"I want this Conan's head!". But alas for poor Albanus, he's asked for the toughest head to take in all of the Hyborian world, defended by the hardest, swiftest steel ever wielded.

In "Conan the Defender" Conan teams up with the grizzled, old, one-eyed Hordo, one of his allies from Robert Jordan's previous Conan novel as they try to earn gold with their arms in a Belverus roiled in near-rebellion. Yet somehow they fall in with a group of young students, artists and philosophers who think they're going to start a revolution, but morally, without killing anyone innocent.

Hordo's repeated line through the whole book is, "I'm too old for this."

One of the wealthiest lords of the city is using his wealth and secret knowledge of sorcery to bring down King Garion of Nemedia, just on the verge of setting his plans in motion when Conan and Hordo arrive.

By the end of it he meets up again with Karela, the Red Hawk bandit leader from the previous novel. But now she hates Conan, no wait, she loves Conan, no, she hates Conan, no she really, really loves him...

And then it ends with a geography error... Aquilonia is the west of Nemedia, and if they're going to look for someone who was rumored to travel east, it's Brythunia where they should head, not Aquilonia...

This is a very odd Conan novel in that he whines when his lover doesn't want to spend time with him, pleads with various nobles and frequently simply doesn't act like Conan should act.

While the Conan books printed before his death all had someone's quote "No one alive writes Conan better than Robert Jordan," that might only be because most of the others were worse! Although, frankly, I think Andrew Offut and Karl Edward Wagner turned out better Conan novels, but fewer of them. ( )

Much prefer this Jordan work to the Wheel of Time. ( )

I hope you are familiar with Robert E. Howard's Conan. I love him like a brother by Crom! Contributors to the perpetuation of Conan are: Poul Anderson, Leonard Carpenter, Lin Carter, L. Sprague de Camp, Roland J. Green, John C. Hocking, Robert Jordan, Sean A. Moore, Björn Nyberg, Andrew J. Offutt, Steve Perry, John Maddox Roberts, Harry Turtledove, and Karl Edward Wagner. "The Defender" is one of Robert Jordan's. Perhaps you are familiar with his famed "Wheel of Time" series. He is very worthy of donning the Cimmerian mantle. Unfortunately, Jordan passed away September 16, 2007. The antagonist here is Albanus the Wizard. He and a small group are planning to usurp the Dragon Throne of Nemedia. Conan's friends Hordo and Karela the Red Hawk show up to help the Cimmerian out. Expect plenty of high adventure, drinking, women, violence, black magic, and all the other stuff that makes us love Conan. Conan's main love interest in this adventure, Ariane, is quite the artsy type. ( )