Conan of Aquilonia (Conan, No 11)

Rating:
Summary: The (second) nadir
Review: I'm a fan of Conan, and unlike some others, I don't object fanatically to L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter's efforts to complete Howard's unfinished stories and outlines, and to expand the Conan stories into a twelve volume series...at least in principle. The De Camp and Carter stories written in posthumous collaboration with Howard are fine, in fact, but you must be wary of the full-length novels in the series that are not at least partially credited to Howard. There are three: Volume 6 (Conan the Buccaneer), Volume 11 (this one), and volume 12 (Conan of the Isles). While volume 12 is a passable read, the other two are dreadful pastiches, the worst volumes in the series.

This one, Conan of Aquilonia, is a novel in name only. The overarching story is that Conan, now in his fifties, must travel to the ends of the Earth to free his kidnapped wife, but the book is basically a series of episodes strung together, none of them particularly original, suspensful, or exciting. Most of the episodes are pallid retreads of similar events that occurred elsewhere in the series. Conan of Aquilonia reads like a Vegas-style medley of Conan's greatest hits. Avoid it and stick to the real thing.

Rating:
Summary: The worst edition in the original Lancer series
Review: This book was probably a harbinger of things to come, given all the lousy Conan pastiches that have found their way into print in the past twenty-some odd years. As I recall, this was actually the last edition of Lancer's Conan saga, even though it is chronologically number eleven in the series, and it was probably published last with good reason: it's just pretty bad.

In fact, it may not have been published in the original line. Its been a number of years since the series came out, but I think Lancer may have ceased publishing the series and this volume did not come out until the series but picked up by subsequent publishers (someone with a fresher memory than mine may be able to clarify that point).

As another reviewer noted, it seems to be a series of loosely strung together episodes as Conan engages in one of the oldest and tiredest type of tale in sword and sorcery: rescuing the damsel in distress. Unlike Conan the Avenger (originally entitled "The Return of Conan"), which carried a similar theme, there is no real energy or originality to any of the story. Carter and de Camp have done far better Conan stories. You almost get the sense that everyone just wanted to make sure there were twelve volumes in the series, so this one was thrown together.

The only real reason to read this is if you are a Conan completist, otherwise, you won't be missing any significant contributions to the Conan saga if you pass on it.