Conan the Defiant

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Conan the Defiant
cover of Conan the Defiant
Author	Steve Perry
Country	United States
Language	English
Series	Conan the Barbarian
Genre	Sword and sorcery Fantasy
Publisher	Tor Books
Publication date	1987
Media type	Print (Paperback)
Pages	245 pp
ISBN	0-8125-4264-9

Conan the Defiant is a fantasy novel written by Steve Perry featuring Robert E. Howard's seminal sword and sorcery hero Conan the Barbarian. It was first published in trade paperback by Tor Books in October 1987, with a regular paperback edition fissued simultaneously by the same publisher, and was reprinted in August 1988. A British edition was published in paperback by Orbit Books in January 1990.^[1]

Plot

Conan comes to the aid of Engh, a priest of the Suddah Oblates, and after his new friend is killed seeks vengeance on the necromancer responsible, Neg the Malefic. Neg schemes to employ the jewel known as the Source of Light to raise the dead as an army of conquest. Traveling with the warrior maiden Elashi and the beautiful zombie Tuanne, Conan overcomes numerous menaces on the journey to Neg's stronghold, including the Men With No Eyes, henchmen of the One With No Name, and a horde of spiders, following which he must finally face Neg himself.

Chronology

Internal evidence indicates that Perry's later Conan work Conan the Indomitable directly follows this novel, though in the comprehensive Conan chronology of William Galen Gray, Sean A. Moore's Conan the Hunter is placed between the two books.

Reception

Writing on one of Perry's other novels, reviewer Ryan Harvey assessed the author's Conan corpus as "goofy," noting that he "has a reputation among Conan fandom for overkill and general silliness." Ryan does rate this book above Perry's later novel Conan the Free Lance.^[2]

Reviewer Lagomorph Rex, noting that "Steve Perry isn't the most well regarded of the Conan writers," writes "I see why now." He calls the novel "an odd one." It being "the second of [his] Conan stories, ... I can't really give it much of a pass for him not knowing what he was working with. Had it been his first effort, I'd have been more forgiving." He singles out for criticism "Conan being presented as a necrophiliac" ("just ... bizarre") and his "ability to speak to everyone ... with seemingly no language gap," and Perry's "really weak spot," "his names." On the plus side, he sees "nothing particularly wrong with [Perry's] writing style," assessed as "very light with a good amount of humour in it." The humor is rated favorably in comparison to that in the Conan stories of L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter, though overall he feels that Perry's Conan stories make the de Camp/Carter efforts "look better by comparison." He reaches two conclusions: "All in all it wasn't a bad story, but it wasn't a great Conan story," and "If it wasn't for the language and sexual overtones I'd say this would have been a pretty darn good Conan Young Adult Novel." Out of a possible five star rating, he assigns it two.^[3]

Bob Byrne calls the story "rather linear," but "an okay read. There is enough tension throughout, with the time element constantly in play and moving things along." Noting that "[t]here is no shortage of foes in this tale," with "more than enough bad guys at every step of the way," he does find it "surprising how often Conan finds time to have sex with his two traveling partners." He finds the zombie sex angle noteworthy but not apparently disturbing. On the other hand, "[t]he final confrontation with Neg is a bit of a let down and I had to read it a second time, as it didn’t quite make sense on the first try. I’m still not sure it did the second time, either." Still, Byrne considers the book "worth reading for fans of the muscle-bound sword swinger. On its own merits, it is not a bad heroic sorcery tale."^[4]

Notes

References

Fantastic Fiction entry for Conan the Defiant

Preceded by Conan the Champion	Tor Conan series (publication order)	Succeeded by Conan the Marauder
Preceded by "The Thing in the Crypt"	Complete Conan Saga (William Galen Gray chronology)	Succeeded by Conan the Hunter

Conan the Barbarian

Stories, books

Books	Conan (books)

Original works by Robert E. Howard	"Beyond the Black River" "Black Colossus" "The Black Stranger" "Cimmeria" "The Devil in Iron" "Drums of Tombalku" "The Frost-Giant's Daughter" "The God in the Bowl" "The Hall of the Dead" "The Hand of Nergal" The Hour of the Dragon "Jewels of Gwahlur" "The People of the Black Circle" "The Phoenix on the Sword" "The Pool of the Black One" "Queen of the Black Coast" "Red Nails" "Rogues in the House" "The Scarlet Citadel" "Shadows in the Moonlight" "Shadows in Zamboula" "The Slithering Shadow" "The Snout in the Dark" "The Tower of the Elephant" "The Vale of Lost Women" "A Witch Shall be Born" "Wolves Beyond the Border"

Non-Howard works (some based on non- Conan Howard works)	"Black Sphinx of Nebthu" "Black Tears" "The Blood-Stained God" "The Castle of Terror" "The City of Skulls" Conan and the Amazon Conan and the Death Lord of Thanza Conan and the Emerald Lotus Conan and the Gods of the Mountain Conan and the Grim Grey God Conan and the Manhunters Conan and the Mists of Doom Conan and the Shaman's Curse Conan and the Sorcerer Conan and the Spider God Conan and the Treasure of Python Conan at the Demon's Gate Conan, Lord of the Black River Conan of the Isles Conan of the Red Brotherhood Conan of Venarium Conan, Scourge of the Bloody Coast Conan the Barbarian (1982) Conan the Barbarian (2011) Conan the Bold Conan the Buccaneer Conan the Champion Conan the Defender Conan the Defiant Conan the Destroyer Conan the Fearless Conan the Formidable Conan the Free Lance Conan the Gladiator Conan the Great Conan the Guardian Conan the Hero Conan the Hunter Conan the Indomitable Conan the Invincible Conan the Liberator Conan the Magnificent Conan the Marauder Conan the Mercenary Conan the Outcast Conan the Raider Conan the Rebel Conan the Relentless Conan the Renegade Conan the Rogue Conan the Savage Conan the Triumphant Conan the Unconquered Conan the Valiant Conan the Valorous Conan the Victorious Conan the Warlord "The Curse of the Monolith" "Death-Song of Conan the Cimmerian" "The Flame Knife" "The Gem in the Tower" "Hawks over Shem" "The Ivory Goddess" "The Lair of the Ice Worm" "Legions of the Dead" "Moon of Blood" "The People of the Summit" "Red Moon of Zembabwei" The Return of Conan The Road of Kings "The Road of the Eagles" "Shadows in the Dark" "Shadows in the Skull" "The Star of Khorala" The Sword of Skelos "The Thing in the Crypt" "The Witch of the Mists"

Collections	Black Colossus The Bloody Crown of Conan The Coming of Conan The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian The Complete Chronicles of Conan Conan The Conan Chronicles (Howard et al) The Conan Chronicles (Jordan) The Conan Chronicles, 1 The Conan Chronicles 2 The Conan Chronicles, 2 The Conan Chronicles II Conan of Aquilonia Conan of Cimmeria Conan the Adventurer Conan the Avenger Conan the Barbarian (1954) Conan the Barbarian (2011) Conan the Freebooter Conan the Swordsman Conan the Usurper Conan the Wanderer Conan the Warrior The Conquering Sword of Conan The Devil in Iron The Essential Conan The Further Chronicles of Conan Jewels of Gwahlur King Conan The People of the Black Circle The Pool of the Black One Queen of the Black Coast Red Nails Rogues in the House Sagas of Conan The Sword of Conan Tales of Conan The Tower of the Elephant The Treasure of Tranicos

Scholarship	The Blade of Conan The Conan Grimoire The Conan Reader The Conan Swordbook The Spell of Conan

Authors

Creator	Robert E. Howard

Later authors	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 Michael A. Stackpole Roy Thomas Harry Turtledove Karl Edward Wagner

Other media

Television	Conan the Adventurer (animated series) Conan and the Young Warriors Conan the Adventurer (TV series)

Film	Conan the Barbarian (1982) Conan the Destroyer (1984) Conan the Barbarian (2011) King Conan (TBA)

Comics	Conan (comics) Conan (Marvel Comics) Conan (Dark Horse Comics) Savage Sword of Conan

Games	Age of Conan: Unchained (Rise of the Godslayer) Conan (2004) Conan (2007) Conan: Hall of Volta Conan: The Mysteries of Time Conan Against Darkness! Conan Collectible Card Game Conan the Buccaneer Conan the Mercenary Conan Triumphant Conan Unchained!

Setting

Characters	Bêlit Conan the Barbarian Kulan Gath Red Sonja Serpent Men Thoth-Amon Thulsa Doom Valeria Vammatar Xaltotun Zenobia

Deities	Crom Mitra Set

World	Hyborian Age Aquilonia Cimmeria Acheron Empire

Chronology	The Hyborian Age Conan Chronologies

Kull	Thurian Age

Red Sonja	"The Shadow of the Vulture"

References	Cohen the Barbarian Conan the Librarian

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