There are some excellent stories in here, and a poem thrown in for good measure.

Solomon Kane is my favourite Robert E. Howard hero, possibly because he's English so I more readily identified with him when I first encountered him in graphic form as a back-up feature in the UK reprint comic Savage Sword of Conan. As well as being English he was also dour and grim, which appealed to my pre/early teen moodiness, and probably appeals now to my middle-age grumpiness!

The action in these tales of the Puritan avenger swings from the mist-shrouded moors of Devonshire, to the benighted forests of France and Germany, on to the jungles of Africa and then the Spanish Main. Ghosts, revenant wizards, psychotic Barons, decadent Atlantean Queens and savage pirates, all fall before Kane's muskets and rapier.

My favourite story here is Blades of the Brotherhood which sees Kane back in England, after a trail of years, tracking down the pirate captain, Jonas Hardraker, the Fishhawk, to wreak bloody vengeance against him. Kane is outnumbered, but never outclassed! Stirring stuff. ( )

I always found Robert E. Howard's Conan stories hard going (though I liked the graphic novel adaptations). However this earliest Solomon Kane story was very good. Kane's dour character comes across as well as the vaguely Lovecraftian horror of the tale. I look forward to reading more. ( )