Age of Conan Novels

Razuur said:
As I stated on the Conan boards, I am a big fan of your Conan RPG work Mr. Delarge.

Thank you!

Razuur said:
But I do disagree with you on the Legends of Kern novels. I think they are outstanding.

Most people do disagree with me about that series (I am definitely in the minority there). While sentence fragments can be a powerful tool for an author when used sparingly, writing an entire trilogy composed almost wholly of sentence fragments irritated me. The lack of research also annoyed me (black Shemites and black Belit references). I think I am the only one who was irritated by those issues, though.
 
Now if only I could learn to spell your name right Mr...... Darlage

(sigh)

I noticed the sentence use occassionally, but I thought it a stylistic choice I didn't mind.

As for Nahud'r being shemite - when he called them dark skinned, I didn't think black, for some reason.

Yes, your "Across Thunder River" really gave me many great sessions. My players had never experienced Picts before. They scared the ever living hell out of them. They told me, that was the first time an enemy that was human ever did that. Your book helped me bring out the horror of the Picts to an astounding effect. So thanks for that!

I really didn't expect to like the Kern novels, and was really surprised by them. Of course I expected to like the Anok novels - so maybe the reverse will happen there as well...

Aren't the third books supposed to be about Aquilonia... Anyone know?

Razuur
 
Razuur said:
As for Nahud'r being shemite - when he called them dark skinned, I didn't think black, for some reason.

Coleman, in the second book, calls Belit an "ebony beauty" on page 261, and again in the third book, on page 236, she is described as "the black pirate queen", which is at variance with Howard (who clearly describes Belit's ivory skin).

Huge errors like that really bother me; like I mentioned in an earlier post, York confuses the Zamboulans with their Darfari slaves in the third Anok book, which irritated me.

Razuur said:
Yes, your "Across Thunder River" really gave me many great sessions. My players had never experienced Picts before. They scared the ever living hell out of them. They told me, that was the first time an enemy that was human ever did that. Your book helped me bring out the horror of the Picts to an astounding effect. So thanks for that!

I am very glad to hear that! Thank you.
 
It seems to me that the people who don't like the books hate them because of "mistakes" for example:

Coleman, in the second book, calls Belit an "ebony beauty" on page 261, and again in the third book, on page 236, she is described as "the black pirate queen", which is at variance with Howard (who clearly describes Belit's ivory skin).

If a person never met Belit, wouldn't it be reasonable for them to assume that she is black like her true. Characters in a story don't have access to sourcebooks. Rumors of a pirate queen that reach 100's of miles away would be full of exagerations and lies.

If you dismiss a book because of minor mistakes, you would have to throw away every Mongoose sourcebook. (I'm not making fun at Mongoose - the game is great)
 
xulwolf said:
If a person never met Belit, wouldn't it be reasonable for them to assume that she is black like her true. Characters in a story don't have access to sourcebooks. Rumors of a pirate queen that reach 100's of miles away would be full of exagerations and lies.

If you dismiss a book because of minor mistakes, you would have to throw away every Mongoose sourcebook. (I'm not making fun at Mongoose - the game is great)

Yes, but Coleman actually had a black Shemite character in the book, re-emphasising that this was not a misunderstanding brought about by miles and cultures, but by an author who failed to do some very basic research.

If it were just errors like that, it would be one thing - but the novels really are not gems even if they did not contain such errors. I am not dismissing them because of minor mistakes. I am dismissing them because they contain poor writing, poor plotting, poor suspense, too much padding to make them into trilogies, clunky dialogue, too many sentence fragments, too many recaps, plot coupons, characters who are not distinguished enough, characters who are cliches, silly resolutions of conflict and drama and minor research mistakes. Take out the minor mistakes and... the books still have problems. I have revised my initial review to emphasize some of the other problems Anok III had.

If you liked Anok III (Venom of Luxur), why not post a counter-review?
 
Wicked Tinker said:
Vincent,

I love your work on the Conan RPG. Why don't YOU write an Age of Conan novel? I'd be first in line to purchase it!

Seconded! I would love to see you write some novelizations.

Although after writing so many sourcebooks *and* writing novels...

We might have to change your middle name to "Conan"!

or is there something you're not telling us.... 8)

Razuur
 
Thank you for your vote of confidence.

I have also revised my initial review, adding some things and reformatting it slightly (on the first page of this thread).

Has anyone read Anok III and liked it? It would be interesting to see another viewpoint on the book.
 
Strom said:
I totally agree - a Vincent Darlarge Age of Conan novel would be great! I hope it will happen. 8)
regarding more new 'hyborian /Conan' novels..
ace are making a right sloppy mess with their age of conan trilogies. i think the editors at ace haven't got a clue about what 'good S+S with some integrity' really is?

so MONGOOSE [who have done a good job with their conan licence] should be asking cpi for a licence to produce a series of novels based in hyboria. hopefully then they could employ Vincent + Hocking [+ other experienced conan fans + rpg scenario writers?] to write some quality exciting new novels?

Warhammer rpg + ofcourse D+D have very productive ranges of novels that are closely tied into their rpg universes. the warhammer range are the best quality series based on an S+S rpg that i have ever read. 8)

have Mongoose considered this? [ after the poor kern + the appalling anok book 3 the ace contract could be vulnerable now?]
so what do u think guys? :)
 
i have posted my suggestion in...
What Should Mongoose Publish Next?
New CONAN /HYBORIAN Novels published by Mongoose?

http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=12258

so please pop in + vote in my little POLL?
cheers. :)
 
xulwolf said:
Why does every Conan book that contains more than a hint of magic get a bad review? Just because the character Conan didn't run into magic on a weekly basis doesn't mean that other people and cultures didn't.

The thing about this novel, though, is the author used the magic as a deux ex machina to solve each and every dilemma. This is simply poor story-telling. The characters had the perfect spells at the perfect time for each and every situation they are in - and it destroyed any state of suspense the book might otherwise have had. The most suspensful part of the trilogy was when Anok was faced with the Fingers of Set - and I was let down when Anok suddenly had the appropriate magic power to resolve it.

Even the most high-magic series I know (Xanth series, by Piers Anthony) does not use magic as poorly as this author did. The problem with this book was not the high magic - it was the use of magic to resolve each and every problem - and it was new, never before seen spells that suddenly cropped up perfectly each time. I was never worried about Anok after the Fingers of Set scene because I knew the author would give him the perfect spell to get out of whatever mess he was in.

Xulwolf, if you have a different opinion of Anok III, why not post your review?

Alternatively, if you don't think my review is fair, why not offer a rebuttal on each point? Tell me how the recap structure of the chapters was necessary, tell me how the save-the-world plot was a good plot, tell me how the stilted dialogue was good, and so on.
 
xulwolf said:
Why does every Conan book that contains more than a hint of magic get a bad review?..
they DON'T. :)
check out lots of reviews at conan.com forums. 8)

for example, read what most fans say about CONAN AND THE EMERALD LOTUS..now that fine book is very heavy on the magic.
i like lots of magic when it is done well with a challenge within a good story. but a good balance of grim sword fighting + horror + evil magic is what i like best.

what is your fave conan pastiche and fave new 'ace' book?
 
Rather than posting a review, I would say read them for yourselves. If any of them win the readers "Worst Book of the Year Award", then it has been a good year in literature. I do agree that out of the 6 World of Conan novels I enjoyed "The Venom of Luxur" the least.
 
xulwolf said:
I keep forgetting that all black people know each other. Maybe they grew up in the same hood.

hey xulwolf - you ever gonna have the stones to explain your comment above? Maybe it was inappropriate.
 
The comment is simple. I was replying to a post that read:
"Yes, but Coleman actually had a black Shemite character in the book, re-emphasising that this was not a misunderstanding brought about by miles and cultures, but by an author who failed to do some very basic research. "

To me the writer of the post is saying that since Anok was with a black person, he and the black person should have known that Belit was white. So I was being sarcastic.
 
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