Conan has a grudge to settle with a badass outlaw and his drugged out posse and follows them halfway across the world to solve it - blade to blade.
You know that old chestnut about not judging a book by its cover? It's definitely applicable here, because not once does anything close to the epic Manowar album cover style illustration that graces the front of this book happen. A damn shame, because who wouldn't want to see Conan duke it out with a mutated pterodactyl?
Regardless, I found Conan the Bold by John Maddox Roberts to be your standard Conan adventure affair with lots of men fighting and dying, wenches wenching, slavers.. um... enslaving? And a supply of magic steroids because why the hell not? There is a hint of otherworldly Lovecraftian influence throughout the novel, but it never takes center stage away from the basic revenge plot. This is more or less Death Wish with swords and throwing knives, and that sounds like a damn good time to me. However, there are a lot of cat and mouse moments between Conan and the main villain Taharka that may frustrate some readers. One almost expects the villain to bellow "I'll get you next time, Gadget!" after every near miss encounter.
I should state I have absolutely nothing against the Conan pastiche novels. Many Howard purists seem to despise them, but I find them to mostly be a good time if you can adjust your expectations. What I appreciate about a novel like Conan the Bold is that John Maddox Roberts is making zero attempt to emulate Robert E. Howard's prose. Most who try to emulate Howard end up with a mess of word salad and rehashed plots. Roberts is wisely his own man with Conan the Bold and the novel is all the better for it.
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