6.8 /10 1 Votes
Language English Publication date 1990 Pages 277 pp Originally published 1990 Publisher Tor Books Country United States of America | 3.4/5 Goodreads Series Conan the Barbarian Media type Print (Paperback) ISBN 0-8125-0714-2 Cover artist Ken Kelly | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Genres Fantasy, Sword and sorcery Similar Leonard Carpenter books, Sword and sorcery books, Other books | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Conan the Great is a fantasy novel written by Leonard Carpenter featuring Robert E. Howard's sword and sorcery hero Conan the Barbarian. It was first published in paperback by Tor Books in April 1990 (the 1989 date appearing on the title page verso is erroneous). It was reprinted by Tor in August 1997. It has the distinction of being the only one of the Tor series of Conan novels set in the period of Conan's kingship.
Contents
Plot
After a victorious war against the invading armies of Nemedia and Ophir, King Conan of Aquilonia rescues from the battlefield the dwarf Delvyn, jester to the enemy kings. Delvyn, however, is not the fool he appears, but the secret driving force behind the invasion. The ambitious devotee of an evil demon, he seeks a king powerful enough to spread its worship throughout the world. In the wake of his former patrons' failure to conquer Aquilonia, he believes his new employer both strong enough to unite the Hyborian nations and pliant enough to establish his universal cult. Skillfully insinuating himself into the king's confidence, the scheming jester plays on Conan's concerns over the resurgent strength of the kingdom of Koth under its new ruler, the mysterious, amoral and ruthless Prince Armiro. In a contest for empry, Aquilonia extends its conquests to the east while Koth drives west, crushing the realms between them as they approach their inevitable clash. The king is estranged from former friends and supporters and dependant on his new hanger-on as Delvyn feeds Conan's vainglory. Only the revelation that Armiro is his own son by his former lover, Queen Yasmala of Khoraja, stops Conan at the brink and spurs him to shake the jester's baleful influence.
Themes
In an original Howard story, Swords of the Northern Sea (featuring Cormac Mac Art rather than Conan, and included in the collection Tigers of the Sea) a major role is played by a malevolent, scheming dwarf.