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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
More Classic Moorcock, 21 Jun 2002
Apart from a last-minute title change to Corum: The Prince in the Scarlet Robe, and a new cover painting, this Fantasy Masterworks offering is identical in every respect to the (still in print) version of the first three Corum books issued as Volume 4 in Moorcock's Tale of the Eternal Champion series, also published by Gollancz.
That said, if you're a fan of sword and sorcery and have never encountered this particular Moorcock hero then get hold of a copy now. While I have always been more of a fan of Elric, Hawkmoon and Jherek Carnalian, it was actually a pleasure to read these stories again. Indeed it's hard to believe that they are now over thirty years old. Each of the volumes contained in this omnibus fail to reach the two-hundred page mark, and they remain an abject example of prose which is economical yet bursting with ideas - a lesson which today's writers of fat fantasy tomes could do well to learn from. Reading some of the more breathlessly inspired passages, you can almost see Moorcock behind the typewriter, getting new ideas faster than he can set them down. This make-it-up-as-you-go-along style of writing does have its flaws, however, and things do become a little erratic in the third part, with guest appearances from both Elric and Erekose, the original Eternal Champion himself. Nevertheless this is a must-read volume and I presume the title change is because Gollancz intends to bring out the second trilogy of Corum adventures, The Prince with the Silver Hand, at some point in the future.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
One of the Best Fantasy Sequences of the 20th Century, 7 Dec 2003
By A Customer
This, the first trilogy of Corum, the Prince in the Scarlet Robe, bears all of Michael Moorcock's classic hallmarks. The writing is swift to read, carrying a vast amount of detail in a minimum of words; the dialogue is crisp and always rings true- the individual voice of each character unique, no matter how unimportant: the events are of cosmic proportions and the imagination simply never lets up. The action is blistering, often grotesque and sometimes beautiful- not unlike the progeny of chaos frequently encountered in the novels.Like all the Eternal Champion novels these focus on the eternal war between the cosmic principles of Law and Chaos: in the world of the 15 planes (coterminous realities at once apart and within each other) Law is all but driven out by the ever-stronger chaos. This leads to a very different feel to the Elric series where the two powers are in bloody conflict on equal terms, and Hawkmoon where Law is dominant. Corum is pure grand exposition: from the opening passages of the introduction to the truly vast battles the feel is purely epic, the descriptions full of rich colours and images of life and beauty. The staggering mass of imaginatioin is powerful,even by Moorcock's standards: crimson cattle the size of castles, floating cities, the ever-present airships- the list goes on. The plot is a simple enough tale of vengance that rapidly expands in its implications as Corum realises his true role in the multiverse: that of the Eternal Champion. Suffice to say the book has all the classic romantic elements: vengeance, honour, loyalty, love, betrayal and dramatic battles. All topped off with a good dose of swashbuckling, sorcery and grand portents. There are doubless social messages or similar that can be read into the books, but essentially they are pure entertainment and vastly superior to just about any fantasy offering around today. Buy and read these books if you like fantasy, especially if you've never read Moorcock before: there is no fantasy writer to match him, awesome books!
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Still the best, 7 Jan 2002
By A Customer
Lyrical writing, beautiful world-building, engaging adventure. Moorcock never lets you down.
He's a marvellous antidote to the billions of cloned Tolkien books out there. His is Hammett to Tolkien's Chandler. Read him and read Tolkien, and you have read the two most influential writers in modern fantasy. But they are by no means the same in intention. Tolkien slots easily into the English Dream. Moorcock is constantly addressing what you might call the English Nightmare. Both are part of the Matter of Britain and both can make great claims to have continued to examine it.
This sense of myth and history is why critics like Peter Ackroyd single Moorcock out. That he was never as comforting as Tolkien is no doubt why his work is no longer understood as it seemed once to be understood and appreciated.
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