Conan the Relentless

Plot

After the events of "The Lair of the Ice Worm", Conan enters the Border Kingdom. Encountering a group of bandits, he learns that the guards of the caravan they plan to raid are led by Raihna, a female adventurer he had previously encountered in Conan the Valiant. This news leads him to abandon his inclination to join the bandits and come to the defense of Raihna instead. Afterwards the two enter the service of Eloikis, theoretical king over the restive, semi-independent lords of the country, who needs their aid against a powerful count and two demon-controlling wizards. The story follows their adventures as the king's troubleshooters, which ultimately lead to their rescue of his daughter and grandson. But their partnership dissolves when Rhiana decides to marry one of the king's guards, and Conan resumes his wanderings, heading south.

Reception

According to reviewer Lagomorph Rex the book "felt like mostly what it was, filler, but decent filler rather than horrid filler." He considers it "not a bad little story," but "[p]lot wise there wasn't a whole lot going on that we haven't seen before," and it is "to[o] long for the scanty plot which it was built around." Nonetheless, he finds it "especially interesting in that it reintroduced a character we had seen previously, adding a lot to her character, and then wraps her story up with a nice conclusion." Among the Tor Conan writers he ranks Green's writing beneath that of John Maddox Roberts and Robert Jordan, but "far superior to Leonard Carpenter or Steve Perry."