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Content snapshot
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Violence
A lot
Strong pulp action violence; the shrinking-and-preserving premise is horrifying; brutal combat with the giants
Language
Barely any
Mild; pulp adventure register
Sexual Content
Barely any
Mild
Substance Use
None
No substance use
Emotional Intensity
Some
Moderate; a fate-worse-than-death as the horror device; the giant cult's alien nature
What this book is about
Robert E. Howard's The Pool of the Black One is a Conan story in which the Cimmerian discovers that the ship's crew has been visiting an island where black-skinned giants use a pool to shrink and preserve their victims as figurines. Among Howard's more genuinely horrifying premises, and Conan's response is characteristically direct. The story also reflects the racial stereotyping characteristic of 1930s pulp fiction.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
Racial stereotyping in the 1930s pulp tradition
Body horror premise
Reader Verification
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