- Paperback: 368 pages
- Publisher: Gollancz; New Ed edition (18 Oct 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0575073594
- ISBN-13: 978-0575073593
- Product Dimensions: 12.9 x 2.3 x 19.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 151,358 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
Gloriana rules an Albion whose empire embraces America and most of Asia. A new Golden Age of peace, enlightenment and prosperity has dawned. Gloriana is Albion and Albion is Gloriana; if one falls, so too will the other. And Gloriana is oppressed by the burden this places upon her - and by the fact that she remains incapable of orgasm. The maintenance of the delicate balance that keeps Albion and Gloriana thriving depends of Montfallcon, Gloriana's Chancellor, and on his network of spies and assassins - in particular on Quire, cold hearted seducer of virtue and murderer of innocence. When Quire falls out with Montfallcon, he forms an alliance with his greatest enemy and conceives a plan to ruin Gloriana, destroy Albion, the empire and the Golden Age itself. But even the utterly ruthless Quire does not fully understand what he has set in motion when he persuades the Queen to fall in love with him... Moorcock's masterly evocation of Gloriana's strange and secretive palace and of a vibrant London make this one of his most powerful and memorable novels.
About the Author
SALES POINTS * Part of the Fantasy Masterworks series * 'A great read...fiction writing at its best; a craftsman in full possession of his powers as Moorcock is here is a joy' Maxim Jakubowski, Vector * 'He is a giant. If you are at all interested in fantastic fiction, you must read Michael Moorcock' Tad Williams * 'Vastly entertaining' Science Fiction Review * 'A complex fantasy richly and convincingly textured' Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Locus * 'He casts a heady, enslaving spell' Ruth Rendell * A wonderful and brilliant fantasy set in a superbly realized alternate Elizabethan England.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
There's a tendency, I think, to take Moorcock for granted because he has produced so much. 'Too much' as people say who mean they can't imagine reading it all. Yet what is unique about Moorcock is not his phenomenal output (Edgar Wallace and Barbara Cartland both easily break his record) but the extraordinary quality most of it retains. When you think of what he has turned out in the past few years, apart from Gloriana, you realise it includes some of the best books you have read in the past couple of decades! This book won the World Fantasy Award when that award was worth winning and it deserves all the awards and praise. Peter Ackroyd was a great enthusiast for the book and his own fiction carries odd echoes of Gloriana, not least a Platonic London and Judge Dee. For me this is the only peer to Peake and it seems to have been dedicated to Peake, so obviously Moorcock was writing a conscious tribute. Quire in his own way is as good and as complex a villain as Steerpike and Gloriana is a wonderful heroine, symbol of Britain (Albion) on one hand and complex, yearning woman on the other. There isn't a character who isn't fully drawn or a scene which doesn't have the richness and atmosphere of an Old Master. This book wasn't originally published in the fantasy genre and I think like Peake and T.H.White it belongs outside the general run. Moorcock's chief influences are German Romantics and French Existentialists, rather than genre writers, and these are enjoyed at their best in this gripping tale of blood, hate and high ideals. This should be the BBC's next epic. It's very sexy, too, in places! Feel the quality, feel the width. This is a gripping tale told on a rich and complex tapestry.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is top quality stuff. Well up there with Peake, to whom it's dedicated. A queen whose lack of orgasm reflects her failure to find individual identity while she represents the State. Hers is a culture on the edge of enlightenment. Doctor Dee is here, as well as a Platonic London, and many other elements later found in Peter Ackroyd, a great admirer of this novel. It's well up to the best in the series so far, and a long way from Moorcock's hasty sword and sorcery epics.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is dedicated to Mervyn Peake and is in some ways an homage. It rises above its own ambitions to stand as one of the very finest fantasy novels of our time. It won the World Fantasy Award and the John W. Campbell Award, among others, and is everything you could desire in a grown-up fantasy novel -- a rich Jacobean tragi-comedy! Oh, and sexy, too.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Amazingly original
Moorcock really is a great and unique stylist. The world that he creates and his descriptive writing are fascinating. Read more
Published 18 months ago by The Emperor
A book that can be enjoyed by anyone
When lending somebody a Moorcock book, the first one I turn to is always Gloriana. Why?
Like almost any Moorcock novel it can be read as a high-paced roller-coaster ride... Read more
Like almost any Moorcock novel it can be read as a high-paced roller-coaster ride... Read more
Published on 24 Oct 2009 by Mr. D. Stewart
The Unfilfill'd Master
Yet another epic contribution to the world of speculative fiction from the modern master. Although not quite as perfect as some of his other works, this surprises for Moorcock's... Read more
Published on 18 Oct 2008 by Pablo K
Voluptuous
Despite the re-writes, this remains a beautifully realized vision replete with wonderful and believable characters (even the grotesques) that inhabit a universe somewhat at angles... Read more
Published on 20 Oct 2005 by Pilgrim
An allegory of social responsibility
Unable to express her own passions, weighed down by her sense of duty, the sense that she embodies a virtuous State, Gloriana is unable to reach orgasm. Read more
Published on 5 Jan 2003 by Gordon Asquith
Beautiful book in either version!
The controversy about Gloriana revolves around the famous or infamous rape scene. I've read the book in both versions and while I must say I prefer the first version, I didn't... Read more
Published on 30 May 2002 by "conny300"
Who cares ? This is a brilliant story.
This is a true classic. If you like LOTR but not Peake, then you'll probably hate this. If you are sick of LOTR hobbledegook, this and Titus Groan are the precious antidotes. Read more
Published on 12 Jan 2002
Interesting phenomenon
Moorcock has talked about this phenomenon in an interview. Apparently the difference between the 1978 and the 1990 edition of Gloriana is a matter of a few lines in the... Read more
Published on 21 Dec 2001 by "jugadora"
Darkly, decadently hoping a Queen and Country will survive
In a world which might seem to be Elizabethan England the whole country holds it's breath in the hope that Gloriana their Queen will attain fulfillment. Read more
Published on 7 Sep 2000
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