- Mass Market Paperback
- Language: English
- ASIN: B0010PCUGQ
- Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
Although published as the second volume in Moorcock's Eternal Champion series, this is really the foundation for all the other works.
The plot, about a modern day man inexplicably sucked into a parallel world of sword and sorcery, sounds like typical pulp fanatasy hokum. Fortunately, it is far from being that. John Daker becomes Erekosë, the Eternal Champion, destined to forever wander the worlds of the multiverse as a pawn in the battle between law and chaos. What makes these three volumes fascinating however, and raises them above the level of similar books, is Moorcock's focus on the psychological torment of his hero.
This is some of Moorcock's earliest writing, and, lacking in the complexities of his later work, it is an easy and enjoyable read.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By "jugadora"
Format:Paperback
This is a very good book to get if you're interested in where it all started. While the stories themselves aren't necessarily the best Mr Moorcock ever wrote, they are amongst the most important. In this particular edition, which varies quite a bit from the UK omnibus, we get The Sundered Worlds, the book which first offered the world the idea of the multiverse, Black Holes and many other ideas since become standard in science and sf. This is my favourite edition of this book, since it also has a splendid portrait of the Champion himself. Great value, even though, come to think of it, Moorcock wrote most of this before he was 21. I am collecting these editions. They are without doubt the best.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By Mark Poles
Format:Paperback
Review of the first book of this compilation:
As you might guess, this is another Eternal Champion book, the first in the Erekose series. It's also in many ways the first of the whole Eternal Champion cycle. It was published in 1962, but mostly written as early as 1955, making it pretty much a contemporary of Lord of the Rings.
It sits with 'The Warhound and the World's Pain' as something of an introduction to the Eternal Champion series. In the foreword to this edition, Moorcock describes this first novel as one of his least complex and least ambitious. I can see what he means - in many ways it's a straight fantasy novel - but it has a rather stronger moral commentary than most fantasy. Stephen Donaldson's 'Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, Unbeliever' shares the idea of a real world human transported to a fantasy setting as the reincarnation of a legendary hero. Certainly Erekose and Covenant take a different approach to their roles as saviour, but if you read both series, you'll appreciate when they make the same decisions. And when they don't.
It occurs to me that Covenant would probably work as an incarnation of the Eternal Champion. But I'm sure Moorcock would hate that idea.
As you might guess, this is another Eternal Champion book, the first in the Erekose series. It's also in many ways the first of the whole Eternal Champion cycle. It was published in 1962, but mostly written as early as 1955, making it pretty much a contemporary of Lord of the Rings.
It sits with 'The Warhound and the World's Pain' as something of an introduction to the Eternal Champion series. In the foreword to this edition, Moorcock describes this first novel as one of his least complex and least ambitious. I can see what he means - in many ways it's a straight fantasy novel - but it has a rather stronger moral commentary than most fantasy. Stephen Donaldson's 'Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, Unbeliever' shares the idea of a real world human transported to a fantasy setting as the reincarnation of a legendary hero. Certainly Erekose and Covenant take a different approach to their roles as saviour, but if you read both series, you'll appreciate when they make the same decisions. And when they don't.
It occurs to me that Covenant would probably work as an incarnation of the Eternal Champion. But I'm sure Moorcock would hate that idea.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Erekose Books Review
It was truely wonderful to reread the first 2 stories of Erekose again after well over 30 years, and to be reaquainted with von Bek in The Dragon and The Sword was an unexpected... Read more
Published 15 months ago by M. Boulger
5.0 out of 5 stars
Where it all began
When this was written (back in the 70s, I think), it helped define 'modern' fantasy (or what was described as Heroic Fantasy at the time). Read more
Published on 18 April 2009 by Paul Sheridan
3.0 out of 5 stars
Erekose among the paranoids
This is the very beginning of the "Eternal champion" saga. John Daker, as Erekose, is summoned, much like Corum will be, by humans of another Universe, who need him to defend them... Read more
Published on 30 July 2008 by Ventura Angelo
4.0 out of 5 stars
Slight note of caution
Note - there are a number of similarly titled books/editions: If the book listed is approx 208 page edition, then the book is the first in the Erekose trilogy. Read more
Published on 13 Nov 2007 by Meerkat
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