[Mentalist]

Belated entry no 17, as I finally ot around to putting my thoughts on Goodreads:

"Gloriana"

This is an odd one.

The blurb does a good job explaining what the book is about, so I won't bother recapping it.

It's a a very literature-y book. It tries to be very thematic. Lots of metaphors and allegories all wrapped around themselves- kinda baroque. The setting tries to evoke the classics, and it hearkens back to "The Age of Chivalry". But the real story behind it all is messy.

The characters are probably the most remarkable part of it- given how casually depraved the setting actually is (if you thought Cornelius Quartet was over-sexualized, you may want to skip this one). Quire is a lovable bastard, despite being a horrible human being. The entire middle section has an undertone of growing despair, and then the ending kinda shifts everything around, also through irony.

Beyond casual name-droppings of the Lords of Chaos, there's not much connecting it to the Eternal Champion sequence. Oh, and one of the characters shares a name with a certain renowned time-traveller... coincidence? or another incarnation?

Pacing is not great. It takes a while to really get going. Plot is also kind of predictable, but then it slams you with a few revelations, and the ending is quite powerful.
It's hard to describe "Gloriana". Would I consider it "essential Moorcock", the way I do "Nomad of the Timestreams" or the End of Time sequence? no. Is it worth looking at? It's more interesting than Hawkmoon or Kane of Old Mars. Does it add to the Eternal Champion saga? I'm not sure, but leaning towards "no" right now- though once I read the other "London" novels, I may end up changing my mind.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 27 June 2016 - 02:27 AM

[Mentalist]

Part 18: "Elrik: the Sleeping Sorceress"

This second half of the Elric sequence is a mixture of things. The volume actually opens up with "The Eternal Champion" which is an Erekoze story- and one we've encountered before. There's a few other bits that fill in broad strokes of the Multiverse-there's a story explaining the background for one of Elric's recurring companions, and the last story actually ties down Elric to the Metatemporal Detective stories, and also hearkens back to the very first Von Bek story, basically trying to draw more connections across the entire Multiverse. Super spoiler:

Spoiler

Jerry Cornelius may be an incarnation of Closterheim the fallen angel who rejected Satan as well-- which is SOO much like another doomed double-crosser, who is Elric and Corum's nemesis...

The titular Elric work is pretty typical Elric heroic stuff. In part 3 there's a neat nod where we get to see Elric's narration on an episode earlier described in the Corum books, which was kind of nice- although it helps to further confuse the timeline(s).

Overall, though, Elric remains kind of dated. An ok past-time, but nothing super-remarkable. 3/5

[Mentalist]

Part 19: "Elric: Revenge of the Rose"

This one follows similar structure to the previous volume. There's the titular novel, and then a bunch of Elric miscelania. Some of the miscelania is really weak. In fact, Moorcock admitted that he wrote a few of them purely for the cash grab, and he did not like them himself.

The titular story is quite interesting however. What we get is Elric and a surprising stand-in for Moonglum- one English poet Wheldrake (who also moonlighted in "Gloriana", but apparently this happens earlier) do a bunch of world-hopping around the Multiverse on a brand new quest to save Elric's father's soul from the clutches of not one, but two Lords of Chaos.

What this means is that we get a lot of travelling, a recurring villain (with exciting crossovers and shout-outs to other EC works- in particular, "Corum"), and many more hints about the upcoming "Ultimate Confrontation" of Law and Chaos. The stage is being set for the culmination of Elric's Saga in "Stormbringer".

For the continuity reasons alone, I think this volume ought to be read. realistically, the novel here is 4/5, the other works are pretty weak. but the overall narrative thread makes it all worth it.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 19 November 2016 - 10:18 PM

[Mentalist]

Part 20. "Elric: Stormbringer!"

Well, this is it. I have heard LOTS about this one. People and authors said this is the one that defined them, that made Moorcock and Elric big.

What it is is a collection of 4 novellas, made into a novel. Chaos is making its play for the world, and Law is struggling to stop them. Elric, sworn to Chaos, their biggest tool, must fight to save the world from Chaos.

I actually feel that it's one of the least interesting volumes in Elric's chronology. Moorcock really goes all out with themes here, and the moral greyness takes a big step back, mostly, in favour of "Chaos = Bad, Law = Good". There's also an impending sense of "doom and DESTINY", which is something I absolutely cannot stand in fantasy- any time a character is successfully convinced to do many stupid things "because it's their destiny and they have no choice", I want to throw the book across the table into a wall. Elric is no exception.

The story is less predictable, despite the ur-traditional sword & sorcery trappings. The reason? This is the end, and everyone is mortal and can (and usually will) die. You never know who is next (except not Elric, obv), so it keeps things interesting. There are some pretty fantastic battles written into the whole thing as well. However, the ending, with all the prophecies, and the "DESTINY!!!", and everything feels lackluster to me.

I personally hesitate to recommend this. There are better Elric stories out there, ones where the "grey" nature of Moorcock's Multiverse is done much better. "Strombringer", despite the fact that it is the most "epic" novel in terms of scope, does not hit the high notes for me.

3/5 at best, and even that's with a heavy grain of salt.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 19 November 2016 - 10:19 PM

[Mentalist]

Part 21: "The Cornelius Calendar"

This is yet more Cornelius. It's not any more sensible than the "Cornelius Quartet". What we have is a collection of.... novels? stories? vignettes? told in a typical Jerry Cornelius fashion. There's multiple, multiple timelines, where weird stuff happens in the 20th century. Jerry, Una, and the rest are skipping across the various versions of the 20th century, trying to achieve.... something. Or nothing. Some of them champion a particular vision of the future. Others like entropy, or oppose the others purely for the sake of opposition, diversity, and the need to destroy certainty.

It's often an exercise in futility, trying to comprehend the motif of the Cornelius Saga. There's a point in "The Alchemist's Question", where we get a convergence and what's essentially a replay of the big, climactic moment in "The City in the Autumn Stars", the big Von Bek novel. And there are bits and pieces dropped that echo back to "The Final Programme", trying to interlap with the Quartet- as does "The Entropy Tango".

Then other stories are literally doing their own thing- one is basically dedicated to the Sex Pistols and the role they played in UK's history. (that one kinda lost me). As a whole, the book is a jumble of themes, images, ideas and.... stuff. Quite literally, there's few things like the Jerry Cornelius stories out there. You have to experience them to understand.

If you liked the Quartet, there's much to love here. If you haven't read it, this will be even more confusing than the Quartet was. For me it was a 4.5/5

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 12 April 2020 - 08:37 PM

[Mentalist]

Part 22: "Behold the Man"

Listed as one of Moorcock's "Didactic novels", this novella deals with a British agnostic travelling back in time to the Biblical times, and living out the Christian myth.

Being a neurotic failed psychiatry student obsessed with religious mysticism and Jung, Karl Glogauer's travel back in time to 28 AD to witness the events of New Testament is an interesting exploration of a bunch of themes.

The story is as neurotic as the protagonist Karl Glogauer himself- frequently jumping into flashbacks of his messed up and awkward childhood and young adulthood, trying to explain what shaped him to eventually undertake this journey.

It's an interesting take on time travel. I was a bit vary about Moorcock taking on religious themes, but it worked in the end.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 12 April 2020 - 08:38 PM

[Mentalist]

Part 23: The War Amongst the Angels

This is one of Moorcock's later works in the Eternal Champion cycle. It's made up of a novel, then a collection of stories, and then another novel, one that goes seriously meta, and links back to the ideas from "Von Bek" and the very start of the cycle.

"Blood": a Southern Fantasy is an entertaining piece of writing that's supposed to be about American South, following some sort of metaphysical catastrophe that's draining the world. Probabilities are all messed up, and card players take up roles of gunslingers. At the same time, the future universe of Second ether pirates (which we've encountered in one of the crossover novellas in "Dancers at the End of Time, part 2") exist here, as a comic serial, slowly unfolding its own tale in parallel.

"Fabulous Harbours" is a collection of stories dealing with some of the same characters, but in different settings, inspired by Morocco and the Mediteranean. The Albino makes an appearance here, as does Sexton Begg, the detective nemesis of the Albino, who is one of Elric's incarnations.

Aand then, finally, you get the titular "War Against the Angels", which is... a memoir? of one Rose van Bek (also THE Rose from Elric), nee Moorcock. There's a huge focus on London tramways (streetcars), and gangs who used to rob them (?) which is a point where I felt totally out of my depth and it seemed like I'm missing some crucial context, or rather point of reference. Anyhow, beyond that, the Second Ether is back, and the whole book (eventually) leads up to Rose gathering the "real-Earth" versions of the major multiverse players to bring them all to the Second Ether for a dramatic showdown of gambit pileups. As Law and Chaos clash, Lucifer is revealed, and there's a resolution (of sorts) involving the Second Ether version of the Grail. The whole thing is confusing, but generally entertaining.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 12 April 2020 - 08:39 PM

[Mentalist]

Part 24: The Metatemporal Detective

This collection of stories overlaps A LOT with "Fabulous Harbours". It also features a few stories that were featured in the earlier Elric collections. Essentially, this is the complete chronicle of Seaton Begg's struggle against his adversary, the Albino Messieurs Zenith.

The book is a short and entertaining read. The stories don't pretend to maintain internal coherency. We are looking at multiple versions of Earth, with deviations from history that nod back to other Moorcock works. Seaton Begg is a "metatemporal" detective, meaning he works across the Multiverse, in parallel timelines, and so internal consistency is never a serious question.

The whole book is an homage to pulpy detective fiction, but it's got its high points, and nice nods to the "Eternal Champion" mythos, which makes it a non-essential, but useful reading for those looking for the complete picture.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 12 April 2020 - 08:40 PM

[Mentalist]

Part 25: Elric: the Moonbeam Roads.

We return to the stories of Elric, as well as the albinos of the von Bek family, and uncover the nature of the connections in the multiverse, as Elric, his daughter Oona (the daughter of the dreamthief we've encountered in the "Fortress of the Pearl" and the last surviving Von Bek, the keeper of another incarnation of The Black Sword all join up and do a lot of world-hopping to thwart Prince Gaynor the Damned in his attempts to shatter the Cosmic Balance.

Taken on their own merits, the 3 novels that make up this volume are your typical portal fantasy, that has some hapless member of the Von Bek family go to yet another place that is threatened by the machinations of Gaynor, who seeks to destroy the Multiverse, and so thwart both Chaos and Law. An incarnation of Elric (or sometimes multiple show up), some combat and metaphysics happen, and then history starts another cycle.

However, the volume is great at shedding some answers and providing links that tie the whole of the Multiverse together. By the time we hit the end of the last volume, Moorcock has name-dropped or directly tied down the von Beks, Elric, Captain bastable (from the Nomad of the Time Streams), Hawkmoon, as well as several characters from the Cornelius cast. There's also a sideways segue way nod towards War of the Angels, I think?

oh, and at the very end, we get to learn the origins of John Daker, aka, Erekose, AKA, The OG Eternal Champion. And that revelation alone is fairly priceless after 25 books.

The pacing is a bit all over the place, and occasionally Moorcock gets a bit flowery with his descriptions in what are usually fairly straightforward stories. Overall, though, the imaginative worlds the characters hop through generally work, as he weaves mythologies and histories together in a truly epic fashion.

As my preferred ending to the cycle (one of several possible endings; it's a bit self-explanatory as to why), this book is pretty fantastic. 5/5

[Mentalist]

Part 26- "Hawkmoon: Count Brass"

This is the last book listed in the master-list on the official reading order thread in the Moorcock forum. It serves as one of the conslusions to the Eternal Champion cycle, and It does provide closure to some major stories. The focus here is on Dorian Hawkmoon, the duke of Koln, in the aftermath of his defeat of the Dark Empire of Grand Bretagne. Hawkmoon and his betrothed are living in the late Count Brass' castle of Kamarg, raising their kids, and everyone is happy. Then, as is the par for the course in an Eternal Champion stories, things get dark, and Hawkmoon is ripped out of his idyll. A ghost of Count Brass appears, accusing Hawkmoon of murdering him; As Hawkmoon confronts the ghost, it turns out that the key sorcerer-scientists of the Dark Empire are manipulating time and the multiverses to alter the timelines and create a future where Hawkmoon fails and the Dark Empire ends up victorious. Hawkmoon ends up changing time... and with fairly disastrous consequences. Then he tries to undo his mistakes.

I've made it clear that Dorian Hawkmoon is one of the weakest, least interesting characters as an incarnation of the Eternal Champion. "Count Brass" did not change my mind. He remains whiny, melancholic, pious, and simple. Thankfully, after Book 1, we get a lot less Hawkmoon. Book 2 gives us Hawkmoon reincarnating as another Champion, and Book 3 is a re-telling of a crossover we've seen from Corum and Elric's PoV, but with a follow-up that shows the end of Erekose' journey and the end of the Eternal Champion Cycle- or, rather, a re-set. (?) Maybe. I don't know, it's a saga that never ends, right?

Honestly, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed with "Count Brass". I still don't like Hawkmoon, and his stories bring the cycle down for me. I'd recommend closing off with "War of the Angels". "Count Brass" makes sense sequentially after "Moonbeam Roads", since there's a lot of overlap. But I'd take "War of the Angels" (slightly alluded to in the ending of "Moonbeam Roads"), being an odd, surreal, dense, and astounding piece of writing as a definitive conclusion.