- Conan and the Treasure of Python
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Conan and the Treasure of Python 
cover of Conan and the Treasure of PythonAuthor(s) John Maddox Roberts Cover artist Julie Bell Country United States Language English Series Conan the Barbarian Genre(s) Sword and sorcery Fantasy Publisher Tor Books Publication date 1993 Media type Print (Paperback) Pages 280 pp ISBN 0-812-51415-7 Conan and the Treasure of Python is a fantasy novel written by John Maddox Roberts featuring Robert E. Howard's seminal sword and sorcery hero Conan the Barbarian. It was first published in trade paperback by Tor Books in November 1993; a regular paperback edition followed from the same publisher in August 1994.
Contents
Plot
In Asgalun, Conan is hired to lead a party to Kush, by a man whose brother has vanished seeking a legendary treasure. Conan takes the job, though the project is almost derailed at the outset by an attack by corsairs. In Kush the expedition is joined by Goma, a mysterious native who serves it as a guide. A long march to the reputed treasure region ensues, including a harrowing journey through a waterless desert. Finally the seekers reach a secret kingdom, in which they are imprisoned. Their guide is then revealed as the realm's rightful monarch, the rule of which has been usurped by a tyrant with the aid of a witch doctor. A battle must be fought and a horrible lake monster faced before all can be resolved.
Reception
Reviewer Harvey Ryan considered the book "one of the most interesting of the Tor novels," and the writer "the most consistently successful of its stable of authors," while noting that "this novel is literally King Solomon's Mines ... Roberts copies the exact plot of the classic H. Rider Haggard 1885 adventure novel and recasts it as a Conan story, with the legendary barbarian starring in the Allan Quatermain role."[1]
Notes
Reference
- Conan and the Treasure of Python publication history at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- Fantastic Fiction entry for Conan and the Treasure of Python
Categories:- 1993 novels
- Conan the Barbarian novels
- American fantasy novels
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