Conan of the Isles, by L. Sprague de Camp, Lin Carter | Sword & Sorcery | SFReader.com Book Review

Conan of the Isles, by by L. Sprague de Camp, Lin Carter, was first published in 1968 and is the last book (book 12) of the "original" Conan  series. 

Conan has been ruling Aquilonia for some twenty years, and has consolidated his power and neutered his enemies. Aquilonia has flourished under his rule and Conan finds himself tired of the life of a king and nostalgic for his old days of adventuring. His wife Zenobia is dead, having passed in childbirth, and his oldest son, Conn, is now twenty years of age. 

When Aquilonia comes under attack from mysterious "red shadows", sorcerous apparitions that appear to be kidnapping his subject, Conan receives a vision from the mage Epemitreus who tells him he must abdicate his throne and head west, past the horizon, to an unknown land where descendants of Atlantic still ply elder sorceries. The hunger of the god the Atlanteans worships is growing and could eventually threaten to engulf the world. So Conan passes his crown to his son and begins his last recorded adventure.

Read more at Conan of the Isles, by L. Sprague de Camp, Lin Carter | Sword & Sorcery | SFReader.com Book Review

Swords and Deviltry, by Fritz Leiber | Fantasy | SFReader.com Book Review

Okay, before we start anything I should just come out and say this is by far the best book I have read this year and I have a feeling other novels will be hard pressed to keep this from being the best book I get to read in 2015. I have read another of Lebbon's novels, an Alien based book called Out of Shadows, which I reviewed here on SFReader and also enjoyed, but The Silence really took things up a notch and was just a superb novel.

In central Europe a cave is opened up that releases a creature that will later be known as the Vesps. These are meat eating bat like reptiles that hunt by sounds. They also reproduce at an alarming rate and their eggs hatch creatures that are already able to fly and kill. Soon all of Europe is being destroyed by these quickly multiplying beasts.

The thread of the story follows a small family as they attempt to struggle through the chaos as much of England flees north. Soon the Vesps are not the only thing to fear as humans begin to abuse one another as well.

Read more at Swords and Deviltry, by Fritz Leiber | Fantasy | SFReader.com Book Review