Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not the true ending, May 15, 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: Count Brass (Eternal Champion, Volume 15) (Hardcover)
Although this is AN ending to the Eternal Champion cycle, the 'real' ending is in the sequence BLOOD, FABULOUS HARBORS and WAR AMONGST THE ANGELS and I am surprised White Wolf have not done this volume as an omnibus. Someone should, because, with the Multiverse comic, it really does resolve the Eternal Champion sequence in a very satisfactory way. Most of my friends agree with me once they have read the Jack Karaquazian/Colinda Dovero books. My guess is that Moorcock wrote this ending, liked it about as much as the readers here (!)and wrote War Amongst the Angels and Multiverse as a better one. I would also not be surprised (though I have no special information) if the current Elric sequence doesn't somehow tie into THOSE endings. Vol. 15 is the WEAKEST LINK but can stay because it's at the end of the chain! The Simonson artwork is some of the best in the series and this is by far the best edition you could buy, to the quality of a limited edition, so is worth having. In some ways, this book is like a sketch for things which came later and is interesting for some of its novelties (is it the first female Eternal Champion?) and ideas and has some great moments, but if this was ever your introduction to Moorcock you would probably never want to pick up another. You can fall in love with Elric, but you don't much care what happens to Hawkmoon. We need a further volume or two from White Wolf, surely? There are some great new characters representing the Champ. Where is Jerry Cornelius? Where is Rose von Bek, Jack Karaquazian, Colinda Dovero, Sam Oakenhurst, Paul Minct and Co. to make this thing end with an all-dancing, all-singing, all-color cosmic, cataclysmic joyous and totally wonderful BIG BANG!?
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
And so it ends, sort of, September 23, 2004
This review is from: Count Brass (Eternal Champion, Volume 15) (Hardcover)
In the interests of full disclosure, I'm reviewing not the White Wolf American edition of this omnibus, but the British edition, which as far as I know contains the same material. The White Wolf editions used to trumpet that they were "newly revised for their US publication" but I doubt there were any drastic changes in them other than fixing typos and smoothing over inconsistencies, since Moorcock basically stated in his introduction to every single book how he had to restrain himself from doing even minor story revisions because once you start it's hard to stop and he wanted to maintain the quickly written fire of youth sensibility that was in those earlier stories. That said, this is the last volume of the series and in theory closes out the sequence, by returning the focus to Hawkmoon, who we really haven't seen since book 3. In the first novel "Count Brass", we move to the aftermath of Hawkmoon's saving the world, as he wishes for all his of friends that had died during the conflict with the Black Empire were still alive . . . and finds that sometimes you can get what you want and still not be happy. The first novel's probably the best of the bunch, having the most coherent plot and the most interesting mystery, the everpresent multiverse stuff is kept in the background to some extent and doesn't seek to overwhelm everything. Dangling threads are carried over into the second novel "Champion of Garathorn" but it mostly consists of Hawkmoon becoming another Champion and saving other people on a different plane. The last novel "Quest for Tanelorn" essentially functions as a conclusion of sorts to the entire saga that spread out over the last fifteen books but Moorcock just falls back into the pseudogibberish that sometimes characterizes his more fantastic sequences and settles with bringing four champions together to save everything, which we've seen before, at least twice. The first time, it was neat, the second, entertaining, now it's just "ho-hum" because he doesn't bring anything new to the concept, they join together and smash stuff. For the record, it was nice seeing Corum and Elric one last time, and even Erekose, although he's from the first book and I don't remember him too clearly. But the novel has the hallmarks of being written quickly, or at least the story being made it as the author goes along because it all wraps up far too neatly and quickly and starts to lose sense after a bit (so who was the sword again?) and it's more of a "grand finally" than a grand finale. In his defense, however, wrapping up a saga of this scope and breadth would require a War and Peace sized novel, and Moorcock only really focuses on the fantasy-related champions, not even bringing the SF-esque ones (Jerry Cornelius, Jherek, etc), so while it feels like AN ending and wraps up the stories of Hawkmoon and Elric and Corum and Erekose, I can't really accept it as THE ending. But at least it's happy, in a way, which is rare commodity with the Champions. Regardless, it's nice to finally finish this and I have to say that the publishers, American and British, should be congratulated on bringing all these stories together under one banner, cleaning them up and arranging them for new readers, I would have never been able to gather all the required stories together and the entire Eternal Champion series is essential for those looking to understand Moorcock. On a personal note, it is interesting to finally finish this, I started reading these volumes back in the mid-nineties sometime, so to finish this one and have no more to look forward, too . . . it's interesting. Still, it was time well spent and I suspect other readers feel the same.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Misunderstood Conclusion, March 31, 2000
This review is from: Count Brass (Eternal Champion, Volume 15) (Hardcover)
As a standalone book this does not have the impact that it should. Seen as the culmination of the Eternal Champion saga (spanning 15 volumes in its current incarnation) it is the only happy ending one could hope for. If you read any of the other books about the Eternal Champion, get this one and see how it all ends.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
