ANHOW Review of Books: "The People of the Black Circle" by Robert E. Howard -- Adilbrand Noblesword's Hall of Warriors

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Date Posted: 17:22:51 09/10/02 Tue
Author: Mt. Healthy Mountaineer
Subject:

ANHOW Review of Books: "The People of the Black Circle" by Robert E. Howard
In reply to: Adilbrand 's message, "If you read Conan, please read only Robert E. Howard" on 10:43:39 05/23/02 Thu

Genre: Fantasy
Published: Orbit House

I have dragged up a rather lengthy thread about Conan since my review of this book is directly linked to my review of "Conan the Rebel" by Poul Anderson. Adilbrand handed me a copy of a collection of 4 Conan stories, 3 written by his creator, Robert E. Howard. Since it was recommended to me that I go straight to the source, I picked the first Howard story in the compilation.

Now, I know that Howard is a BIG favorite amongst the posters on this forum. However, I can say, without reservation, that I am not. I found all of things that I found most annoying in the Anderson Conan book magnified by a factor of 10 in this story. While it was vivid, I found it to be vivid like a caricature. While caricatures are entertaining for a while, they do get old.

The book reminded me of these types of pictures - click here to see what I am talking about. I never have been much impressed with this style of art and I feel the same about its literary cousin.

I'm afraid that I must give this story an "D-" after having given it extra credit for the groundbreaking nature of author's body of work.

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