Staff Picks (May14): Barbarian Lord GN

Publisher: Clarion Books

If you quest for a saga most epic, harken ye to a tale of hard lands and harder men, of slashing swords and stabbing verse, of honor stolen and of honor reclaimed. In the mists to the north of the border between "Sword" and "Sorcery" you will find Barbarian Lord.  Rumored to be part troll, this warrior-bard avenges his honor with a two-handed battle axe (of the exceptionally bloody sort) and scourges his foes with carefully crafted insults (of the epic-poetry sort). Towering deeds, dauntless verse, and wholesale slaughter accompany this barbarian’s barbarian as creator Matt Smith spins up an uncompromising world of bone, snow, and old Gods.  The echoes of Icelandic and Norse myth ring throughout the pages of this work, while beast men, skull lords, and witches blight our hero’s homestead. The literary shadows of other great champions -- Beowulf, Conan, and Kull -- race alongside Barbarian Lord and he stains the deep snows crimson with his vengeance.  He battles the sea and its monsters, faces trolls and wraiths, and stands proudly as a master of the mead hall.  All bend knee and hail! Barbarian Lord!

~ Sarah Martinez