Robert E. Howard’s creation Conan the Barbarian is widely known and appreciated in both books and movies, and soon even in games. However, Howard created many other characters besides Conan that are just as entertaining. Solomon Kane is one of these, and his exploits can be found in their entirety in the book entitled The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane.

Solomon Kane, originally created for the pulp magazine Weird Tales, is a 17th century Puritan. Dressed in somber black from the slouch hat perpetually perched on his head to the boots encasing his feet, his drab appearance is only brightened by the bright green silk sash encircling his middle. This sash holds his weapons: two flintlock pistols, a dirk, and a rapier. In later stories he also acquires a cat-headed stave containing great magic (ju-ju).

The stories told of Kane are great adventures, carrying the reader from the shores of his English home to the deepest unexplored reaches of Africa. In his journeys Kane battles bandits and rogues, vampires, zombies, followers of ancient blood cults, and creatures not seen since the age of mythology.

Through each escapade the reader gains further insight into the character of the man. Kane clearly sees the world through Puritan eyes – there is only right and wrong, light and dark, good and evil. The grey areas in-between do not exist in Kane’s mind, and he pursues and punishes evil with the single-minded determination of a fanatic. He thinks nothing of pursuing a bandit for two years to punish him for the death of a girl he does not even know, and when someone he cares about is involved, he will become so driven to exact justice it becomes chilling.

Yet, if this was all there was to the character of Kane, the stories would quickly become flat and lifeless. This is hardly the case. As the reader follows Kane through his adventures, the extraordinary ability of the man to lie to himself and the struggles this engenders become more evident and entrancing. It truly gets to the point where one cannot put the book down.

As I conducted research to compose this review, I discovered that Solomon Kane is being brought to the big screen, a fact that makes me dance for joy. If it is done well, perhaps Solomon Kane will no longer be overlooked, and instead finally gain recognition as another of Howard’s brilliant creations.