Red Nails

About the book

Valeria of the Red Brotherhood has fled a mercenary camp, with Conan following through dangerous country. After a violent encounter in the forest, the two adventurers reach Xuchotl, a remarkable enclosed city whose apparent shelter conceals another kind of peril. Its surviving factions inhabit different quarters and pursue a bitter struggle sustained by fear, sorcery, and accumulated revenge. The outsiders' fighting skills make them valuable allies, but hospitality offers no assurance that their hosts' purposes can be trusted. Howard combines the partnership of two formidable adventurers with a claustrophobic setting in which civilization has become captivity. The story's brutal contests and extravagant atmosphere keep attention on the costs of a community that can imagine little beyond its enemies.

• Feud and vengeance
• Decaying civilization
• Dangerous alliances

Why read it

The enclosed city gives this Conan adventure a distinctive atmosphere of pressure, suspicion, and inherited hatred.

English text