Amazon.com Review

As some cover blurbs so rightly state, "Before Conan--there was Kull!" The warrior Kull was yet another popular creation of pulp writer Robert E. Howard (1906-1936), generally credited as the originator of the subgenre heroic fantasy. Yet Kull should not be dismissed as second-rate Conan. (Although Howard did transform a few unsold Kull adventures into those of Conan the Cimmerian when the later series took off with the public.) Set in ancient, lost Atlantis, the Kull stories take place mostly after the barbarian has already come to power as King Kull of Valusia. What makes these scant dozen stories most memorable is Howard's heightened style of mystical decadence, similar here to his Weird Tales contemporary, --Stanley Wiater

Review

[Audio Review] Before Howard created the hugely successful Conan series, he created Kull, the seminal character in the entire subgenre of sword-and-sorcery fantasy. In this collection of stories, the barbarian king of Valusia is revived. Todd McLaren has narrated a number of the Conan audiobooks. Here, his curt, controlled voice helps build and maintain tension throughout the narrative. And his voicings of the characters, particularly that of Kull, tune into the action-hero worldview that underlies the stories and make for a engaging listen. In both cases, McLaren maintains excitement and tension without drifting into an overly dramatic performance. L.E. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine --AudioFile