This review originally appeared at Grimdark Magazine on April 24, 2026.

Conan: Cult of the Obsidian Moon

By James Lovegrove – Titan Books – November 19, 2024

Review by Robin Marx

In Conan: Cult of the Obsidian Moon by James Lovegrove, Conan the Cimmerian, still mourning his pirate queen Bêlit, trades the seas for the desert, languishing in the Shemitish city-state of Eruk. His last adventure—an attempted burglary foiled by a sabretooth tiger—having ended in disaster, the barbarian searches for a distraction. One such opportunity presents itself when Conan makes the acquaintance of Hunwulf and Gudrun, an eloped couple on the run from their former tribe. The family and Conan become fast friends after his timely intervention in a tavern brawl, and Conan becomes further intrigued when he meets their young son Bjørn, who demonstrates an uncanny ability to control animals. Conan agrees to look after the boy while his parents stage a final confrontation with their implacable tribal stalkers. Events take a turn for the unexpected, however, when an entirely new threat emerges and the boy is snatched away by a winged reptilian creature. Vowing to make things right, Conan accompanies the bereft parents on a desperate search for the abducted boy. The trail takes them into the blighted Rotlands deep within Kush, where a secretive religious sect has dark designs for Bjørn and a host of other kidnapped children, each harboring their own budding supernatural talent. Stakes quickly escalate, and Conan finds himself pitted against a truly apocalyptic threat.

Following Blood of the Serpent by S. M. Stirling and City of the Dead by John C. Hocking, Cult of the Obsidian Moon is the third release in Titan Books’ series of original Conan the Barbarian pastiche novels. Where Blood of the Serpent was conceived as a direct prequel to the classic Robert E. Howard-penned novella “Red Nails” (1936) and City of the Dead paired a reprint of an acclaimed novel from the series’ Tor Books era with a new sequel, Cult of the Obsidian Moon also introduces a new element to the Titan Books line by tying it into Titan Comics’ Conan the Barbarian storylines. Subtitled “A Black Stone Novel,” Cult of the Obsidian Moon includes several motifs from the first year of the Conan the Barbarian comic and its culminating Battle of the Black Stone miniseries. The recurring carved eye sigil from the comics has a prominent presence in Cult of the Obsidian Moon, and the character James Allison, a 1930s pulp writer who bases adventure stories on remembered past lives, likewise appears in both Battle of the Black Stone and the framing story that bookends Cult of the Obsidian Moon. These references mostly operate at the level of Easter Eggs, however, and non-comic readers need not worry about having their enjoyment of the novel harmed by unfamiliarity with the Titan Comics Conan the Barbarian storylines.

While the comic references are interesting, Cult of the Obsidian Moon doesn’t give readers the best first impression. The James Allison framing story feels mostly extraneous. Bjørn’s father Hunwulf is presented as one of Allison’s remembered past lives (and, indeed, the Cult of the Obsidian Moon novel as a whole is fictionally presented as a manuscript written by Allison and submitted for publication at a pulp magazine called Anomalous Adventures), and Hunwulf himself has a similar ability to experience other incarnations, but these aspects of the story feel underutilized. Conan is the primary viewpoint character, not Allison-recalling-Hunwulf, and substantial stretches of the novel occur in Hunwulf’s absence. Hunwulf’s supernatural talent briefly comes in handy while attempting to avoid the otherwise unpredictable hazards of the Rotlands, but it fails to reappear in the late chapters of the book. Excising both the framing story and Hunwulf’s unusual ability would have given the book a tighter focus, reduced unnecessary page count, and would have made remaining supernatural elements feel more special due to their scarcity. It feels like the book doesn’t really get started until Conan and his newfound friends are forced to leave Shem.

The first third of the book feels regrettably aimless, but once Bjørn is abducted the narrative shifts into high gear. The remainder of the story is a much faster-paced rescue mission in hostile territory. The Rotlands is a sort of living cancer on the land, full of threatening flora and fauna, where any misstep can end in death. When they finally reveal themselves, the reptilian Folk of the Featherless Wing (as the titular Cult of the Obsidian Moon call themselves) boast an interesting backstory and motivations that go above and beyond those of typical evil religious groups in fantasy fiction. And while James Lovegrove’s wisecracking depiction of Conan occasionally feels awkward compared to Hocking’s handling of the barbarian in City of the Dead, Lovegrove does succeed in delivering bloody, spectacular combat. The climactic battle scene starts off exciting and quickly escalates even further, with the odds swinging wildly against the heroes. Readers who enjoy cosmic horror elements in their sword & sorcery adventures will also find a lot to enjoy here as the nature of the Obsidian Moon and the source of the blight at the heart of the Rotlands is revealed.

If you can get past the sluggish start, Cult of the Obsidian Moon is a worthy addition to the body of Conan the Barbarian pastiche work. The early, meandering chapters could have benefited from some tightening, but once the story is truly underway it quickly escalates and accelerates, throwing itself heedlessly to a bloody, action-packed and horror-filled climax.

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