Robert E. Howard was a genius.

@TBOTSS

2 ай бұрын

And Matt is a moron.

Couldn't disagree more. All the bad guys aren't black (and I'm black). All the women don't want Conan (Valeria wanted no part of him). All the guys don't gush over Conan (except the kid in Wolves Beyond The Border). Not your cup of tea (obviously), but to say they're horrible? In The Frost Giant's Daughter, she leads warriors to their doom. She was no innocent woman being set upon. I can understand your modern sensibilities being offended, but your bias is evident in your inaccurate depictions of the details of the stories. No world building? You mean 'no world building like I like it done'.' No character development for Conan? What about how smart he is? How he learns the language and culture of every place he goes? None of the movies do the stories justice.

@csd8204

6 ай бұрын

@edricgeist5041 Agreed. REH was a racist (as stated in his writings to H.P. Lovecraft) but it wasn't overly extreme in his works. REH bought me to fantasy and sword and sorcery. As a person of color, I wouldn't have stayed if it was offensive.

@goukeban6197

6 ай бұрын

@@csd8204 You know what I find disgusting about the term "person of color"? You are describing yourself specifically under the frame of not being white, not as a black man. You are accepting white as the default and putting yourself beneath that when you use such terminology. You don't see native japanese describing themselves as "people of slanted eyes", why should you do the same with your skin color?

@csd8204

6 ай бұрын

@goukeban6197 @goukeban6197 What are you talking about? In my original post, I said 'I'm black' because I was speaking of me specifically. In my second post I say "person of color" because I'm speaking in general regarding areas of concern for people 'who aren't white' in a genre dominated by white writers. You find it 'disgusting'? Why would native Japanese need to refer to themselves by their eyes in a country where they are the overwhelming majority? Faulty analogy.

@goukeban6197

6 ай бұрын

@@csd8204 It's disgusting because it's newspeech design to strip individuality away. It frames white as the default and non-whites as the other, the opposition.

@jarltrippin

6 ай бұрын

I wish people wouldn't resort to hate comments, not only because it's downright hurtful (which is absolutely worst part about it, don't get me wrong. This man is a human being) but also because it negates actual fair criticism like this. There's a lot to criticise with the way he handled Blood Meridian, too, but people went way overboard in the comments. He called fans of the book pretentious and acted surprised when people responded negatively. On top of that, he didn't even finish it (which should be the bare minimum when reviewing something), just like what we see here, though this is worse in my opinion because a paying subscriber requested it. I say all this as someone who actually likes his channel and wants to see it grow. As of right now, he frankly has very little integrity as a critic. Anyway, I'm totally gonna read Conan this year. I'm on a Clark Ashton Smith binge right now and I honestly think he's better than Lovecraft. I highly recommend his stuff if you haven't checked him out.

I've never met anyone who read "The Phoenix on the Sword" and or "Beyond the Black River" and didn't love it. I read the Conan stories when I was just out of high school in the early 2000s and absolutely loved them, Howard's prose, the amazing world-building, the action, the characters, etc. And you can't say "Howard didn't world build" and expect to be taken seriously. And I'm black and the racism didn't bother me at all and actually the pirates who saved Conan in "The Hour of the Dragon" were all black and they were "good guys." This is such a lame, bad take.

@AtamskArchadian

Ай бұрын

Black guy here. I agree with you regarding the racism, also in my opinion The Hour of The Dragon was among the top tier stories about Conan.

@rumrunner8019

Ай бұрын

@@AtamskArchadian If you are black and like Howard's work, I highly recommend you read "Imaro" by Charles Saunders. It's basically the African equivalent of Conan

Always fun to watch you be wrong about older fantasy.

@davidmeyer1054

6 ай бұрын

It's trash, grow up.

@phaedruslive

6 ай бұрын

But... it's the current year!!!

Robert E Howard's prose is beautiful, and I think Conan is the most interesting character in fantasy. Conan's view of life is incredibly striking and inspiring: "I have known many gods. He who denies them is as blind as he who trusts them too deeply. I seek not beyond death. It may be the blackness averred by the Nemedian skeptics, or Crom's realm of ice and cloud, or the snowy plains and vaulted halls of the Nordheimer's Valhalla. I know not, nor do I care. Let me live deep while I live; let me know the rich juices of red meat and stinging wine on my palate, the hot embrace of white arms, the mad exultation of battle when the blue blades flame and crimson, and I am content. Let teachers and philosophers brood over questions of reality and illusion. I know this: if life is illusion, then I am no less an illusion, and being thus, the illusion is real to me. I live, I burn with life, I love, I slay, and am content".

@goukeban6197

6 ай бұрын

And to think this was the kind of prose he used for what was, at the time, "cheap" literature for the masses.

@csd8204

6 ай бұрын

Right? That's what surprised me the most about the video. You can not like it but saying it was 'so bad'? I don't care for Brandon Sanderson's writing, but I'd never categorize it as bad, it’s just not for me.

@neiltaylor513

6 ай бұрын

This is the massive problem with many book tubers, many of the creators set themselves up as some type of authority when many of the people viewing have being reading longer and have more knowledge then the creators. You then get other who act like, sheep and kiss ass, I occasionally watch them but not with any great expectations, Watch but never take seriously

@zionthedon7745

6 ай бұрын

Um, can someone explain the "white arms" part?

@JJJ111JJJ

6 ай бұрын

@@zionthedon7745 Naked arms.

I appreciate the no BS honest reviews, but I wonder if your fast paced reading schedule and insta-reviews sometimes cause you to overlook some gold you might notice otherwise. You're not the first to be uncomfortable reading the Frost Giant's Daughter, but I'm sure that was intentional. You're certainly leaving out important details about her being one example of a white villain: a siren like figure intentionally taunting and magically arousing a barbarian in the heat of battle to lure him to her family to murder as a sacrifice - the fact he manages to survive and turns the tables on her was unprecedented and shocking to Atali and the reader, and we can be relieved that the god Ymir (whom Conan does not kill) was there to save her and not make us witness what was disturbingly foreshadowed. But this is a reflection of the brutality of Hyboria, the primal strength that is needed to survive it (It may be escapist fantasy wish fulfillment, but it doesn't idealize the past), not of Conan's standard morality, which usually outshines the prejudice and backstabbing of the city dwellers. What other attempted sexual violence was there?? I'm sorry you got so little from these stories, but many people are still enjoying them in 2024 on their own the merits of their gifted writer - that's why the omnibuses of his many stories have been in print for 20 years. They're not always perfect, he wrote in a flurry for the monthly publications and sometimes pandered to the salaciousness expected by Weird Tales, but there's amazing vitality in the prose, and interesting world-building cohesion, even if he was no Tolkien or Erikson. BTW, I'm curious, do you like any writing from this era, or before?

@jarekhalas

6 ай бұрын

thank you for that comment. and thank you D..y and N...x - then we have reviews like this :/

@MagusMarquillin

6 ай бұрын

@@jarekhalas What is D..y and N..x?

@jarekhalas

6 ай бұрын

@@MagusMarquillin woke stream channels , Di..ey, Net..x .

@greg3641

3 ай бұрын

Disney netflix are we not allowed to say that? Lol

I first read the Conan stories in my early teens back in the late 70’s and loved them. That was my introduction to the sword & sorcery genre which I still read to this day. I re-read these stories now & then and still enjoy them immensely.

Again this guy. He very much dislikes Tolkien, Gene Wolfe, Tad Williams, Dan Simmons, Robert Howard but he loves ... Brandon Sanderson. Lol. What??!! The old fantasy (1940-1990) is untouchable. And not because it is "old" but because is absolutely brilliant.

@csd8204

4 ай бұрын

Some of it is brilliant, some isn't.

@JoshuaHornbaker

3 ай бұрын

@@csd8204they are all brilliant and I say some are the weakest

@TBOTSS

2 ай бұрын

Matt is a moron.

@personmcpersonperson2893

Ай бұрын

He hates blood meridian too lol, guy just has awful taste across the board

Robert E Howard is the greatest pulp writer who ever lived.

If Matt dislikes it, I will love it! I have to read that.

@davidmeyer1054

6 ай бұрын

You do have similar hair tho. So that's neat.

@yelisieimurai

6 ай бұрын

@@davidmeyer1054 how do you know that I have similar hair to Matt? That’s right and this is the reason why I subscribed to his great channel.

@tommyboyscalemodeling4988

6 ай бұрын

Same. 🙂

Take comfort, Conan will be around long after this schmoe.

So I read all the comments and based on what I've read it seems the person who made this video dislikes the Conan books for one simple reason. Because they aren't filled to the brim with feminist and social justice politics. It's obvious this guy is part of the modern audience who live on Twitter and can't stand anything that isn’t safe, politically correct, and progressive. The Conan books are WAY superior to the movies. The first movie just rips off Kull another character by Robert.

@cegesh1459

2 ай бұрын

That's not the case and you sound l8ke a snowflake op. 😂

@user-bq7jp2tn8u

18 күн бұрын

Absolutely correct! I can also understand why the physicality and toughness of Conan might not appeal to a pencil-necked guy like this fellow.

Saying Conan wanted relations with Atali, without mentioning he was bewitched, is dishonest. Replace bewitched with drugged and you now have a real situation where you're in the wrong for saying that.

@saidi7975

5 ай бұрын

Absolutely, people tend to forget that detail about Atali. She is not human, but a malicious demigoddess...

the fact that you say the movie is faithfull, means you have trouble reading deeper into the story's. Ofcourse you think it is bad ....

@RogueDragon05

6 ай бұрын

The funny thing is that the movie is NOT faithful to the original stories. Howard's Conan was never a slave nor a gladiator, his family and homeland were not destroyed there is no life long revenge plot, nor did he have a special sword. Thulsa Doom not only has nothing to do with his literature origins but wasen't even a Conan villain. The climbing of the tower and Valaria subbing for Belit and the crucifixion scene and Conan living as a thief are pretty much the only things that were ripped from the stories.

Glad you're honest to what you got out of it, but strongly disagree with everything you have shared. Good luck.

DAMN! And on Robert E Howard's birthday of all days! RIP I haven't read many Robert E Howard short stories, but I can't fathom how someone can read "The Frost-Giant's Daughter" or "The Tower of the Elephant" and hate it.

@cowpercoles1194

6 ай бұрын

Yeah, or Red Nails...

@MagusMarquillin

6 ай бұрын

@@cowpercoles1194 He didn't get so far as Red Nails, he said he read around eight stories which would be Iron Shadows of the Moon, though if he read that one he might have noticed better female representation (and must not have liked Belit for the Jewish greed sterotype), so I'm guessing he stopped at Black Colossus - I found that one a little boring myself. Lots of great stuff otherwise though; the Scarlet Citidel, the God in the Bowl, love Tower of the Elephant and Frost Giants Daughter is so eeire.

@csd8204

6 ай бұрын

@@MagusMarquillin What does Jewish greed have to do with Belit? Just curious.

I think Razorfist had the best take on this review. You're reviewing an old book from the rich suburban position of a modern San Francisco situation. I'm sorry Conan is not engaging in a slam poetry venue he is a barbarian

@MattsFantasyBookReviews

5 ай бұрын

Logen Ninefingers in The First Law is a barbarian as well, but he's about 1000x more engaging than Conan. Hell, Karsa Orlong in Malazan is modeled after Conan is also a far more compelling character.

@krazykillerhippo

5 ай бұрын

Razorfist mentioned this review?

@thedarkmasterthedarkmaster

5 ай бұрын

@@krazykillerhippo yeah in some livestream i forgot which one

@JoshuaHornbaker

4 ай бұрын

@@MattsFantasyBookReviewsConan the the OG no matter what and your review here is not understandable and he’s more memorable than Logen and he has character in him

this is the worst take i have ever seen and there is so much slander here that it's insane, conan does not force himself nor he is a toxic male, he is literaly just a strong man that has swords skills and uses them to fight evil, the fact that you are threatened by a strong man and his ability to pull in women just shows how much of a insecure person you are.

@greekvvedge

6 ай бұрын

He does try to rape the Frost Giant's Daughter. I guess she was trying to kill him though, to be fair (also, she wasn't real, but a near-death hallucination?). And Conan's decisions are never portrayed by Howard as "right" or "wrong". They just are. I think that's where Howard's writing is a little more complex than the reviewer gives him credit. Conan is fascinating with all his strength and his ability to do both good and evil with it, completely outside the bounds of modern morality. How many times he comes up "good" though is what always intrigues me.

@RogueDragon05

6 ай бұрын

@@greekvvedge Yes Conan does try to ravish her (Atali is her name) however he was bewitched by her and she intentionally inflamed his desires. (It's not any different then intentionally getting a girl drunk and high and then saying she was asking for it, they are both in altered states of mind against their will) She taunted him hoping to lead him to his death to sacrifice his heart to her father, it's only after he slays her brothers that she fears for her virtue and well being prior to that she's very much willingly leading him on. She was also very much real, no one believes Conan when they find him but they all notice in the last words of the story that he is clinging to a torn piece of her gossamer clothing. She was the daughter of Ymir who snatches her out of Conan's grasps as soon as she invokes his name and pleads for her father to save her. As far as the morality thing goes, Howard was a student of the classics and if you study old mythology (Greek/Roman/Japanese/Abrahamic/Babylonian/Egyptian/etc.) You'll find that morality particularly when it comes to divine beings is not really a driving point. Athena blames Medusa for getting raped in her temple by a god she could not have stopped, Abraham dutifully attempting to murder his own son for no other reason then his god told him too, etc. It was very common in these stories for divine beings to forcibly woo or make humans feel amorous desires, Poseidon forcing the Crete kings wife to desire to breed with his prized bull to conceive the Minitour or any number of Zeus conquests. Conan's world and stories are no different, not only are our modern sensibilities non existent but they wouldn't survive. Also note how no one has any qualms about Atali enchanting innocent men to their doom, it's Conan who's the asshole. Anyone that knows anything about Howard and Conan knows that part of what he was doing was studying the contrast between barbarism and civilization. Also it's a story, I don't need all my hero's to conform to my standards of morality and quite honestly that would make for a boring tale anyways, there are always candy asses that cannot accept something like The Frost Giant's Daughter but will gladly read/watch about gratuitous murder and rape and forcible castration or imprinting on children and worse in stories like Game of Thrones/Twilight and others.

@Ariapeithes_

5 ай бұрын

This dude is a progressive lefty Jew. Wake up.

@ge0metr1xx

3 ай бұрын

@@greekvvedge He does not try to rape Atali. Stop distorting the story. She bewitched him with magic and lured him to be eaten by the giants. She, the women, was a predator who finally got FAFO'd. She brought the FAFO down upon her entire house. It's truly masterful little story.

I'm not a huge fan of Conan short stories but I think Hour of a Dragon is quite good, which is the only Conan novel written by Howard himself. Conan tales are often similar plotwise and have vastly different level of quality. They were getting better later on. Hour of a Dragon was one the final Howard works and it is where all of his skills as a writer get in the right place. Sense of adventure, plot twists, detailed sword fights in both small and big scale, scary magic, humor, horror, action, all combined in one tale. It was a dark high fantasy adventure novel in 1936 before anything like it ever happened. Conan is basically a prototype of Karsa Orlong, and many other stuff in modern grimdark tales can be traced to this novel. As for sexism, women in Howard's works are often much stronger than in other fiction of this era. Some might even say that Howard was a feminist, for a 1930s. Yeah, sometimes (maybe more than sometimes) women like Conan and really want him, but sometimes they don't. Sometimes they even save him from a trouble or save themselves without his help at all. In fact in Hour of the Dragon in a very early chapter Conan is almost completely paralysed and forced to rely on help of other people, and the girl saved him from a terrible fate. So, It's kinda sad that you've read early short stories and not a novel, but if you have such huge disconnect with what's good in them then you probably would not enjoy the novel anyway.

@csd8204

6 ай бұрын

What are your thoughts on Red Nails and Beyond The Black River?

@VicV

6 ай бұрын

​@@csd8204For me Red Nails is probably the best Conan tale after Hour of the Dragon. And it's also one of the last Conan stories written by Howard himself if not actually the last one. Beautiful, thoughful, tragic, scary, well paced and action packed. I'll even say that Valeria is the best female sidekick that Conan ever had. She's definitely much more that an average damsel in distress. As for Beyond the Black River. It's considered to be one of the best too. There's a lot of tension and action there, but somehow it just didn't stick with me very much. Among the other Conan tales I remember liking Rogues in the House, Slithering Shadow and Black Stranger, though I'm not entirely sure about them. As I said in previous comment many of Conan short tales share the same ingredients and plot elements. And because of that after some time impressions can easily blend into one big stream of memories.

Mentioning that Conan wants to have relations with Atali without mentioning that she bewitched him and therefore he was not in his right mind is dishonest. Conan is great and his stories are appreciated all over the world because they are timeless and universal. In 100 years they will still be relevant.

@RogueDragon05

6 ай бұрын

It's only ok when women do it. Right?

@Ariapeithes_

5 ай бұрын

How can you guys not tell this guy is a progressive a lefty Jew.

They're pulp fiction meant for pulp magazines to be read on the train or whatever. They're not meant to be profound or great art. Having said that REH's ability to set a scene in one sentence and deftly describe a battle is great writing however you look at it.

They aren't the first 13 short stories about Conan by Robert E Howard. The Del Ray books collect all of Howard's Conan stories and attempt to place them in chronological order of Conan's life. The movie, written by John Milius, is a classic, but it's a pastiche based on several Conan and Kull stories (also written by Howard). Understanding this might help you better appreciate what you've read and seen.

Sorry, Matt, this one is an L for you, brother. This man’s work is exceptional and an inspiration

@davidmeyer1054

6 ай бұрын

Mid at best.

@kumarsalib722

6 ай бұрын

Not all of his work is the same quality.

R.E. Howard's Conan short stories are some of the greatest works of fiction ever written. Infinitely better than any of the Malazan novels. Why does KZread insist on recommending me such emasculated, psuedointellectual crap?

@MattsFantasyBookReviews

6 ай бұрын

Probably because you clearly clicked on the link, which will make it more likely that you will see one of my glorious reviews! Thanks for helping the algorithm my friend :)

@HM-hd7up

6 ай бұрын

​@@MattsFantasyBookReviews Dude you need to give way more credit when it comes to Howards writing skills. His descriptive writing is incredible and Conans monologue on life from queen of the black coast is one of the most moving things I have ever read.

@davidmeyer1054

6 ай бұрын

You have at least five comments on Matt's videos, so the algorithm feeds stuff you interact with, ya buffoon.

@_Risa1992_

6 ай бұрын

"Emasculated" 🤦🏻‍♀️

@noiceman

6 ай бұрын

@@_Risa1992_ Yes, emasculated. This idiot absolutely loves The Bones Ships, which is set in a matriarchal world that enslaves its men, where the author says "women and men" rather than "men and women." I couldn't even get past the first chapter before I had to DNF it.

This is probably the worst take I have ever heard about Conan...

These stories are classic WTF are you on?

I prefer howard's latter conan stories, e.g. the people of the black circle, the hour of the dragon, beyond the black river, etc, to the earlier ones found in the coming of conan.

Im an unabashed Robert E. Howard fan. I appreciate your views and you're definitely not wrong about many of your points (or maybe all of them actually). I love REH stories, though. They are pure ripping action with some surprisingly poetic writing sprinkled in between (Howard was a poet after all). It's not for everyone and yes if it was written today it would raise eyebrows for sure. It was written for the pulp mags after all! All in all, I find REH's stories to have a kind of magic in them that is hard to define. The stories are flawed, but sparkle with lust and life. Do they suffer from the foibles of the time they were written? Yes. But somehow they still stick in my mind when other fantasy stories have faded.

@MagusMarquillin

6 ай бұрын

Well said!

Okay... Other people have chimed in. I'm not going to repeat anything that's been said. What I am going to do is earnestly, sincerely, ask you to read something else by Robert E. Howard--anything else, so long as it's not Conan. There are two "Best of REH" collections, Crimson Shadows, and Grim Lands, and they both have a selection of what's considered the best of the best: "Worms of the Earth" and "Wild Water" and "The Shadow Kingdom" and so many others that do not read like the Conan stories. The only thing you guessed right in your review is that Howard was, in fact, writing Conan intentionally to sell to Weird Tales, and that's why some of his Conan stories (a) feel similar to other Conan stories, and (b) have certain "elements" included that aren't found in his other works. Conan is the outlier in Howard's prodigious body of work. He wrote a total of 21 stories--not even 10% of his total fiction output. About one-third of his total number of stories are humorous. You can read a couple of them in the two Best of collections mentioned above.

@terryallen102

3 ай бұрын

Nice , reasoned reply Mark . Also Matt I'd point you to Mark's book Blood and Thunder: The Life and Art of Robert E. Howard for some additional reading on Bob himself.

Howard was a man of his time, and that includes being casually racist. On the other hand, there is some evidence that he would have improved his outlook over time. I believe, he was at his heart, a “ liberal”. ( see his letters with Lovecraft). While he was influenced by social Darwinists of his time, it’s important to know that the social conflict he saw wasn’t primarily of race. Instead, it was civilization vs. barbarism. Conan has more in common with the black kingdoms of the south than with the white people of the Hyborian kingdoms, and the stories make this explicit at times. There are good and evil characters from every kingdom- even if the picture we get of those cultures is colored by Conan’s own biases.

@Ariapeithes_

5 ай бұрын

Very astute take on Robert E. Howard's story telling. Absoluteky spot on.

@LeoneNut

3 ай бұрын

Yep I've read all of the surviving REH/HPL correspondence, and HPL is way more racist in his outlook and REH does come across as more liberal for the time.

Robert E. Howard was writing and publishing at the same time as H.P. Lovecraft, and people still appreciate Lovecraft, albeit a bit of a racist himself. They were both published in Weird Tales around the same time. Robert Jordan wrote some Conan novels as did some other authors like Lyon Sprague de Camp and Karl Edward Wager.

Welp, if original Conan short stories are "horrible", then such is their reviewer. It's like take a diamond, say "Pffff, it's too hard" and throw it away. 1:30 is the point at which I had to say "This is not going to get any better, so why continue?"

@MattsFantasyBookReviews

3 күн бұрын

@@Rastrelly Thanks for clicking on the video and helping out my ad revenue. You rock!

I think it ages like a fine wine, considering it was wrote in the 1920/1930s. The film adaption of Conan has very little to do with the short stories, they just took parts of the stories of Kull and Conan stories by Robert E.Howard. His prose is amazing, exhilerating and fast when in the action. Check out Jack London, who Howard was influenced by. Also give El Borak the Middle Eastern stuff a chance, spy stuff, as it is most recent and well thoughtout.

Robert E Howard created the sword snd sorcery genre single handily. Should read the other two books. One of hos best is hos novel hour of the dragon or beyond rhe black river or people of the black circle and red nails. But u obviously dont like his prose so theres no point.

I like using reviewers as a way to gauge if I'll like something based on how my tastes align with theirs. Matt and I love some of the same books, including the same all time favourite series in Malazan, and yet our tastes divert so wildly so often it's impossible for me to predict how I'll feel about a book just by watching him.

@alanh7247

6 ай бұрын

the second and third conan books in this series contain MUCH better stories

I tried to watch this video. I made it thru 8 or 9 minutes and I just had to give up. It was terrible. I couldn't get thru it. Videos are supposed to be fun, and this one just isn't. 😂 KIDDING!! I watched the whole video. I enjoy Conan and other pulp stories. But they WERE written a hundred years ago. To each his own. I assume you don't like ERB's Tarzan novels either. Another series I love.

Me sitting here and reading comments 🍿 PS. I like a lot of older (pre 1990s) and newer fantasy alike

This parody review account very funny. Robert Howard is an American treasure, and those stories are amazing.

The ice giants daughter.. the ice woman is a literal godess.. the people he kills are fucking giants.

You’ve got as much good taste as a piece of tree bark.

wow! think you better read it again bro...brutal

Idk Matt, I came here after watching your 10 worst popular books video and you said the comments were horrific but I’m just seeing a bunch of people disagreeing with you and mentioning valid points you may have gotten wrong about the book (I haven’t read it so I can’t say).

@lotusflower4937

Ай бұрын

Are you serious? You haven't read enough of the comments then. Many of them are outright insulting him.

@cliffmotes7580

Ай бұрын

Same

@DanVideos

Ай бұрын

Most are fine, but my guess is that he's read all or at least most of them, which would definitely include some of the ones calling him a soyboy or "emasculated"

Conan's author Robert E Howard died in 1936. Pulp magazine storytelling was of its time. Do you like Edgar Rice Burroughs? A lot of his work also was published in pulp magazines.

@jessezigg

6 ай бұрын

My grandfather owned all of Burroughs in hard-back (Tarzan, Mars, Venus, etc), and he left them all to my dad. I grew up reading them because we didn't have many other books in the house. I read the Mars & Venus series over & over, and I was fascinated at the imagination that built whole other worlds with numerous new species. I have no idea what I would think about them today. Probably at least that the vocabulary is rather remedial. 🤷‍♀️

I’m pretty sure Karsa Orlong is very heavily inspired by Conan.

This guy criticized Howard's world building?

Conan is the Bear unchained. Matt is a wimpy poodle.

@davidmeyer1054

6 ай бұрын

Bear in the erotica sense.

@GrimDerek

6 ай бұрын

@@davidmeyer1054 Think I saw him in Baldur's Gate 3

@davidmeyer1054

6 ай бұрын

@@GrimDerek rawr

@MattsFantasyBookReviews

6 ай бұрын

Thanks for giving my channel for impressions for the algorithm!

@GrimDerek

6 ай бұрын

@@MattsFantasyBookReviews "KZread is paying me for whiny bitch content, hooray!"

Hey Matt, I'm a bit shocked about what I heard in this review, mostly because I agree with like 99% of your other reviews, seems like we like and hate the same things and have an almost identical taste, however in this particular point I am very confused as to how it was possible to not like the pulpy and rawness of Conan and his world. The stories are simplistic, yes, but they reflect the times in which they are set, thousands and thousands of years ago, there was no morality police, no police of any kind, no public opinion, no political correctness, no characters wondering if their actions are good or bad, nothing like that. In those times, it was as natural as it gets : survival of the fittest. The Conan vibe is not the cliché that you mentioned in your review, the good action hero that does good, but it is more like the man that comes from outside civilization and does not let it bind him. He holds to his own beliefs and is free in all the ways that we are not ( in this day and age ). The appeal of Conan comes from this freedom, he is strong, has his own views, doesn't compromise, and understands the "first law" of the world as Joe Abercrombie puts it : Those who truly have the power to do something can just do it because nobody can stop them, and morality or mortal laws are irrelevant to these kinds of characters. Conan understands this about the world and is not spiteful towards it. He doesn't complain, doesn't cry out "Unfair !" or anything like that, he just mans up and pushes himself further to rise up to the challenge ahead. This simplistic view is perhaps not in fashion in today's society, however it is true in the rawest sense of it. Perhaps there is more to be said, but I'm not aiming to convince you of anything, just wanted to say that I think that perhaps you misunderstood or misjudged some key aspects of this character and this world. Hearing your views on this character and world makes me feel like we read different stories and different characters :D Anyway, I wish you all the best and look forward to your next videos !

You missed first of april a few months.

😂this review was hilarious to me

Does anyone know of an audiobook high fantasy about a third son princi who had a twin is discribed to have silver hair and has mystical connection's to a silver fox also the book commences with the coronation of there father..... please help me out i think his name was prince Adrian and last i stopped he got invited to the emperor's capitol by a women he met at the wedding feast he has an older brother that had been to war and a dead twin as an infant if.i consumed it as an 1 hour plus KZread video if anyone finds it please help me out

@jessezigg

6 ай бұрын

Sorry, I don't recognize it.

I'm sorry, you have to deal with all these hate comments. I'm glad everytime I see a guy in the fantasy community, who's not a sexist and racist. Sometimes it's alienating being part of it and rare to find, judging by these comments of juveline, sexist guys.

@JoshuaHornbaker

2 ай бұрын

There is no sexiest they are using it as a metaphor. Here we all are telling the truth that Conan is good and special to sword and sorcery itself and Matt with little of others like him in comment section here just doesn’t understand Conan because he doesn’t.

I think your mistake here is that you are trying to compare Conan to more serious Fantasy that you would grade normally. Trying to say that certain themes weren't done as well as they were in older books... because they aren't supposed to be. It's like comparing WWE to professional chess. Nobody takes Sword & Sorcery seriously, which is why it's great. The kitsch value, and ridiculousness, and unfiltered raw, bad nature of it is why it's more entertaining than the more seriously ****** retentive Fantasy in ways. Now and then women become the heroes too, and wreck all the dudes. There is supposed to be boneheaded logic, and you aren't supposed to like Conan but some primal urge within men is attracted to what Conan is, or you'd never whack off in your life. Just as something about being overtaken and dominated by men is a natural lust for some women, because in raw nature this is how many animals reproduce.

@TBOTSS

2 ай бұрын

Are you mentally ill?

Jim Cramer of fantasy reviews.

@_gorezone_

2 ай бұрын

Hahahahahahaha

George RR Martins map is literally Ireland turned upside down

Yeah i could tell this was going to devolve into a soy boy "muh racism, sexism" rant.

The thumbnail 😂

The moves are very bad. The stories are very entertaining.

@JoshuaHornbaker

3 ай бұрын

The first Conan movie was really good but the others aren’t

He probably loves the Wizard of Earthsea.

@MattsFantasyBookReviews

3 ай бұрын

Nope, gave it 2 stars.

@ge0metr1xx

3 ай бұрын

he most likely sends death threats to Hogwarts streamers

Conan is awesome 😎. Got me into fantasy. The Arnold swartznwgger movies and red Sonja books are also 🔥. Recommend the Conan and red Sonja dark horse comics. Just bought Gail Simone red Sonja comics today and they are great so far! Alot more liberal and progressive. Might be more palatable for you.

Some of the stories were better than others, Also R.E.H. was Pen Pals with H.P. Lovecraft (who was probably an even worse racist and Xenophobe) who killed him self shortly after his mother died to Tuberculosis. Some people suggest the Howard though of Conan as being one of his past lives. Howard also wrote some boxing stories and some stories set during the time of the Roman Empire.

I feel like you're mad there isn't a rating below 1 :D

You’re funny 😂. You got no taste in fiction.

Some thoughts are best edited.

Oy vey!

Lol, I'm glad I've not heard of you, and that this is my last video of yours that I'll watch.

@MattsFantasyBookReviews

3 ай бұрын

Well thanks for viewing this, and giving it a comment. You are helping the video in the KZread algorithm which generates me more popularity and more money. Thank you! :)

Matt , it’s so unbelievably funny how people get so wound up because you didn’t like something that they did 😂 Even if I love something, I enjoy to hear opposing views. I’ve never read anything by Howard but from the sounds of it his fans are absolute snowflake unicorns 😂😂😂

@fraterahava

6 ай бұрын

I enjoy reading negative reviewers, i find it funny mostly.. imagine being offended by an opinion lol yikes

@Roondawg_Valhalla

6 ай бұрын

@@fraterahava nerds bro 🥴😂

@NewCanada

4 ай бұрын

​@@Roondawg_ValhallaI rather be a nerd than a feminist social justice activist. The only snowflake unicorns I see are the people crying about muh racism and muh sexism. A common trait among progressives.

@justjoe4390

3 ай бұрын

I mean, is it wrong to criticize someone's criticism? What if I expressed my disagreements with Matt's faulty review, but in a respectful, non-insulting way?

Someone didnt read red nails or queen of the black coast. He also isnt sexist

Wow, Matt, you really stirred some people up witj this one, didn't you? 😂🤦‍♀️

As I've taken the time to listen to your thoughts (which really aren't so bad, in spite of the angry fan reactions in the comments), I do hope you take a few minutes to read and consider my response. Keep in mind, I'm a Conan fan, but I will not mock you, damn you, or judge you for your well-worded opinions, though I do disagree with you on several things. First of all, I'm an Asian-American. I'm from a Filipino family, and inherited my dad's dark skin. I'm probably the sort of guy that Robert E. Howard wouldn't have liked immediately. In spite of that, I absolutely enjoy the Conan stories, and I've never been offended by their racial views. The racist and sexist elements aren't tough pills to swallow, because I casually accept that people were different back then (as long as they weren't Nazis/Klansmen). I understand the discomfort that modern people might feel with these stories, but I want to point out that plenty of modern folk-even POC like myself-are fine with the ignorance of the past as long as it REMAINS in the past. If someone agreed with all of REH's views today, I'd think they're assholes, but to me REH is just a natural product of his time and place. It helps that he was never known to lynch or attack anyone on account of their skin. Also, I think you exaggerate the amount of racism in these stories. At one point in your video you said that all of the bad guys are black... Excuse me, but, what??? Black characters were extremely rare in the Conan stories. The few times they appeared, they were usually on Conan's side. Granted, they were often portrayed as savage, which IS racist and sucky, but they were rarely the bad guys. I can only think of two stories in which the main villains were black, and one of those stories was left as an unfinished draft. In many more stories the villains were coded white or middle-eastern, with some East Asian coding in two or three stories. Regarding sexism, I DO agree that it's prominent in most Conan stories. And I'm not fond of helpless, useless, screaming maidens (in ancient times, women could not AFFORD to be helpless or useless, nor did they look like swimsuit models). But my views on the sexist parts are similar to my views on the racial parts: I accept them as the products of a narrow-minded time. And they don't diminish the enjoyability of most stories (except possibly one). Even my girlfriends are Conan fans, and they aren't bothered by the historical sexism, as long as modern guys don't express such views. And, honestly, even the degrees of sexism depend on the story. For instance, a few Conan stories feature highly admirable heroines like Princess Yasmina, who dared many dangers for the well-being of her people, and ended the story by splitting up from Conan to lead her armies in battle against the (non-black) bad guys. There's also Olivia, a woman who was realistically helpless because she was stranded in the wilderness, but she ended up braving the dangers to rescue Conan from pirates. And some cases are more vague. For instance, I was not bothered by "The Frost-Giant's Daughter," because I regularly research ancient folklore, and I'm used to ancient cultures all over the world having strict gender roles that modern westerners can't fathom. "The Frost-Giant's Daughter" was stated by REH to be a reflection/subversion of those world-wide folk-tales about sirens and rapey divinity. Such a story would not (and perhaps should not) pass today, but I can accept it in its historical context as a continuation of a folkloric theme. Again, I completely understand why modern folk would feel uncomofortable with these stories; they ARE racist and sexist in parts. But I don't think the racism or sexism are that prominent. They do rear their ugly little heads a lot, but not enough to be the point or focus of the stories (with maybe a couple exceptions). And Conan himself never actually expressed hatred or preference toward people based on their ethnicity. In one story, he freed a bunch of black slaves and helped them slaughter their white masters-not for moral purposes but because he and the black characters both benefited from it. And he gladly fought on the side of Arabian-coded characters against white, semitic, and other Arabian-coded characters. The stories have racist and racialist undertones, yes, but Conan was fair to people of any ethnicity when he admired their strength, skills, or character. Never did he slaughter people because they were dark-skinned, and never did he side with people just because they were white. Heck, his most famous act as a warrior was the murder of a tyrannical WHITE king. That's not even touching on Conan's role as a king. As a king, Conan gave women more rights, foreigners more protection, and citizens more food and goods. The only reason Conan defeated the villains in "Hour of the Dragon" was because he was helped by the marginalized people who were treated fairly under his rule. As for the stories as written compositions, I think they're a mixed bag. Some are written more convincingly than others. Surely you'd agree that stories like "The Scarlet Citadal" (which had no black bad guys, btw) and "The Tower of the Elephant" (also no black bad guys) and "Red Nails" (Aztec-coded bad guys) are far better-written than "The Slithering Shadow" or "The Devil In Iron," right? I think the only weakness of the former stories was a certain monotony of action scenes, but REH had written them for pulp magazines. It would be like getting mad at an action movie for pandering to adrenaline-junkies. I don't see anything wrong with you disliking these stories. And I think the fans demonizing you are approaching you the wrong way (rudely, basically). But I did want to criticize some of your criticisms on their own terms.

This channel has some of the weirdest takes on books I have ever heard. The guy constantly gives 5 stars to hot garbage.

@MattsFantasyBookReviews

2 күн бұрын

Or...bear with me...everyone has different tastes on what they like in books. Weird concept, I know.

@DJF7819

2 күн бұрын

@@MattsFantasyBookReviews Very true! Although, it does seem the general consensus - in this comment section at least - is that your opinion in this video, is of the poor quality.

I couldn't make it the whole way through the video.

Wow when did this guy escape arkham asylum? Trust me even the algorithm won't save you. 😂💩

This comes across as super homophobic

You have idea what you're talking about.

Bad, sad take.

“It’s 2024! Racism and sexism !“ Yawn …… so boring. I did enjoy you not getting to your leftist rant till half way into your “ review”.

@MattsFantasyBookReviews

6 ай бұрын

I can assure you, that people across the political spectrum could largely agree that the racism and sexism in this book is tough to swallow. But by all means, feel free to make assumptions about my political beliefs.

@Bathorypriest

6 ай бұрын

​@MattsFantasyBookReviews I'm a brown skin Hispanic and I disagree with you. Stop being a baby.

@andybarker8787

6 ай бұрын

It’s a dreadful book. Just boring, tried to read it twice. I can’t help thinking this review is going to draw some of the same fire that your review of Blood Meridian did. How dare you criticise a classic on your own channel where you clearly state this is just your opinion and people are totally free not to watch your videos.

@slidenaway

6 ай бұрын

@@Bathorypriest oh, so your opinion trumps his because you're hispanic and you don't have an issue with the writing? Interesting...

@m0nk3yone

6 ай бұрын

Strong Fit 2B read vibes.

I like some Conan but man these comments are insane 😂

Most important thing is that you, Matt, give your honest opinion 👍 . These comments remind me of the hate a booktuber got for giving Dune a negative review because it’s a “classic”

I really like Conan stories for pure cheese factor. It’s like reading an 80’s heavy power metal album mixed with doing side quests in an open world rpg. It feels like a precursor for what later became modern day grimdark. I really enjoyed them but I can totally understand why people might not like the stories. Respect your opinion and think your criticism is fair.

12:52 oh hell yeah matt lol

@dinocollins720

6 ай бұрын

haha that was funny!

I'm a big Conan fan but some of the stories definitely have problems. I think that's most evident by the company I find myself in as fan, some of 'em have even shown up in this comment section. Still, I'd recommend you try and return to some other Howard stories some day like "A Gent from Bear Creek" starring Breckinridge Elkins who's kind of a subversion of the Conan character and a different side of Howard as a writer.

Guy's review can be ignored. He's blathering about DEI bullshit. Ignore, Conan is great.

This is the gayest review i have ever seen. "Necesitas ver mas box" By Crom!! what a gay review

The gay way LOL

I respect your honesty.

I like the comics adaptation not fan of the book's

This is next level trolling

Next you say something like you don't like J.R.R. Tolkien or H.P. Lovecraft...

@MattsFantasyBookReviews

3 ай бұрын

I like Tolkien - never read Lovecraft.

@JoshuaHornbaker

3 ай бұрын

@@MattsFantasyBookReviewsyou’re still missing the point of Howard’s Conan Stories

Well obviously the movie is better. Basil Poledouris didn't write music for the book

@MagusMarquillin

6 ай бұрын

At least we can read it while playing Basil's sweet score.

@rumrunner8019

5 ай бұрын

Yes, but if you read the opening of "The Phoenix on the Sword," you will instantly hear "The Hammer of Crom" by Poledouris playing in your head.

It's heavy-handed for speed, frankly (1-2 cents per word at the better pulps doesn't pay for a lot, even in the '30s). Clichés and simplistic plots are fast to write. This does not make the writing better, of course. I read these in the '70s, when there were few other choices and didn't hate them, but they were rote even then.

I remember reading a couple of the books when I was 12 or 13 and thinking they were awesome. I haven’t read them since. I’m terrified to go back and read them now because it’s probably a greater condemnation of myself as a person than it would be a judgement of the books if they are what you say…

@MagusMarquillin

6 ай бұрын

I think they're mostly awesome at age 40, and I'm not a fan of sexism/racism, though the presence of stereotypes aren't a deal breaker. Don't be terrified to revisit things, you learn more about yourself by doing so. If it turns out that they are abhorrent, then it's commendable that you've changed enough to see it - 12 year olds are impressionable and their brains are only half developed so should not be harshly judged. I'd say it's worse not to know.

Great review Matt! I think you handed the controversial stuff really well. Sometimes stuff that old can be really challenging to read. I try really hard not to judge people from the past by today's standards. I guarantee that people in the future will look back on us and have the chance to judge us in the same way and I hope they have grace for us. I think you handled this review well! Great video as always!

First 🙏

@Speed202

6 ай бұрын

But did you watch the video?.....hmmmmm? 😊

@noname3609

6 ай бұрын

@@Speed202 just a part of it honestly.Not a big fan of Conan chronicles 😊

I once tried to read a Conan short story collection and gave up in the middle of the third story. I couldn't shake the feeling that these stories would work much better as a comicbook (like Thorgal) or animated series (like Samurai Jack or Primal). Reading them was boring, but maybe it's because I am not a fan of action/fight scenes in books.

@MagusMarquillin

6 ай бұрын

Plenty of long running Conan comics to try, so I guess your not wrong there in terms of what sells. There was an animated series too, but geared at 90s kids and rather diluted, not at all like Tartakovsky; Primal took these Robert Howard stories as inspiration though.

@lordoflek

6 ай бұрын

Primal is a Conan story... or a proto-Conan story at least, based on Howard's short story Spear and Fang

This sounds terrible

The cringe is what makes some of the old stories great.

@MagusMarquillin

6 ай бұрын

Cringe can sometimes make them funny in a "so bad it's good" way - great writing is what keeps the old stories great.

I get your feelings on this. I read the Three Musketeers again last year and honestly, they’re really bad people. Exciting for the time, sure, but they’re pretty scummy for today. Glad you’re done with it!

And who are you exactly?

Lmaooooo. Your viewers will definitely stay away from this. Thanks for gatekeeping.

@staticlando

6 ай бұрын

That's not what gatekeeping is.

@NewCanada

4 ай бұрын

It definitely needs to be gatekept from social justice activists.

How asinine.