3. Tor Conan #13, Conan the Defiant, Part 5

chapters 20-23 and review

This is the final part of my synopsis and review of Conan the Defiant.

Our heroes are still journeying through the in-between world to reach the castle, we have a kill-us-both-spock moment with an illusory Conan. Elashi tricks Clo-nan and the real article clouts him a blow knocking him unconscious and the pair continue on their way. Neg's zombie army begins his conquest of the Hyborian world, and Conan and Elashi meet up with Tuanne and Skeer, momentarily breaking Neg's Control with Salt Water. This unlikely alliance heads off to find the Talisman and defeat neg before his plans of conquest are fulfilled.

This respite is short, Neg quickly figures out that Skeer is helping Conan and where Tuanne is hiding. Finding and torturing her for information. He also re-asserts his control over Skeer, forcing him to abandon the Barbarian and his search for the talisman. He does give Conan directions to the item however before he leaves to attend to Neg.

Finding the Talisman, Neg's power begins to wane. He seeks to know whats happened to it, and the Meeting between Neg and Conan comes quickly after, Neg dispatches Skeer for his treachery and steals his soul.. The Agitated spiders who had been following Skeer around decide that.. since that soul was their goal.. they will attack neg. This distraction gives Conan the opportunity to dispatch the necromancer. Thus ends the threat to the Hyborian world of one of many magical annoyances.

Elashi, Tuanne and Conan then set about reversing the damage Neg had wrought. Freeing all of the animated dead from their servitude and returning them to the shadow realms of death. The story then ends with Conan and Elashi embarking on his much delayed journey south to Zamora, all ready for his Next Adventure.

Review -

This book was an odd one, It was the second of Steve Perry's Conan stories, so I can't really give it much of a pass for him not knowing what he was working with. Had it been his first effort, I'd have been more forgiving. I know that Steve Perry isn't the most well regarded of the Conan writers and I see why now. There is nothing particularly wrong with his writing style, its very light with a good amount of humour in it. The whole bit with the consternated spiders actually did make me chuckle a few times. His really weak spot is his names as I've pointed out in previous posts. Conan being presented as a necrophiliac was just.. bizarre.. and not much else I can say about it.. Its just too silly to make light of. I know people in other reviews have made a point of Conan's ability to speak to everyone in Perry's stories, with seemingly no language gap. That is accurate, he has no problem speaking to anyone even when they are from lands he hasn't visited yet. The only explination I can think of for this is that, Brythunian must be semi-related to another language that he knows. The two seemingly most likely ways of looking at it are 1) If the name is any indication then the people of Brythunia (Brython or Welsh Britain) probably speak a language similar to that of Cimmeria, if not immediately inteligable it probably wouldn't be too hard for some one who is as natural a master of languages as Conan to pick up. 2) Brythunia is the original home of the Ancestors of the Angles and Saxons and there for would probably have had a language very similar to the Aesir.

The story was thankfully lacking DeCamp's Cutesy stuff or Carters attempts at humour. It had humour, but more in the vein of a Terry Gilliam cartoon than Decamp and Carters sort of.. "I dare say old chum isn't that odd now" sort of laughs. If it wasn't for the language and sexual overtones I'd say this would have been a pretty darn good Conan Young Adult Novel.

All in all it wasn't a bad story, but it wasn't a great Conan story. Certainly a way to make the L.Sprague DeCamp and Lin Carter stories look better by Comparison is to read one of Steve Perry's.

I give it ** out of *****

Locations: The Brythunian slopes of the Graskill and Karpash Mountains
Towns, cities and other places: Okothard, The Temple which will not fall, Neg's Castle
Characters: Conan (age about 15), Cengh the Messenger, Monks of the TWWNF, Elashi, Tuanne, Neg the Malific, Skeer the footpad, The Swordmaster, Malo the Swordmasters Apprentice, The Disguise Master, Brute the brute, Port, Starboard.
Languages Spoken: Cimmerian, Aesir, Brythunian.


Next is " Conan the Hunter " By Sean A. Moore.

3. Tor Conan #13, Conan the Defiant, Part 4

chapters 15-19

Starting up where last we left off, our group has billeted themselves at the local in. Conan has gone off to inspect the fortifications of Neg's Castle leaving the pair of girls behind. This leads to trouble as Elashi is kidnapped and Tuanne nearly so. Conan's research goes a bit better, finding that the fortress is well guarded..including some sort of giant fish in the moat.. the remaining two set off to find her and her kidnapper. As mentioned in the last installment, Conan had become a theif.. well it was who he thieved from which has landed him in his current predicament. The one thieved from it seems was a Disguise Master, and Conan saw through his disguise before robbing him.. this was insult to injury and needed to be avenged.

Conan defeats the Disguise Master's equally unimaginatively named fighter " Brute " with similar ease to his fight with Malo earlier.. Brutes dieing words were telling Conan where to find Elashi and he again sets off to reclaim the girl. Apparently Mr. Perry had begun to lose steam at this point in regards to his characters names, as the other two of the Disguise Master's cohorts are named Starboard and Port...Tuanne and Conan dispatch them all and rescue Elashi.. All of this episode has seemed to be totally unnecessary except to establish that Conan can dodge arrows thanks to having seen a traveling circus performer do it once as a child.

Meanwhile, Skeer has completed his task and brought the talisman to Neg.. Neg pours them both a glass of wine before giving Skeer his reward.. though not exactly the reward hoped for. He was such an excellent servant in life, Neg has decided to make him a permanent addition to his servants in Death. He's quickly and against his will, put to work gathering the implements which Neg requires to make use of the Talisman in his unholy activities.. which at the moment is the hair of an Unclean woman and he dutifully tromps off down to the village to collect it.

Skeer is observed on his way to town, Tuanne seeing whats been done to him prevents Conan from attacking him. Judging that if Skeer knows Conan is here, then he will assume Tuanne is as well. Which would allow Neg to reassert his control over her. Instead she performs a magic ritual to open the in-between world, in order to get the group into Neg's Fortress. A fortress now home to the newly Omnipotent Neg.

Catching back up with the Tarantula horde.. if less than a dozen can be truly called a Horde.. they've finally managed to gain entrance to Neg's castle as well. They find their quarry already dead.. such an odd concept no doubt to a Tarantula.. but we as readers get an odd and humorous bit as the result of it. Followed by the frightening prospects of Neg's quickly building undead army.. marching from all the length and breadth of the hyborian world to answer his call. Unfortunately this includes Tuanne, leaving Conan and Elashi alone to finish navigating the magic realm she had opened for them.

3. Tor Conan #13, Conan the Defiant, Part 3

chapters 10-14

Events begin unfolding at a very quick pace in chapter 10, Skeer's cover is blown but he dosen't know hes being followed by the preists of the spider god. It seems a new party is involved in the hunt for the talisman. We are finally treated to the over too soon Zombie Vs Barbarian showdown that was previously hinted, and learn that in addition to his many other skills.. Conan prefers his women with a little fight in them. While the Zombie fight was short, it is almost instantly followed by the Swordmaster hopeing to avenge his pride and the two dead monks on our Barbarian, but with Skeer escaping Conan chooses not to dawdle with Malo the Swordmaster and dispatches him quickly.

Our party now sets off once again on the trail of Skeer, Quickly coming to the conclusion that he's running in circles through the city. Our party of intrepid adventurers is distracted by the shout of a gaurd, the shout generated due to the thousand or so giant spiders hot on the trail of Skeer having just streamed past the poor man. Skeer of course escapes while this is going on. The group still intends to follow him, but they need horses and have no money, out of nescesity, Conan the theif is born. Money in hand, the team purchases horses and all the essentials for travel and depart the city during the night.

The story takes a bit of a skewing turn into the far outfeild, a night out from town and we are treated to a different sort of Barbarian Vs Zombie Action.. apparently Conan likes his women with a bit of fight in the them.. but a pulse isn't a priority.. Following this disturbing interlude the team is again hot on the trail of Skeer the footpad, hoping to find him before the scuttling mass of arachnids do.

Events are coming to a head now, Skeer, Conan and the crew, the Spider horde and the Shambling zombies have all gathered in a town just outside of Neg's Castle. All set for a battle royale I'm sure. Maybe we will find out in part 4 of my review/synopsis of Conan the Defiant.

3. Tor Conan #13, Conan the Defiant, Part 2

Chapters 5-9

In the prologue we were introduced to the Zombie Girl Tuanne, Neg's Handiwork of course. In the first part of chapter five we are again faced with her. She is journeying along the mountain pass high in the Kezankian mountains heading for a village where some supernatural force is telling her the "Source of light is also heading ". Skeer the footpad is heading towards this same village, pity for him that the living dead are waiting.

Conan and Elashi make it to the village a little while later, we are given a humorous bit where the Innkeeper tries to extort a bribe from the surly barbarian.. gets only a hand on a sword hilt for his efforts. He took the hint and gave Conan the information he wants, That Skeer had followed a woman down the hall to here room some time ago. He was subdued, and Tuanne had nearly completed her mission when Conan and Elashi burst into the room. Conan breifly distracted by the zombie girl and then attacked by a confused Elashi allows both skeer and tuanne to escape.. Tuanne with the "Source of light" and Skeer without a stitch of clothing.

Skeer, running from the village rightly deduces that Neg's name is the Malific.. not the Merciful.. so he had best re-steal the "Source of light" or his own fate will be less than pleasent. But he dosen't know which of his persuers has it.. the Zombie or the Barbarian.. this of course complecates matters for poor Skeer. He decides that if he could be fooled by the undead girl then the Barbarian would be as well. Catching her later that day after having ridden his mount to exhaustion in order to get in front of her, Incapacitating her with sorcery, reclaiming the talisman for himself and his master. The next morning tuanne is found by Conan and Elashi. After some very bad dialogue we learn Tuanne needs the talisman in order to help her die, Conan utters that Neg needs killing, and the three join forces to continue looking for Skeer.

Our heroic trio head towards the four mountains which make up " The Death mask ", and which hide the unseen mystery city of Opkothard. The zombie girl judged it the most likely direction to go, though she doubts Skeer will diverge in order to tour the city. They come upon Skeer's dead horse beside the road, having ridden it hard and suffering a broken leg, he killed it and kept moving on foot.

After communication with Skeer, Neg is furious to find his pet Tuanne escaped and working against him. He vents his frustrations on some of the other less attractive zombies and then dispatches a gaggle of them to hunt down Tuanne for her traitorous ways. Skeer has reached the city of Okothard, only to find the way shut. He hails a city gaurd and requests entrance, noticing some etched spider symbols and deduces the Cities population worships the same spidergod as the denzians of the Zamoran city of Yezud.

The trio enter the city with less questioning, Conan sets a boy to look out for Skeer and then conducts some shrewd business in the local merchants quarter, gaining the unwanted attention of some riffraff. In order to impress upon them he's not an easy target, He re-aranges a local blacksmiths anvil with little difficulty and turns down a job offer shortly after.

Back at the monestary, there was apparently a bit of a misunderstanding, Conan has been blamed for the deaths of the preists and the Swordmaster's student, Malo, has journeyed to find him and bring him to justice. He reaches the city around the same time as Neg's zombie minions. And the practitioners of the spider religion predict a conflagration based on their oracular activities.. one can only assume with a Swordsmaster, a Barbarian, a Footpad and a horde of zombies.. that it will be worth the price of admission at the least.

3. Tor Conan #13, Conan the Defiant, Part 1

From Hyborean Apocrypha

This being the first novel length review I will be splitting it up. it has 23 chapters and a prologue and in this first part will review the prologue and first 4 chapters

Conan the Defiant - Steve Perry, part 1

prologue -
our story this week starts off with a bit of set up for the villains, they seem to be your standard " necromancer " sort of character, named Neg the Maleific.. He's apparently a Brythunian Scholar with having zombie minions.. I wonder if he's not studied the same books that Vammatar the Cruel, the witch-queen character in "legions of the Dead" had. Geographically I suppose there is a possibility of him having studied with the Hyperboreans but we shall see.

Chapter 1 - 4
We next pick up with Conan just as hes coming out of the mountains following his adventures in the previous story, frequent mentions are made to that and even the scratches he received in that aren't fully healed, at most this is set no more than a few days after "The Thing in the crypt". He hears a commotion and sneaks up on a scene where a stout man with a wooden staff is being attacked by 5 sword wielding opponents.. He dosen't decide to get involved at first but once he sees the stout man pretty effectively fending them off, he goes to his aide.. They fend off the rest of the, we are now informed to be brigands and the man, who turns out to be a monk of some sort, offers to take Conan back to their temple and feed him and supply him with some new clothes, as the Pelts he'd stolen from the crypt are now fully beginning to fall apart and show their age.

Before they make it to the monastery they are attacked by a Stith... which is apparently some sort of Reptilian humanoid, I'd assume they have some relation to the snake-men from the Kull stories but heavily devolved. Again, we shall see as the story progresses.

Not much happens in this period, we learn the Stith are Poisonous and can eject said poison, that the man that Conan rescued, Cengh (I assume pronounced Singh) is a messenger with some urgent tale to tell his betters at the temple. While he does this we are introduced to a footpad named Skeer, who is spying on the temple, and practices some sort of oracular magic using the guts of a stolen goat to accomplish this.. he works for Neg you see, and must stay in touch. Other than that, Conan cleans up, is issued some new clothes and eats and drinks a bunch, and decides he can put off heading to Zamora for a few more days. A brief interlude with a sword master and his Student and a hint at the extensive network of trade in the Hyborian lands.. though why a Vendyhan trader would go all the way to Cimmeria is another matter.. when this interlude is over, its obvious Conan has made himself a new enemy in the form of the sword master's student. throughout these chapters we are also occasionally alerted to the doings of Neg's Zombie girl Tuanne as well. Conan has a run in with a woman masquerading as a priest, who is planning to knife another priest, She is after some stolen bit of property, after this altercation Conan lets her go. following this he watched a fight between two priests, one is stabbed and slumps to the ground and the girl darts after the other one who flees. Conan approaches the wounded man and discovers its Cengh, Cengh relates the story of some magical artifact, "The Source of Light", and how the man who stole it was working for Neg, our necromancer friend, and that should neg get the artifact he will be able to cause untold mischief. Conan resolves to delay his journey to Zamora further in order to get revenge for Cengh.

He has a further run in with the girl, now named Elashi, who we discover is from a nomadic people in the far desert country of Khaurun, and is also after the man who knifed Cengh. She also alerts Conan to the fact that the other man is in fact Skeer, who is working for Neg. Apparently her father found the Source of Light in some ruins recently uncovered by a sandstorm.. he was killed for it and some how the object wound up in the possession of the monks in a Brythunian monastery, and now its on its way to Neg. The two resolve to work together to find Skeer before he gets to make delivery.