Customer Reviews (5)

Very Good Eternal Champion Volume
Continues the story of the story of the aspect of the Eternal Champion known as John Daker/Erekose that started in the books The Eternal Champion and Phoenix in Obsidian.His only desire is to be reunited with his lost love, Ermizhad, but instead he is pulled into the dimension of the Six Realms, where he meets Ulrich Von Bek who has escaped from the Nazis on Earth into this realm.The Six Realms are an area where six different worlds inhabited by very different cultures and races come together through a number of interdimensional gates. Daker soon learns of a plot by the forces of Chaos to conquer all the realms and knows that it is his mission as the Eternal Champion to stop that from happening.

This is one of the better examples of Moorcock's fantasy adventure style. The different realms have creative, if fairly limited, cultures, and the depiction of Hell is interesting.It is nothing groundbreaking, but is a solid conclusion to the Erekose sequence.

Super Reader
John Daker is Erekose is The Eternal Champion, again. After all the heroics and adventuring through countless lifetimes and incarnations he is weary, and just wants to get back to his Eldren princess Ermizhad and lead the quiet life.

Something nags at him, in his mind, a name, another Eternal Champion, but he doesn't know that name. A mystery that will not let him rest and retire fromt he cycle of the Eternal Champion.

This book does not dissappoint.
If you are looking for a great fantasy story with an abundance of action, The Dragon in the Sword surely will not disappoint you.If you like stories of soldiers desperately searching for their lost loves, this book is for you also.If you are a Michael Moorcock fan and enjoy his Elric saga, then this book is sure to deliver.
After being introduced to the very first in the series of these Elric books, I instantly became a fan not only of the epic Elric saga, but also of the author himself.His style of writing includes sentences that are thoroughly descriptive so no detail is left out.I have enjoyed Mr. Moorcock's books ever since that first one and this book is no exception.
The story is loaded with action from the very beginning as The Eternal Champions, as he is now called, recalls his past adventures with splendid detail.He recalls all of his past forms, their relationships, and their adventures.He is still Elric, but at the same time he isn't.He keeps reincarnating and taking on different identities.Some of the names he has been called along with Elric are Erekose, Urlik, and his present name, John Daker.He wishes to be Erekose again because that is who he was when he found his true love, Ermizhad, but lost her and searches for her endlessly while he also fights against chaos.
The action continues as John Daker tells of his travels on a dark ship whose captain is blind.This ship doesn't sail as normal ships sail, rather it sails between realms of the universe.While on this ship, Daker's dreams of women who chant pleas to release a dragon begin.He also dreams of a soldier in black and yellow who tells him what lies ahead, but speaks in mysteries and riddles that the Eternal Champion must figure out.He doesn't realize that his next incarnation will lead him to these very same women who plead with him in his dreams.
These women are of the Eldren race and are known as the "ghost women" because of their white armor.John comes to meet these women at what is called "The Massing" when all of the different races from a certain realm of the universe come together.They are said to be cannibalistic women who buy their partners to reproduce and then eat them.He first meets them at a marketplace where they are buying one of these "mates."
Before the massing though, Daker finds out his new identity, although he does not know what he is to be called.He winds up on a beach and finds Count Ulrich von Bek.Von Bek was in a concentration camp for speaking out against the Nazis and escaped with help from some friends.He then planned to kill Hitler but failed and escaped to this new realm called the Maaschanheem.
The action again picks up as these two run into some trouble on there way to civilization.Some bounty hunters attack the men but are defeated.Then the Baron Captain of this city picks up the two men and offers them a place to stay.The two stay with the Baron Captain until the massing, when everyone finds out the Eternal Champion's new identity.He is Prince Flamadin, who is said to have tried to kill his twin sister, Princess Sharadim.The Baron Captain now hates and tries to kill Flamadin.This is when the ghost women rescue him and tell him the truth.
The ghost women are at a marketplace buying men.But these men are not for food; rather they are banished noblemen from Princess Sharadim's land.They are telling the women the truth about the whole thing.Sharadim wanted to kill Flamadin for not wanting to share power.
The book goes on to show how the Eternal Champion battles against Sharadim and her evil army and to free the dragon from the evil sword.What is best about this book is that it almost gives a sense of completeness to the saga.I would greatly recommend this book to anybody who likes fantasy, especially fans of Michael Moorcock and the Elric saga.

Best of the three John Daker stories
Read this book after you've read "Eternal Champion" and "the Silver Warriors."Together, they tell the "whole" story of the common mortal, John Daker, who just happens to be the Eternal Champion.

The only other Moorcock books I've read so far are the Elric books, and I found these three books much better than any of those.If all you have ever read of Moorcock is Elric, I highly recommend these books.And if you love fantasy, but find much of what is written about elves and dwarves, etc., a bit childish, here is fantasy an adult can sink her/his teeth into.

In this book, John Daker, in the guise of Prince Flamadin, must save not just one world, but six entire worlds from destruction by Chaos.There's a great tie-in to the von Bek books, with Ulrich von Bek becoming Prince Flamadin's companion through most of the novel.The plot is satisfyingly complex, and the creatures Flamadin and his companions meet along the way are fascinating.

This book does some nice fleshing out of the concepts of the multiverse and the beings who can travel freely between universes, as well as the best explanation I've read yet of the true nature of the Eternal Champion.There is even somewhat of a "resolution" to the fate of the Eternal Champion.

But all is not philosophy and exposition.This book also has lots of great battles, swordplay, strange modes of travel through wormhole-like pathways, and lots of bad guys to be vanquished, including an appearance by Hitler.

The book actually does a good job of tying up many loose ends and gave me the satisfying feeling of completion that makes the best trilogies work.The tale has been told, you are sad to see your favorite characters go off into the sunset, yet you feel somehow that all is now right with the world and it couldn't have ended any other way.

Although, with Moorcock, there are, of course, other endings to this saga . . .

Erekose in Waterworld
My all time favorite book by Michael Moorcock, this installment of the Eternal Champion series features John Daker/Erekose and begins with him being drawn out of his previous existence into another plane where the polar ice caps have melted and the planet is flooded (as in the movie waterworld, but very dark because the sun is also close to it's death). John Daker is thrust into this world with no sword or sheild, but still well aware of the misdeeds he committed in previous existances. The story has a decidedly dark and confused tone as our hero struggles to figure out who summoned him into this existance,and why. As with all Moorcock, the writing is intriguing and only in the final chapter will you tie all of the storie's threads together. If you are a fan of the John Daker saga this book is a must have (it's listed as Being the "Third and Final Story in the History of John Daker, the Eternal Champion"). If when you read this review this book is still unavailable, I urge you to find a used book store. ... Read more

Product Description
Born in the Ukraine, Jewish antisemite and bisexual, Pyat, careered through three decades like a runaway train. Now the quartet is complete: Pyat keeps his appointment with the age’s worst nightmare, becoming intimate with top Fascists and Nazis, and embracing their politics, until he too is swallowed up. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

A masterpiece
Truly an amazing finish to an amazing quartet. Finishing off a story, especially one as deeply involved as the Pyat Quartet, is a difficult and sticky thing for an author.How many books or series have you read where the ending is somehow unsatisfying or anticlimatic? Well, not this one. Moorcook holds the final epitome of Pyat's self-deception to the very end.

The series itself is so well-written and researched that it truly boggles the mind.I'll give one example for those who have read this final book. Do you remember Pyat's secert weapon that he was developing for Mussolini? Well, during my reading of 'Rome' I got interested in Mussolini so I checked out a Biography video on him at the library.During the video they say that Mussolini always maintained he had a secret weapon, but no one ever found out what it was.It was probably a lie, but Moorcock worked that little fact of history into this fictional life story that spanned the 20th century.

Btw, these books are easy to get from Amazon UK and still only cost $3 in shipping to the US.

Michael Moorcock's masterpiece!
I have been following Maxim Arturovich Pyat's adventures for a decade now, and with this final chapter I am saddened to see him go. However, knowing Moorcock, Pyat's eventual death in 1977 could well be chronicled in a future volume (I hope so, I miss him already!) Maxim's incredible meeting with Adolf Hitler is only sweetened further when viewed after the final family reunion at the novel's end. (I won't spoil it for you) As much as I enjoy Elric, Corum, Count Brass and other characters, I believe Pyat to be Moorcock's ticket to literary immortality! A great finish to a great fictional wartime memoir!!

The final betrayal
This is the final volume of the Pyat sequence which began with Byzantium Endures, continued through The Laughter of Carthage and Jerusalem Commands, and presents Maxim Arturovitch Pyat, trickster, self-deceiver, anti-semitic Jew and friend of fascism.This has had great reviews in the London Times, The Times Literary Supplement and, by all accounts, the rest of the UK papers.I got mine in Toronto and so far, if you're a US resident, you can only buy the new editions via Amazon.The TLS compared the sequence with Balzac's Human Comedy. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

so bad it hurts
This is really a bad book ..., I wonder if someone ghost wrote it.It is flat boring and depresing.There is no fun.horrible.I...Moorcock can be the #1 writer of sword n sorcery when he's on, ....

.... Moorcock usually get me into his writing when describing the baddies and their plots.There is too much simplicity in thsi eries and it is too quickly ended....

Continue to follow the adventures of John Daker
This novel picks up where "The Eternal Champion"left off.Erekose (a.k.a. John Daker) has finally found happiness with his true love Ermizhad . . . but for how long?

Of course, soon he is swept away to another part of the multiverse to save the day as the eternal champion named Count Urlik Skarsol. The story adds noteable details to the multiverse concept, the nature of the eternal champion, and his nemesis/ally, the black sword.

Also, the book is a good, fast read with great images and nice studies of the supporting characters.

good...but not as good as Elric.
First and foremost let it be known to those rabid fans out there that I haven't read much beyond this book and the Elric series.All I can really say as such is that enigma reigns supreme in a book I thought would be farmore enlightening as to the state of the multiverse.I guess I have toread the White Wolf paperbacks.I enjoyed the book in and of itself onlyas much as I would enjoy a toss off read.(Maybe I need to read it again.) It seemed to lack some of the awesome philosophical insights that socleverly haunted the better parts of the Elric Saga.I should refer to itbest as a preview of things to come as I'm sure that's what I'll see it asupon reading the further adventures of John Daker/Erekose in the WWpaperbacks.

The book that started it all for me.
I first read this book when I was in 8th grade. The book was given to me by a friend and i loved it. that was 13 years ago and i've read it twice since and many other books from Michael Moorcock and i've enjoyed them all. if you have a chance to read this one i'm sure you'd enjoy it and the rest like it including the Elric series and others. ... Read more

Product Description
Jacket by Gould, color frontispiece by Maitz, black & white interior art by the various artists. A gorgeous production, signed by all contributors. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

from the publisher (Pandora's Books, not Borgo Press)
This is the most significant bibliography of the works of Michael Moorcock, covering his output through 1979.Throughout a series of incredibly intertwined novels, stories, articles, etc., he has carried the concept of parallel universes to its most elaborate form to date, as the Eternal Champion appears under different names, in different planes and realities, but always with the same fate.As well as listing his books, it also lists Moorcock's work in comic books and strips, editorials, films, letters, manuscripts, music, posters, portfolios, artbooks, reviews, and war games.There are also sections on the fiction and non-fiction which he influenced.

A Modern Melville
Michael Moorcock is one of the most promiscuous writers in 20th century literature, as even a cursory examination of this bulging bibliography shows - and he has put another 20 years of output under his belt since its publication.Science fiction was not considered to be the cream of the literary crop when he started his work, but he began to erect a towering literary edifice despite that.He initially found the writing life to be very, very hard, as his first two books completely stiffed.This was a terrible blow, but things started coming to a head in the early 1950's when he authored two seminal novels.After that the books just kept coming and coming.This excellent bibliography chronicles each of these creative climaxes, while sucking the reader in with an explosive flow of biographical notes, including some intriguing asides about the author's relationship with his brothers Harold and Richard.His fascination with the works of Melville is also chronicled extensively.Exhaustive as it is, a bibliography by definition can only prick the surface of its subject, and the reader is encouraged plunge into the primary sources on his own.Those heeding this call will have a ball.

The prodigious output chronicled in this bibliography can best be understood in the context of American society under Eisenhower.Back then, one dated little unless there was some promise of marriage in the end, and young ladies invariably took on the names of their gentlemen when they wed.These two cruel facts no doubt left Moorcock with a great deal of time on his hands when the other young bucks were courting the local damsels.He and society have since grown up however, so one expects that he no longer has to tolerate oafish wits making infantile cracks about his surname. ... Read more

Product Description
Jerry Cornelius is an English assassin, physicist, rock star, and messiah to the Age of Science. Written between 1965 and 1967, this sequence of four novels relating Cornelius’s adventures has been credited with inspiring dozens of writers and artists to rethink the genre of science fiction. Acclaimed British author Michael Moorcock’s time-tripping antihero is one of the great achievements in modern fantastic literature. This is the first U.S. publication of one of the most influential sagas in postmodern sci-fi. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (22)

perfect
It's exactly what I wanted in perfect condition and it arrived before Christmas - something not too easy, and I had even been warned that it could arrive after the holidays. I would have been fine with that, but like this it's much better!

Thanks

disappointing
I did not finish reading the first book in this compilation or any further, I did not wish to waste any more time on what seemed to be books written mostly for shock value in the '60's.I would give this zero stars if I could.However, most of Moorcock's other work is fantastic fantasy that is quite enjoyable.

Eternal Champion a-Go-Go
Between the EC's earliest incarnations as Corum, Urlich or Elric of Melnibone, and the final, totally insane finished product dancing with the Iron Orchid at the end of time, Jerry Cornelius reveals the most contemporary, most adolescent facet of the same, singular character. That character seems to be, to all observers of social evolution, a Mod; some product of the nineteen-sixties between Beatnicks and Hippies, although the scene is undeniably post-apocalyptic. Mad Max in Londontown sums it up pretty well.

Anemia and albinism take many guises, different and unique from one timeslip to the next throughout the multiverse - which, by the way, is not a Moorcock invention, but goes back to Heinlein's works from the late fifties and early sixties. Moorcock uses the concept of the Multiverse better than anyone else since Heinlein, though, and pays the Grand Master further homage in tiny, needlegun-like ways. The only other similarity between the two that I will mention is that Heinlein was nearly pure sci-fi, with only "Glory Road" being wholly sword-and-sorcery unto itself; The Cornelius Chronicles do the reverse for Moorcock, taking the sword-and-sorcery of the EC deeper into pure sci-fi than many S&S fans are able to delve. I digress; whether or not Una Person is the Iron 0rchid or the Honorable Jaggedd is Mick Jagger, Jerry is most certainly both Elrik and the Demented Carnelian.

Any more-than-casual reader of Moorcock can tell you that there will be an Eternal Champion until the end of time. That's what "eternal" means. Duh! The earliest kingdoms of pre-humanity knew him; the decadant remnants of civilization will know him; and somewhere in the middle, in the not-too-distant-future, where the best of sci-fi lives, and closest to our own epoch than any other of the EC's accounts penned by Moorcock, there is Jerry Conrelius.

A little imagination helps
So if a little imagination helps, consider what it's like when your imagination is unreined. No reason to let a little reality stand in your way. And when the forms are constrained, it only somehow heightens the free play. Reinvention of self has rarely gone so far. Jerry's or yours.

Moorcock wrote about these stories: "Part of my original intention with the Jerry Cornelius stories was to 'liberate' the narrative; to leave it open to the reader's interpretation as much as possible - to involve the reader in such a way as to bring their own imagination into play."

These chronicles are among my favorite literary works. Each is a different literary experiment. Transform the mundane, don't let it run you down. How cool can you be? How important can you be? How intriguing can the folks you hang out with? Only Jerry seems to know. Let him show the way. Profound? Well, it's at least great, incredibly well-written fun.

Read "Dancers at the End of Time" if you want to see how well Moorcock can construct a "traditional" story. But if you want to see Moorcock's talent unleashed, give The Cornelius Quartet a try.

Moorcock's fabulous sf
This is Moorcock's most ambitious work. Certainly his most honest. There are a million and one experiments in literature here, not all of which come off. But according to Schopenhauer the errors of geniuses are worth a hundred truths of lesser mortals. (Or something like that.) The fact that Moorcock provides the most visceral experiences in the sort of fabulous sf universe his brain inhabits means that even when he's mistaken his point is well taken. (For a similar world, see Zelazny's stuff.) The characters of this book will live forever. Even though he's not a household word like Tolkien or Rowling he certainly will be some day. Keep your chin up Mike, the zombies will get the point eventually. ... Read more

Product Description
Containing "The Bull and the Spear", "The Oak and the Ram" and "The Sword and the Stallion", this is one of the Millennium Uniform Editions of Moorcock's work, omnibus volumes with revised texts and new introductions. Each volume is full of adventure as the characters wrestle with fate. ... Read more

Product Description
Elric of Melniboné is the haunted, treacherous and doomed albino sorcerer-prince. An introspective weakling in thrall to his black-bladed, soul-eating sword, Stormbringer, he is yet a hero whose bloody adventures and wanderings through brooding, desolate lands leads inexorably to his decisive intervention in the war between the forces of Law and Chaos. This volume brings together The Stealer of Souls and Stormbringer, the first two published books of Elric’s adventures, and confirms Michael Moorcock’s place as one of the most important fantasy writers of our time. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A masterpiece of Fantasy Fiction.
A brilliant piece if Fantasy Fiction by Moorcock. Elric is by far one of the best characters ever written in any genre, his dark broody presence fills each page and with his Chaos filled sword Stormbringer brings countless mayhem to all he meets. All of Moorcock's novels follow a similar line, a war against Chaos and light, good and evil, sometimes this can be monotonous but with Elric it really works. His writing style is great, you can really get a scene not only for each different character but for each backdrop, whether is be the ancient woods or the city of Karlaak. For me this is how you can tell the difference between a good author and a great one and Moorcock is definitely the latter.

Erlic has hired mercenary war bands to raid his old city and to gain revenge on his cousin for taking the Ruby Throne and putting the women he loves into an endless sleep. After the battle is won and his home city is burning and blood running down it's streets Erlic heads back into the world in search of knowledge and plunder. He meets friends and from there they go from one place to another causing death and mayhem, but Elric senses doom coming over the horizon. Will he and his friends survive? Only the cursed sword Stormbringer can decide.

If you're a lover of Fantasy then this and Moorcock's work are a must, they truly are a classic worth reading. ... Read more

Product Description

Michael Moorcock, returns with the story of the times and trials of Dennis Dover, former rock guitarist, photojournalist, paparazzo, and loyal denizen of Mother London, and his brilliant, beautiful, and socially conscious cousin, Rosie Beck. Since childhood they have been inseparable, delighting in the daily discoveries of a life with no limits. But now a powerful, unstoppable force that consumes the past indiscriminately, leaving nothing of substance in its wake, threatens the metropolis that nurtured them.

The terminator is named John Barbican Begg. A hanger-on from Denny and Rosie's youth, he has become the morally corrupt center of their London, and the richest, most rapacious creature in the Western Hemisphere, with but one goal: to devour the entire world. And their only choices left are to join in, drop out ... or plot to destroy him.

Customer Reviews (11)

Not Free SF Reader
Moorcock here has written a book about late twentieth century London.It also a of a commentary on the political and media power structures of the time, as a rocker type guy seems to have uncovered evidence that a ridiculously wealthy industrialist named Begg is actually alive, and still plotting.

This leads to wanderings around the world to try and do something about it.

A great modern novel
I read this at the same time as I read Don DeLillo's wonderful Cosmopolis which is the 'cool' approach to the same material.
This is an angry, eloquent, all-encompassing book dealing with modern greed and lack of spirituality, our obsession with vulgar fame and money.DeLillo's book concentrates on a relatively small canvas -- one day in New York in the year 2000.
Moorcock starts in London and goes to Paris, New York, Rwanda,
Bosnia and back again.These two books are two different 'takes' on the same modern problems.They are both hugely entertaining, beautifully written, with a keen ear for modern speech.Read them together as I did.You won't regret it!

Outstanding and very relevant to our times
One of Moorcock's finest realistic novels. This book has a strange structure, which gradually reveals why the central character, Danny Dover, is in the situation he's in,
then takes him to embattled Europe (Kosovo specifically) and the book's conclusion, which might or might not be a happy ending.
On the way you learn about his life as a rock and roll guitarist, a photo-journalist and, finally, a cynical paparazzo. He loves the go-getting Rose and has a rival in the equally ambitious Johnny 'Barbican' Begg.
This threesome offers typical Moorcock dynamic.But there are dozens of other great characters.I particularly liked the chain-smoking French giant journo Fromental, who goes with him to Rwanda. The set pieces are great, as you would expect from the Moorcock of Mother London, Byzantium Endures and, of course, The Condition of Muzak.

As a character Danny is most like a 'realistic' Jerry Cornelius (though the book's described significantly as 'a fable') and the concerns are closer to the JC stories, with direct confrontations with modern social problems and politics.Moorcock's understanding of modern politicians, like Clinton or Blair, is wonderful, as is his writing.This is some of the most powerful writing he's ever done -- an incredibly sustained roll of words and ideas, like a great, prolonged rock performance.His descriptions of the rock and roll life have the feel of autobiography, as does much of the Notting Hill material.Where he dealt with real places in Mother London, he here invents or resurrects London backgrounds, such as the Mill at Tufnell Park,
the thieve's sanctuary in Seven Dials and a whole Londondistrict, Brookgate,sandwiched between Holborn and Clerkenwell.
Dickensian? Yes.Sentimental?No.The resolution offers a happy ending much in the manner of Condition of Muzak -- ironic, sardonic, hopeful.Moorcock likes his fellow human beings, even some of the worst of them, though he rarely sees them as anything but what they are.The scenes in Rwanda -- angry, accurate, urgent -- are as good as anything Moorcock has done.I loved this book which, like Mother London, rewards several readings.It seems almost a different book every time you come back to it.A classic from one of our finest modern novelists.Totally recommended!

Sex, Drugs, Rock and Roll -- A Moral Tale!
The great thing about this particular novel is that all the music which seems fictitious is actually available on record.The Greenfly and the Rose is on at least one Robert Calvert Album and most of the other numbers are either old Stiff numbers or old Moorcock Deep Fix numbers.It's a weird feeling reading this book -- which is the most authentic account of the Stiff period I know -- Ian Dury, Elvis Costello et al -- while playing the music. Well worth it for this alone.

BRILLIANT. TIMELY. A REAL LIFT FROM REAL LIFE!
Whoever thinks this book has no shape just doesn't know what a gem they have in their hands!Like Mother London, you have to let Moorcock lead you through something of a maze.You have to give yourself up to his work, as with the Cornelius books.If you let him lead you -- he'll take you a lot of places you've never been before.The centerpiece of this novel appears to be the big Thanksgiving Party at the Red Mill, when every character in the book dances around the mill, while above them the vanes turn through a third dimension.In Mother London everything radiates from the Blitz scenes.This is a more eccentric shape, but it certainly works for me.It doesn't matter how many times Denny Dover has been married (three, I think) -- just look at the women he's married.Each one a wonderful individual!Rosie, his cousin, is a sort of Diana figure, as beautiful as she is good, and it's at this point, for all Rosie is a living, thinking human being, you realise why this book is called 'A Fable'. It is dealing with the fabulous.It is all invented.Virtually no place in the city, however much you mourn a genuine loss, ever existed. You think the names are familiar, that they are bound to be just around the corner, or on the next tube station, but they never are.This entire London is an invention.But why is it an invention ?I think it is the other side of Mother London, which was all about real places, real London.This is the modern fantasy of London, as unreal and at the same time as real as anything Dickens ever gave us.And, finally, you understand why Peter Ackroyd has called Moorcock the modern Dickens -- for his humanity is as profound as his inventive genius.Moorcock is a true original.If he had not written those rafts of awful sword and sorcery epics and added to the flow of garbage which began with the Attack of the Hobbits, I could forgive him anything.As it is, there is a different kind of engagement here which, if you value original minds, you will want to sample. Moorcock's determination to remain in the popular arena, in spite of every effort (including articles about him in the London Review of
Books and inclusion in the Oxford Companion to English Literature) to draw him in to his rightful place in English literature sometimes to look like a career death-wish, but you have to admire his engagement with his audience, which is as much part of his ethos (see his website multiverse.org) as never offering us the same book twice. Mother London is a gentler book, but King of the City is a wild hunt of a novel, full of rage and love for the unsung, the under-rated and the disrespected. Moorcock's identification with his readers rather than his reviewers is to be applauded. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Super Reader
A device used for these books is that an ancestor of Moorcock's has found tales of Oswald Bastable, in much the same sort of style as the Warlords of Mars trilogy.

This bloke goes looking for more, and finds some. Una Persson also makes an appearance.

A more confident Bastable has gone adventuring again, but when he comes back in time, the world is a lot different to the one he left.

Submarine adventures, Gandhi, a Black Atilla, and other strange national alliances must be navigated and dealt with.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Super Reader
The conclusion of Oswald Bastable's adventures associated with the Temple of the Future Buddha. The time he came back too is full of giant airship and other such fun. This book is really a couple of parts, and again, Una Persson is involved in the story in mysterious ways, as Oswald Bastable learns more about the nature of the universe, and has to face the supervillain of the piece.

The Steel Tsar's place in Michael Moorcock's Multiverse
This is more of an explanation than a review. A previous reviewer complained about the lack of characterization of Una Perrson. Moorcock made a conscious effort to tie all of his books together in into one massive story. This can be very confusing to the reader of a single story. You almost have to have read all the stories, especially, Moorcock's book of Martyrs, to understand what is going on. There are several books featuring Una Perrson which explain the character.

A few good moments
The third and final adventure of Michael Moorcock's dimension hopping hero, Oswald Bastable, is a disjointed narrative in two parts.The opening sequence, featuring a group of disheartened and frightened men awaiting their fateson an island that has been forgotten in the world-wide conflict that is raging, is pretty suspenseful.The second part, featuring the villain of the title, is frequently entertaining as well.One scene, which features a battle between dirigibles and men on horseback, rises to the level of high adventure.Unfortunately, the character of Una Persson, another interdimensional traveler who makes brief appearances in all of the Bastable books and is well-developed in none of them, figures prominently in the climax.There is also some sketchy mumbo-jumbo about a council of people who have the power to travel between dimensions.Could have been better. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

the man who sold the world
this is faust, yet again. Clovis Marca, the messiah like Fireclown is the beast that shouted love at the heart of the world. Moorcock's best science fiction novel. so lost and lonely here. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

A funny "what if" adventure
I loved this story and found that reading it really got my imagination spinning. It's Moorcock, so it's not hard sf, and if you don't know what you're getting into (which I didn't), I can only let you know that this is an entertaining time travel story. The satire is on 19th century writing, I believe, and "what if" it were written in our age. So you get some really goofy dialog and conversations. Something I found interesting, is that this book was originally dedicated to the band Hawkwind...and lists each member including Lemmy! I've had limited exposure to steampunk, but I thought this might have been a precursor to it. Moorcock's "A Nomad of the Time Streams" is given more credit to steampunk. But what do I know. If you're looking for a fun, quick read...this is worth checking out. This is also sold as part of the complete "Dancers at the End of Time" trilogy.

Silly, tedious, repugnant, and mercifully short
Set during the twilight of history, when humanity has achieved a level of decadence that is scarcely comprehensible, Jherek Carnelian (a self-styled expert in ancient societies) decides to fall in love.Perversely, the object of his affections is a Mrs. Amelia Underwood, a woman who has unwittingly time-traveled there from 19th century Britain.That's the crux of this bizarre satiric fantasy.Much of the humor in this book involves the absurdities of this future human civilization and how these beings attempt to amuse themselves in a world where anything and everything is immediately at their disposal.And none of them have any hint of what is meant by "virtue".The most humorous parts of the book were those where Jerek displays his complete lack of understanding of the 19th century, all the while imagining that he's an expert on the subject, but if this is meant to be a satire of historians, it falls short.

Moorcock explains some of the science behind their "power rings" which enable them to process unlimited sources of broadcast energy to create or destroy anything they imagine, but it seems a stretch to call this a science fiction novel. The characters and the society they live in are all so foppish and decadent and yes, morally repugnant, that this reader found it impossible to care about them in the least.The second half of the book wasn't as bad as the first, but that first half was so tedious that this reviewer found wading through this 150-page novel extremely difficult; one found oneself making excuses not to go back to it.Moorcock has written further installments in this series, but someone would have to pay me to read them.This book actually put me off reading novels altogether for a while, but in the interest of full disclosure, I have to admit that it was probably no worse than Tristam Shandy, which I couldn't stand either.

Super Reader
The End of Time is a place that we would call decadent. To those that inhabit it, it is just normal. They are immortal, they can immense powers, and they can pretty much do anything they want. However, what they do mostly is get bored.

A time traveller from the late 19th century changes this, and Jherek Carnelian's relationship with this woman grow in ways he is not used to, or even sure he understands.

A fantastic read
Millions of years from now Earths citizens can have whatever they wish whenever they wish.They can create and recreate matter at will, which has, in effect, destroyed their humanity.They value nothing and care for nothing.The words marriage, fidelity, shame, and morality mean nothing.Emotions are something that they attire themselves in to thrill their friends at dinner parties.Carnelian is a prince among princes in this future.A man who prides himself on his expertise in the area of 19th century history.A man who skips from one perfect day to the next.Until he meets Amelia, a time traveler from the 19th century who wants nothing to do with him and turns his whole world upside down.
I enjoyed this book on so many different levels.It is more than a `science fiction' novel.

The first in the funniest science fiction series ever written
Ok, this book is not as good as the 2nd two of the trilogy, but it is necessary in order to introduce you to the setting and characters. Once the introduction is over the story flies along on a breathtaking, hilarious and outrageous rollercoaster love story ride that is totally different to anything else I have ever read.

I discovered M.Moorcock in the mid-70s. This was the first book of his I picked up (purely at random) and as a consequence I have been hooked on MM ever since. None of his other books quite realized the entertainment of the 'Dancers' series, although he wrote several sequals that come close.

Don't be put off by the early chapters. If you don't know what to expect, you may find it tough to understand what is happening, but once you have accepted the main characters it is very difficult to put these down.

Be prepared for some loud chuckling in case reading in public.

Les. ... Read more

Product Description
Book Two in the ELRIC SAGA ... and leaving his cousin Yyrkoon sitting as regent upon the Ruby Throne of Melnibone, leaving his cousin Cymoril weeping for him and despairing of his ever returning, Elric sailed from Imrryr, the Dreaming City, and went to seek an unknown goal in the world of the Young Kingdoms where Melniboneans were at best, disliked.Included is a dramatic introduction read by Michael Moorcock over 11 mins in length. ... Read more