Though the book is officially number 30-something in the series, you don't need to read the previous volumes. In fact, the numbers of the books in Conan series don't match the chronological order and all novels are separately readable.

The Conan series plays in a fictional past when the continents had a form different from today, vaguely resembling today's continents. In those pre-ancient countries, technique was somewhere in the medieval level and it was possible to use magic. Conan was a very skilled fighter of extreme strength who's adventures of different kind are described in the series. In this novel, an evil mague rediscovers a long-forgotten way of controlling the dead and is attempting to get the whole world under his power. But he faces unexpected complications when Conan gets accidentally involved in the whole mess.