THE IVORY GODDESS

You know how prior to Empire Strikes Back, when they did movie sequels, they basically just had the characters go through exactly the same thing they did the first time? That's how "The Ivory Goddess" feels. Throughout this chronology, as I read each story in context, I feel like that adds a lot to my understanding and enjoyment of the stories, but here, it feels like it does the opposite. 

"The Ivory Goddess" is credited to L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter, but it seems pretty widely accepted that Carter didn't contribute to this one. Instead, it was fellow sci-fi writer and wife Catherine Crook de Camp who co-wrote with Sprague. I first read "The Ivory Goddess" in comic form in Savage Sword #60, which I thought was pretty decent. But reading the story right after "Jewels of Gwahlur" makes it feel like entirely a retread.

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Directly following from the events of "Jewels of Gwahlur," Conan is on the run with Muriela. They're collecting enemies pretty fast and they know they're not in the favor of Keshan because that asshole Thutmekri is bending their ears. The pair come across a large, marble, domed structure, which is the home of the goddess Nebethet. Inside, there's an ivory statue with the body of a beautiful woman, but the head of a skull.

There's some suspense as it's clear that the temple is being tended to by someone, but the caretaker is unseen. It turns out to be, just like it was in the holy city of Alkmeenon, to be a grayish man-ape thing. His old hag of a mom is hanging around too, but she's pretty easily dispatched by Conan. 

Conan has Muriela try to do the same con they pulled back in Alkmeenon, where they pretend she's the voice of a goddess to get their way. The twist, and really, the only reason to read this story, is that this time, Muriela actually becomes possessed by the goddess instead of just replacing her. I've seen some people argue that it's just the same old trick she pulled in "Jewels of Gwahlur" again and that she found a way to get her bag from the worshippers of Nebethet by permanently pretending to be a goddess, but she changes physically and is able to kill with a look, so I'm inclined to take her word for it.

This story isn't entirely devoid of fun. It's fun to see when the gods take note of Conan and participate in the story. Nebethet is pretty nonplussed about him and is more than fair in her assessment of his plans. In fact, I'm trying to count how many gods we've encountered by this point in Conan's life. Mitra seems aware of him because of the events of "Black Colossus," and also that he receives a Mitra-approved sword eventually in "The Phoenix on the Sword." If Yag-Kosha counts, we met him back in "Tower of the Elephant." With how much Thoth-Amon eventually appears, Set has to be aware of Conan eventually, right? Crom still seems silent, though.

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The setting is cool enough; I'm always up for a hidden temple deep in the mountains. And Muriela getting taken over for realsies this time is alright. Plus, the story's only about 20 pages, making it one of the shortest Conan reads. 

I've got "Beyond the Black River" up next, which I'm incredibly excited for. I've never read it, but everyone says it's great. I've been counting down the stories to it since "A Witch Shall Be Born," pretty much. There's a long jump in physical space between these two. Conan has been putzing around near Stygia and the coasts by it for about 7 stories now, but he's headed way north for next time! As such, this story is the last one that I'm considering part of his Barachan pirate days, because he's clearly moving on to become Conan of Aquilonia.

★★☆☆​☆