 746 Books blog where you can find out more details of the challenge.

  1. Everything Is Fine (10/06/24)
  2. The Ministry of Time (15/06/24)
  3. Cursed Under London (19/06/24)
  4. The Night Mother Vol.1 (14/07/24)
  5. We Called Them Giants (14/07/24)
  6. Crave (15/07/24)
  7. The Undermining of Twyla and Frank (16/07/24)
  8. SmörgåsBOARD (31/07/24)
  9. Invasive (31/07/24)
  10. Of Cattle and Men (01/08/24)
  11. Byobu (02/08/24)
  12. Tender (06/08/24)
  13. The Story of Art Without Men (13/08/24)
  14. Psych 101: Psychology Facts, Basics, Statistics, Tests, and More! (Adams 101 Series) (20/08/24)
  15. wild card
  16. wild card
  17. wild card
  18. wild card
  19. wild card
  20. wild card

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