If you want to get his measure, read "Youth" or "Falk" or "Heart of Darkness," and then try to read the best of Kipling. I think you will come to some understanding, by that simple experiment, of the difference between an adroit artisan's bag of tricks and the lofty sincerity and passion of a first-rate artist.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Joseph Conrad: A short study of his intellectual and emotional attitude toward his work and of the chief characteristics of his novels, by Wilson Follett; New York, Doubleday, Page & Co. (1915).
[2] The Advance of the English Novel. New York, Dodd, Mead & Co., 1916, p. 215.
[3] Conrad, in the Forum, May, 1915.
[4] New York and London. G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1907.
[5] The Intelligence of Woman. Boston, Little, Brown & Co., 1916, p. 6-7.
[6] In The New Review, Dec., 1897.
[7] Printed in the United States as Children of the Sea, but now restored to its original title.
[8] Here are some actual prices from booksellers' catalogues: