Conan the Defender

by Robert Jordan

Book Overview

As revolution brews in the shadowy streets of Belverus, Conan braves the traps and treacheries of the Royal Palace of the Dragon. Pursued by the luscious and shameless Sularia, the mighty warrior... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0812542282
• ISBN13: 9780812542288
• Release Date: December 1983
• Publisher: Tor Books
• Length: 298 Pages
• Weight: 0.37 lbs.

Customer Reviews

ITS NOT HOWARD, BUT IT WILL CERTAINLY DO.

There are many, oh so many Conan books out there, written by so many different authors, that it is difficult to keep them separate at times. So many of the books have Conan, one of my favorite fantasy characters, running here and there sort of willy-nilly, that it becomes quite difficult to tell one from the other at times. This one is a bit different though, as we have our "force of nature" pretty well planted on one place and rather involved with local politics; involved in the true Conan fashion. Now don't take me wrong, I really do not feel that anyone but the original master. Howard himself can ever capture the true nature of our overly muscled hero, but many of the later authors have made a pretty good stab at it. This is the second book written involving Conan by Robert Jordan. As others have pointed out, it shows a younger Jordan; one not as polished as the creator of the Wheel of Time series, but I am not at all sure that is a bad thing. While I enjoyed the Wheel series greatly (at least the first five books), Jordan did seem to get off track and rather bogged down at times with Wheel, almost to the point of being static toward the last. Not so with this adventure; no, no, no...far from it! This is an extremely fast paced work, well written and just brimming over with action. There is plenty of mindless fighting, the obligatory magic factor, and Howard has brought several loveable, and some not so loveable, characters into this tall tale that we were introduced to in his first work. If find this comforting on a certain level. I also loved the fighting sequences, as exampled by: "Snarling, Conan struck, his blade clanging against the hilt of the other's partially drawn sword, Taras shrieked, severed fingers dropping to the floor. And yet, he was no man to go down easily. Even while blood flowed from his mutilated right hand, his left snatched his dagger from its sheath. With a cry of rage, he lunged." Hey folks, this was a great fight sequence and the book is full of them! We also get to see Conan actually use his brain a bit more in this work, as the author has given us a mystery of sorts with all sorts of twists and turns which forces Conan to figure out some complicated situations and of course to watch his back for the inevitable dagger, constantly. There of course is an ever present underlying, difficult to find at times, humor in the work which is an absolute delight. Overall, an excellent and fast read. I use Conan and this genre to clear the webs from my mind from time to time and was certainly not disappointed with this offering. Again, Jordan is not Howard, but if you cannot have the later, then this will do quite nicely. And yes, we do have a goodly dose of the typical "warrior woman" in this one also...good grief, why read Conan if you cannot have just a bit of that blended into the story. Jordan has handled it wonderfully. I do recommend this as an extremely fun read and feel that most Conan fans wi

conan the defender

I found this book to be well writen and "typically Conan". It does not disapoint.

Super Reader

Conan is in a new city, and inflation is a bit of a problem. He runs into Hordo again, who is there working as a smuggler, and finds out the lay of the land. He decides that the thing to do is start his own Free Company, rather than get tied up in a mult-year contract working for someone else. He has a horse-archery angle that no-one else uses. A poetess he takes up with is a revolutionary, and he gets involved in a struggle with the throne. Eventually, he again runs into Karela the Red Hawk, who is in disguise.

Enjoyable and simple hack-and-slash fantasy.

This is the second book found in Jordan's The Conan Chronicles (Conan). His work with the character of Conan the Barbarian in the early 1980's is shallow, fast, and fun. Plot lines are relatively simple and the action is extremely fast-paced. Practically opposite of Jordan's later work with the Wheel of Time. In Conan the Defender, our hero finds himself embroiled in a plot to overthrow the king of Nemedia. Lots of double dealing and behind the scene scheming make this one read almost like a mystery, with Conan playing the part of the detective. Once again, the antagonist is a dark and evil sorcerer with aims on the throne, and once again Conan cleaves through his enemies like a hot knife through butter. Hordo and Karela, characters from the first of Jordan's Conan books, Conan the Invincible, reappear here to aid (or hinder?) Conan in his goals. Compared to that first book, this one was more enjoyable to me, with a slightly more complex plot and with the characters becoming better developed. The simplicity and fast pace of this book make it highly enjoyable as long as your expectations are correct. This is no epic work, but a small guilty pleasure that will occupy you for a couple of nights.

Sword swinging, head chopping fun

The opposite of Jordans Wheel of Time series. Jordan's Conans snap along at a brisk pace, with all the machismo and action of Howards best but featuring more fully realized stories and surroundings, that take you from one end of Hyboria to the other. Great sword swinging, done in one tales from an American master. A terrific respite from todays multi-volume 700+ page tomes. Plus they're dirt cheap, so you have no excuse.