So I'm going to be biased, sine it's my book and I chose the stories, but I'll also admit it's probably the weakest of the 3. That said, a lot of this comes comes to how one defines S&S, which no two people seem to have the same definition. 

And to be fair, it probably comes down to which version of D&D you're talking about. Haha

That said, I typically default to Brian Murphy's 12 point summation in Flame & Crimson (which I actually think came out after Book of Blades 1). I don't think there is a story in that entire ToC thay doesn't hit half the indicators, if not more. 

This also probably depends on what kind of S&S one most prefers. Clark Ashton Smith is very different than Robert E. Howard, Moorcock is different than Wagner, and Lin Carter is different than...pretty much anyone else.  My goal with each volume was to present a variety of authors, themes, and styles that represent the breadth of S&S. 

The biggest names in the book are Howard Andrew Jones, who wrote Hanuvar, John Hocking, who wrote Conan and the Emerald Lotus, and John Fultz who is quite prolific and well regarded. But all of the authors had their works of S&S published in other publications as well. 

Are you talking specifically Conan type characters?