Customer Rating:  
Summary: A step down
Comment: In the second volume of the "Soldier's Quest" series set in ancient Hyborea, our reluctant hero is back (and still very reluctant). But this time It's definitely uninspired compared to the first.
It'll keep you turning pages as the hero gets into a ridiculous amount of back to back bad situations and through an improbable amount of luck and determination, keeps escaping them.
This book has an absurd amound of truly awful, derivative place and character names, a good example of which is one of the main antagonists; "Set-Anubis." The writing and story itself feel very adolescent.
There are constant action and fight scenes, but unfortunately they are extremely repetitive, using the same sparse phrases and descriptions; poorly and clunkily described and written.
Ever been attacked by a "...ball and chain mace..."?
None-the-less, the main character rises through the ranks and saves the day to become bestest buds with Palantides and Conan himself.
I can't recommend #2.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Fun in the Conan tradition
Comment: I eyed the Age of Conan series for a while. I finally picked A Soldier's Quest at random (I liked the cover).
I have to say that I enjoyed it and bought the second installment. It is pure action, with just a splash of character development - but isn't that what Conan was all about?
This book reminded me of the old Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms books I used to read as a child before they went over the deep end. There's magic and monsters, but not so much that you feel like you are on another planet. Howard's Hyborean Age was earth after all, albeit a very primitive pre-historic earth with creatures that (we hope) are now extinct. I, personally, prefer it when the hero is freaked out by sorcery if they're not magic users themselves. If magic were common, then it wouldn't be magic anymore - it might be more of a science. Here, there are no magic lamps or portals to other dimensions as everyday fare. This is a world where the hero trusts to his steel and the farmer to his crops. Anything else is unnatural and must be treated as such.
I'll let you know what I think of the second installment as soon as I finish it, but I can say that I'll return to Hyborian Adventures for my quick Sword and Sorcery fix every now and then.
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