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Title: Conan the Invincible
Series: Conan the Barbarian
Authors: Robert Jordan
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 205
Words: 69K
In this story, a young Conan is hired to steal some jewels, that, unbeknownst to him, are magical in nature. A rival sorcerer to the one that hired Conan ends up stealing them instead and so Conan decides to track them down because a pleasure slave was also kidnapped and he liked the cut of her gib. Hooking up with bandits who are led by a hot tempered woman warrior, Conan and Co take on snake people, army people and rival sorcerous groups. Lots of death happens. Lots of nudity occurs. In the end, everybody pretty much gets what they deserve.
I enjoyed this. It was on par with some of the better stories by Maddox (I know that’s his middle name, but John Roberts is SOOOO boring) and it gives me hope that what Jordan writes overall will be a notch better. I’m not expecting miracles, as this is Conan after all, but I do hope for more consistency.
One thing I was NOT expecting was the comeuppance that the warrior woman gets at the end. She’d been a real witch the entire book and was NOT a good person, so it was with grim humor that I saw Conan leave her to her fate as a slave at the end. She totally deserved it. The sorcerer getting eaten by the cosmic horror god was right in line with what I expect to happen to sorcerers in a Conan story so I was glad not to be disappointed that way too.
On a completely different note I found a list of around 100 Conan books listed chronologically. That’s a lot of Conan to go around! But it gave me some more authors to hunt down in regards to Conan. What I’ve read so far I’ve enjoyed and I’d like to read as much as I can. I have decided that I’m not going to try to number the Conan books I read but just leave them as standalone stories. I’ll simply read them grouped by author and call that good enough. So far, Howard, Maddox and Jordan have all told standalone tales and I hope any other authors stick to that formula. It works well.
★★★✬☆
Bookstooge's Reviews on the Road 
Conan seems to have hit all the right buttons for your reading pleasure!
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I’ll say. Pulpy sword and sorcery hits an itch I didn’t know I even had 🙂
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You have to scratch those quick!
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Why has Conan got a bucket on his head? Is he trying to scan that woman’s barcode at the self-scanner checkout?
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That’s the cashier, not Conan. Conan is the angry guy in the background. He thought he was going through the self-checkout….
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Is Conan really invincible?
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Well, with over 100 books of do or die scenarios, and he seems to survive them all, I’d say he’s as close to being invincible as anyone.
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Are you Conan?
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No, but there are times I wish I was.
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This is the same Jordan who wrote the Wheel of Time stuff right? Guy has been prolific.
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Yep, same guy. He also wrote a couple of books under his real name, but I forget what they are and no interest in seeking them out 🙂
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It was my plan to read a whole lot of sword and sorcery last year but too many other books intruded themselves along the way. Reading more Conan is still the plan though.
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It’s a plan I highly recommend 🙂
Plus, they’re easy reads….
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100 books?????
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Yeah, I guess Conan was popular for quite some time and they pumped out a book a month or something. Franchised him I guess 🙂
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That’s almost Star Trek level. Well, gives you a lot to read!
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You mean, 100 novels excluding all the graphic novels? That’s pretty amazing. 😮
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Correct. 100 novels. Boggles the mind, doesn’t it?
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