Age of Conan: Marauders Young Adult
- Thread starter René
- Start date
I've read the first book "Ghost of the Wall" and posted a review here:
http://www.conan.com/invboard/index.php?showtopic=2690
I just picked up the second book yesterday.
http://www.conan.com/invboard/index.php?showtopic=2690
I just picked up the second book yesterday.
I'm reading the Age of Conan: Legends of Kern trilogy. I've only read chapter 1 of the first book, but so far it looks interesting.
I look forward to reading it all the way through. But I also have so many Conan stories to read. Stupid work getting in the way of my reading time :?
I look forward to reading it all the way through. But I also have so many Conan stories to read. Stupid work getting in the way of my reading time :?
Mark Dunder
Mongoose
Dang, that sounds like a good read. Will look and buy. Thank you.
René said:
So far #2 is good - I tell you what René, these books are very quick reads. Much shorter than the Kern and Anok books. I think it forces the author to get right to the action and avoid a bunch of rehashing the plot and yapping with no action. Book 2 - Winds of the Wild Sea - opens with a good street fight - always a plus. Plus, for the first time ever in the Age of Conan stories, King Conan makes an appearance and even has a few words. Technically, this is the first new Conan pastiche in quite a few years. 8)
Thoth Aw C'mon
Mongoose
Strom said:
Damn, that does sound like a good yarn. I'll have to pick up a copy. Thanks! 8)
I read no.1 at the weekend and can't agree with the more positives opinions.
SPOILERS!
I think that the author does not even try to stay true to the image of the Picts as REH saw them. In this book the Pictish hero does not want to kill his enemies (which destroyed his village and butchered all his people) because of morale considerations a la "But my enemies are humans, too, and they have families, too." Compare this to Beyond the Black River!
Next, the Picts fight in the open and despise guerilla tactics. The main character justifies the assassin-like "murders" he commits with something like "I know it's not good and cowardly, but it's the only way in my situation...". Again: look at REH's Pict stories!
There are several more examples of how the author remodels the savage Picts into civilised people with a civilised code of honour, but enough of this.
Other things are totally unrealistic: Picts are here trained horse riders - at least it's the conclusion you have to draw of a Kral who rides for days from dawn to sunset on his fast journey from the Pictlands to Tarantia.
Aquilonian settlers are the masters in wall-building: within a few days a little settlement (less than 500 people IIRC) build a 4 miles long wall - 8 ft. thick, 15 ft. high (not everywhere, it's under construction). It's not only a very admirable deed, because most people have to work their daily routine to keep the settlement running, but also because they have to transport masses of suitable stones which form the base of the wall. So the reader isn't surprised at all that the mastermind behind the wall project realises a few after the start: "Hmm, there should be doors in the wall, else we have a problem ourselves."
OK, I stop with my ranting and spare you commentaries about forced dialogue, flat characters (the brother of the female hero)
But, no bad feelings, at least the book caused me to read REH's Pict stories again :lol:
SPOILERS!
I think that the author does not even try to stay true to the image of the Picts as REH saw them. In this book the Pictish hero does not want to kill his enemies (which destroyed his village and butchered all his people) because of morale considerations a la "But my enemies are humans, too, and they have families, too." Compare this to Beyond the Black River!
Next, the Picts fight in the open and despise guerilla tactics. The main character justifies the assassin-like "murders" he commits with something like "I know it's not good and cowardly, but it's the only way in my situation...". Again: look at REH's Pict stories!
There are several more examples of how the author remodels the savage Picts into civilised people with a civilised code of honour, but enough of this.
Other things are totally unrealistic: Picts are here trained horse riders - at least it's the conclusion you have to draw of a Kral who rides for days from dawn to sunset on his fast journey from the Pictlands to Tarantia.
Aquilonian settlers are the masters in wall-building: within a few days a little settlement (less than 500 people IIRC) build a 4 miles long wall - 8 ft. thick, 15 ft. high (not everywhere, it's under construction). It's not only a very admirable deed, because most people have to work their daily routine to keep the settlement running, but also because they have to transport masses of suitable stones which form the base of the wall. So the reader isn't surprised at all that the mastermind behind the wall project realises a few after the start: "Hmm, there should be doors in the wall, else we have a problem ourselves."
OK, I stop with my ranting and spare you commentaries about forced dialogue, flat characters (the brother of the female hero)
But, no bad feelings, at least the book caused me to read REH's Pict stories again :lol:
VincentDarlage
Mongoose
Wow. That is disappointing. I bought them, but haven't read them yet. Can it really be THAT hard to be true to Howard or write a novel that makes sense?
René said:
Here is my take on the above questions - Kral does think about the difference between murder and killing in battle. He is not a full grown Pict savage and has experienced a Hyborian - Alanya - who is beautiful, smart and kind - so the fact the he can distinguish the difference between murder and killing in battle does not strike me as inappropriate but humanizes the Picts much like Howard did with Bran Mak Morn. And it should be said that he thinks about it but the thought in no way stops him from coldly killing all who get in his way which is very Howard like, IMO.
As far as the wall goes, there was a entire Aquilonian battalion available to work on the wall with the resources of Aquilonia available to spend on materials and labor. Realistically, it seemed feasible to me. it's not like the men had other jobs to do - they just sat around training all day. With direction from a engineer, I could see the wall go up very fast.
As far as riding a horse - don't you just have to hang on to the reins? It's not rocket science - unless you are wielding a lance in battle or some such.
:lol:
Mark Dunder
Mongoose
The Antonine Wall was built by the Romans in Scotland. It was nearly 37 miles long and about 13 feet high. Took them 2 years or about 1.5 miles per month. But they also built a road on one side and a ditch on the other side and forts every 2 miles. So I would say building a wall 4 miles long in a few days is a bit of a stretch, but isn't impossible.
Buxom Sorceress
Mongoose
hi RENE, thanks for all your interesting + 'revealing' points about marauders book 1.René said:
sad to hear that some basic 'Howardian accuracy', common sense + integrity are again lacking in an aoc book.[but i'm not surprised after my miserable experience with the kern + anok series]
re the 'miracle wall'...
it would probably take many months just to quarry + transport all the stone required for just half a mile of such a big wall, never mind the time + problems involved in building it while under harassment from the picts. + specialist engineer units would be needed. it would take several weeks just to survey the land!
if it were as easy as the book, then big walls would quickly be built around the whole of aquilonia, + every village would be like a fortress?? :shock:
+ the *doors in the wall* quote is hilariously silly. :lol:
--
thank u all for your reviews + details. i look forward to more, please.
Mark Dunder
Mongoose
The real problem is not building a wall (the Great Wall of China for example), but keeping it manned. Walls can be torn down a bit faster than building them up. Which is why the Romans put a fort every 2 miles. They had at first only planned to put them every 6 miles. Just like we can put a fence between countries today, they don't stop people from getting across them. You have to have enough guards on the wall too.
Buxom Sorceress
Mongoose
The Antonine Wall was built from blocks of turf, + wood?, laid on a stone foundation.
The wall was typically an earth bank, about four metres high.
The building work was shared by the three legions stationed in Britain at the time.
The wall was abandoned after only twenty years, when the Roman legions withdrew to Hadrian's Wall.
-[ so the romans used all their full power + massive resources to build the earth wall so quickly. but they wasted their time cos that wall proved useless against the determined barbarian raiders.]
--
+ the Great Wall of China is THE prime example of how difficult + specialised huge stone wall-building is. the sections across the steep mountains are some of the greatest engineering ever done. + it was only possible to build cos the maniac emperor forced a million peasants to leave their fields as slave labour. untold 1000s died + bodies were just used as filler inside the wall! meanwhile many more starved to death in the neglected provinces cos agricultural production was so short of man-power due to the wall! the wall project was a disaster for the poor chinese folk, + was ultimately pointless.
[ this info comes from the latest history research shown on uk tv. NB. u wont find this brutally honest info in the mainstream + tourist net sites.]
--
but it is usually easy to use the internet research for a writer to put some basic integrity into his stories.
----
[ ofcourse, i prefer to use druidic magic to easily levitate stones + quickly build walls + henge-temples. :wink: Terry Pratchett uses some wonderful examples of this in his marvelous books. 8) ]
The wall was typically an earth bank, about four metres high.
The building work was shared by the three legions stationed in Britain at the time.
The wall was abandoned after only twenty years, when the Roman legions withdrew to Hadrian's Wall.
-[ so the romans used all their full power + massive resources to build the earth wall so quickly. but they wasted their time cos that wall proved useless against the determined barbarian raiders.]
--
+ the Great Wall of China is THE prime example of how difficult + specialised huge stone wall-building is. the sections across the steep mountains are some of the greatest engineering ever done. + it was only possible to build cos the maniac emperor forced a million peasants to leave their fields as slave labour. untold 1000s died + bodies were just used as filler inside the wall! meanwhile many more starved to death in the neglected provinces cos agricultural production was so short of man-power due to the wall! the wall project was a disaster for the poor chinese folk, + was ultimately pointless.
[ this info comes from the latest history research shown on uk tv. NB. u wont find this brutally honest info in the mainstream + tourist net sites.]
--
but it is usually easy to use the internet research for a writer to put some basic integrity into his stories.
----
[ ofcourse, i prefer to use druidic magic to easily levitate stones + quickly build walls + henge-temples. :wink: Terry Pratchett uses some wonderful examples of this in his marvelous books. 8) ]
I believe the goal was a wall some 4 miles long but it was never completed in the story - Kral left for Aquilonia before the wall was completed and left his female friend to continue to kill the soldiers working on the wall. i don't have the book in front of me but the wall definitely was not done when Kral left.
Hey, at least Kral didn't give a box full of the most powerful drug in the land to a sorcerer! Ha! :lol:
Hey, at least Kral didn't give a box full of the most powerful drug in the land to a sorcerer! Ha! :lol:
Buxom Sorceress
Mongoose
...yawn.... :wink: ... :lol:Strom said:
at least conan knows how to bed his women.
has kral ever got past kissing her hand yet? or is he more interested in staying on his horses saddle??
dont be too chirpy yet, remember what silly fates befell anok in that book 3?
so who will be 1st to review kral books 2 + 3 ?
Mark Dunder
Mongoose
Yes, regardless of how a wall is made, no matter how well or long it takes, eventually it is torn down. Walls built to keep people out or in never work very long.
Except the walls built in our minds.
Except the walls built in our minds.
Strom said:
Hi, Strom!
I'm in some hurry, so just a few words:
1. 15 (or 16?) years of Pictish education including torturing enemies and sacrificng humans are IMO not so easily erased, especially not after your whole people are slaughtered.
2. I'm neither architect nor engineer but to me as an amateur the wall building sounds incredible.
3. I'm no horseman either, last time I rode was as a child, but I think what Kral did was a remarkable deed, even if he encountered no battles situations.
Nonetheless, the Ice Bear thing gave me an idea and I put it on my RPG ideas-list, so the book has its merits! :wink:
