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14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Romantic Comedy, September 4, 2003
This review is from: The Dancers At The End Of Time (Eternal Champion Series, Vol. 10) (Paperback)
There is no denying that Michael Moorcock is an inventive writer. I've only started to read his work recently, starting with that irreverent novel about Jesus "Behold the Man", the peripatetic adventures concerning Elric, and now "Dancers At the End of Time". This series of books is set in a future well beyond our own time. For Jherek Carnelian and the rest of his kind, our world is so far in the past (hundreds of thousands of millenia in the past) that history and Hollywood, fiction and fact have blurred together. Moorcock takes us so far into the future that "sand" on a beach is actually crushed bone, and characters behave in ways which would shock even the most open-minded people of our own society. In Jherek Carnelian's society it is impossible for anyone to feel shock. No one is encumbered with the conventions and standards which we in our own time feel obliged to live by. In the future life is one long game without rules, a fairground in which to indulge. Death is practically an obsolete notion. Sounds like heaven on Earth, doesn't it? As space and time are no longer barriers, it wouldn't surprise me if another time traveller like Karl Glogauer had gone into the past and "implanted" the concept of heaven - the misinterpreted promise that all the misery and suffering, the turmoil and deprivation, would eventually be rewarded with everlasting life and blissful harmony. All in exchange for clean living and a lot of faith. This would have been a cruel trick for a time traveller to play, even if it wasn't intentional. In the early 20th century Marcel Duchamp once declared that anyone can be an artist. In Jherek's time everyone is an artist, able to create their own environments to whatever specifications they desire, alter their bodily appearance whenever the whim takes them, and build menageries filled with specimans culled from anywhere and anywhen. Jherek has a fondness for anything associated with his favourite period the 19th century. When it comes to nostalgia past eras are best loved by those who never experienced them. It's like someone obsessed with Robin Hood holding a romantic view of the Middle Ages. One object of beauty coveted by Jherek is the elegant Mrs Amelia Underwood. Much of Moorcock's story concerns Jherek's attempts to win the heart of Amelia Underwood in a series of well-intentioned gestures and temporal wanderings. I don't want to say too much more than that, but rest assured, it's an eventful ride. Sometimes it's hard to keep track of what the characters look like as they keep changing their appearance, but just hang in there. When Jherek pursues Amelia in 1896 he's like the proverbial fish out of water. You won't be disappointed.
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17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Who says decadence is bad?, June 30, 1999
Definitely the most ornate of the many Eternal Champion books, the Dancers book literally drip with the times of Oscar Wilde and company, every sentence is flowering and flowing, wrapping around themselves several times, almost wallowing in their lyrical flavor before leading directly into the next one. For once, Moorcock manages to deliver this high minded language without sounding pretentious, not many people could pull that off. And his world here is as far from the blood drenched sword and sorcery conflicts that make up the Elric, Corum, Hawkmoon books, like the Jerry Cornelius books (who both the characters and the plots mostly resemble) nothing seems to happen even as the action is spiraling around, philosophy that most writers would spend entire books on is tossed off in careless comments, the Law/Chaos arugments are brought up again but you don't even notice. The best part is the character interaction, for all their decadence and carelessness, the Dancers are a bit of a lovable bunch because of their innocence and you can't help cheering on the burgoning romance of Amelia and Jherek, both savoring the long drawn out tension and cursing that she doesn't ditch that loser of a husband and go with Jherek. The romance is at the center of the book and Moorcock knows it, he aptly illustrates the passions that just burn underneath the surface of the two lovers and makes you sympathize with their conflicts. Deep down inside you know they're going to be together but since this is a Moorcock book you wonder what form. The happy ending is nice for once as well, one can only stomach Elric's seemingly endless self pity for so long, entertaining and thought provoking as it is. This series basically rewrites the Jerry Cornelius books, takes out the stuff that made it nearly incomprehensible (if you've read them you know exactly what I mean) and layers the plot on thick, some people complain they had trouble following it, coming off some of his more complicated stuff, this couldn't be easier, heck I guessed a lot of the twists before they happened, but I missed nearly as many as well. All in all, one of the more entertaining and well rounded Eternal Champion books, it even has some great guest appearance by other characters from the other series (and what Moorcock book would be incomplete without that?), it offers adventure, romance and some philosophy in a nice package that leaves you with a good feeling when you've finished. Doesn't get better than this.
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14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Classic Moorcock, July 1, 2002
This review is from: The Dancers At The End Of Time (Eternal Champion Series, Vol. 10) (Paperback)
For years I had put off reading Moorcock... I read plenty of other Science Fiction and Fantasy, from Neil Stephenson to Robert Jordan, but never got around to reading this giant of the genres. I'm glad I finally did. "The Dancers At the End of Time" is quite possibly the wittiest and most amusing time travel scenario I have ever encountered. Moorcock wrote this exciting little trilogy (originally published as several smaller hardcover volumes) with a wit rarely encountered in the often overly-serious sci-fa genres. His satire drips with the delightful flavor of the turn of the century fin-de-siecle, delightful parodies of H.G. Wells, and a delicate, romantic heart that matches the author's humor. I laughed at Jerekh's bumbling attempts at romance. I cried at the almost tragic occurences near the end of the novel, and I cheered at the resolution. Having just finished reading Mary Doria Russell's depressing "The Sparrow" (although also an excellent book), I needed something a bit more uplifting. This did the trick. If you're looking for a good intelligent satire, you can do no wrong by taking a look at this classic Moorcock masterpiece.
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