Robert E. Howard's The Hour of the Dragon is the only full-length Conan novel and one of the most sweeping adventures in the history of sword-and-sorcery fiction. First serialized in 1935-1936 in Weird Tales, the novel expands Howard's legendary Hyborian Age into an epic tale of conquest, dark sorcery, and a king fighting to reclaim his throne.
Conan of Cimmeria has risen from barbarian wanderer to become king of Aquilonia, but his reign is shattered when a conspiracy of rival kingdoms and ancient sorcery strips him of his crown. Betrayed and cast into exile, Conan must cross deserts, haunted ruins, and forgotten kingdoms while confronting necromancers, monstrous guardians, and the resurrected powers of a long-dead empire. His quest becomes a desperate struggle to recover the fabled Heart of Ahriman, a mystical jewel tied to the fate of empires.
Blending relentless action with brooding atmosphere and mythic world-building, The Hour of the Dragon represents the grandest expression of Howard's Conan saga. The novel helped define modern heroic fantasy and continues to influence generations of writers and readers drawn to tales of adventure, sorcery, and the indomitable will of one of fantasy's greatest heroes.
