14 minSummaryRead it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook editionPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
In Zamboula, a room for the night can become a trap—and a rescue can lead straight into a priest’s power.
Conan arrives in Zamboula, a crowded trading city where money, religion, and political influence hold an uneasy balance. At Aram Baksh’s inn, shelter conceals a murderous threat. His sword stands between him and a gruesome death. Beyond the inn, the dark streets offer no promise of safety, and helping a stranger brings dangers that strength alone may not settle.
When Conan encounters Zabibi and a man driven into violent madness, he intervenes. She seeks help for her lover, and her account draws him toward the temple of Hanuman. There, the cruel priest Totrasmek holds power through religious authority, drugs, and intimidation. Conan must bring suspicion and practical judgment to bear in a place where elaborate threats serve calculated deception.
What you’ll discover
- A city without safety Enter streets where an inn, a doorway, or a temple can conceal violence.
- A rescue with consequences Follow Conan as helping Zabibi draws him into a struggle involving her lover and a priest.
- Power behind the temple Discover how Totrasmek uses authority and fear to make his temple a place of danger.
- Strength against intimidation Meet Baal-pteor, a formidable strangler whose confidence confronts a fighter who refuses to be overawed.
- A wary, practical hero Enjoy Conan’s blunt suspicion as he faces both physical threats and carefully calculated deception.
Who will love it
You will love this tale if you enjoy swift sword-and-sorcery, cursed temples, crowded fantasy cities and a hero who relies on muscle, nerve and a quick eye.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A cheap bed carries hidden danger
- A warning reaches an unwilling listener
- The city leaves clues in plain sight
- The locked room becomes a snare
- A rescue draws Conan into another bargain
- Conan enters a trap knowingly
- Illusions prepare a test of strength
- Safety depends on who belongs
- Small signs reveal the world's dangers
Who’s who
- ConanA giant Cimmerian barbarian with blue eyes, short of money, who wants a bed for the night and a fair price for his sword.
- Aram BakshThe portly, soft-footed keeper of a tavern at the desert edge, whose cheap rooms hide a deadly secret.
- ZabibiA tall dancer of Zamboula who wants her lover cured and the priest who harmed them dead.
- TotrasmekThe fat, cunning high priest of Hanuman, feared across Zamboula, who rules through dread and magic and wants Zabibi for himself.
- Baal-pteorA huge brown strangler from Kosala, trained from infancy to kill with bare hands, now serving Totrasmek.
- AlafdhalThe Turanian satrap Jungir Khan, Nafertari's lover, driven into raving madness by a drug and falsely introduced as Alafdhal.
- The ZuagirA nomad of the desert tribe who calls Conan brother and warns him of demons in the inn.
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Shadows in Zamboula
by Robert E. Howard · 1935
A Cimmerian sleeps in a trap room in Zamboula while a drum beats beyond the palms and hungry men wait.
Medium levelUnder 2 hours to read20 languages
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“Dance, girl, dance!”
In short
Would you sleep in a room with a bolted door if the bolt could be worked from outside? Conan, a giant barbarian from the hills of Cimmeria, is about to find out.
Shadows in Zamboula at a glance
- Reading time
- About 50 min40 min fast, 1 h slow
- Length
- 11,600 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1935by Robert E. Howard
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A nomad warns Conan about the inn
The tale begins in the Sword-Makers' Bazaar of Zamboula. A wiry nomad of the Zuagir tribe clutches at the arm of Conan the Cimmerian. Conan has lived for many moons in the Zuagir tents, and the nomad calls him brother. Danger lurks in the house of Aram Baksh.
Desert men and travelers sleep at that inn and are never seen again. Aram swears they rose and went on their way. Yet goods known to belong to the missing turn up in the bazaars. No citizen of the city has ever vanished from his house. Once a Zuagir chief complained to the satrap, Jungir Khan. Soldiers found nothing, and the chief was driven from the city with curses.
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Details
- First published
- 1935
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 50 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Howard, Robert E. Shadows in Zamboula. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/shadows-in-zamboula.
Howard, R. E. (2026). Shadows in Zamboula. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/shadows-in-zamboula (Original work published 1935)
Howard, Robert E. Shadows in Zamboula. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/shadows-in-zamboula.
@book{howard2026shadows,
author = {Howard, Robert E.},
title = {Shadows in Zamboula},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/shadows-in-zamboula},
note = {First published 1935}
}
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What is Shadows in Zamboula about?
It follows Conan the Cimmerian through one night in the desert city of Zamboula. He takes a cheap room at an inn with a deadly secret, then helps a dancing girl against a sinister priest in a temple of the ape-god Hanuman.
Who wrote Shadows in Zamboula and when?
Robert E. Howard wrote it. He was an American pulp writer who died in 1936, and the tale belongs to the Conan series set in his invented Hyborian Age of sorcerers and warrior kings.
Who is Conan the Cimmerian?
Conan is a giant barbarian from the hills of Cimmeria, with black hair and blue eyes. He lives by his sword and his wits, and in this tale he is a nearly penniless stranger who has spent a week in Zamboula.
The author
Robert E. Howard
1906–1936 · American fantasy writer
Robert E. Howard was an American author born in Peaster, Texas, in 1906. He lived much of his life in Cross Plains, Texas, where he died in 1936. He wrote fantasy, horror, adventure stories, and poetry. His stories featuring Conan appeared in the magazine Weird Tales during the 1930s.
“Dance, girl, dance!”
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