CONAN: SONGS OF THE SLAIN
By Tim Lebbon Illustrated by Juan Alberto Hernandez
Published by Titan Books, 2025, £19.99
I am not normally fond of pastiches and have only ever written one myself (on request) and found it a far from enjoyable experience. Therefore I readily admit to starting this book without the greatest of expectations. In fact, Conan pastiches have been a particular dislike of mine for many years. So I was surprised to find the more I got into this book the more I became engrossed in it, and I was actually sorry when I reached the end.
It's not the Conan of Robert E. Howard, of course, if for one major reason: it’s King Conan in his later years, when the rigours of all his past hardships and wounds and his advancing age have taken their toll. Not that any of these dissuade him from doing what he’s always done best, with a broadsword held firmly in his fist.
It’s a very dark book, with several brilliantly described and thoroughly grotesque over-the-top villains out to end the Cimmerian’s life for a variety of reasons, preferably in as terrible a way as possible.
Growing bored as king of Aquilonia it is almost a gift when an old friend from many decades before, who helped them both escape a slave quarry, manages to reach him all but dead from his injuries to ask for help to rescue his enslaved wife and daughter, held by a brutal warrior called Grake, a man even bigger than Conan himself and a formidable warrior in his own right, but one who is viciously cruel. Honouring the debt he owes this man, Conan sets out by himself to fulfil his request. And so begins Conan’s perilous journey through many of the lands of ancient Hyboria into untold horrors, most of them supernatural in one form or another, from liches to flesh-eating giant insects controlled by an insane sorcerer. On his way he meets up with a unique group of potential allies, a disparate band of ex-warriors now travelling as a troupe of musicians going by the name of the Last Song. Despite initial mistrust on both sides they go on to share many of Conan’s perils.
The climax sees Conan up against a trio of his most malign enemies and things have never looked worse for him. It’s masterfully described, and the excitement and dangers certainly pile on top of each other in a most satisfying if terrifying way.
Although I still prefer Robert E. Howard’s Conan tales the most, this comes a close second, and at nearly 300 pages is never boring. It is also, I must add, complemented with some really well executed full-page black and white illustrations by Juan Alberto Hernandez which vividly depict some of its key scenes.
All in all an enjoyable swords and sorcery novel. And I would certainly look forward to any further chapters in the twilight years of the Cimmerian king of Aquilonia.
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