Conan the Champion
 cover of Conan the Champion | |
| Author | John Maddox Roberts |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Ken Kelly |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Conan the Barbarian |
| Genre | Sword and sorcery Fantasy |
| Publisher | Tor Books |
Publication date | 1987 |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| Pages | 280 pp |
| ISBN | 0-8125-4260-6 |
Conan the Champion is a fantasy novel written by John Maddox Roberts featuring Robert E. Howard's sword and sorcery hero Conan the Barbarian. It was first published in paperback by Tor Books in April 1987 and reprinted in January 1989. The first British edition was published in paperback by Sphere Books, also in January 1989.
Plot
Shipwrecked on the northern short of the Vilayet Sea, Conan finds himself stranded for the winter in the midst of small warring kingdoms. Joining the force of one of the factions, he finds himself champion of Queen Alcuina in opposition to competing rulers Odoac and Totila. As a wild card in the local struggled, all parties seek to use him to trip the balance in their own favor. Stranded in a mysterious otherworld, Conan and Alcuina must find a way to escape before everything can be resolved.
Reception
Don D'Ammassa, writing of Roberts' Conan novels, noted that "[a]lthough Roberts did not recreate Howard's character exactly, making him more intellectual and less inclined to solve every problem by hitting it with a sword, his evocation of the barbaric setting is superior to that of most of the other writers contributing to the series."[1]
Writing of some other Tor Conan novels, reviewer Ryan Harvey called Roberts "the most consistently successful of its stable of authors,"[2] and "the most consistently entertaining" of them, showing "deft ability with storytelling and action scenes, and a thankful tendency not to overplay his hand and try to ape Robert E. Howard's style."[3]
Notes
- ^ D'Ammassa, Don (February 2006). Encyclopedia of fantasy and horror fiction. Infobase Publishing. p. 292. ISBN 978-0-8160-6192-1. Retrieved 23 August 2011.
- ^ Harvey, Ryan. "Pastiches 'R' Us: Conan and the Treasure of Python" (Review), Mar. 24, 2009.
- ^ Harvey, Ryan. "Pastiches 'R' Us: Conan and the Amazon" (Review), Sep. 21, 2010.