Ballantine Books released a series of books collecting stories by Robert E. Howard. 

Each volume was dedicated to stories about various Howard characters: “The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane,” the occult-fighting Puritan; “Bran Mak Morn: The Last King,” the Roman-battling noble savage; and three volumes dedicated to Howard’s most famous character, Conan the Barbarian: “The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian,” “The Bloody Crown of Conan,” “The Conquering Sword of Conan.” 

“Exile of Atlantis” is King Kull’s turn. 

Howard wrote his tales of the barbarian King Kull in the 1920s prior to writing his Conan stories in the ’30s. The similarities and differences between Kull and Conan have been discussed since the 1930s, and this volume contains a great essay on the topic. 

Kull and Conan are intricately connected as characters. Both were born barbarians, raised as warriors, thrived in various adventurous careers before usurping a throne from a tyrant and becoming kings of their adopted, civilized nations. 

The plot of an unpublished Kull story “By This Axe I Rule!” — where numerous courtesans, nobles, villains and a poet plot to assassinate the barbarian king — served as an introduction to Conan under the title of “The Phoenix on the Sword.” And Conan is often referred to as being a potential descendant of Kull. 

But the Kull stories differ from the Conan tales. Save one exception in the Kull stories, all of the Kull tales are set after he has become king, while the Conan tales explore numerous aspects of his life and career. 

The Kull stories also rely more on metaphysical conundrums of time and space and Kull is a far more glum and reflective barbarian king than Conan. Kull also has a regular cast of supporting characters while Howard’s Conan tales feature an ever-changing cast of supporting players. 

“Kull: Exile of Atlantis” pulls Kull out of Conan’s shadow and places Howard’s original barbarian usurper square in the spotlight. Like the other Howard volumes, this one contains full stories, unfinished tales, appendices, etc.

It also contains a series of illustrations commissioned specifically for each volume of the series; Justin Sweet’s pen-and-inks (as well as a series of black-and-white illustrations in the paperback of the colorful paintings for the hard-cover editions) capture the moody mysticism of Kull’s character and world. 

If you are a fan of Robert E. Howard, or the sword-and-sorcery genre which Howard is credited with creating, “Kull” is an adventure worth taking.