Pure magic., 18 Jul 1998
Almost any one of the pieces in this collection is worth the price of the book. There are no monkey swathes of paint against white canvas here, my friends. No, here are works that will quicken your breath, accelerate your heartbeat, and ignite the synapses in your mind. And as my fellow reviewer commented, this book is a wellspring of inspiration. Just flip the pages and see for your self. Works like "Number 16" and "Prudence II" present this point more eloquently than I ever could. I have only one pique. There was no art from any of the Galerie Morpheus artists like Giger, Yerka, and De Es. Despite this, I urge all fans of SF and Fantasy art to buy this book. You won't be dissappointed.

Endless source of inspiration for artists., 27 Mar 1998
Spectrum 4 is one of those books that artists turn to when ideas are at a premium. The artwork is so voluminous and diverse in character. Every possible stylization of fantasy art is represented. Some works are intense and mysterious, dark and brooding. While others follow a campy, comic book hero genre. My favorite works are more of an illustrative fairy tale approach. However, I find this book to be a wonderful resource for those times when the well is running dry.

Pure magic., 18 Jul 1998
Almost any one of the pieces in this collection is worth the price of the book. There are no monkey swathes of paint against white canvas here, my friends. No, here are works that will quicken your breath, accelerate your heartbeat, and ignite the synapses in your mind. And as my fellow reviewer commented, this book is a wellspring of inspiration. Just flip the pages and see for your self. Works like "Number 16" and "Prudence II" present this point more eloquently than I ever could. I have only one pique. There was no art from any of the Galerie Morpheus artists like Giger, Yerka, and De Es. Despite this, I urge all fans of SF and Fantasy art to buy this book. You won't be dissappointed.

Endless source of inspiration for artists., 27 Mar 1998
Spectrum 4 is one of those books that artists turn to when ideas are at a premium. The artwork is so voluminous and diverse in character. Every possible stylization of fantasy art is represented. Some works are intense and mysterious, dark and brooding. While others follow a campy, comic book hero genre. My favorite works are more of an illustrative fairy tale approach. However, I find this book to be a wonderful resource for those times when the well is running dry.

A beautiful book, with flaws, 20 Nov 2008
This book is exactly what it appears to be: a truly beautiful book containing Conan tales together with evocative artwork, in both colour and ink. It is weighty and impressive and constantly draws me back to it. At the price, it is a steal.

It is not, and does not purport to be, a complete collection of all Conan tales, or even of those commonly judged to be REH's finest work. I can only hope an additional volume or two follows to complete the collection in this form.

"And their memory was a bitter tree" has only two flaws: the first, which is obvious as soon one opens the book, is the introduction. That jars with the book itself in places: why buy a book when you are told the author of these tales "simply wasn't a great writer". Despite that, there is nonetheless some interesting information in the introduction.

The second flaw is the reproduction of some pulp-era Margaret Brundage Conan covers only as thumbnail-sized prints in the introduction itself. These pictures would have been better served (full-sized) added to the Frazetta and Brom artwork scattered throughout the book.

As stated above, the praise I can give this book is best reflected in the fact that if Underwood/Black Bart produce further volumes in the same format to add more tales to the collection (hopefully with some full-size Brundage as well as Frazetta and a modern addition by Brom) then I will certainly buy them.