The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane
Ratings5
Average rating3.6
15
Ratings5
Average rating3.6
With Conan the Cimmerian, Robert E. Howard created more than the greatest action hero of the twentieth century—he also launched a genre that came to be known as sword and sorcery. But Conan wasn’t the first archetypal adventurer to spring from Howard’s fertile imagination. “He was . . . a strange blending of Puritan and Cavalier, with a touch of the ancient philosopher, and more than a touch of the pagan. . . . A hunger in his soul drove him on and on, an urge to right all wrongs, protect all weaker things. . . . Wayward and restless as the wind, he was consistent in only one respect—he was true to his ideals of justice and right. Such was Solomon Kane.” Collected in this volume, lavishly illustrated by award-winning artist Gary Gianni, are all of the stories and poems that make up the thrilling saga of the dour and deadly Puritan, Solomon Kane. Together they constitute a sprawling epic of weird fantasy adventure that stretches from sixteenth-century England to remote African jungles where no white man has set foot. Here are shudder-inducing tales of vengeful ghosts and bloodthirsty demons, of dark sorceries wielded by evil men and women, all opposed by a grim avenger armed with a fanatic’s faith and a warrior’s savage heart. This edition also features exclusive story fragments, a biography of Howard by scholar Rusty Burke, and “In Memoriam,” H. P. Lovecraft’s moving tribute to his friend and fellow literary genius.
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Executive Summary: This was a disappointment. I signed up to review this for SFF Audio trying something I wouldn't have read otherwise, but I mostly found myself bored.Audio book: Paul Boehmer does a pretty good job here. I'd listened to him before with the Night Angel Trilogy, and enjoyed him again with this book. He does some voices for the various characters. I think if this collection had a bad reader I would have stopped before the end.Full ReviewI don't normally seem to enjoy older works of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, and unfortunately, things were no different here.I was never a Conan fan growing, so I'd never read any of Mr. Howard before. The audiobook collection stars with an obituary or memorium written by [a:H.P. Lovecraft 9494 H.P. Lovecraft https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1299165714p2/9494.jpg] with whom Mr. Howard apparently corresponded.Mr. Howard is probably best known for his character Conan, but Solomon Kane is often credited as the first “Sword & Sorcery” character.In this collection of stories Solomon Kane fights Pirates, Ghosts, Vampires, Sorcerors, Harpies and more. Solomon Kane wields daggers, pistols a sword, and in later stories, a magical staff. Sounds like it would be great!Unfortunately I was mostly bored. The best story of the bunch for me was The Children of Asshur, which was only a fragment and therefore ends somewhat abruptly. I would have liked to see where Mr. Howard intended to go with that story.There are certainly things to like here. The writing isn't bad and the adventures are certainly varied enough, but it just seemed like not much really happens most of the time.And then there is the racism. You can pull out the usual excuses, when the book what written, or the fact that the racism portrayed is probably accurate to the characters themselves. That doesn't change the fact for me that it kept pulling me out of the stories. It's not in every story, but is present in most, especially those where Solomon Kane travels to Africa. Many times it seemed like an unnecessary aside, rather than an important plot point for or character motivation.All and All, as I believe these stories are in public domain you might be better off picking one or two to check out rather than the whole collection. I think the best complete story was [b:The Hills of the Dead 363715 Solomon Kane The Hills of the Dead (Solomon Kane #2) Robert E. Howard https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1231661964s/363715.jpg 353789] where Kane first gets his magic staff and fights a horde of vampires.2.5 Stars
