Conan: Blood of the Serpent

The All-New Chronicles of the World's Greatest Barbarian Hero

By: S. M. Stirling

Narrated by: Bradford Hastings

Length: 12 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's summary

The pulse-pounding return of Conan, the most iconic fantasy hero in popular culture

Conan the Barbarian, the world’s most famous fantasy hero, returns in an all-new novel tied directly to the famous works by his legendary creator, Robert E. Howard.

In this story, set early in his life, Conan has left his northern homeland to cut a bloody swath across the legendary Hyborian Age. A mercenary, a soldier, a thief, and a pirate, he faces conquering armies, malicious sorcerers, and monstrous creatures—against which he wields only the sword held in his powerful grasp.

The first new Conan novel in more than a decade, Blood of the Serpent leads directly into one of Robert E. Howard’s most famous sword-and-sorcery adventures, “Red Nails,” which as a bonus feature is included in this volume.

©2022 Conan Properties International LLC (“CPI”) (P)2022 Blackstone Publishing

Different from the Conan I used to read.

Descent story. Leaves you hanging for the climax... next book better come our soon.

Good story, great performance

I thoroughly enjoyed the story. It stretched a bit long during the "chase" and it seemed like the author just had so many ideas that it was difficult to fit it all in without it seeming like a jumble of events.

That being said the experience was enjoyable and I appreciated getting to experience a Conan story through his eyes.

I am also glad the author didn't attempt to ape Robert E. Howard's style. The author has a good voice that was easy to fall into.

The audio performance was top tier. I hope to see a pairing of this author and narrator for future Conan adventures.

By the Bowels of Ahriman!

It's great to finally see a new entry in the Nemedian Chronicles!


I've read almost every Conan novel that's been written from the original Howard stories through Carter and de Camp to Roberts and Jordan with everything in between.


Blood of the Serpent isn't the best of Conan's blood soaked adventures or the worst, but somewhere better than middle of the road I would say. The writing style is in my opinion, most akin to the John Maddox Roberts' style and plot choices. However, it is very different from Howard's writing style, employing notably more modern language and other things like feminist elements (that contradict how Conan is portrayed in Red Nails, which immediately follows BotS). At times, the story seems to be more about Valeria than Conan, which I think was a poor choice; the series is called Conan after all, not Valeria.


I agree with others who have said that Conan is a bit too preoccupied with Valeria. The story probably would have been better if Conan had had some other motivation for going on a death defying quest other than being smitten. Another complaint that people have mentioned is repetitiveness, which is also definitely true, but with a reason that is supported by the plot, it's not too disruptive. It does manage to maintain the gritty low fantasy feel that you would expect from Conan though.


The narrator I would rank as bad, but for his Conan voice, which was decent, so I will settle on a rating of subpar. His non-Conan character voices are pretty meh and his Valeria voice is actually kind of repulsive. His general narration voice is bland and sounds really blase no matter what's happening. Furthermore, the narrator consistently mispronounced common words that any middle schooler would know AND even worse, managed to mispronounce nearly every Hyborian Kingdom and geographical landmark that was mentioned (keep in mind that Howard took many of his names from existing names, either real or mythological, that have set correct pronunciations and that are not up for interpretation or debate)! How you can be a professional narrator and not have a solid grasp of basic English, I don't know.


Overall though, I am happy to see new life being breathed into the franchise. If you like other Conan stories then this is probably worth a credit for you. I just hope they get a different narrator for the next book, Crom curse him!

By Crom!

Now, most folks who know me, know that I love me some Conan. I always have, and have devoured everything Robert E. Howard, Lin Carter, and L.Sprague De Camp put out. I even read through more than a few stories in the universe that Poul Anderson, Roland Gree, and Robert Jordan had written, but to my knowledge, I had not read any Conan novels written by S.M. Stirling.

I was in no way disappointed.

Blood of the Serpent is a great tale set in the lands of Stygia, following Conan as part of the Red Brotherhood, where he leaves in search of Valeria, finding her on the edge of a great desert, threatened by a Dragon God that feeds right into the classic Robert E. Howard story, Red Nails and is included at the end of Blood of the Serpent.

Stirling does an amazing job, bringing the world of Conan to life while giving the storytelling an updated feel.

Audio quality, narration, and story, all were great, but being a fan of all things Conan, I may be a bit biased.

Rating wise, 5 of 5, hands down. If you love sword and sorcery, you’ll want this story by Stirling added to your list.

A fun escape

I am a fan of the character Conan, and this book fits well in the great legacy of Robert E. Howard.

not great

narrator was bored. and you can tell. story often comes off as satire of REH. definitely doesn't make u want to read Stirling

Conan!

Really enjoyed it. Good old fashioned Conan story. Adventure, fighting, SWORDS, and half naked men and women 😆. Classic Conan

Fun prequel to Red Nails

A good, if by the numbers, prequel to Red Nails. I enjoyed the kitchen details and flavor Stirling brought to the Hyborian world. The narrator did a excellent job as well.

Entertaining read

Good, well-told story. Stirling gets the character better than most pastiche authors. It made me want to re-read “Red Nails” next, and continue the adventure.

When Conan met Valeria

The story directly precedes the original Conan story “Red Nails” by Robert E Howard. So any reviews saying it ended with the story unresolved haven’t read the original Conan stories or they would have immediately recognized the ending of this book is the literal beginning of Red Nails.

That being said, I thoroughly enjoyed this book as a recent Conan fan, having read most if not all original Conan pulps by REH. It provided some thorough background information to events only briefly alluded to in Red Nails. The original Conan pulps have a vague chronology at best and much of what happens in between if left to our imagination, so a story like Blood of the Serpent fills some gaps nicely and provides more depth to the Conan universe. I would totally read more Conan material that does just that, since REH’s life was tragically cut short.

The narrator was alright. Not great like any of the Ender’s Game narrators or the Elric of Melniboné narrator or Wil Wheaton from Ready Player One, but he kept me entertained and focused. I’d listen to more Conan audiobooks from him if more are made.

My only major criticism of this audiobook is that despite what the Title Details in the Audible store suggest, this audiobook does NOT include a reading of “Red Nails”. The printed copy of the book probably includes the printed prose but unfortunately this audiobook does not include an audio equivalent. Not the biggest deal for me because I already own a printed copy of “Red Nails” and the Titan comic adaptation, but was still disappointed. So you’ll need to look elsewhere to continue Conan and Valeria’s adventure.