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Customer Reviews (1)

reprint of a strong fantasy
Castle Brass and its occupants are transported into another realm; leaving behind no viable opposition to the overwhelming armies of Granbretan Empire.Led by Meliadus their military swarms all over the continent in conquest.At the same time, Meliadus pleads with Granbretan King-Emperor Huon to find Count Brass, Hawkmoon and the others in order to set an example. Huon says no, but Meliadus seeks other means to find and kill Hawkmoon.

Granbretan bard Elvereza Tozer also traveled to the same realm as the concerted occupants of Castle Brass.He used a Yel Mountains crystal that he obtained from Mygan the hermit.Count Brass, Dorian Hawkmoon and others fear Meliadus will learn of and seek out the crystals to follow them into this world and other worlds slaughtering the innocent.Hawkmoon and D'Averc return to Londra to learn what Meliadus knows of Mygan.Once assured their enemy remains ignorant, they head to the cave of the hermit with Meliadus in pursuit.Using a crystal, they escape to Amarekh where Mygan suggests Hawkmoon seek his Runestaff by going to Narleen, find the Sword of the Dawn, and then head to Dnark.

The third action-packed "The History of the Runestaff" Hawkmoon fantasy switches locales but employs the same prime cast members who starred in previous two novels (see The Mad God's Amulet and The Jewel in the Skull).Hawkmoon and D'Averc seem to be in trouble throughout as they try to elude the obsessed maniac chasing them while also wanting to insure the Dark Empire cannot enter other realms to conquer.Ironically though Hawkmoon is the series hero, D'Averc provides the drollness to the plot.Fans of Michael Moorcock will appreciate the latest reprinting of the Hawkmoon saga.

Harriet Klausner

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Customer Reviews (6)

Super Reader
Moorcock notes that this is one of the only times he used a historical type of setting for a series, because he was stuck with a not so good Cornish-English dictionary, partly.

Corum Jhaelen Irsei, the Prince in the Scarlet Robe, is one of the last of the Vhadhagh, a race that is a precursor to the Mabden, or man.

The Lords of Chaos are not too pleased with Corum, as he is siding with the men, which could do bad things to their power base. You would not expect any less from The Eternal Champion, though.

Very Good
The Knight of Swords is a good book. This series is dark, but not as dark as the ELric books. Unlike the albino, Corum is able to find some peace with Rhalina. Of course, knowing Moorcock this will probably be shattered as the series goes on.

First of the CorumChronicles
This book is the first of the Swords Trilogy, part of the Chronicles of Corum, which in turn is part of the Eternal Champions cycle (Michael Moorcock is very prolific!).
The book follows the adventures of Prince Corum, who seeks vengance on those who murdered his family, and destroyed his race, the Vadagh. He finds that his quest is part of a greater struggle; between Law and Chaos, and that mortals are just the pawns of the gods. Along the way, he makes a bargain with a sorcerer, finds true love and confronts the ruler of the first five plane: The Knight of Swords.
Not bad as swords and sorceries go, but the pace is very rushed. Better than Moorcock's Sci-fi stuff though...

Fantasy at it's Best.
This book is what good fantasy is all about. Moorcock's imagination is unlimited, and he has created a huge world in which to set his characters. The depth of his writing is quite admirable.

'The Knight of the Swords' tells of Prince Corum, who is the last living member of his race. He suffers from a burning desire for vengeance on those who killed his family, and his adventures are fraught with danger and more importantly, meaning.

Moorcock is an exceptionally intelligent author, and he juggles the concepts of good and evil with ease, weaving them into a dazzling and complex tapestry. His style of writing might be seen as slightly archaic, but the story is ever-changing, and dynamic enough to capture the reader's interest and hold it.

Notice
Don't fret that this book is out of print.It is currently available, along with the other two books of The Swords Trilogy (The Queen of the Swords and The King of the Swords), in an omnibus edition published by White Wolf entitled Corum:The Coming of Chaos.This book kicks off one of the best swords-and-sorcery series ever written, with all of the imagination and literary quality fans of Michael Moorcock have come to expect.The premise is provocative, the action is exhilirating, and the descriptive excellence is unmatched anywhere.Absolutely astounding.Recommended. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Super Reader
This is Jerry Cornelius the not-Harlequin. A post apocalyptic setting, and with this you do not have much high concept music or any other artforms at all, as the title seems to suggest.

Jerry again has to reinvent himself to fit into this new lower tech society, and to deal with his antagonists, still. ... Read more

Product Description
The 14th and final volume in the classic epic fantasy sequence : The Eternal Champion Michael Moorcock's epic novels of the fantastic are classics of the genre that appeal to all ages and walks of life. From the earliest pulp novels of the 60's to the award winning MOTHER LONDON he has earned wide critical acclaim. COUNT BRASS, the concluding volume of the tale of the eternal champion, makes the fearsome journey to Tanelorn in search of resolution. Theavatar of the champion - Elric, Corum, Hawkmoon and Erekose must pool their talents in order to bring about the conjunction of the million spheres. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Why Mr Moorcock didn't leave poor Hawkmoon alone?
The Runestaff series was great, one of Moorcock's best. This "sequel" reads like bad fan fiction, with all the stigmata bad fanfiction is known for: improbable resurrections, clumsy crossover of storylines, not-so-clear-ending.
But Mike is one of those great Authors who can't leave well alone.
Read"The White Wolf's son"fora better andmore apt "Eternal Champion" conclusion

Super Reader
After Hawkmoon and company's defeat of the Dark Empire, Hawkmoon comes to realise at the start of this book that everything is changed. The multiverse is twisted, Count Brass is alive and his wife, Yisselda is not. His friends are a little worried about his state, but are willing to give him some time.

He knows something is not right, and sets out to find out what is going on.

Bottom of the Barrel
There is no writer remotely like Michael Moorcock.His work runs the gamut from hastily written junk to enjoyable if juvenile fantasy, to solid, thought provoking science fiction, to mature, beautifully written historical novels, to masterpieces of mainstream literature that have won or been nominated for Britain's most prestigious literary awards.

This volume, unfortunately, is among his worst work.It's hastily written hackwork, tossed off in a week or two, that recycles the characters from the original Hawkmoon sequence in an attempt to add an ending of sorts to the Eternal Champion stories.

I loved the Runestaff books, and it was almost an insult to see Moorcock trash his own excellent creations in this bottom-of-the-barrel set of sequels.All the characters who died in the original story are clumsily resurrected here for one lifeless go-round, mixed in with pointless interpolations from Corum, Elric, et al.Moorcock can be an excellent writer when he wants to be, and it's puzzling to find him slumming here, as if he were simply looking for a quick buck.

It's a shame that so many readers know Moorcock only from his fantasies, and thus dismiss him without even being aware of his sophisticated work.Why would a writer with his talent waste his energy on hackwork like this?Moorcock's comments on the Eternal Champion stories have generally been contemptuous; he remarked that he could do them easily and they sold well.In recent years he has returned to the series in an apparent attempt to fuse it with the sensibilities of his historical novels, perhaps to achieve some grand synthesis, but this has produced sputtering results.

I'd avoid this one and stick to the original Hawkmoon sequence.There's some really bad writing here, and a complete lack of original ideas.These may be Moorcock's worst books.

If you want to read Moorcock at his best, I'd suggest Breakfast in the Ruins, The English Assassin, The Adventures of Una Persson and Catherine Cornelius in the 20th Century, or The Warhound and the World's Pain.

And so it ends, sort of
In the interests of full disclosure, I'm reviewing not the White Wolf American edition of this omnibus, but the British edition, which as far as I know contains the same material.The White Wolf editions used to trumpet that they were "newly revised for their US publication" but I doubt there were any drastic changes in them other than fixing typos and smoothing over inconsistencies, since Moorcock basically stated in his introduction to every single book how he had to restrain himself from doing even minor story revisions because once you start it's hard to stop and he wanted to maintain the quickly written fire of youth sensibility that was in those earlier stories.That said, this is the last volume of the series and in theory closes out the sequence, by returning the focus to Hawkmoon, who we really haven't seen since book 3.In the first novel "Count Brass", we move to the aftermath of Hawkmoon's saving the world, as he wishes for all his of friends that had died during the conflict with the Black Empire were still alive . . . and finds that sometimes you can get what you want and still not be happy.The first novel's probably the best of the bunch, having the most coherent plot and the most interesting mystery, the everpresent multiverse stuff is kept in the background to some extent and doesn't seek to overwhelm everything.Dangling threads are carried over into the second novel "Champion of Garathorn" but it mostly consists of Hawkmoon becoming another Champion and saving other people on a different plane.The last novel "Quest for Tanelorn" essentially functions as a conclusion of sorts to the entire saga that spread out over the last fifteen books but Moorcock just falls back into the pseudogibberish that sometimes characterizes his more fantastic sequences and settles with bringing four champions together to save everything, which we've seen before, at least twice.The first time, it was neat, the second, entertaining, now it's just "ho-hum" because he doesn't bring anything new to the concept, they join together and smash stuff.For the record, it was nice seeing Corum and Elric one last time, and even Erekose, although he's from the first book and I don't remember him too clearly.But the novel has the hallmarks of being written quickly, or at least the story being made it as the author goes along because it all wraps up far too neatly and quickly and starts to lose sense after a bit (so who was the sword again?) and it's more of a "grand finally" than a grand finale.In his defense, however, wrapping up a saga of this scope and breadth would require a War and Peace sized novel, and Moorcock only really focuses on the fantasy-related champions, not even bringing the SF-esque ones (Jerry Cornelius, Jherek, etc), so while it feels like AN ending and wraps up the stories of Hawkmoon and Elric and Corum and Erekose, I can't really accept it as THE ending.But at least it's happy, in a way, which israre commodity with the Champions.Regardless, it's nice to finally finish this and I have to say that the publishers, American and British, should be congratulated on bringing all these stories together under one banner, cleaning them up and arranging them for new readers, I would have never been able to gather all the required stories together and the entire Eternal Champion series is essential for those looking to understand Moorcock.On a personal note, it is interesting to finally finish this, I started reading these volumes back in the mid-nineties sometime, so to finish this one and have no more to look forward, too . . . it's interesting.Still, it was time well spent and I suspect other readers feel the same.

Hawkmoon returns!
Michael Moorcock, Count Brass (Berkley, 1973)

Moorcock returns to the world of Hawkmoon and co. in the Chronicles of Castle Brass, a trilogy that might as well be called the fifth, sixth, and seventh Runestaff novels. Here, we have Hawkmoon and Yisselda, the only survivors of the battle of Londra, married for five years, and with two children. During a moment of reflection, Hawkmoon opines that he'd give anything to have his old friend Count Brass, Yisselda's father, back. The story then turns into a "be careful what you wish for" fable, as the townsfolk of Aigues-Mortes start reporting the ghostly figure of Count Brass haunting the town cemetery, swearing to kill Hawkmoon. Hawkmoon goes to meet the challenge, and when he finds Count Brass, the two of them have to figure out why the Count-twenty years younger and unable to remember any of his long association with Hawkmoon-has been sent from the grave to kill his dearest friend.

As with the rest of the series, there is much here to delight the Moorcock fan and more than enough to bring in the lover of sword and sorcery novels who hasn't yet encountered Moorcock somehow. The everpresent typos that marred the DAW editions of the first two Runestaff novels are gone, and so the reader can just let the story flow. And it does. Loads of plane-hopping fun. *** ½ ... Read more

Product Description
Out of print for nearly twenty years, Michael Moorcock's seminal study of epic fantasy, WIZARDRY & WILD ROMANCE, is once more available. Newly revised, expanded and updated by the author, this invaluable work analyzes the Fantasy genre from its earliest beginnings in Medieval romances, on through the notable practitioners like Howard, Lovecraft and Tolkien, and up to the brightest lights in the field today. Insightful and often controversial, this is a book every fantasy reader should have on their shelf. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

People who live in glass houses...
I write this as a person who has read and enjoyed many of the works Moorcock despises. I don't say that they are perfect by any means, or above criticism; they are not. I think the genre of fantasy is broad enough to accomodate many sub genres, reflecting many different tastes.

I used to enjoy reading the works of Michael Moorcock. I read Wizardry and Wild Romance when I was much younger (in a bookshop, I didn't pay for it) and I have to say, it left a bad taste in my mouth. By rubbishing many of my favourite books, I felt he was rubbishing me. I love Lord of the Rings! I love Watership Down, the Lord Peter Whimsey detective stories, and Narnia! Like I said, they ain't perfect, but what is? The works of Michael Moorcock? Hmmm, let's see...

I loved what I've read of Moorcock's early stuff, Elric, Corum, Hawkmoon, et al. It's great fun. Should be filmed one day. He then hit a point in his writing career, where I felt he was trying to be too clever, but only succeeded in being boring. This I felt was a pity, but then remembering Wizards and Wild Romance, I thought 'serves you right, you pompous lefty git.'

I still enjoy reading Moorcock, but I only buy second hand copies, so that I know that he isn't getting any of my money. That's what this book did for me!

A hard hitting critique and celebration of epic fantasy

Before getting into why this book is a must-read for anyone who likes epic fantasy, let me say something about the book's faults, which it wears on its sleeves.

First, the book has been unevenly revised over time, starting out as it did in the 1970s. This makes the book feel self-anachronizing. For example, there will be a sentence to the effect of "The finest of the most recent spate of epic fantasy novels is Bobert's trilogy: Wow (1977), Wowwer (1979) and Wowwest (1981)."Then shortly thereafter will be a reference to Harry Potter. Is this a problem? Well, if you interpret praise for an author as encouragement to read them and are wondering whether Bobert's novels have stood the test of time and are worth reading, it is.

Second, Moorcock pathologizes the popularity of books he does not like. I think it's fair game to ask why a particular author has struck a chord or found a certain audience. Moorcock, however, goes well beyond that.For instance:

>I sometimes think that as Britain declines, dreaming of a sweeter past, entertaining few hopes for a finer future, her middle-classes turn increasingly to the fantasy of a rural life and talking animals, the safety of the woods that are the pattern of the paper on the nursery room wall. Hippies, housewives, civil servants, share in this wistful trance; eating nothing as dangerous or exotic as the lotus, but chewing instead on a form of mildly anaesthetic British cabbage. If the bulk of American sf could be said to be written by robots, about robots, for robots, then the bulk of English fantasy seems to be written by rabbits, about rabbits and for rabbits.

Or to focus this venom on this favorite target: "The Lord of the Rings is a pernicious confirmation of the values of a morally bankrupt middle-class." In the introduction, Moorcock concedes that he doesn't always back up his arguments with enough evidence, so he is aware that he is sometimes overblown but that doesn't stop him.

Third, Moorcock uses long passages for samples of what he does and does not like. As brief excerpts, these don't necessarily convey what he intends and some of the effects of these authors isn't well captured in bursts. (To paraphrase a comment by Gary Wolfe, a reviewer for Locus magazine: H.P. Lovecraft in small doses seems maudlin but if you read a lot of him in one sitting, he starts getting to you.) Some of these excerpts are laughably bad and one in particular is so astonishingly good that I want to read the book it came from. But quite frankly, some of what he praises doesn't seem substantially different from what he condemns.

None of these foibles, however, keep this from being a work of the upmost importance for those who care about epic fantasy. As readers of the genre transition from being indiscriminate teenagers to more sensitive adults, they often abandon the genre, not (only) because it focuses on coming-of-age themes but because they are disgusted by how cynically inbred drivel is presented to the public for consumption under the name of `epic fantasy'. Many authors don't even have the decency to rip off Tolkien. They just rip off each other, leaving you feel like you've been had by counterfeits of imitations.

Moorcock passionately loves the genre and is profoundly impatient with the dreck produced in its name.He cares more about it than some people care for their kids. He appreciates the long history of the field -- it's hard not to agree with China Mieville's question in the introduction about when this guy had time to read of all this stuff -- and emphatically believes that the genre at its finest can say something about the human condition. He doesn't put it quite so pretentiously as that, but he does insist that there be something deeply humanistic about the literature and as such, this manifesto is inspiring and urgently needed. (That I don't see as much depth as he wants in the three novels of his I've read is a minor side point as is that he aggressively trashes some authors I really like.)

It's probably no surprise, given who the author is, that this is well-written. Even if you disagree with the rabbits quote above, you have to admit that it's got a certain flair. There is a chapter arguing for the importance of humor, and the book has its own share. In the middle of what Moorcock promises to be the only plot summary in the book, he drily notes, "Perion and Elisena have a third son, Florestan, who serves no narrative purpose save to make the story more confusing. . ." The introduction by Mieville in is also a lovely piece of short prose, a reminder that I want to check out his writings.

The one warning I should give with this is that while it is short, it's a major time-drain. Not only are you going to feel tempted to reread it, it's going to make you want to read so many other works-- and that's even before you get to the chapter entitled `Sources'. I'd read it with a notebook or Post Its handy.

The book ends with a series of reviews as a kind of update. Personally I didn't find them as interesting as the manifesto itself. They're largely summarize plots, which rarely convey a work of fantasy's power. These reviews seem like they were written in an almost distracted state and contain some spoilers.

But that doesn't matter. The big picture: if you like epic fantasy, then you should read this.

Enjoyable book
I am a huge fan of Michael Moorcock's Elric series and because of my high opinion of the author, I decided to purchase this book.I was shocked to find that he was not a big fan of some of my favorite authors.He seems to have no use for H.P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard who I enjoy reading very much.He also doesn't like Tolkien much either.He does back up his opinion with reasons that are well explained and after reading this book, I at least understood why he disliked certain works.

Bloated "intellectual" essays from a pompous windbag
In this book, Michael Moorcock, being of the breed of fantasy author who has tried so desperately to come off as a "real" writer because everyone looks at fantasy writers as juvenille hacks, discusses at length his windbag opinions about the current state of fantasy fiction as well as its past. The essays contained within this book are long-winded, pretentious rubbish that should be avoided by everyone except diehard Michael Moorcock fans. This guy has the gall to bash guys like Tolkien and Robert E.Howard, thinking he's some kind of literary genius because of his teen-fave Elric books that are supposed to be so deep and introspective but in reality are nothing more than over-worded, whiny drivel unpalatable by anyone over the age of 25. Spare us, Mr. Moorcock. The Elric books are the only half-decent thing you've ever written, and you've been riding on the fame you accrued from them ever since. Get over yourself. You're not that great a writer and a little modesty would do you a lot of good.

The Moorcock Crows - A great dawn for epic fantasy
If Michael Moorcock did not exist we would have to hire a committee of sages to invent him.But because he does exist we must hire the mob to shoot him.He is that necessary, that vital to fantasy literature as it has developed in the last century.His prose fictions suck eggs because they were so shoddily executed but he is a great myth maker - who can escape the great albino with the black sword?Combine that myth making capacity with an arch and angrily self-concious critical voice that does not quit and you have a literary personality that functions sort of like the bad concience of fantasy literature.
"Wizardry and Wild Romance" is a series of shot- gun blasts of thrills.Jeff VanderMeer's piece is school-boyish and dull but China Mieville opens the book with the buzz saw roaring and when Mister Moorcock makes his absurd but grand entrance we are in for a treat - a waspish yet sometimes indolently ecstatic praise and condemnation for some of the more serious works of epic fantasy written in history.Mister Moorcock has the voice of a school master - obnoxious, superior, lazy in its magisterial conciousness as it whacks the world of fantasy into quick form.
There are winners and losers here and the supremely confident Moorcock is not afraid to put laurels on heads (as in the case of Gene Wolfe and M. John Harrison) or cut or bludgeon those heads off (as in the case of the Inklings whom Moorcock despises).
When it comes to Tolkien Mister Moorcock is wrong but he is wrong for all the right reasons.Somehow the pseudo-Tolkien industry spawned out of the ambiguous shadow of Tolkien forces Moorcock to thrust his school masterly charm aside in favor of a left-wing radical standing up to organized oppression (which, in fact, it is) in the tradition of a Percy Bysshe Shelley tinged by a William Blake.Peculiarly fierce is his treatment of C.S. Lewis - a minor writer.Somehow Moorcock is so consumed with his rebel's hatred of sham and inauthenticity he overlooks the few beauties that make Lewis worth reading.Perhaps Mister Moorcock has Oedipal writerly rivalries with Tokien and his clan.
The book's supreme value is its knowledge of literary history pressed through Moorcock's own imaginative and critical fires - the fires of a fierce and wondrous regard for the creative imagination.
I truly hope Mister Moorcock's sharp and swift little tome changes the world.Anybody who wants to write real epic literature needs to read it many times. ... Read more

Product Description
Corum: The Coming Of Chaos presents another face of the Eternal Champion in this landmark series. The seventh volume includes The Knight of the Swords, The Queen of the Swords, and The King of the Swords. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (16)

Incredible Fantasy Novel
This is a gritty hardcore fantasy. Moorcocks best in my opinion. Corumn is of a world where Humans known as Mabden are a race of barbaric userpers who have decimated Corums people. They wound him, maim him and he asks the gods of chaos for revenge. He gets his wishes, although the chaos gods are a fickle violent bunch with agendas of their own. Everything comes at a price and Courum pays for the gifts he receives. Dark and wicked, as fantasy should be written. Get the book with all the tales of Courum in it, you will want to read more trust me.

An Eternal Champion
"The Chronicles of Corum were originally 6 books, but have been repackaged in various editions.Although less popular than the Elric books, I'd say the Corum series is equally good, perhaps better."
-- Glenn G. Thater, Author of 'Harbinger of Doom'

Moorcock is at least Tolkien's Equal
Aged fourteen, The Knight of the Swords was the first Moorcock I ever read, in fact I read it before I read Tolkien. Moorcock remains for me the only fantasy writer who can compete with Tolkien in terms of the size and detail of the world he creates. In fact if anything Moorcock's world excels Tolkien's in its scope and weirdness.

Readers of Moorcock will know of his concept of the Eternal Champion, that is that a series of heros who are all incarnations of each other and of his basic idea that the universe, or as Moorcock calls it the multiverse, is governed by the conflict between the forces of Law and Chaos. The idea being what is needed is a balance between the two.

In this group of stories the champion is Corum a member of an elf like race who face extermination at the hands of humans. The story involves Corum in a series of battles for and against an assortment of men, demons, sorcerers and gods. The stories are fast paced and as usual Moorcock has the abilty to describe a person, a city or even a God in a couple of well chosen phrases.

Remember this is fantasy do not expect any great truths about life to be explained but what you can expect is a great read from a writer who knows that fantasy writing is supposed to be fantastic.

Great read
Moorcock and Fritz Leiber have the same ironic vision which means they use language lightly to suggest rather than belabour their points and they almost never dwell too long on the emotions of their heroes, no matter how bad things get.That said there is a refreshing pace and clarity of writing to this book which, while not being one of Moorcock's finest, still gives more per page than almost anything else out there.Corum was the first of Moorcock's characters I read, so I guess I identify with him more than the gloomier Elric, and I also like this 'science fantasy' quality, which takes Corum through various incarnations of the multiverse in rapid succession as he tries to avoid the genocide planned for him by the Mabden (mankind) interlopers.As usual Moorcock defeats expectations and takes some odd twists to deliver a fine, nicely-flavored wine which is best drunk by the goblet-full and savoured when you're done with it.A soupcon of Paidraic Colum, maybe, a touch of Dunsany, perhaps, with a dash of Yeats echoing in the background, but none the worse for that.A great read for St
Patrick's Day!

All Pace, No Substance
If you haven't read Moorcock before, you will be suprised by the lack of depth to his writing. 'Corum' is no exception. Moorcock's style is amateurish, but by no means slow.

'Corum' is basically set in a Celtic, Bronze Age Europe as man is starting to dominate and destroy two elf-like races, one of which Corum is a member. Corum decides to seek vengeance, but as a result of being sidetracked, ends up going on an Odyssey-like adventure.

The pace is fast - too fast, because very rarely does Moorcock describe the setting of a location or develop the characters to any great extent, even the main character, Corum. Exposure to characters lasts only a few pages on occasion, as the odyssey is quickly into full swing again.

I don't recommend this book to anyone requiring depth or development of character, or intelligent themes, for there is no attention to detail. This book seems to be written by an inexperienced author for a teenage audience, but I don't think it has been. I think Moorcock is a very average author - even for a "light read" author. If you are looking for a light read, but with decent characters who have real motives than read David Gemmell's Drenai Saga. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Elric Fans: Enjoy!
As an long time Elric/Moorcock fan I was happy to happen upon this book.I found it very satisfying from the perspective of a fan that had read the previous Elric saga (6 books in all). It fits into the continuity of the character and world of Elric and yet takes you beyond it.If you are already an Elric fan I am sure you will enjoy it.

Best wishes and better adventures,
KC

Super Reader
In this short book Elric gets tangled up with the whole bizarre crew at the End of Time, Lord Jagged, Werther de Goethe, all those guys.

There is another Elric story where the Lords of Chaos give him a task to undertake.

The book also includes a couple of essays about Elric and others, by Moorcock, and also his Sojan stories that were written early on. Sojan being a Carter/Gordon/Kane type of interplanetary swashbuckler.

Ich - Horrible
The only reason I give it 2 stars is because it is Elric.This book was complete garbage, and this from a huge fan of the series.I liked the "Fortress of the Pearl" and "Revenge of the Rose" books that were written after the original series.This was the only book I think I ever read that I actually stopped reading it about halfway through - I simply couldn't take any more.I did try, trust me I tried...

A must-read for any true Moorcock fan!
This volume consists of several Elric short stories.The first, eponymous one, took me completely by surprise.It was an all-out spoof of the fantasy genre in general, and of Elric in particular.

Tongue planted oh-so-firmly in cheek, Moorcock spends almost 70 pages skewering his own melancholic albino prince.How can any true Elric fan resist lines like these:[To Elric] "You are very welcome here,"said Werther."I cannot tell you how glad I am to meet one as essentially morbid and self-pitying as myself!"Or Werther's first assessment of Elric: "What a marvellous scowl!What a noble sneer!"

Up until this book, I had been reading the Elric novels because they are often held up as classics of the fantasy genre, and because my brother said they were good books.But, while I (mostly) admired the writing ability displayed by Moorcock in the previous novels, I found them repetitious at times, the main character nearly always unlikable, and the situations often incomprehensible.

After having read this short story, I am ready for an all-out Moorcock assault.I plan to read some of the other "eternal champion" books, but mostly, I am determined to find Moorcock's other comedies, for which he displays an even greater ability than he does for fantasy.In the forward to this book, Moorcock states: " . . . though I do prefer my comedies to my melodramas and personally would put a greater value on books such as Gloriana, The Condition of Muzak, Byzantium Endures or The Brothel in Rosenstrasse."I can't wait for my next experience rolling-on-the-floor laughing with Michael Moorcock.

Blah!
I really expected more from this one.The only good thing about it is the really short story about Elric, not the one with him at the end of time which is just strange and really lacks a plot other than resembling a D&D dungeon crawl.The other stories are not even worth reading.Not worth a lot of money at all.Keep your eyes open in used book stores. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Super Reader
This book is also known as The Vanishing Tower/Sleeping Sorceress. Elric is not a fan of the sorcerer Theleb K'aarna. In fact he is so much not a fan he would like to introduce him to the Black Blade, in an up close, personal, and body cavity penetrating kind of manner.

He is having a lot of problems getting to him though, until he gets help from The Sleeping Sorceress.

4 of 6: Really, it's not as obtuse as it sounds.
Michael Moorcock, The Vanishing Tower (DAW, 1970)

Some wag is bound to notice the odd release dates on the DAW definitive editions of the six "classic" Elric novels and ask "what's up?" It only starts making sense when you pair the books with the events therein; Moorcock makes mention of the events in The Vanishing Tower, for example, in The Sailor on the Seas of Fate (q.v.). Those events hadn't yet taken place in Elric's time, as Elric notes in The Sailor on the Seas of Fate; however, they had already taken place in Corum's time. And so yes, it does make some semblance of sense that the definitive Vanishing Tower was released four years before the definitive Sailor on the Seas of Fate. If that sounds confusing, well, it is. Trust me when I tell you that Moorock makes the whole thing as clear as possible. And it does make sense, in the greater scheme of the story.

The Vanishing Tower is where the divergent pieces of Elric's saga are weaved into a single tale; the saga of Elric's dealings with Melnibonë, his homeland, related in books one and three, and the saga of his journeys through the Young Kingdoms (as Melnibonëans call the rest of the world), related in book two, come together in book four.

Elric and his surviving countrymen are stateless wanderers, mercenaries hated and feared by those in the Young Kingdoms whom they dominated for ten thousand years. Elric is apart from the others (a rogue mercenary band led by Elric's childhood friend, Dyvim Tvar); he and his companion Moonglum are occupied by their own problems, most of the time. One of those problems is the desire if the rest of the surviving Melnibonëans to see Elric's head on a spear. But aside from that, Elric's patron deity, Arioch, is becoming more and more loath to help Elric, his actorios ring, his last link to the ancient dynasty of Melnibonë, has been stolen by the king of Nadsokor, city of beggars, and Elric, unused to life as a regular wanderer, has no concept of fiduciary responsibility. (That one tends to be a minor worry, as Moonglum is quite an accomplished thief, and there are no lack of people willing to employ the most powerful sorceror on the planet as a mercenary.) All of these factors weave in and out of the fourth book in the novel, coupled with all the usual strengths and weaknesses of Moorcock's writing in this series, culminating in Elric finally getting to the tower of the title and discovering yet another piece of his fate. It is here that Moorcock throws the series' most intriguing twist into play, but to mention the nature of that twist would be quite the spoiler; you'll just have to read the series for yourself. ****

Doom-driven albino and new hatred, love and mysticism
This fourth novel of the Elric saga is epic in every sense of the way. One reviewer claims that it was bad. He gave as example that it was unlogical that Theleb K'aarna didn't kill Elric when his sword was flying to him. But this was because Theleb K'aarna wants to torture Elric for months on end and does not want to grant a quick dead to the albino.
In this fourth novel we follow the milkwhite albino on his quest to take revenge upon Theleb K'aarna, with Moonglum as his companion.
Again driven by hatred he hunts down the Pang Tangian sorcerer Theleb K'aarna. But also driven by love, love for Myshella, Empress of the Dawn. And driven by the black runeblade, Stormbringer, by his side.
Moorcock continues to write in his typical style, like only the master himself can do it. With beautiful discriptions luring around every verbal corner, and the action which is never far away. We find in "The Vanishing Tower" no seemingly endless discriptions like in the Tolkien books. With always new intrigue and hazards to overcome, which shows us that Moorcock's mind must've been full of incredible ideas. He guides us through the psychological maze of Elric's mind. Though the Prince of ruïned Meliniboné is an anti-hero, he is limitlessly fascinating too me, because his character is so paradoxally.Moorcock tells us how Elric sees the first pieces of the puzzle, which is his doomed destiny, being laid.

just awesome
1 main guy is sorcerer
2 main guy has soul-eating sword
3 main guy worships the knight of the swords, the 3rd most powerful chaos lord/demon
4 main guy is from long line of tall-elf creatures
5 brit logic even when arguing with demons
6 demons are locked into weapons
7 multiverse 1million "spheres" conjunction, this is one plane
8 main guy one of the "eternal champoins" serving the "cosmic balance"
9 "D&D" action
10 3 incarnations of the eternal champoin meet at once!

11 Law v Chaos!
12 (...)
13 closest thing to Robert E. Hoard the British have produced.

Deeper and deeper!
I have been rereading the Elric series in chronological order since I read The Dreamthief's Daughter this year.What is extraordinary is that there is no 'thinning' of the series over the years.In fact all the additional books serve to deepen and strengthen the saga, drawing it to its extraordinary, strongly mythic ending.It is the nearest thing to a mythological cycle that I know and makes almost all other fantasy series seem like children's fairy stories.Either Michael Moorcock himself or that other consummate fantasy writer M. John Harrison said that for readers who use fantasy fiction only as escapism Elric is a
'failed escape plan' and it is worth warning those who like the usual crop of 'fat fantasy' sequences that Moorcock's imagination does not lead him or you away from reality.He has a habit of confronting you with it unexpectedly and that is most clearly seen in the latest Dreamthief's Daughter.But it is here, too.Those who expect Elric to behave like the average fantasy hero
(all of whom owe something to Moorcock anyway, including McAffrey's dragons and bits of Star Wars, even -- this guy was
publishing before Lord of the Rings appeared!) will probably hate this stuff.Those of us who like to escape AND think -- to have the fun of the fantasy with the contemplative quality of literary fiction -- love it to death.And death is a subject Moorcock doesn't avoid.'He uses fiction as the divining rod of his age's concerns' said Peter Ackroyd (I think).You get full strength fiction with Moorcock.If you like watery chainstore latte to a good honest cup of java, then you probably won't like Elric. ... Read more

Product Description
Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion returns in the form of Michael Kane, a brilliant Earthman stranded on the treacherous deserts of Ancient Mars!In this sweeping, epic sword-and-planet adventure in the tradition of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Kane and his blue giant companion Hool Haji must travel to the far reaches of the Red Planet to halt the hideous Green Death, an unstoppable disease that rots the mind as well as the body. From gorgeous Karnala, City of Green Mists, to the empty streets of tainted Cend-Amrid to the forgotten weird-science laboratories of the lost, highly advanced Yaksha culture, Masters of the Pit promises stunning locales, disgusting Martian creatures, and relentless action from the Nebula and World Fantasy Award-winning creator of Elric of Melnibone! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Jhaeman's Review
Michael Moorcock's Masters of the Pit is the third and final book featuring modern-day American Michael Kane traveling to ancient Mars. It's very much in line with the first two books in the series, and by this point the cardboard nature of the characters and repetitive action scenes start to become quite noticeable. The plot is somewhat original, as a plague has affected a distant city in a strange way: its inhabitants decide to dehumanize themselves by acting as mechanically and unemotionless as possible. Kane, along with his reliable blue giant friend Hool Haji, sets off to find a cure by rummaging the abandoned technology of an ancient culture. It's all a competent but not particularly memorable mix of sword-and-sorcery fantasy with a little sci-fi. Keep a close eye fun in Chapter One, as Moorcock uses thinly-disguised character and location names to attack Analog magazine and some of the big names in the field.

Solid beginning, wordy ending
This is the final volume in the Kane trilogy, originally known as "Barbarians of Mars".And written by "Edward P Bradbury", too, but its unlikely you have the novel already sitting on your shelf under that name.But I digress.Masters of the Pit is, once again, Michael Kane telling a tall story - or rather a series of them - involving swords, science and a Mars that was old when the Earth was young.

Our Hero is this time seeking out ancient machines to cure a deadly plague, and fights bearded barbarians, dog-men, weird demonic flying men, and sea monsters (in pretty much that order).Once again Hool Haji is at his side.For the first two-thirds of the book it is indistinguishable from the previous volumes of the trilogy, with "boys own" battles and feats of strength and skill.In the last part of the book Moorcock lost what little interest he had in the tale, however, and it drifts off into wordy philosophy only hinted at previously, about the dangers of religion, anarchism, corporatism and probably a number of things I overlooked.You can probably interpret what is there in whatever way you wish - it's a bit of self-help for the 60's.To an extent, this clashes with what has come before so that the book is probably the least satisfying of the Kane of Old Mars trilogy, which is a little disappointing.Despite the epilogue, no more tales of Kane were written: these three short books are all there are.

Super Reader
Better than the middle book, and a little longer. Kane has perfected his Martian matter transmitter, so can travel at will. Something he is pleased about.

Some primitive species has opened a biological weapon that the ancient alien super race has left behind. This is turning people into monomaniacal half-zombie types, and eventually killing them.

Many adventures happen to try and solve this, with an amusing twist at the end.

Much of it accompanied by his friend Hool Hadj.

Oh, and a few jokes thrown in, in passing through a certain area, some of the geographical features are S'sdla, Nosirrah and Golana, not to mention Modnaf.

Not that I would have ever used this technique to name places in a game, or anything! :)

Early Moorcock Doesn't Impress
Written under a pen-name, this grade-C adventure SF takes place on Mars.It feels like a by-the-numbers imitation of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Mars books-- though you may be amused by his references to other authors (their names are spelled backwards) in the first ten pages.Moorcock has written dozens of books worth reading-- this is at the bottom of the heap.

THIS IS A BOOK BY MICHAEL MOORCOCK AND NOT "NORMAN"
Originally published under the pen-name of Edward P. Bradbury as Barbarians of Mars.Now called Masters of the Pit.
"The green-death started in Cend-Amrid, turning that once-lovely city into a plague spot, source of a deadly infection that swept Mars and turned men into mindless automatons.And Michael Kane had to find the cure-or perish along with the rest of the adopted planet he loved!" ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

A great read
I highly enjoyed this book, the dark and gothic theme created a great anti-hero in my opinion.It took a bit of time to get into the "setting" of the book, but once I did I was able to immerse myself in the story and thoroughly enjoy it.

An Elric novel written by Authors who grew up reading Elric
I have read every Elric novel. I own 500 kilos of fantasy paperbacks. This book brought me as much joy, inspiration and satisfaction as any book I have ever read. Elric was the first "evil" hero. Every fantasywriter has taken a peice of elric to produce their characters. DriztDo'urden is a shadow of Elric. Raistlen is almost an exact copy of Elric.Darth vader's sinister life, dependence on technology/sorcery and eventualnoble self sacrifice are in mimicry of Elric. In this book so many authorswho wanted to write Elric stories, some who had made great fame and fortunecopying Moorcock, were given licence to write as they pleased. Every shortstory in the book is its authors best work because as they write abouttheir own dark heros in their own novels they are thinking about Elric. Myhighest praise: I want a sequel.. or two... or ten... a series publishedmonthly untill I am old and grey.

Skin tingling ,edge of your seat, can`t put it down, tragedy
Elric, last Prince of Melnibone.Elric makes you feel that your right there with him and drawing the from the dreaded runsword Stormbringer, all his pain,sorrow,grief you feel it all.This pale,weak being could be anyof us, and yet it`s his weakness that gives him the strainth to weld suchenormus power and to control the uncontrolable.Elric will make you cry,make you feel that you could defeat the Lords of Chaos your self andforever will you bare some of his burden.Your life will never be thesame, the way you look at things such as the ocean will change and you`llcatch yourself try to summon the water element himself.For such a beingto exist in your mind alone is enough.

Elric: A creation of a new genre
Elric of Melnibone' represents a departure from the era of Tarzan and Conan, giving people a dark prince for a protagonist. This book helps put together a group of stories written for the first time by other authors andshow how dynamic Michael Moorcock's Elric really is.

Elric is number 1 in my book.
This is the first of the Elric saga Ive read.I found it most exhilirating.The dark antihero and his struggle for his humanity is almost sorrowful.His sword is legendary amonst who has lived to tell about it.Not many have though.Elric is an outcast among his people.It is one of the best books I have read in a long time. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (25)

STORMBRINGER . . . THE SENTIENT SWORD
Of all the swords in fantasy, none is perhaps so infamous as STORMBRINGER.
Here is a sword that moans and cries as it slays those around it . . . whether they be friend or foe of the wielder.
Here is a sword that feeds on souls and gives evil energy to its possessor.
Here is a sword that puts Excalibur to shame.

But just as vital to this concluding chapter of the Elric saga is ELRIC himself, the anti-hero, a red-eyed albino who needs either drugs or the sword Stormbringer to supply his frail frame with energy.
In tow are other characters that have long played a part in the Elric saga:
Zarozinia, the wife of Elric.
Moonglum, Elric's red-haired, Eastern sidekick.
Rackhir the Red Archer, one of Elric's party.

From the opening lines of the prologue--arguably one of the best--one knows they're in for a treat. With STORMBRINGER, Michael Moorcock shows the world how to properly end an epic saga. Not with a fizz, but with an explosion of creativity and action.

The book is divided into four individual "Books", but unlike previous books in the Elric Saga, these books have more cohesion between them, where the following "book" starts off closer to where the previous "book" left off.

Book One, titled "Dead God's Homecoming", focuses on Elric's attempt to rescue his wife by bargaining with a god.

Book Two, "Black Sword's Brother's", focuses on Mournblade, the twin of the sword Stormbringer, and in which something is learned about Arioch, Elric's occasional helper.

Book Three, "Sad Giant's Shield", is where the action starts to get really intense, as Elric and company fight a naval battle and seek a legendary shield to aid them in their increasingly desperate endeavor.

Book Four, "Doomed Lord's Passing", brings the Elric Saga to its predictable, but fitting, ending.

In addition to some great action scenes, there are some very thoughtful passages about the balance of Law and Chaos and their role in the world. These are themes that I wish more fantasy authors would give attention to.

For those who are curious what a real Stormbringer sword would look like, Raven Armoury makes Michael Moorcock-approved editions of the blade.

Whether you call yourself merely a reader of fantasy or are a writer of fantasy, STORMBRINGER is one of many books that I would consider prerequisite to being well-versed in the fantasy genre.

Awesome!
Mainly just a comment here, but I was searching Moorcocks books and saw this original old DAW cover. I bought the whole series in the 70s, a matching set with these original paintings. Glad to see it here.

As for anyone familiar with the brilliant Elric saga knows this was the largest book of the series [at the time] and the (without ruining things) the "Horn of Fate".

It is hard to compare authors and their styles. But I have to say, the whole Elric ride was and is a 1,000 times more fun than anything you'll read in Tolkein (aka the Holy fantasy author) and yes I enjoy Tolkein. But Moorcock's books are just MORE FUN to read. Wickedly filled with all sorts of complex characters with depth. This is no Hobbit skipping around singing series, it is pure anti-heroism at it's best. You'll chear and cry for Elric...

Enjoy!

fast and near mint!
very good quality of book and service
it's not the same cover as the one in the picture but it doesn't matter much (that's qhy its' not five stars)

Homoerotic ANALogies!
This has got to be one of the most disturbing books I have ever read.Ever thing revolves around Elric and his "sword."The author is obviously coming out of the closet through his character.Moonglum even has a PURSE for crying out loud.Here are some quotes from the book that prove this is nothing more than homoerotic smut:

The boat reeled and rocked, their hands were sore from the tightness of their grip on wood...

They mounted the magical steeds, which had helped Elric more than once...

Moonglum found himself engaging three warriors and discovered his sword seemed extraordinarily light...And the heavier swords could not force down so easily.

Moonglum stood with his arms by his side...He struggled to control the blade..."Let it do it's work Elric>"

You can find homosexual references on EVERY SINGLE PAGE of this book.

Elric and Moonglum are obviously gay buddies who like to play with each others swords.

Super Reader
Stormbringer is the end of this Elric cycle. Many times Elric has struggled with his symbiotic relationship with the powerful demonsword Stormbringer. It gives him energy, but has caused him to destroy those close to him, earning him the sobriquets Kinslayer and Womanslayer, at times.

He finally faces the Dukes of Hell, again, and must summon all his creativity, and dig deep into the last of his bag of tricks, not the least of which are the Dragons of Melnibone.

This is the end for this Eternal Champion, as he faces his final destiny, and his place in the multiverse. ... Read more

Product Description
- Aspect published the previous novel in the series, The Skrayling Tree, in hardcover (0-446-53104-9) in 2003 and in mass market (0-446-61340-1) in 7/04. The prior novel. The Dreamthief's Daughter (Aspect hardcover, 2001, 0-446-52618-5; mass market, 2002, 0-446-61120-4) received praise from the Washington Post, Denver Post, and Locus, where it was featured on the 2001 Recommended Reading list. - Aspect reissued Moorcock's classic Gloriana, or the Unfulfill'd Queen in trade paperback in 8/04. Gloriana won Moorcock the World Fantasy Award, the John W. Campbell Award, and the British Fantasy Award. - Moorcock's Elric the Eternal Champion saga has been optioned by Universal Pictures, with Chris and Paul Weitz (American Pie) producing. - Michael Moorcock is a vanguard author, editor, journalist, critic, and rock musician, who is editor of the controversial magazine New Worlds. A member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame, Moorcock has won the Guardian Fiction Prize, the Nebula Award, the World Fantasy Award, and the British Fantasy Award, among others. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (14)

More Elric!!
Michael Moorecock continues the saga of the Albino Prince and the multiverse. An excellent read!!

Moorcock in fine fiddle
For readers familiar author Moorecock's writings this novel will be greatly appreciated as a continuation of a story cycle that has been expanding for almost half a century. For readers new to Moorcock it could be a very confusing book since the author introduces characters and themes from many of his other "Eternal Champion" story cycles.

I have 26 titles by this author on my shelves but it has been many years since I have read one of his books. The White Wolf's Son clearly assured this reader that Mr. Moorcock is still in top form and a pleasure to read.

This story concerns a precocious young lady, Oonagh von Bek, who unwillingly finds herself to be the focus of a nefarious plot to upset the Cosmic Balance. It seems she is related to the Dreamthieft and villains von Minct and his evil sidekick Kolsterheim believe that her virgin blood in conjunction with other mystical icons are the key to achieving their goal.

As Onnagh is perused across the "Multiverse" on the moonbeam roads she is befriended by an extraordinary Moorcock character, Lord Renyard, a dandified wolf wearing a monocle, caring a cane with a fondness for books.

Aside from the attention grabbing plot the author's unique ability to describe "other worldliness", innocent female charm, and vile scoundrels made this book a page-turner for this reader. I also relished the "steam-punk" technology descriptions - what a hoot!

Naturally we have references and guest appearances from many characters from previous books in the Moorcock "Eternal Champion" cycle. After many years it was a pleasure to be reacquainted.

ok, but not as good as his other works
I liken this much more to the "chronicles of narnia" style and not at all what I expected of mm.I really enjoy most of his eternal hero books and in particular his Elric ones that have a dark, almost anti-hero aspect to them.This is not that, it has things like talking houses and talking foxes in it.This does not make it bad, just not what you would expect from Moorcock

The grand (or not-so-grand) conclusion?
Maturity is often a good thing.Certainly, Michael Moorcock's The White Wolf's Son is a more mature form of writing than his early Elric books, but I am not positive that this makes it a better book.In fact, the generally more sophisticated writing may actually hurt The White Wolf's Son as much as it helps it.

The novel is actually the concluding book in a trilogy of books about Ulric von Bek and his family.More than that, however it is a culmination of Moorcock's many Eternal Champion books, and plenty of other Champion incarnations either appear (including Hawkmoon, Erekose and Oswald Bastable) or are at least mentioned (Corum).Much of this book is narrated by von Bek's twelve year old granddaughter Oonagh who is the apparent target of some truly nasty forces led by Gaynor the Damned and Klosterheim.Why they want her is initially unclear, but they mean her no good.

An earthquake sends Oonagh into another world, with both allies and enemies pursuing her.Of her allies, the most notable are the thief-fox Renyard and Oonagh's grandmother, Oona.There is also Oona's father, Monsieur Zodiac, also known as Elric.

As Moorcock fans are aware, the story of Elric came to an absolute end in the novel Stormbringer, yet Moorcock is able to keep bringing his most famous hero back by adjusting the continuity of earlier books.Elric either goes on little side trips, or, as in this case, he is off on a dream quest, able to live a physical life outside of his real body.

The plot of The White Wolf's Son is complicated and a bit muddled.Moorcock's Eternal Champion saga is very complex (and not always entirely consistent), which makes it very difficult to truly be contained in a single novel.Furthermore, there is not a lot of action, especially compared to Moorcock's earlier work.The result is a book that is interesting but sometimes a bit of a chore (it lacks the fast-paced fun of the early works).Also, as with many writers, Moorcock has trouble writing child characters realistically; they come off as just little adults.

While I have read most of Moorcock's books (especially his Eternal Champion books), there have been many I haven't read for a couple decades.Perhaps a reader who has the other stories fresher in his or her mind may appreciate this novel more.As it is, I can only mildly recommend this book, and even then, only for Moorcock fans; if you have not read Moorcock, this is not the one to start with.

A new ending
This book is a kind of a third ending of the Champion saga (the first two ones were The Quest for Tanelorn and Dragon in the Sword), with Erekose appearing again (although playing a very smallpart in the story, but without it, the novel wouldn't correspond to the whole Saga). Also this book lets us know something about the pre-history of John Daker, and the pre-history of his wife. I think it may be recommended to the readers who don't like the 3rd John Daker novel (i.e., Dragon in the Sword), because it differs from that one very much, portraying quite another Mr. Daker to us.
The book is written not in the usual Moorcock manner, it has a much simpler language, so if you have been sometimes embarrassed by Moorcock's style (those long words of Latin origin which are not easy to understand), this book may seem easier to read for you. As for me, I'm longing for the good old manner in which theclassical Elric stories have been written. ... Read more

Product Description
Returning to the Dreaming City, the mad albino warrior Elric hears the tortured voice of his dead father amid the catacombs of his ancestors, and must battle the forces of hell with the help of a special woman. Reprint. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Super Reader
This is another Elric book that was published around 1990, quite a time after the the others, and after The Fortress of the Pearl.

Elri must locate the soul of his father, to enable him to stop his doomed wandering. At least, according to a dragon, anyway. With him will be the female warrior Rose. As is often the case, agents of Chaos, and the Duke Arioch will stand in their way.

The true motivations of the Rose will decide Elric's actions.

It just didn't seem the same
Elric has always been my favorite of the Champions.This book just didn't seem the same as the earlier ones, though.Of course, I've changed a lot since then, too.This one seemed overly contemplative, and Elric was too conveniently whisked through the multiverse to keep the plot together.Also lacking in action, and the final battle seemed a formality.

My favorite Elric so far
I'm currently reading _Stormbringer_ so I can't say anything about that book but this is my favorite Elric book out of the other 7.It's not as pulpy because it was written as a novel, not as short episodes for a magazine and the gypsy caravan was absolutely ingenious.Rose was cool too.

Questions answered and new questions posed
I really didn't have as much of a problem with the "talky" format of this book. After all, Elric tends to be a pretty contemplative guy. It filled in some background for me on Elric and his father,Sadric,which was welcome. Although we hear about Sadric in other books this is, asfar as I know having read everything, but the Fortress of Pearl, the onlytime we see him in action. This book also provided some background on howMelnibone came to be what it was, as well as clarifying where its citizensmay have come from. I liked seeing a female character, the Rose, who isquite capable of taking care of herself, who aside from Myshella Emporessof the Dawn and maybe Queen Yishana, tend to be absent from the otherbooks. I'd like to see more stories in the future covering her otheradventures.I love Wheldrake,as well, perhaps because I am a writer myself,albeit a definite amateur. He asked some of the questions I would ask andmade some of the comments I would make, if I were able to talk to Elric. Ialso related to his poetic ramblings, being prone to them myself, and otheraspects of his personality.I actually like the narrative style of thisbook better than the style of the earlier books, it seemed richer somehow.I would recommend reading it, but only if you've read at least the firstfew books, just to get an idea of the nature of Stormbringer, which isElric's sword, the concept of the multiverse, and who, or what Elric'spatron is and the relationship of the rulers of Melnibone to chaos. Chronologically, although not in order of publication, Revenge of the Rosefollows book 4: Bane of the Black Sword.

As a further note, there is amistake in the Kirkus review. The agent of chaos is named Gaynor theDamned, not Charion. Charion is a clairvoyant whom Elric and his companionsmeet in the Gypsy Nation.

Okay, but better be a hardcore Elric fan.
This book--being a Moorcock work--I felt would surely be well-written but, alas, it largely was not the case.A lot of the action is glossed over, much like the "Yada, yada, yada" episode of "Seinfeld"so that left me wanting at several potentially interesting and excitingpoints.The tense shifts that irked Kirkus didn't bother me so much as theclear lacking of the book's drive.A lot of poetry was espoused but not tomuch effect.There was a lot of insinuations as to Sotrmbringer's powerand purpose and that helped, I guess, to shed some light on the sword'strue motives, etc.But, in all, this book lacked the clear energy of theearlier books--and I can't help but wonder why that is so?Is Moorcockgetting old and can't fight the urge to ramble on like a senileseptuagenarian?I hope not.

Buy this book if you are a true Elric fan,otherwise content yourself with the first six books. (I haven't read"The Fortress of the Pearl" so I can't comment on that one.) ... Read more

Product Description
With Hitler on the march, Count Ulric von Bek has been imprisoned by the Nazis until he agrees to relinquish the black sword he inherited from his family. Half dead, he is rescued from Sachsen-hausen concentration camp by a mysterious Englishman and a lovely young woman named Oona. Journeying with them to a strange underground world, he meets a figure known to him only in dreamsElric of Melnibon, the wandering Prince of Ruins. Somehow the same person, yet separate, their very beings fuse spectacularly. Now the never-ending struggle between Law and Chaos must be fought in both their universes. Michael Moorcocks multi-book Elric saga comprises one of the most intricate and beloved series in all fantasy. The original novel, Elric of Melnibon (1972), has sold hundreds of thousands of copies. Numerous follow-up novels are available in mass market, trade paperback, and omnibus hardcover editions, but there has been no new Elric novel since The Revenge of the Rose (Ace Books, 1991). Michael Moorcocks more than 80 worksincluding the Nebula Award-winning novella Behold the Manhave also won the Guardian Fiction Prize, the World Fantasy Award, and the British Fantasy Award, among others. Moorcock was also the editor of New Worlds magazine, one of the seminal publications of the New Wave of science fiction writing. This is the first of three Elric novels that Moorcock will be writing for Aspect, with the following two appearing in 2002 and 2003.Amazon.com Review
In the elaborate fictional cosmos Michael Moorcock has created, Elric and the various vonBeks are all aspects of the Eternal Champion who fights forthe Balance, preventing both Law and Chaos from dominating the universe andtrapping it in either barren sterility or pointless fecundity. Elric, thealbino sorcerer and last prince of the inhuman empire of Melnibone, was thecreation of Moorcock's adventurous pot-boiling inventive youth, just as thevonBek family featured in the heroic fantasies of his more thoughtfulmiddle-life.

In The Dreamthief's Daughter, he brings together Elric and UlricvonBek, last scion of the family, and we finally learn the sin for whichthe perpetual villain Gaynor the Damned was doomed: Nazi occultists are searching for the Grail and the Black Sword and must be prevented from attaining them. Ulric seeks allies wherever he can find them, including Oona, who wanders through dream realities and with whom he falls in love. This is fast-movingphantasmagorical stuff with ambiguously virtuous heroes and baddies whose villainy and charm is total. Moorcock's immensely powerfulvisual imagination and sense of the innate drama of crucial scenes makethis a breathtaking read. --Roz Kaveney, Amazon.co.uk ... Read more

Customer Reviews (31)

Super Reader
The Dreamthief's daughter is a sort of parallel Elric story of sorts. However, it is based around Von Bek. This time, Count Ulrich Von Bek of nazi Germany.

Von Bek has a sword called Ravenbrand, which, in another life, is Elric's Stormbringer. The nazis are aware of its power, and the resistance brings it to Von Bek's attention, beginning a conflict between Von Bek and his nazi relative, with appearances by Elric and other versions and parts of the Eternal Champion saga.

Another battle for the multiverse begins.

Once upon a time, Moorcock was a decent Sword & Sorcery writer
ONCE UPON A TIME, Moorcock, a FANTASY writer (despite his pretentions) who created a character called Elric (his claim to fame), wrote some pretty entertaining stories about an albino prince (which was more or less a sensitive, middle-class man's reaction to Robert E. Howard's great macho superhero, Conan). Unfortunately, like many other authors,the fame went straight to his head and he became a pompous intellectual type whose years have since been devoted to leftist soapboxing and tearing apart some of the great writers of fantasy fiction. Spare us, Mike, and go back to what you were best at: writing enjoyable escapist fiction. Your political views are completely molded from a life spent living the soft, pampered lifestyle of a middle-class Englishman and I'd rather not be subjected to your myopic philosophies and political opinions while reading an Elric book. Actually, wait a minute. As a matter of fact, I guess I don't have to be subjected to your blather at all. Indeed, I shall never read another one of your silly books again after slogging through this one (the last straw, it was) -- at least anything older than your original Elric series.

PS: Funny that as much as you hate Howard and Tolkien they'll always be remembered more than you.

From a Moorcock Fan: Mike's Abysmal Worst EVER
Nevermind patron demons of Law and Chaos, this book clearly proves that Michael Moorcock's muse has abandoned him completely, transmuting our yarn spinner into a sermonizer. How many more Elric stories must we endure in which he's whisked away to another dimension? (At least this time we haven't been slapped with the usual automatic amnesia for the albino at the finish.) All in all, this book is the Wizard of Oz hung with multiverse musings. And war is bad musings.
If Elric is Moorcock's best character, vonBek has become his worst. A navel-gazer of the first division with a propensity for inaction, vonBek narrates most of the story to the reader's detriment.
Boring, boring, boring.
If you want to maintain your respect and affection for Moorcock, just pretend this one was never written.

Elric defeats Hitler
Once upon a time their was an author named Michael Moorcock, and he wrote short fantasy novels, and they were good. Then he got famous, stopped writing novels and became a philosopher, thinking many deep thoughts such as "war is dumb because people should be nice to each other because was is stupid"

In 2001, he decided to write a new novel. As with his previous novels, the main character is an albino with a soul stealing sword. Unlike his previous novels, it is really long (460 pages), no good people get hurt (despite three major battles), there's little action, tons of dialog (all of it variations on "why can't we all get along"), Elric cries alot and everyone lives happily ever after, right down to a beautiful wedding and five happy children.

The plot is simple. Chaos and Law fight across the multiverse but that war will soon end because the entire multiverse is going to be destroyed. Everything hinges on a single day in 1940 when Hitler's luftwaffe bomb England. In order to save all existence, Elric teleports to Germany, summons some dragons and leads them into battle against the Luftwaffe. In the meantime, Hitler, with the help of one of Satan's devils, uses the Holy Grail to summon Arioch

i learned many things in this book. First, all Germans are sweet, peace-loving people who wouldn't hurt a fly. Only Hitler was bad. Second, Hitler was a tiny, scared, incompetent little child who couldn't conqueor a playground much less Europe. Every win he had was due to pure luck. Third, Hess asked Elric if he could join his side. Fourth, many British people thought Elric was actually king Aurthur. Fifth, Stormbringer, the sword with a will of its own, is a noble sword that refuses to hurt innocent people. Sixth, Arioch likes to write poems about farting.

Although the book is long and covers three major battles, there is very little action. That's because roughly 400 of the 460 pages are dedicated to the main character saying over and over "Hitler is bad, WW2 wasn't Germany's fault, Britian sure is a great country, let's all be nice". He doesn't describe how Hitler is bad, he simply asserts it over and over. Some action happens, but it is over in a few pages, followed by dozens of pages of "don't people understand that war never solves anything?". The book is extremely light on descriptions and very heavy on monologues. For example, a demon who once served Satan but left when "Satan proved insufficiently committed to the cause of evil" (pg 386) is about to sacrifice Elric's daughter when Elric bursts in, Stormbringer covered in Nazi blood. So the demon, being only human (apparently demons are human), shoots Elric with a .38 caliber pistol. Elric then pretty much dies but snaps out of it thanks to the Holy Grail. That whole sequence is described in probably 5 paragraphs. The rest is spent thinking about how war is bad.

Once upon a time, Moorcock wrote interesting books. Now it appears he has contracted syphillis and gone insane.

Brilliant development
I was amazed by this book.Somehow Mr Moorcock has managed to create another Elric book which comes close to having the power of what is indisputably the best of the series, Stormbringer.Unlike the previous reviewer, I found it fresh and exciting and a deepening and broadening of the Elric mythos.While the 'underground' sequences are slower than the rest of the book, I felt that this was deliberate, recreating the kind of 'classic' effect you find in writers like E.R.Eddison or even the great Professor Tolkien who is Mr Moorcock's only equal.Other reviewers have described the plot very thoroughly and anything I added would be a spoiler.But I would recommend this novel one hundred percent.Not only has Mr Moorcock lost none of his old magic, he has added to and made deeper what has gone before.Highly recommended to new and old Moorcock fans! ... Read more

Product Description
Nine by Nine and Three by Three In search of her kidnapped husband, Oona von Bek and the mammoth-riding shaman White Crow must cross Hiawatha's lands of legend to a fabled golden city... We all Seek Looking for the creators of the black sword Stormbringer, Elric of Melnibone journeys to Vinland, where he encounters fierce pygmies in need of an ally... The Skrayling Tree Faced with the task of saving all existence, Count Ulric von Bek must protect a golden city from demons and berserkers. Now three heroes must follow their own fateful paths through space and time-only to meet in a moment of terrible tragedy that may destroy them...and the Multiverse itself. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (16)

Super Reader
A novel in three parts, after Ulric Von Bek is taken from his wife Oona in the night. The first part follows Oona in her trek to find him, as she encounters Hiawatha, and the White Crow, a man very similar to herself and her father Elric. She thinks to herself "I was a player in the Eternal Struggle fought between Law and Chaos and, as a "Knight of the Balance," was dedicated to maintaining the two forces in harmony.

This is what this novel is about, defending the balance of the multiverse from those inclined to destroy it. Elric has the second part, as he comes across Gunnar the Damned, or Gaynor, just as Oona encounters Klosterheim in the first part.

The third is Von Bek's story, as he regains a black blade, and meets Lord Sepiriz, one of the creators of the blades of power.

The three unite and rally against Gaynor, Klosterheim, and Lord Shoashooan the Wind Demon, to defend the Phroon and the Skrayling Tree at the heart of the Multiverse. Black blades sing in desperate confrontation as the White Crow, Von Bek and Elric, having fooled Gunnar, all combining to prevent disaster.

As a side note, here's a fun bit Moorcock through in: "Fear the Crisis Maker..." "In some eras,..the sword and the intellect must be as one. Those are our Silver Ages. That is how we create those periods we call Golden Ages, when the sword can be forgotten,..."

Real fantasyI love it......
It was my first book from M.Moorcock. Now I allready ordered few more books from M.Moorcock.
I am fantasies reader so that is my now favour autor.
My partner is not in fantasy but he is now reading this book also..few times he put away book with comment:this in not my type of book.
He is back to reading .....Why? Mast be some magic in it.....

Moorcock Does It Again
I enjoyed this in many ways more than most of Moorcock's fantasy novels of the eighties and nineties and it's a fine sequel to The Dreamthief's Daughter.My only thought is that maybe Moorcock is leaving the majority of his potential audience behind.With his sixties fantasy novels from the early Elric novels, through to Hawkmoon, he was blazing a trail which would be followed by almost as many writers as followed Tolkien's.Hawkmoon remains one of the fastest, most original science fantasy series ever, but everything was stripped down for narrative.These latest Elrics are more contemplative, with a higher ambition in the prose, setting goals aimed at beating his personal best.But if you want that fast and furious plot-driven work of his early days, which so many still imitate, you won't get it.Probably nothing beats Stormbringer for intensity but The Dreamthief's Daughter, The Skrayling Tree and The White Wolf's Son come closest to recreating the atmosphere of that outstanding classic.The trouble as I see it is that the whole supernatural fantasy form has been seriously dumbed down since the days of Clark Ashton Smith, Lord Dunsany, Jack Vance,Fritz Leiber and only writers like M.John Harrison, Steve Erikson and China Mieville have kept the ambitions, complexity and subtlety Moorcock brought to the field.None of these writers have the sales of the likes of Robert Jordan or the Tolkien imitators and this is a great shame, indicating a general dumbing down and probably lower age group of readers. There was a time when Moorcock set the standard and inspired the best writers in the business.He still inspires the best, but sadly, as you can tell from some of these reviews, he has to share shelf-space with a form which for the most part has become corrupted and predictable.This book is worth reading just for the description of Hiawatha's meeting with Longfellow!He's still one of the few fantasy adventure writers I still look forward to reading. It's a shame he's announced he's retiring from writing adventure fantasy fiction.Nobody is capable of developing a story on this sort of scale.

Splendid Fantasy from Michael Moorcock
I must admit that I haven't read nearly as much of Michael Moorcock's fiction as I probably should, since he's been among the foremost practitioners of science fiction, and especially, fanatasy, in the Anglo-American realm of science fiction and fantasy for decades. Each time I have read one of his works, I have been quite impressed with his beautifully wrought lyrical prose and the compelling ideas introduced in each tale. The same holds true in his current "Multiverse" novel, "The Skrayling Tree", which chronicles the adventures of Oona van Bek, her husband Ulric, and her father Elric of Melnibone, in a fantastical America of nearly 1,000 years in the past. There they will meet up with the legendary Hiawatha, whose role in the tale is as pivotal as that of Gandalf's in Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" saga. There is a splendid fusion of Norse, Western European and American Indian mythology and history present throughout this novel. My only minor complaint is that Moorcock occasionally stumbles by writing stilted prose in some of his descriptions of the "Multiverse" and its relevance to the main characters. But this is only a minor complaint of yet another fine novel by an unquestioned master of his craft. I found it so engrossing that it was impossible to put down.

Mature Moorcock
Mike just gets better and better.The themes of the mulitverse, law and chaos and the philosophies there in are wonderfully laid inside the dialog of this fast paced adventure.Set in three voices, Elric's Daughter, Elric and Von Bek, the novel crosses times and space in America to its breathless end.

Hear Hear for Michael Moorcock and his evolution from the pulp comic type writing of the first Elric Books to what he is publishing today. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

The Fortress of the Pearl
Reading The Fortress of the Pearl after Elric of Melnibone is a bit of a downer. The Fortress of the Pearl had no character development, and no events that pertain to the grand scheme of things. It's a mediocre adventure and is not redeemed by the characters. Elric is brooding and sycophantic, prim and proper. One second he is sucking up to someone, the next minute he is threatening to kill everyone. The main part of the novel is made up of the dream world where the pearl is located which is mostly metaphysical, and not very exciting. The only good thing about the novel is that it is short and simple, otherwise I would have never finished it. I hope the rest of the series is as good as the first novel was, and not like The Fortress of the Pearl. Big disappointment.

Average at best
I admire Elric, what can be seen in my review of the first book of this series, but reading "Fortress of Pearl" fails to show what is it exactly that I admire. Now, this may sound egocentric too much, but I'm writing this as my personal experience of this book, not as an objective account into the ways of the text or its narrative. It is perfectly plausible, and in a way expected, that someone else will find here what I did not, but that's the beauty of reading, and once again it shows how text can lead independent life, away from its author and away from its reader.

"Fortress of Pearl" is second book in the series, that is if we follow inside chronology of story itself. From perspective of publishers, it came out during the eighties, over a decade since first book, and after some other Elric stories has been written. Elric is still trying to find a way back to his homeland, trying to free his damsel in distress, and trying to learn as much as possible about the world out there, showing his famous sacriligious trait (at least in the eyes of his fellow countrymen). This search will lead him to yet another adventure, to place that is deeply similar to Melniboné, place which has been building it's own illusions of grandeur over spans of the centuries, place without any significant power but yet occupied with power struggle and plot-weaving to comical extent. All of this is Elric as it has been, it is both critique of sword and sorcery genre, and critique of similar practices of outside world. But Elric will not delve in this place for too long, his destiny of a hero calls him and bides him to a quest, to dream travel in search of a mysterious pearl which becomes symbol of power to warring parties of the new land. And this is where genre kicks in. From this point onward we could raplace Elric with Conan without loosin anything. There are battles, there is magic, there are mysterious and powerfull charactersand there are enemies who must be overcomed. And in that jumble, it seems that Moorcock forgot what was the Elric all about. There is no more subversion, there are no tongue-in-cheek comments on genre paradigms, all that is left is mere adventure, going from place A to place B, and doing stuff in between.

Problem is that in that aspect Elric doesn't shine, it's average at best. Comapred to other genre novels it's almost predictable and unimaginative. It still has that uniqe feeling of things that aren't as they're supposed to be, but that that hardly be excuse for anything now. One could think that in years of writing Elric adventures Moorcock would evolve into better author, if not storyteller, but it seems to me that he did exactly opposite of that. "Fortress of Pearl" resembles things that Elric was running from, and in a way it can be looked upon as going back to mother womb. Is this retreat something from which Moorcock and Elric will emerge reborn it remains to be seen (people who read ahead should already know an answer). I can only recommend this Elric-adventure to those people who learned to like Elric and it's peculiar ways. To any other, this may seem pointless at best.

One of Moorcock's Finest
While Michael Moorcock has written scores of novels over the years, only in the past decade has his work met with approval outside of fantasy and sci-fi circles. While this recognition is belated to say the least, it has to be admitted that Moorcock's talents have continued to blossom as time has gone by. While "The Fortress of the Pearl" is in the heroic fantasy genre, it seems, much like the Von Bek series, to be a transitional work as Moorcock drifted from fantasy and sci-fi to his current literary works. As such, the book contains an excellent plot revealed by some of Moorcock's best writing.

Unlike some of the other books in the Elric series, "The Fortress of the Pearl" is a full novel, not a collection of short stories thrown together as a book. This does not pose a problem for Moorcock who is able to balance the story while offering great depth to some of his usual archtypes (the Eternal Champion, the Companion, etc). The story takes place between the first and second books of the Elric saga and Moorcock still seems to find new facets of his flagship character to explore and reveal. It's also one of the funnier and more through provoking books in the Elric series and, unlike some of his earlier works, Moorcock provides an excellent supporting cast to his main character. Any Moorcock fan and most lovers of heroic fantasy will enjoy "The Fortress of the Pearl" though those readers who are familiar with the other Elric books may take more out of it than others.

Super Reader
This novel was published in the late eighties, but comes in around second, chronologically.

Elric is in trouble, and when he arrives at the mysterious city of Quarzhasaat he is easily convinced to undergo a quest in return for aid.

He must find the Pearl at the Heart of the World. It ain't that easy though, as it is in a fortress. But Elric is still Elric, and having recovered his strength, he still has Stormbringer along with his other talents.

One of my favorite Elric Books
Takes place back in time before Stormbringer killed a loved one.I would read it after the first or second Elric book personally.Elric's father's shade is introduced, and it also should be read before The Dreamthief's Daughter.I really need to reread the other books before making a judgement, but would probably rate this as my 3rd favorite Elric book.I like Moorcock's books because I can get thru them quickly, yet they are still magnificent works that are different than 90% of the fantasy out there.I like his writing style better than about every other fantasy/science fiction author except maybe George R.R. Martin.But I don't get that soap opera pull from Moorcock; I can leave his books for a while and know they will always be there when I need a new adventure to escape into. While Tolkien appeals to a wide range of readers, most Moorcock works wouldn't appeal to religious folk, or anyone who doesn't like reading about death.While Elric constantly tries to save humanity in his own way, his sustenance comes to him by sacrificing souls to his patron Duke of Hell - Arioch. ... Read more

Product Description
Kinslayer. Soul reaver. Sorcerer. Thief. And last emperor of a cruel, decadent race. Elric of Melniboné is all of these–and more. His life is sustained by drugs and magic–and energy sucked from the victims of his vampiric black sword, Stormbringer, a weapon feared by men and gods alike. Denied the oblivion he seeks, poised between a tragic past he cannot escape and a terrifying future he is doomed to bring about, Elric is a hero like no other.

Del Rey is proud to present the fifth installment in its definitive collection featuring the immortal creation of Michael Moorcock, named Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. Highlights include an epic novel of Elric’s early years, The Fortress of the Pearl; the script of the graphic novel Elric: The Making of a Sorcerer; a previously unpublished proposal for a new series; and Hugo Award—winning author Neil Gaiman’s moving fictional tribute to Elric, the short story “One Life, Furnished in Early Moorcock.”

Gorgeously illustrated by Michael Wm. Kaluta, Elric: In the Dream Realms is a dream come true for sword-and-sorcery fans. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Favorite Fantasy Character
This is a Must Buy. I Love fantasy, Elric is by far my favorite. I cannot get enough of it!!

Elric: In the Dream Realms
//Elric in the Dream Realms// is the fifth volume in the Chronicles of the Last Emperor of Melniboné, a complet(ish) collection of Michael Moorcock's writings centered around his iconic and most famous character, Elric the albino and last sorcerer-emperor of Melniboné.The Elric stories were considered revolutionary when they were first released in the 1960s, but their relevance today is questionable.The genre has progressed considerably since the 70's and 80's.I believe that the dark pulp fantasy of Moorcock, wonderfully expressed in the Elric saga, influenced many of today's most famous fantasy authors.Moorcock's writing though and his creation, Elric, are beginning to wear a little thin these days, worse this volume is padded with various poor black & white reproductions of bold book covers and comics that do the original colored art no justice.Further padding is provided by the new cover for the just released Elric book in Taiwan, where the character is just being introduced.These extras are interesting to the ardent Moorcock fan but meaningless to the average reader who picks this book off the shelf.Mr. Moorcock and his publisher need to work harder putting the author's work in the appropriate context if they want new readers.

Reviewed by Jonathon Howard

The novel above is half of Elric In the Dream Realms and it is one of his greatest early tales
"Fortress Of The Pearl".Lord Gho Fhaazi wants a position on the Council of Seven that rules over the city of Quarzhasaat, but he knows he needs help to overcome his rivals.He chooses Prince Elric of Melnibone as his tool to obtain the Pearl at the Heart of the World that will insure his spot on the council.To insure Elric cooperates, he poisons him using a slow acting agent in which he has the serum.Elric begins his escapades as the affluent class' minion the Sorcerer Adventurers try to prevent his success and eventually trap his mind inside that of a comatose teenage female, but with the Dreamthief to guide him through the Dream Realm, Elric continues his quest.

The novel above is half of Elric In the Dream Realms and it is one of his greatest early tales and makes the book worth reading.The short story "A Portrait in Ivory" is terrific also as the albino hero is confronted by his worst enemy, the mirror reminding him he should be known as Elric Kinslayer filled with remorse for Cymoril more so than Imrryr.The other entries like "Elric: The Making of a Graphic Novel", the essay "Aspects of Fantasy", and the background material of "Earl Aubec of Malodor", etc. target die hard fans of Michael Moorcock only.Overall the fifth Chronicles of the last Emperor of Melnibone is an engaging look at Elric In The Dream realms.

Harriet Klausner
... Read more

Product Description
Jerry Cornelius – English assassin, physicist, rock star, messiah to the Age of Science – is one of fantastic literature’s greatest creations. Acclaimed by Moorcock’s readers, critics, and peers from Mick Jagger to J. G. Ballard, Cornelius is the ultimate postmodern antihero, more Borgesian than Asimovian. Three of the stories in this collection are here anthologized for the first time: "The Spencer Inheritance," which enmeshes Jerry with Princess Di; "Cheering for the Rockets," involving an attack on a Sudanese pharmaceutical plant; and "Firing the Cathedral," a novella based on 9/11 and its aftermath. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Hilarious Alternate History Featuring Jerry Cornelius From Michael Moorcock
Michael Moorcock turns out some of the best-realized short fiction in years in this collected analogy devoted to his time-tripping, homicidal genius hero Jerry Cornelius. "The Lives and Times of Jerry Cornelius: Stories of the Comic Apocalypse" is an excellent introduction to Moorcock's enduring character, even if you haven't read the four novels comprising the "Cornelius Quartet". Surprisingly, Moorcock's fine literary quality remains consistently quite good throughout, especially with his latest stories, which are hysterically funny alternate history takes on the Princess Diana phenomenon and the aftermath of the 9/11/01 terrorist attacks on the United States. Indeed, these latest stories merely prove just how enduring a creation Jerry Cornelius has been for both Moorcock and highly literate science fiction.

Poorly Written Story, Interesting But Wasted Potential
Let me start out by saying that I am a huge fan of Mr. Moorcocks, going back to his Elric of Melinbone days.Unfortunately I have discovered evidence of Mr. Moorcocks weaker writing abilities.These short, scattered, stream of consciousness stories, held together by newspaper and magazine clippings are not worthy of Mr. Moorcock.
You have a music loving, switch hitting, physicist, poet, assassin, who tries to keep the world from slipping into the abyss through his sexual encounters, blackmail, murder, assasination, self mutilation, voodoo as well as math.
Its hard to describe this mess, except that as it gets closer and closer to the 2005 published dates it gets darker, meaner, more nonsensical and basically it sadly turns into an low brow anti american tirade on how we have ruined the world at all levels.If it had been well done with a clear focus, it may have been worth reading but it seems that Mr. Moorcock must have been on some happy herbs when he started the project back in the 1960's and he has kept that stash all these years for each chronological update of this character.Said herbs, which he dipped back into with each later addition when he sunk his pen in the ink well for this character, did not age well.
I was so stoked to read this when I picked it up and I am so glad I did not buy the "Quartet" as well as this since is so poorly written and ill conceived.An interesting character that could have been a modern Elric but is instead a flat concept from start to finish.

More detached? More amoral?
Seems best to have read the "Cornelius Quartet" first. The novels provide a good introduction to Jerry as well as other characters who appear in these stories: his brother Frank, sister Catherine, Miss Brunner, Bishop Beesley, Una Persson, Major Nye, Professor Hira,...

These short stories focus on commentary by Jerry and company against a backdrop of world events:

"I'm not interested in being right. I'm interested in what happens."

"This is the age of the lowest common denominator. I blame America."

Jerry here seemed more detached, more amoral than in the novels. Some of his coolness slipping into coldness. Perhaps because the world he protects himself against has become harsher. Moorcock's writing is at least as good as in the Quartet. It took some adjustment going from the novels to the short stories. Instead of going into Jerry's world, as the novels did, these short stories take Jerry into the world. Jerry's escape and our escape are over.

Toward the end of this first reading, I began to let go of my expectations based on the Quartet and accept the short story format. I'm looking forward to a second, fresh reading.

Moorcock Still the Coolest
Jerry Cornelius, a product of sixties hip when Moorcock's name never seemed to be out of the papers, died, was resurrected and died again, certainly in terms of his fashionability.Now here he is with a bunch of the best of his earliest adventures coupled with a quartet of his best new ones, dealing with Clinton's foreign policy, Lady Diana's death-cult, Middle Eastern Politics and, in what is probably the best story in the book, events around the catastrophe of 9/11.And, to this reader's surprise at least, he seems even more relevant today than he did when he first hit the pages of New Worlds, that magazine of early post-modernist senisbility, some forty years ago.Moorcock's fingers were definitely on the pulse of our times and this collection proves it.Elegant, fast and sardonic, these are tales that are, like Scott Fitzgerald's,
distinctly of their time and yet retain a universality lacking in most other contemporary fiction.This is the best value on the literary market.As he proves in his McSweeney's Mammoth
Treasury story, Moorcock is also provides great entertainment while making us think a lot deeper than, for instance, the Matrix's rabbit hole.Totally recommended!

Ur-rebel in bell bottoms
Jerry C. is a Mod gone mad: he is the ultimate manifestation of English 60's style. So anti-cool he's completely cool, so immoral he teaches by anti-example -- got that? -- as when he cheerfully kills a young boy who seems to be the earthly manifestation of the Buddha...shocking when he first appeared, even now he retains his appeal. In fact, in the post-James Bond era of Austin Powers, Jerry is more intriguing than ever...and Moorcock is simply one of the most important writers of fantasy, or writers period, up there with Harlan Ellison, Ursula K. LeGuin, and Doris Lessing. ... Read more