Director John Milius’ Conan The Barbarian (1982) is my
favourite Sword & Sorcery film of all-time. It’s an epic movie and while
taking its own spin on the character, it embodies the spirit of Robert E.
Howard’s beloved Conan. The novelization penned by the duo of L. Sprague de
Camp and Lin Carter was published forty years ago to coincide with the film’s
release, but it’s not until now that we’ve been able to enjoy it as an audiobook.
By Crom, Blackstone Publishing and Titan Books have seen fit to grant us our
wish and have published this classic piece of literature on Audible (and
reissued it as a paperback/Kindle) two weeks ago, on Halloween day, to be
precise. The audiobook is read by Bradford Hastings and has a length of six
hours and fifty-two minutes. Here is the official synopsis:
“Two of the most famous contributors to the Conan legend present the
official novel of Conan the Barbarian, the seminal fantasy film written by John
Milius and Oliver Stone.
In
the novel by L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter, the Cimmerian youth Conan
witnesses the death of his parents at the hands of Thulsa Doom, a priest of
Set. Enslaved, he is trained as a gladiator. Gaining his freedom, he allies
with Subotai, a Hyrkanian archer, and a skilled swordswoman thief named
Valeria. Together they raid the Tower of the Serpent, and then Conan breaks away
to seek the cult of Doom—and revenge on the sorcerer who leads it.”
Let’s get one thing out of the
way: I love this book! It’s superbly written by Sprague de Camp and Carter and
it felt like an extension of Howard’s Conan writings. As good movie tie-ins
often do, it goes in greater detail in some aspects of the story and as a fan
of the film, I appreciate that a lot. One of the cool things is that while
listening to it, I hardly ever pictured Arnold Schwarzenegger as Conan but
rather the character himself, which made me enjoy the adventure in a different
way than on a viewing of the movie. Maybe it’s because of the Conan Marvel
Comics of the ‘70s/’80s I grew up with by the fantastic duo of writer/artist
Roy Thomas and John Buscema or the gorgeous Frank Frazetta book covers, and more
recently, the exquisite pairing of writer Jim Zub and artist Rob De La Torre, but
that’s the Conan I pictured in my head while listening to this book.
Bradford Hastings who also narrated
last year’s Conan: Blood of the Serpent handles
reading duties once more and he is absolutely perfect for the task. He gives
Conan a unique voice that is different from his narration and the other
characters of the book. He really makes the Barbarian his own and you don’t think
of Arnold when you hear him speak (which is a good thing in my opinion). I hope
he continues to provide narration for future Conan books (and that Blackstone
publishes an audiobook of John C. Hocking’s upcoming Conan in the City of the Dead next year).
Whether you’ve seen the movie a
hundred times like I have or even if you’ve never had a chance to watch it, if
you’re a fan of Conan or Sword & Sorcery, you’ll have a grand ole time with
this audiobook. It’s a short listen and it’s engaging from beginning to end. It
also serves as a perfect introduction to Conan if you’re new to the genre and
haven’t read any of Robert E. Howard’s legendary Conan tales. Listen to this
and then move on to Howard’s stories. I can’t help but give Conan The Barbarian my highest possible recommendation.
Rating:
Five stars out of five
Get your copy on Audible
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