I really don't like this story.. I don't want to get into any sort of armchair psychologist sort of thing with it.. I simply don't like it. I consider it to be one of the worst Conan stories, and also one of the worst REH stories I've read. Suffice to say I feel there is a reason why it was never published in the author's lifetime.. as it simply isn't up to the quality of work he normally produced and is also rife with problematic and extremely cynical (even for Howard) views of the world.
That being said, I think that the Characterization of Conan himself is still quite good.. showing his frustration with the Bamulas and other tribes in the Black Kingdoms.. while also showing he is still a man of honor with no truck with rapists or those who force themselves on women.
Up next, The Castle of Terror by L. Sprague DeCamp and Lin Carter
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It might interest you to know that even without deCamp's editing, most Howard fans consider this the worst Conan story wrote.
Can't access my files, but, IIRC, Howard stated that he wrote this at a time when he was getting tired of the character and wrote the story only because he needed to write something he felt Weird Tales would publish.
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