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Language English Publication date 2011 Pages 292 pp Originally published 2011 Genre Sword and sorcery Country United States of America | 3.5/5 Goodreads Series Conan the Barbarian Media type Print (Paperback) ISBN 978-0-425-24206-3 Publisher Berkley Books OCLC 679930060 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Conan the Barbarian is a fantasy novel written by Michael A. Stackpole featuring Robert E. Howard's seminal sword and sorcery hero of the same name, a novelization of the feature film of the same title. It was first published in paperback by Berkley Books in 2011. An earlier novel of the same title by L. Sprague de Camp, Lin Carter and Catherine Crook de Camp, based on the original film of which the 2011 version was a remake, was published by Bantam Books in 1982.
Plot summary
Chapters 1-11 retell the story of the hero's youth from his birth through the murder of his father and destruction of his village to the eve of the Battle of Venarium. Stackpole's version of these events is compatible with the account established in the original tales by Howard, the character's creator, references to which he incorporates into his text. In the wake of Venarium Conan ventures into an unforgiving world where he survives as a thief, pirate, and warrior on a path of wanton adventure and women.
Chapters 12-33, set years later in the wake of his piratical career on the Black Coast and subsequent sojourn in the Black Kingdoms, relate how Conan chances upon the warlord responsible for his tribe's destruction. As he tracks Khalar Zym, Conan battles monsters, Zym's henchmen, and Marique, a powerful witch.