“He was clearly searching for something, and each completed story brought him closer to the fictional answer he sought. These stories show the beginning of Howard’s steps toward literary immortality.” - Mark Finn, from his introduction.
Moon of Skulls is the second volume of a series that collects the fiction and poetry of Robert E. Howard as it originally appeared in Weird Tales magazine. This volume has two novellas, three short stories, and four poems.
The first story "Skull-Face" takes up the first half of the book. It was originally a three part serial. It’s basically Howard’s version of a Sax Rohmer Fu Manchu story. It’s wordy and the story rambles for long stretches until the last few chapters. After all the characters have been introduced Howards’s voice starts to come through and the story really picks up. Once the antics with a gorilla costume have been dispensed with and mummies and lost civilizations have been introduced, it gets a lot more interesting.
"The Fearsome Touch of Death" is a short horror story. Howard creates a spooky atmosphere and ends with some dark humor. Well done.
"The Moon of Skulls" is the first of two Solomon Kane stories, both set in Africa. This novella was originally serialized over two issues. Howard creates a strong foil for Kane in Queen Nakari. She is intelligent and brutal. Lots of action but we also get into Kane’s head. Here is one of his thoughts as he makes his way through a lost city, “The evident antiquity of his surroundings depressed him, making him sense vaguely the fleeting and futile existence of mankind.” I feel that this kind of writing elevates Howard's work above other action adventure writers.
"The Hills of the Dead" is a shorter Soloman Kane story. I enjoyed this one even more than the previous one. Howard has an interesting take on vampires here. I liked his original take on werewolves in the previous volume and I like his take on vampires in this one. This story re-introduces N’Longa the witch doctor who was introduced in "Red Shadows" the first Kane story. N’longa gives Kane a magic staff and later winds up helping him from a great distance. At the end of the story Kane asks him how this was all possible. The answer he gives makes N’longa one of my favorite Howard characters. It’s poetic and deals with themes Howard comes to again and again. The story is set up well, is dripping with atmosphere, and the ending was a real page turner.
"The Voice of El-Lil" is a short story that first appeared in Oriental Stories. It starts out as an average lost city story, pauses a few times for some lecturing, and then erupts into action, excitement, and tragedy. Nothing too deep but it wound up really grabbing me.
Once again on the negative side, Howard brings up race and racial purity in some stories. Sometimes it’s just a few lines and sometimes it’s more. It definitely pulled me out of the story whenever it came up. Something to be aware of when reading Howard. On the other hand, Howard creates strong African characters in two of the stories. Queen Nakari and N’Longa are great characters, one a villain and one an ally.
Something else I noticed, while some stories are stronger than others, they all have exciting endings.
I enjoyed the poems again. "Black Chant Imperial" is really, really dark, and sounds like it could be a black metal song.
I’m looking forward to reading volume three.
Skull-Face (2/5)
Dead Man’s Hate (poem)
The Fearsome Touch of Death (4/5)
A Song Out of Midian (poem)
Shadows on the Road (poem)
The Moon of Skulls (Solomon Kane) (4.5/5)
The Hills of the Dead (Solomon Kane) (5/5)
Black Chant Imperial (poem)
The Voice of El-Lil (3.5/5)
Overall (4/5)
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