The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane Paperback – June 29, 2004

I’m a fan REH from back in the ‘80s when I started reading Conan. I never read any of the Kane stories. And thus far they do not disappoint!

If you are a Robert Howard fan, this is a needed part of your library.

And Solomon Kane is among his best characters, rivaled only by Conan, and perhaps Kull. It's a shame that he exited this vale of tears so young. He had many stories still inside him.

The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane is my fifth of Del Rey’s eleven collected volumes of Robert E. Howard’s work. I introduced myself to Howard with the three volumes of Conan stories and then read the collection of his horror stories (my introduction to Solomon Kane was in that volume) before picking up this one. I am feeling pretty good about my reading order so far.I will keep this brief. The bottom line: I think Solomon Kane is the better character than Conan, but Conan has stronger stories.What do I mean when I say that Solomon Kane is the better character than Conan? Like John Wick, Solomon Kane is a man of focus, commitment, and . . . sheer will. Kane and Conan both leap off the page, but that sheer will, that zealous pursuit of justice, make a deeper impression than Conan’s more happy-go-luck view on life. Conan’s giant but often unseen melancholies help make his character great. Kane’s are upfront. He is also a man of contradictions: a man of faith but also a man of doubt with “a touch of the pagan.” There is a principle of public speaking: when you lower your voice, your audience will pay particular attention to what you say next as they strain to hear you. Howard wrote outstanding long curses and booming threats. None cut so deep as Kane’s quiet statement of fact as he stands over a dead, desecrated child: “Men shall die for this.”Where Conan outstrips Kane is in the sheer variety of stories in which he is featured, from heist stories to war stories to frontier stories to pirate stories. Perhaps if Kane had been more popular with readers things would have been different. The one thing that Kane’s stories have that Conan’s stories lacked is a strong horror element. Howard wrote horror very well.Howard wrote some GREAT Conan stories, but the Kane stories (included here) “Red Shadows” and “Wings in the Night” rank right up there with Howard’s best.

Long before Robert Howard conceived of Conan there was Solomon Kane. A Puritan Englishman from the 16th century, Kane wandered the earth with no particular destination in mind but where God should send him. Like all of Howard's characters, Kane is an adventurer, but unusual in that he sees himself as a tool of God's justice. And it is a very Puritanical God indeed that Kane serves. This is not a God of mercy but one who destroys all evil in His path, using Solomon Kane as his tool.I must confess that I like these stories even more than the Conan tales. Solomon Kane is a driven character with a brooding personality I find more appealing than Conan. This book contains all the published stories about Kane and six previously unpublished manuscripts from the Glenn Lord collection. As with the other Robert Howard books published by Del Rey, this one includes superb illustrations. The frontspiece by Gary Gianni perfectly captures Kane's grim visage.Anyone who enjoys reading the old pulp adventure tales should get this book. Howard was a true master of the genre. The stories, poetry, and essay on Howard by H.P. Lovecraft are all great reads now just as when they were first published. My favorite pieces are the fragment "Castle of the Devil," "Rattle of Bones," and the poem "The One Black Stain" which places Kane with Sir Francis Drake. But you can hardly go wrong with any part of this book.

TBH I was a little disappointed in the illustrations which are black ink, not bc they are bad in any way but bc the description talked them up so much more. But once I started reading I found myself very absorbed in the book until I finished it. Then I wished there was more.

Ever wonder what would have become of Solomon Kane or Conan the Barbarian had Robert E. Howard lived. Would the have adaptations of his characters in the 1940s. What kind of a person would Conan looked like a sort of medieval warrior and not the big muscle bound character from Frank Frazetta and Arnold Schwarzenegger. What of Solomon Kane? Would be have been played by someone like Douglas Fairbanks smiling or a somber fellow like Humphrey Bogart?

This is another of Robert E Howard’s’ characters. And interesting alternative to Conan