eBook by Matthew John
Cover by Juan Alberto Hernández
Chapter illustration by Patrick Zircher
From Titan Books and Heroic Signatures
Spoilers! Spoilers!
The ship of Wulfhere the Skull-Splitter (a Danish Viking, chieftain of the Danes) is attacked by Kenric the Fair (Wulfhere's old Saxon nemesis) ship's. Wulfhere and Kenric are both seeking the ROMAN GOLD of the Picts, which lies concealed on the Isle of Swords (the Pictish island from "The Dark Man" by Robert E. Howard).
An unnatural wave wrecks Wulfhere's ship on the shore of the Isle of Swords. The Skull-Splitter and Cormac Mac Art of Erin (Cormac the Wolf, a Celt, a Gael) are the only two of the crew to survive the beaching.
Wulfhere and Cormac disguise themselves as Saxons, they discover that Kenric and his Saxons are already on the isle. Cormac and Wulfhere kill three Saxons.
Picts appear, Cormac and Wulfhere surrender. At the Pictish settlement, Cormac and Wulfhere are shown the statue of The Dark Man (The last king of the Picts, Bran Mak Morn, a twin of Cormac).
An old woman (a sorceress, a student of Gonar (high priest of the Dark One, the ghost of Bran comes to him in dreams)) recognizes Cormac as a Celt. The sorceress used blood powered sorcery to destroy Wulfhere's ship.
Cormac and Wulfhere are shown mercy. Cormac has a plan to decimate the entire Saxon force.
Under an artificial mist created by the Pictish sorceress, Cormac and Wulfhere drag the Dark Man to a battlefield, Pict allies lie still on the ground feigning death.
Surrounded by six (of only forty) of his men, Kenric the Fair (Wulfhere's old nemesis) arrives to know where the Roman gold is hidden.
Alfred the Saxon strikes the Dark Man statue, Alfred is magically propelled away.
Cormac slays a Saxon, the rest of the forty Saxons attack, joined by their brothers that were hiding under the water, the "dead" Picts get up and kill the Saxons.
Alfred tries to kill Cormac, the Dark Man statue propels Alfred's sword into Alfred. Wulfhere beheads Kenric.
The Gael, the Dane and the Picts are victorious.
What I did like:
Matthew John (Conan: Madness on the Mound, Conan: Faces of Doom, Conan: The Hyborian Age - The Roleplaying Game) is back!
Thor's hammer mentioned.
Valhalla/Hall of the Slain mentioned.
The blood eagle mentioned.
Colossus of Constantine mentioned.
Spear and Fang by Robert E. Howard mentioned.
Tigers of the Sea by Robert E. Howard and Richard L. Tierney mentioned indirectly.
Tostig from "The Gods of Bal-Sagoth" appears as a corpse.
The Outer Dark from "The Vale of Lost Women" mentioned.
What I did not like:
The editor is not doing his job.
The typos.
I give it a 9/10. A nice prequel to The Dark Man by Robert E. Howard AND a cool new exclusive cover by Juan Alberto Hernandez! A must get!
Oh, and TITAN BOOKS, don't forget, we still need a Heroic Legends Series version of Scott Oden's CONAN: THE DAY OF THE LION (with Oden's CONAN: UNCONQUERED as a free bonus)!
