Conan the Indomitable
cover of Conan the Indomitable | |
Author | Steve Perry |
---|---|
Cover artist | Kirk Reinert |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Series | Conan the Barbarian |
Genre | Sword and sorcery Fantasy |
Publisher | Tor Books |
Publication date | 1989 |
Media type | Print (Paperback) |
Pages | 273 pp |
ISBN | 0-8125-0295-7 |
Conan the Indomitable is a fantasy novel written by Steve Perry featuring Robert E. Howard's sword and sorcery hero Conan the Barbarian. It was first published in trade paperback by Tor Books in October 1989; a regular paperback edition followed from the same publisher in September 1990.[1]
Plot
Conan and his companion Elashi stumble on a stranger underground realm inhabited by blind apes, one-eyed monsters and giant worms in thrall to a witch and warlock. Their coming upsets the local balance of power. Various complications ensue, including a revolt of the enslaved creatures and the necessity of slaying their masters, before Conan can win his way back to the surface world. One of the cyclops and worms are featured sympathetically in a subplot.
Chronology
Internal evidence indicates that Perry's earlier Conan work Conan the Defiant directly precedes this novel, though in the comprehensive Conan chronology of William Galen Gray, Sean A. Moore's Conan the Hunter is placed between the two books.
Reception
Writing on one of Perry's other novels, reviewer Ryan Harvey assessed the author's Conan corpus as "goofy", noting that he "has a reputation among Conan fandom for overkill and general silliness."[2]
Reviewer Lagomorph Rex finds the novel "bad, really bad ... one of the worst books I have ever read ... I can't even rate this one with a star and be honest." He notes that "[t]he whole book is filled with bizarre stuff, beyond the Fishboat.. the[re']s the Harskeel, and Lalo the cursed, Sexual Plants, talking worms, spiders and bats.. a cavern society of Cyclopses... all of this makes the much maligned Satyrs in Conan the Liberator seem downright normal." "Perry has introduced a huge number of Sapient species into the Conan Mythos which REH never even hinted at, and with the rate that all these various animals can talk it is beginning to feel a lot like a Disney movie."[3] In a somewhat more favorable review of its sequel, Conan the Free Lance, the reviewer writes that this book's "only purpose was to clutter up Conan's route to Zamora, and roughly provide a way to mostly get through the mountains."[4]
Notes
- ↑ Conan the Indomitable title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- ↑ Harvey, Ryan. "Pastiches 'R' Us: Conan the Free Lance" (Review), Jul. 28, 2009.
- ↑ Lagomorph Rex. "Hyborean Apocrphya: Conan the Indomitable" (Review), May 17, 2010.
- ↑ Lagomorph Rex. "Hyborean Apocrphya: Conan the Free Lance" (Review), May 27, 2010.
References
Preceded by Conan the Great |
Tor Conan series (publication order) |
Succeeded by Conan the Free Lance |
Preceded by Conan the Hunter |
Complete Conan Saga (William Galen Gray chronology) |
Succeeded by Conan the Free Lance |