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Post by terryallenuk on Feb 19, 2023 6:47:41 GMT -5
Someone has announced on one of the REH Facebook Groups that the paperback is due out September. Haven't seen it officially announced anywhere (yet).
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Post by terryallenuk on Feb 19, 2023 13:20:57 GMT -5
Someone has announced on one of the REH Facebook Groups that the paperback is due out September. Haven't seen it officially announced anywhere (yet). Confirmation it's up on Forbidden Planet's UK site at £7.99 , around $9.60
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 19, 2023 15:14:08 GMT -5
When reading Stirling's novel I noticed that the Stygian shaman had similar powers to Zogar Sag from Beyond the Black River. It almost seemed like, at times, Stirling wanted to write a story set during that period of Conan's career instead of a prologue to Red Nails.
I kinda remember an interview where he talks about his love of that particular yarn by REH. It'd be a shame if Titan put a block on that idea.
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Post by boot on Feb 25, 2023 16:05:02 GMT -5
A friend told me that the Audible version of Blood of the Serpent didn't include Red Nails. Is this true?
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Post by boot on Feb 25, 2023 16:07:19 GMT -5
Also--I noticed that, on Audible, Blood of the Serpent is listed as "Book 1 of The All-New Chronicles of the World's Greatest Barbarian Hero".
The series name, I guess.
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Post by irondavith on Feb 25, 2023 16:24:57 GMT -5
A friend told me that the Audible version of Blood of the Serpent didn't include Red Nails. Is this true? Unfortunately, true. The whole story I was looking forward to Red Nails coming at the end... And it never did
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Post by Von K on Mar 29, 2023 19:24:15 GMT -5
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 13, 2023 14:34:16 GMT -5
Review by Stygian Dogs YouTube channel. With an interesting look at the afterword:
Review of the new novel ‘Blood of the Serpent’ by S.M. Stirling, based on Robert E. Howard’s Conan
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Post by Von K on Jun 13, 2023 18:16:16 GMT -5
Review by Stygian Dogs YouTube channel. With an interesting look at the afterword: Review of the new novel ‘Blood of the Serpent’ by S.M. Stirling, based on Robert E. Howard’s ConanSome great commentary there - thanks Hun! Loved the part where he observes that REH's Conan goes through swords like they're going out of style.
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Post by Von K on Jul 18, 2023 18:40:18 GMT -5
Grimdark Magazine reviews Conan Blood of the Serpent.
REVIEW: Conan – Blood of the Serpent by S. M. Stirling
Thanks to Dave Ritzlin at DMR Books for highlighting this in their weekly roundup - Links of Steel:
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kev
Wanderer
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Post by kev on Dec 6, 2023 21:27:01 GMT -5
A word on my Background: I am not a Howard Purist. I am ready and willing to read & enjoy Conan pastiche so long as it (1) doesn’t contradict anything in Canon; (2) doesn’t have Conan acting out of character; and (3) the author understands and firmly sets the story in Hyborian Age. If it meets those three criteria, I am more than able to slot the story into my personal Conan Head Canon.
With Blood of the Serpent Stirling was tasked with writing a story that explains how Conan and Valeria ended up at the city of Xuchotl at the start of Howard’s Red Nails. So right off the bat Stirling is in a straightjacket as to how his story will end. Rather than tell another tale of Conan vs the Necromancer, Conan and the pursuit of the fabled Jewel of X, or Conan vs the conquering hoard of Y, Stirling chose a roman-fleuve type of story which tells of Conan’s life in a free flow of events for roughly two months prior the start of Red Nails. Thus, he doesn’t give us a prequel to, but rather an extended version of Red Nails.
As such, Stirling’s decision leads to the chief critical complaint I’ve read online of this novel, “the plot is unfocused, and goes everywhere and nowhere”. Yes, there are paths that are suddenly dropped (the division of the gold plunder is never resolved “on screen”) and there really is no central antagonist, but rather a series of tribulations for Conan to overcome. What Stirling provides is vignettes of Conan on campaign, Conan’s fieldcraft; Conan’s interaction with and leading of a group of mercenaries; Conan in tavern brawls; Conan in field battles; Conan & Valeria’s interactions prior to Red Nails; Conan in “tracking & pursuit mode”, and even Conan’s internal thoughts or appraisals of other characters. As a book it really is different from every other Conan story I’ve ever read, especially Conan’s internal dialog.
So, did Stirling stay within my guidelines outlined above? Let’s go through them.
Canon?
There are frequent callbacks to Conan’s time sailing with the Red Brotherhood, being a thief in Zamora, riding with the Kozaki, fighting huge apes from the Vilayet Sea region, the god Yag-Kosha from Tower of the Elephant, learning to climb in Cimmeria, and being the son of a blacksmith. All seemed perfectly to fit in with what I know about Conan and reflect that Stirling did his research. Additionally, Stirling has Conan use these past experiences to overcome or resolve problems he encounters in this story.
Furthermore, Stirling foreshadows the events to come in Red Nails when Conan discovers cave drawings of “red colored bowmen fighting taller darker figures” and myths of dragons that inhabit the jungle’s south of Stygia.
The author does establish that Valeria is from Gunderland, while in Red Nails Valeria states she is from Aquilonia. This gets a pass because Gunderland is a province in Aquilonia, so no apparent harm there.
Yes, Stirling gets a B+ for working within established Canon.
The Hyborian Age?
This is where Stirling shines. His tale is a slice of the Hyborian Age. Stirling ably describes how other races bristle at the very mention of the Stygians; the geography, fauna, & climate of Stygia, Darfar, Shem, and Cimmeria. He accurately describes the preferred weapons of the various races – the Stygian khopesh, the Shemitish bows, the slings & broad headed spears used by the black tribes, the morion helmet that his Zingarian commander Zarallo wears, and the sea togs and boots which Valeria wears.
Stirling spends time on the various gods (Set, Crom, Derketa, Ishtar, Mitra, etc.) that the races worship, and what those god’s fortes are. There is even a very clever intervention by Crom, which remarkably, is totally in alignment with his notorious indifference to human affairs.
Stirling also has a good grasp of the technology, or lack thereof, of the various races of the Hyborian Age. Also for what is the first time I’ve encountered Stirling describes the difficulties of communication within a Hyborian polyglot mercenary unit (Zarallo’s Free Companions).
I give Stirling an A+ for his knowledge of the Hyborian Age.
Conan in Character?
Stirling displays Conan as a natural leader of men (taking charge and being obeyed when the higher ranked officers of his expedition are killed). Conan also out thinks many of his opponents.
The internal dialog can be fun and interesting. His thoughts on foppish Stygian officials are rather humorous. And his appraisals of other mercenaries are interesting (e.g. nodding his approval when a soldier sees to his weapons first, before taking in the evening meal.)
However, some of Conan’s internal thoughts concerning Valeria do seem “off” to me. While Conan doesn’t go out of his way to impress Valeria, he does actually hope that he will impress her and eventually bed her. This does not “feel” correct to me. My Conan simply impresses women by who he is, the way he looks, and his actions, i.e. they are attracted to him naturally through no overt effort of his own. While I can’t beat up Stirling too much on this point, his take doesn’t quite ring true for me.
In another point in the story Conan executes an opponent he has bested in combat and subsequently had offered up truthful information under duress. This also felt out of character to me. In my opinion Conan would have left the opponent to recover or die on his own, rather than execute him. YMMV.
I give Stirling a C+ for Conan’s Character.
Finally, a few stray items of note:
• The scenes of action are all well told. The standouts being a tavern fight, a slave rebellion (which Conan is on the wrong side of for a change), and an encounter with crocodiles at a river crossing.
• There are some nicely told details of a unit (and its camp followers) on the march, hunting to provision them, their water requirements, proper defensive sites for the night, etc.
• Stirling appears to be a Tarzan fan, as he connects Conan’s large apes of the Vilayet Region to the Great Apes of Edgar Rice Burroughs. In a blink and you’ll miss it moment, the huge apes here have a ritual which appears to be an homage to the Dum-Dum of ERB. Later Stirling has Conan “pull a Tarzan” by swinging on a liana vine to clear a mystical obstacle.
• I noted nothing in Stirling’s novel which contradicted anything in the opening pages of Howard’s Red Nails other than the two stories overlap rather than dovetail. Stirling’s story ending from Conan’s POV, and Howard’s story opening from Valeria’s POV.
• And I would be remiss if I didn’t give a shoutout to Roberto De La Torre for his four “Buscema-esque” illustrations in the book.
My verdict? I’m giving this one 3 stars, but rounding up to 3 1/2 stars because you also get Red Nails under the same cover. As pastiche goes it’s not John Maddox Roberts or Robert Jordan, more like Poul Anderson - solid but not riveting.
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Post by Von K on Dec 7, 2023 14:02:27 GMT -5
Thanks for the in depth review Kev!
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