Customer Reviews

The Dreamthief's Daughter: A Tale of the Albino

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Through his long career, every form that Michael Moorcock has touched he has changed. Science Fiction was never the same again after New Worlds. The space story was changed through The Black Corridor and Behold the Man examined religion. He has put his unique stamp on mainstream novels like Mother London, King of the City or the Pyat sequence. And he has done the same for fantasy. Before Moorcock, there was nothing like this. After Moorcock, there was a lot like this -- but nothing which really has the flavour of the original, full strength old Master. This Elric book is a gem. I really hadn't expected to like it as much as I did. This really isn't the old mixture as before. This is a refined and intelligent supernatural adventure, full of love, magic and philosophy. It is the familiar Moorcock mix and it doesn't come any headier. This zoomed by and sent me straight back to the first Elric books. If you've never read Elric -- this is a fine place to start. The finest single Elric tale remains Stormbringer! but this runs it a very close second. The dragons are gorgeous, too, and the Nazi theme has more to do with an examination of perverse romanticism (and by extension sword and sorcery fiction) than it has to pointing out who the bad guys of the 1930s were. The great thing about this novel is that you can enjoy it on so many levels and they're all stimulating! Recommended! TT

I have been reading Michael Moorcock's stories since the 1960's. So, I have been through almost every incarnation of the Eternal Champion, as well as many efforts in other directions. I have admired Moorcock not just for his writing abilities, but also for the support and aid that he has given to many other writers. I've never counted money spent on one of his books as wasted, and was looking forward to my first visit with Moorcock in a long time. This time, however, I am lest satisfied with what was delivered. I'm afraid the Eternal Champion has been stretched a bit too thin.

Ostensibly the story is about Ulric von Bek (the last count of Bek), or it's about Elric (the last king of Melnibone) and, maybe, Oona (the last of Elric's line). All of these are albinos, hence the book's subtitle. The first third of the book tells of Ulric and his conflict with the Nazis over a mystic black sword, and the Holy Grail that was once entrusted to his family. The conflict enlarges, and Ulric becomes the means by which Elric can be released from a comatose state. Unfortunately, we are subjected to a host of ruminations and explanations from Ulric's viewpoint. Ulric's lack of narrative skill doesn't interfere in the least with his ability to go on and on pedantically about everything from politics to scenery. But the early story frequently verges on the tedious.

Elric is a moderately better storyteller, but the simple truth is that the overall narration is wooden, as if Moorcock was badly out of practice or has some preaching to do. The plot turns on the albinos' efforts to prevent Ulric's cousin Gaynor from copping all the swords and the Grail, and thus bringing the universe to a sudden and fatal halt. If this sounds a bit too much like many other Moorcock stories, the truth is that there is little to clearly differentiate this tale from those that have gone before other than a lot of material on Nazi superstition and an unusually strong female protagonist.

The book is neither a success nor a failure. I thing some heavy editing could have mat it a much better story. It is, however, a poor introduction for those readers who have never had a chance to make Elric's acquaintance in the old days when the Albino destroyed his home and set out to wander the younger kingdoms. My recommendation is to go back and read the original Elric and Corum stories and let "The Dreamthief's Daughter" rest for now, hopefully to be rescued by the promised sequel.

In his book about heroic fantasy, Wizardy and Wild Romance, Moorcock attacks what he believes is Inkling (Tolkien, Lewis and Co) sentimentalized Christianity, yet Elric is in some ways a far more powerful extension of Christian mythology, like other Gothic hero villains before him, dying essentially for our sins or so that we might live in some kind of harmony! (See Behold the Man and even the Jerry Cornelius books if you don't believe me!). Elric is also a creature for our time because he is a man in transition between cultures, between one value system and another, at a time when we are all having to re-think our value systems and work out how to make them stay functioning in the modern world most of us experience daily. Just as Jerry Cornelius takes on various distinct roles from book to book or story to story, so does the Eternal Champion continue his own quests and struggles in different guises. But the quest is always the same -- a discovery that existing values don't quite fit the bill and that new values must be forged. If that isn't a message for our times, I don't know what is! We have to learn increasingly to hold a decent value system in spite of it not being a conventional one, the kind our grandparents relied on successfully enough -- until Hitler! Hitler changed our world. Some of the changes were ultimately for the better, in our response to try to make sure his like never gained such power again, with the Declaration of Human Rights and other worthwhile advances. Out of evil can be said to have come good. And that is also Moorcock's message -- to judge, but not to judge too quickly. Elric, like many an existentialist before him, discovers his own values, only slowly accepts the values of humanism, rather like a mediaeval man trying to come to terms with the Enlightenment! His story is both apt and universal and that is why his adventures continue to entertain us on so many levels and why Elric's encounter with the Nazi holocaust in this book isn't just a plot device. The Nazis in their corrupted version of Nietzsche believed the strong always triumphed, that it was their destiny to devour the weak. These are the values of Elric's Melnibonean people. They are not his values, but he has yet to find any he can completely accept. He has to discover his own, through his own transcendental adventurings. Moorcock has earned his authority. We know that he considers every theme in his stories and links one book with another often in quite unlikely ways. The argument found in one book is extended or countered in another. You could read The Dreamthief's Daughter straight and never have to know another Elric book, but if you're a big Elric fan -- you have a treat in store! I speak as one who finds most fantasy both unimaginative and unoriginal. This is the cream and if you read no other fantasy this year, you'll be glad you read this one!

When I was growing up there were only Tolkien, Moorcock, Howard and Leiber writing this kind of fantasy and for me Moorcock was always the best, in spite of a certain haste in one or two of the earlier books. Stormbringer has to remain the greatest apocalyptic ending of all time and nobody has ever done better.
But one or two of the 'in-between' books, where Moorcock filled in some of Elric's past, didn't always come up to his best.

Then, from Gloriana and The Warhound and the World's Pain on, we got a different, more thoughtful, far deeper Moorcock which was reflected in the Elric books he started to write in the mid-1980s beginning with The Fortress of the Pearl and then the superb Revenge of the Rose, which is almost Dickensian in its writing and detail, yet still has the dash and splendor of the best early work. Now, with The Dreamthief's Daughter, we see still another maturing and deepening of the Elric myth.

Where most authors would thin down their character, or farm him out (as with Howard, for instance) Moorcock has stayed with him, bringing the wisdom of his non-fantasy books like Mother London and King of the City to the fantasy form. He has not abandoned his love of fantasy and remains as creative and innovative as always, but he has become more thoughtful -- exploring, as in this case, the elements of the form itself. He takes Nazi romanticism and shows how it is attractive and deadly at the same time. He explores Nazi ideas, such as the notion that there is a world below the Earth's surface (the famous 'Hollow Earth' theory) and he even has dragons making a brief, crucial appearance in the Battle of Britain. All this produces, as well as a great dynamic, a series of reflections, which leave you far more satisfied with the book than you are with almost all other modern fantasy and offers the reader something as great as Tolkien, but of an entirely different character.

In brief -- Mr Moorcock doesn't let his readers down. As we mature, so does he. This story, which pulls off some interesting ideas (such as two characters -- Elric and
Ulric von Bek -- inhabiting the same body), is like nothing I've
read before. The next novel, The Skrayling Tree, which will deal with Elric and Ulric in the America of Hiawatha, promises to develop the intellectual strengths of the first book of the new sequence and still keep the action fast and furious. From being one of the leading best-selling fantasy writers of the 70s -- second only to Tolkien -- Moorcock seems to have been swamped by Tolkien imitations and lost his mass readership. The 80s saw him writing mostly literary fiction such as Byzantium Endures and Mother London. But what fantasy he did produce was outstanding, including Gloriana and The Warhound and the World's Pain, both of which won several prizes.
For this reader, at any rate, he remains as original and as powerful a writer as he was when he began, second only to Tolkien in his influence on the genre. I loved this book and was delighted by the respect Mr Moorcock shows his readership by continuously providing us with new, stimulating ideas in the form of our favourite fiction. For readers who want real substance to their fantasy diet -- I enthusiastically recommend this book.

Admiring American models like Cabell and Howard, knowing Lewis, Tolkien, White and Peake personally, with a broad, sophisticated reading taste by the time he was twenty, Michael Moorcock started turning out the Elric stories for fun in the late fifties. Gradually the stories attained an epic density as Moorcock used them to illustrate points he was making in his Aspects of Fantasy
series running in the same magazine which ran Elric stories, as well as J.G.Ballard, Thomas Burnett Swann and many other fine first class literary fantasy writers. And by the time he was twenty one he had created an enduring epic. What we are seeing in a way is work in progress as he adds to and fine tunes the Elric myth into what has been described as the greatest modern work of fantasy. The thing that makes me keep reading, however, is the sheer novelty and depth of each new book. This is definitely the best Elric since Stormbringer, which remains one of the five greatest fantasy books of all time!

Moorcock himself has reminded us in his introductions to the White Wolf editions (themselves a fascinating story of a writer's influences and ambitions over forty years) that his real attraction in the magazines was to science fantasy, tht strange blend of science and magic Leigh Brackett and her fellow wordsmiths turned out so well and featured in Thrilling Wonder Stories, Startling Stories of Planet Stories, side by side with Ray Bradbury and Jack Vance, both of whom were also attracted to that blend of fiction. Moorcock isn't a Tolkienoid fantasy writer precisely because he was as interested in the romance of science as he was in the romance of long-ago. There is little nostalgia, nor any attempt to recreate Tolkien because Moorcock's influences, like his musical influences at the same period, were primarily American -- Cabell, Leiber and Alfred Bester were, like the other writers mentioned, influences and models. He claims to have looked to American models, after Peake and T.H.White, as offering a distinctly different tradition to that represented by the Inklings, with whom he was at odds! To criticise his fantasy for not being like Tolkien, is probably praise to him! My point is that there is always an idea, always a theme, always something to stimulate the intellect as well as the senses in Moorcock, so that his fantasies are distinct largely because he has always used them to explore moral, philosophical and creative problems, usually with a light touch. The touch is light here. I can't see you'd ever have needed to have read another Moorcock book to get straight into this -- a real advantage to Moorcock's oft-claimed 'non-linearity' is that there really isn't a beginning and a middle -- you can jump in anywhere and feel perfectly satisfied by one book -- yet every other book, whether fantasy or literary, expands the ideas and re-examines an argument. Apart from writers like Faulkner, who used the same family members, like Zola and Balzac, I can think of no writer who uses the fantasy medium who has achieved anything close to this remarkable all-encompassing version of his own world, both in reality and in his imagination. It would be great to have some Leigh Brackett and C.L.Moore, as well as Leiber and Vance, to see the tradition Moorcock emerged from and made into something entirely and vastly his own! This is a fine addition to the Eternal Champion sequence and well up to the best Moorcock fantasies.

As has happened before with so many of Michael Moorcock's books I was gasping for air when I was done. Again and again this men surprises me with the way he can make a plot twist, and how he can make different puzzles into one that fits and makes sense! In this book, about every character from the von Bek series is mentioned or drops by in one form or the other. But it doesn't stop there, Oona, the daughter of Elric is introduced and she takes him and Ulric von Bek on a journey through the multiverse to save not only 'our' world but many other worlds and realms.. What I loved most about this book is the way Moorcock describes Elric. Where in the earlier books Elric's internal torment was usually obvious but not really explained other than 'he has feelings unknown to Melniboneans' in this book he takes it a step further and explains how Elric feels about certain things. Especially when he is paired with Von Bek we get to read why Elric does as he does.. So many little questions that were always in the back of my head were answered with this book (Gaynor!!) yet so many new questions were raised.. (a twin?!?) I hope to get these answered soon as well. Until then I will re-re-re-re-re-re-read all of Moorcock's books. Until the end of time..

Once upon a time, Michael Moorcock wrote a whole bunch of fun books centered around the concept of the Eternal Champion, a being who inhabits various incarnations and is in constant conflict with the darker forces of the multiverse. The Eternal Champion went by various names: Hawkmoon, Corum, Erekose and most notably, Elric.

After a while, Moorcock apparently decided to go off in other literary directions. Gone were the fun books; instead, there were more literary works such as Mother London; they may have been good (although I often found them unreadable), but they were not fun. Now, Moorcock has returned to the material that made him famous.

Despite the way this book is marketed, it is not truly an Elric book, but rather the story of Ulric von Bek, an albino German horrified by the rise of Hitler and the Nazis. Ulric, the descendant of other Eternal Champion incarnations, owns a family heirloom called Ravenbrand, a sword that is intimately linked with Elric's Stormbringer. Ulric's struggles against the Nazis, in particular his cousin Gaynor, eventually link him us with Elric as well as other characters who are familiar to Moorcock fans.

This is a pretty good book, but a lot of the old Moorcock magic isn't there. In particular, it moves a lot more slowly than earlier works, which is not surprising, since this is double the length of most of the original Elric stories. In addition, Ulric is not much of a man of action, allowing other characters to take charge throughout the story. Finally, there is a certain detached quality to the writing that makes it hard to empathize with the heroes or loathe the villains.

So there are flaws...Moorcock is not the same writer he was thirty years ago. While more mature, he is also not as fun. But this book still has its pleasures, and they outweigh the faults: for Moorcock fans, this will be a little disappointing but still a good addition to their collection.

Michael Moorcock is best known for his Elric Saga, the first book being "Elric of Melnibone". Several sequels followed, including "Stormbringer", which is considered one of the hundred best fantasy novels ever written.

Before you even open the first page, you know that Michael Moorcock has changed. Most obvious, is the fact that this book is so thick--considering that the previous Elric books were scarcely over a hundred pages. And by looking at the synopsis on the back, you see the Elric story has changed--dramatically. Now, OUR history is caught up in the adventures of Elric, as the Nazis are trying to capture the sword Ravenbrand.

When I first picked this book up, I was very much puzzled and concerned as to how Moorcock would pull it off. Believe me, he pulls it off very nicely and it makes a lot more sense than one would think. For one thing, Michael Moorcock always mentions the Multiverse--where there is not one universe but a myriad of them, and, if you know how, you can go to any of them. The Multiverse is how Elric's universe and ours are able to come together.

No matter what book I read, I have a habit of marking passages that I particularly like. I started reading this book with the intention of not finishing it anytime soon, but after a few pages, I couldn't help but notice how many passages I had marked. This was a good book! Moorcock's writing style has certainly changed. The older Elric stories had the taste of the pulp magazine in them. This book, especially the first half, tastes more of modern-day fiction. It is for that reason that I say that Michael Moorcock has matured. That is a good thing. The better authors don't let themselves get stuck in a rut, following the same boring outlines and formulas.

As for the book itself, the first half takes places primarily in WWII Nazi Germany, with the focus on Ulric von Bek, our universe's equivalent of Elric. Surprisingly, although Elric is most assuredly in this book, the reader will find himself reading more about WWII Germany than ancient Melnibone.

Some of my favorite passages from this book include: "A quintessentially German building. Its sweetness, however, was marred a little when you knew that its name came from the famous witch-burner, Burgermeister Rothmann. In 1667 he had burned twenty-five witches. It was his best year (pg. 97)."

And

" 'Every bloody town begins with an 'H' around here,' he complained. 'I get them mixed up. I think I should have taken a right at Holzminder. Or was it Hoxter? Anyway, it looks as if I overshot my turning. We seem to be halfway to Hamm (pg. 95)."

As you can see, there is even some humor in this book. Most of the other passages I liked were more intellectual, more thought-provoking. But hey, when you're reading a book that deals with such heavy subjects as The Multiverse, a little humor is most welcome.

I give this book 5 stars, but in reality it's more like 4.5 stars. This book does have its slow parts and is not as satisfying overall as "The Eye of the World" by Robert Jordan, or "Tigana" by Guy Gavriel Kay, but it's still an excellent work of fantasy.

I received this as a gift. I don't know what I expected, but it certainly wasn't this rich, intelligent, endlessly inventive tapestry. I started it meaning to read a chapter, to get the flavor, and finished it at four in the morning!! I'm going to start reading the series. If they're all this great, I have a lot of fun in store! I didn't have to have read any of the other books to enjoy this, but if reading more books makes this series expand -- it deserves its reputation! What can I say ? I'm in love with Elric!!!