YMMV / Iron Shadows in the Moon

• Fair for Its Day: Howard seems to be actively trying to subvert or deconstruct the Damsel in Distress trope as it existed at the time with Olivia. She requires Conan's rescue and protection, but rescues him in turn, and displays admirable determinator qualities. She's also the story's point-of-view character, inviting comparison on if the reader would be able to cope with the events described as well as she does. Finally, she does not fall instantly into Conan's bed at the end, and given her backstory as a Sex Slave to a Sadist, this could be a rare realistic portrayal of a rape survivor. In 1934.
• No Yay: It's very easy to read sexual subtext between the demigod and the iron shadows... which only serves to make the horrific treatment they subject him to even more repellent.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: The creepily Faux Affably Evil Shah Amurath makes for a very memorable villain. He only gets about a page or so before Conan offs him.

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