The Hour of the Dragon.

The Hour of the Dragon is Robert E. Howard’s only full-length Conan novel and one of the defining works of sword-and-sorcery fiction. Opening with resurrection magic and political overthrow, it sends Conan the Cimmerian through imprisonment, battle, pursuit, ancient ruins, and desperate quests as he struggles to reclaim his crown from enemies armed with both armies and dark powers. Howard writes with the speed of pulp adventure, but the novel’s scale is broader than many Conan tales, combining battlefield urgency with a kingdom-in-crisis plot.

Why read The Hour of the Dragon today?

If you want the clearest long-form example of Howard’s influence on modern fantasy, this is the place to start. The book has everything that later heroic fantasy borrowed and refined: sinister relics, hard travel, political intrigue, doomed loyalty, violent reversals, and a hero whose endurance matters as much as his strength. The result is swift, vivid, and surprisingly well structured for a pulp-era adventure.

What kind of classic is it?

This is a foundational fantasy novel rather than a genteel classic, and it should be read on those terms. Its pleasures are momentum, atmosphere, and imaginative force. Readers interested in Conan, in the roots of epic and heroic fantasy, or in the bridge between magazine pulp and later genre fiction will find it a key text.

Further context

Wikipedia: The Hour of the Dragon.