Book Review: Andrew j. Offutt - My Lord Barbarian (1977)

 

"Valeron, by the strength of his sword-arm, had subdued the savage Sungoli and was acclaimed king of the barbaric land of Branarius. The Emperor of the Seven Kingdoms determined to reward the conquering hero with the hand of his daughter, his only child, the princess Aleysha.

 But there were those who could not stomach the idea of the scarred and bloodied barbarian Valeron as husband to the delicate and civilised Aleysha. when Valeron arrived to claim his own he was imprisoned - for the murder of the Emperor.

 Only the keen edge of his sword, the speed of his arm and his cunning brain lay between Valeron and death in his toughest struggle for life yet."

 I am onto the second book in the stack I picked up t'other day.   

 Andrew J Offutt is a writer I have encountered before; he did some pastiches of Robert E Howard characters Conan and Cormac Mac Art which were pretty decent so between that and the cover, I had a fair idea what was in store.

  The back-cover blurb fails to mention an important fact - deliberately, I suspect - that Valeron is not just King but King of an entire world which in turn is part of an empire of seven worlds  making up a solar system.  The twist is that while Valeron and his people are able to travel between world on spaceships,  a war long ago destroyed the advanced civilisation that created the ships, leaving the survivors to go back to Dark Age society and tech. Yes, they have spaceships but nobody knows how to really operate them beyond pushing the button that makes them go. 

Which is why Valeron is depicted on the cover as the classic sun-bronzed barbarian but right behind him is some architecture straight out of  an Asimov book.   

 Since we're on the cover, let's talk about the half-naked hottie clutching Valeron's arm.  Yes, she's in the book and is an important character.  Andrew J Offutt had a profitable side gig writing erotica which might explain why he devotes so much ink to describing slave-girl Jheru's ample charms.  Thankfully it doesn't get into Gor territory and Jheru is a feisty character more than capable of standing up to our big bruiser of a hero. 

Except Valeron isn't all brawn. While he's big and badass, he also spends the book doing some serious thinking about his role as  king and potential emperor. 

In short, while there is some skull-cleaving to be add "My Lord Barbarian" takes the cliches of sun-bronzed barbarians, adds some neat twists and tells a better story than many others I've seen. 

   This was written in 1977 so some passages might raise an eyebrows but bear that in mind and "My Lord Barbarian" delivers what the cover promises.  If you like Conan or Lin Carter's "Thongor" books then you might like this. 

That's All Folks.