I have just finished a read through all the Conan stories by Robert E Howard. He's a classic character and the source for so much of today's fantasy gaming material including much of D&D and Warhammer fantasy. However, sadly the stories show their age and Howard was sometimes writing to pay the bills; reading an omnibus is a bit of a minefield.
By popular request I have sorted the good from the bad. Here is the definitive top 10 Conan stories. I noticed making the list that the 'early period' contained almost all of my favourites - there wasn't a single one I disliked. Likewise, the 'middle period', though containing one or two fun adventures is generally formulaic with cardboard cutout damsels in distress. If you just want to read one or two, I'd recommend People of the Black Circle, the strongest all-round story, and probably Red Nails, the only Conan novel and a mash up of Conan the King and several of his other roles of pirate, prisoner and adventurer.
1st - People of the Black Circle
5/5
A pacey, twisty swashbuckler with sorcerous villains, foreboding dungeons, hard-fought battles, an evocative and enjoyably complex setting and an almost three-dimensional heroine in the proud Queen Yasmina. If I was a producer I'd be racing for the film rights.
2nd - The Scarlet Citadel
5/5
Very close second place and the best of the Conan the King stories. Great opening with Conan's embattled last stand against his treacherous foes and a Lovecraftian dungeon crawl. The classic Conan vs. Snake scene made its way into paintings by Frank Frazetta and inspired the scene in the Schwarzenegger movie.
3rd - The Phoenix on the Sword
5/5
I love Conan as the troubled king out of his depth and this near-fragment typifies this as Conan faces a coup in his own court. The first Conan story and what a start.
4th - Black Colossus
5/5
Conan gets divinely chosen to lead a Princess' armies against an undead sorcerer in an excellently described battle that far outstrips anything Tolkien could write. Undoubtedly an inspiration for Warhammer.
5th - The Hour of the Dragon
4/5
The only Conan novel, drawing heavily from The Scarlet Citadel. Howard's setting of the Hyborian Age really takes centre stage here and the Kingdom of Aquilonia is character in its own right with its own agency in the outcome of the story. There is also the only foray into the often-mentioned necromantic realm of Stygia although this section does also smack of the less-PC 'middle period'.
6th - The Tower of the Elephant
4/5
A great D&D module. Characterisation is thin on the ground because Conan basically does it for the hell of it, and it's maybe a little too easy for him, but the weird encounters he experiences in the Tower make up for it.
7th - A Witch Shall Be Born
4/5
The origin of the Tree of Woe scene, which is fantastic. Another tumultuous kingdom to be restored with some good side characters who upstage Conan, but the lesbian-twin-sister-sorceress makes it a tad difficult to read at times.
8th - Rogues in the House
4/5
Another city side quest as Conan breaks into a sorcerer's mansion. Conan dumping an ex-girlfriend in a cess pit is also a fairly enjoyable vignette.
9th - Red Nails
3/5
The last Conan story stars Valeria, who manages to be as much of a badass as Conan before the last third where she loses any three-dimensionality along with all her clothes. Interesting setting with feuding factions but lower down the list as we near the pervading racism of many of the worse stories as well as getting bogged down in multiple obsessive descriptions of Conan's physique.
10th - The Frost Giant's Daughter
3/5
Conan gets horny and follows an elf into a blizzard. Very short but the different setting sees this beat the lower-quality tropefests of Howard's middle period and the works marred by pervading racism, which didn't make it onto this list.
