Tony Williams's Reviews > Solomon Kane: Skulls in the Stars

In some ways short stories are more satisfying than a standard novel. Well written ones are lean and tightly focused, and they don't lose their momentum and overstay their welcome the way a longer story too often does. The trick is to be able to tell a complete story with a definable objective and a beginning, middle and an end. Robert E. Howard's Solomon Kane: Skulls in the Stars is just such a story.

Howard is an evocative writer, and his prose cuts like a knife through your imagination. Given the format, he doesn't have time to go into mind-numbing detail, so he cuts right to the chase and yet still manages to paint a landscape and make you feel what his characters are feeling. No easy trick, that.

This is a simple, but well told story that leaves you wanting to return for a second helping.