So I got The Bloody Crown from the library over the weekend and read the story in which Conan single handedly destroys a cabal of uber-powerful wizards and wins the heart of the princess Yasmina...and all with the barest trace of characterization and forethought. He survives by almost pure luck.
I enjoyed the story as brain candy, but please tell me it gets better. I really want to believe that such a famous character is more than such an obvious id-fantasy.
TS
Its really funny, because Howard jumps around Conan's life a lot in his stories. I've found that the least enjoyable stories were the ones from the "middle" years, when Conan isn't a king or trying to become one, and when he isn't a wet behind the ears adventurer running into stuff he'd rather run from or avoid than confront head on.
The "middle years" stuff sometimes does kind of follow the "here is the girl, here is the villain(s), here is Conan going through the villains to get at the girl" outline, but I had read somewhere that Howard actually started pumping out a lot of the "middle years" formulaic Conan stories when he was really, really strapped for cash.
There are lots of other stories that I enjoyed, but there are some that tend to bog down a bit in the pattern you describe. Overall, I have to say that they all read better to me than the later authors doing their Howard impressions while trying to write novel length fiction with the character.
Hm, well maybe the next story will be better. Thanks!
TS
