Customer Reviews

Jewel In The Skull

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Michael Moorcock, The Jewel in The Skull (DAW 1977)

Moorcock's Jewel In The Skull is the first book in the runestaff series of novels. Unlike most fantasy tales this story takes place thousands of years in Earth's future. For some reason not described in the book, western civilization collapsed during a period known as the Tragic Millennium. During this time modern civilization was replaced by a new feudalism very similar to the system that dominated Europe during the Middle Ages. Magic is in use and plays an important role in society and the landscape is populated by many strange, monstrous creatures.The continent of Europe is now divided into many micro kingdoms. Modern advanced technology has disappeared and has been replaced by Iron Age technology and weapons.

The one exception to this rule is the evil empire of Granbretan which is a totalitarian state located on the island of Great Britain. Granbretan's technology is slightly more advanced than that which is in use on the continent. For example the Granbretans have flying machines. The Granbretans have used this tech advantage to conquer the very fractionalized nations of Europe and place them under their harsh yoke. One of Granbretan's leaders, Baron Meliadus attempts to use the book's hero, Dorian Hawkmoon in an attempt to avenge the insult dealt to him by another of the books main characters, Count Brass. Hawkmoon is another of Moorcock's Eternal Champions, the metaphysically related heroes who populate many of Moorcock's novels.

Throughout this book Hawkmoon leads an army in battle, fights monsters and duels against mighty foes. The Hawkmoon character is very different as compared to Elric. Hawkmoon isn't as dark a character as Elric. He fights to liberate is country and free his people. In this sense Hawkmoon is more of a traditional Fantasy hero. This book is a sample of Moorcock's earlier work and as such lacks some of the literary subtleness that I have come to love in his later works. The characters seem to be more standard in nature and somewhat predictable in behavior. Despite this however Moorcock demonstrates once again his mastery of the English language and as a result one finds it difficult to put the book down.

I must admit that I am not very comfortable with the idea of a futuristic iron age. I guess it's just my 21st century mind refusing to accept the idea of a society without electric lights and super highways. If one needs to write a tale of medieval fantasy then why not place it in the middle ages where it belongs ? Never the less, The Jewel in The Skull is a wonderful book and I look forward to reading the other books in this saga.

_Then the Earth grew old, its landscapes mellowing and showing signs of age, its ways becoming whimsical and strange in the manner of a man in his last years_

So begins the first of Michael Moorcock's four-part series, History of the Runestaff, a pulp adventure set in a far-flung future Europe, where high technology is all but a memory and fedalistic empires wage bloody wars across the lands. The greatest, most blood-mad of these empires, Granbretan, has by the start of the book nearly overrun all the western nations; only the Kamarg, home province of the mighty Count Brass, holds out. Baron Meliadus, Granbretan's most successful general, rather than choosing to attack the province directly, devises a plot to wheedle his way into Castle Brass in order to abduct Brass's daughter, Yisselda, and hold her to ransom. Learning of the plot, the Count drives Meliadus from his lands with a strict warning never to return. Meliadus (not a chap to take things lying down) vows upon the sacred Runestaff that by hook or by crook he will... get... his... revenge...

By this time of course we're well into the meat of the tale. There's already an encounter with a slime-monster, mutant flamingos, laser towers and beast-masked freakos before we even _get_ to the main hero of the tale. And that's not the end of it. Brain-sucking jewels, giant midgets, thousand year old fetuses in jars -- there's no denying Moorcock's imagination is in full flight here. He writes with a furious energy, flinging off ideas left right and center. Shame then that the hero in question, Duke Dorian Hawkmoon of Koln, is somewhat bland. It's not that he's boring. Rather, he's just not unique enough to stand out amidst such weird settings with any degree of authority. Supporting characters aren't much better, being in most instances mere sword-arms with amusing quips to bring up as required. But not to matter. This is pulp, and it ticks all the right boxes. There are noble heroes, winsome beauties and fiendish villains. Events move thick and fast. Battles occur almost every other chapter. Plenty of exotic locales too -- from the marshlands of southern France to the steppes of Russia to the deserts of Persia -- in which to involve our heroes as they battle to save the day. Excitement we're promised and excitement we get.

Of course as with most of Moorcock's work there's a little more going on behind the scenes. The Runestaff itself, with its imparting of a fixed destiny upon those who invoke it, is an interesting concept (though one which isn't really expanded upon in this or any of the subsequent books). Likewise, the Warrior in Jet and Gold, with his enigmatic spoutings of chaos and law, of champions maintaining the balance of the Universe, echoes themes that recur throughout much of his later work. It's not terribly deep stuff, mind, but it does serve to provide a bit of philosophical fluff to what are, essentially, boy's own adventures.

Anyway, check this out. It's short, clocking in at a little over 150 pages, and a lot of fun. Also, unlike many fantasy series today, all four of these books can be more or less read apart; so if they're not your cup of tea you can stop here without feeling like you've wasted your time on yet another neverending story.

I've had very mixed feelings about Moorcock. I remember enjoying the Runestaff series as a young teen, but being really turned off by the ugly prurience of some later book of his I read. I was actually expecting to find nothing but tripe upon rereading this book, but have to admit it wasn't too bad. Sure the characters are stereotypical, but this is quite conscious and deliberate. The world is hardly as richly and deeply painted as the Middle Earth, but then again, which other world is? It's a workable distant future, and the feel of the settings isn't too far from that of Leiber's Swords series (a comparison Moorcock would be happy with), as is the sense that there are whimsically enigmatic and powerful forces tooling about with our protagonist.
 
He also rights some classic annoying conventions of fantasy - a bit like having someone re-shoot a roadrunner/coyote cartoon when the insufferable bird finally gets what's coming to him. One is that when the hero has a virtual spy camera planted in his forehead, the supposedly intelligent goodies who are being spied on don't just fall for it or wring their hands at the problem. Rather they do what the reader has done - establish that it only does vision, not sound, and have some good conversations in the dark in working out how to deal with it. Another is that a thousand year old character manages to lose his life relatively easily - something that happens far too often in fantasy - yet Moorcock at least has the consistency have him mystically return to life: how else has he survived this long unless he's got the hang of resurrection or got better survival techniques? And finally he sets up the standard mutually attracted hero and heroine who just can't seem to speak their feelings - and rather than spin this out for a book (or several) with increasingly implausible reasoning, the girl has the sense to make her feelings abundantly clear the night before the hero is liable to head off on a doomed quest. Ahhh. The way Hawkmoon meets his offsider is also nice - ironic, humorous, realistic, anti-climactic.
 
Sure, it's pulp, but pulp without a lot of annoying gritty bits you often have to suffer (pulp without the pulp if you like).
 
Maybe I've been nicer than it deserves because my expectations were so low.
 
Maybe not (I'll give Volume 2 another look anyway).

The vigor and richness of the writing, the ironic sub-texts and use of current political and entertainment figures of the day, the fact that each of the four books in the series took three days to write (i.e. the whole thing took twelve days) and were not taken with any great seriousness by the author, make these the first and the best. David Eddings, Robert Jordan and the rest simply don't have the raw genius to produce throw-away books of this quality. Moorcock wrote these, like the Kane novels, as an homage to his childhood pulp enthusiasms and they have inspired rafts and rafts of imitators. This is the first book of the set now generally available as HAWKMOON, which are nice editions and rather better value than buying the books individually. They are also introduced and lightly revised by Moorcock who has said many times that these early fantasy books were like the early days of rock and roll -- you were experimenting as you worked and your main job was to keep the audience dancing. Hawkwind and their Chronicles albums came out of this series, too. However many authors have taken their buckets to Moorcock's well, they can never drain him of his originality, his vitality and his sheer, glorious intelligence.

I enjoyed this book very much. It grabbed me from from the start and I couldn't put it down. Moorcock creates a fascinating society in decadent Granbretan and sweeps you along with his vivid writing. Very reminiscent of the Elric series, only not as dark. Try it!

It's the first volume in Moorcock's "Runestaff" series. And after reading this, I haven't been encouraged to pursue it any further. Part of the problem is characterization. Apart from lead character Dorian Hawkmoon and sadistic villain Baron Meliadus, the characters are shallow and simply not interesting. The long introductory exposition at the beginning concerning the rivalry between Count Brass and Baron Meliadus is dreary. Moorcock's portrayal of Count Brass as some sort of superhero with virtually no infallibilities (I mean, even Superman had Kryptonite) turns him into a fairly boring character. The most intriguing part of the book is the surrealistic middle part, chronicling Baron Meliadus implanting the brain-eating jewel in Dorian Hawkmoon's skull to force him to do his bidding, and Hawkmoon's dealing with the aftermath. Unfortunately, the book's ending is predictable, almost like a sitcom...with a big battle scene and most (if not all) of the loose ends tied up. Oh well, if you don't mind a no-brain adventure novel in which you have to take many things with a big grain of salt (e.g.: a big battle in which one side suffers no losses), then this may be the book for you. I myself do plan to check out one of the Elric novels, as I've heard many recommendations. But if it turns out to be as bad as "The Jewel In The Skull", you'd have to force me at gunpoint to read another Moorcock novel.

Michael Moorcock, The Jewel in the Skull (DAW, 1967)

Dorian Hawkmoon, the last Duke of Koln, is another of Moorcock's instances of the Eternal Champion. Hawkmoon's tales are especially amusing, as the world on which Hawkmoon adventures is the nearest allegory to the world we know in Moorcock's sword-and-sorcery writing.

Count Brass, protector of the south-Provence country of Kamarg, is content to be left in peace in his castle as the Dark Empire sweeps down over Europe from the island nation of Granbretan. His neutrality is questioned by an emissary from Granbretan, Baron Meliadus. While Meliadus is at Brass' castle, he falls in love with Brass' daughter Yisselda, and attempts to kidnap her. Meliadus is forcibly ejected from the Kamarg, and begins to plot revenge.

That's where Hawkmoon enters the story, but to say how would be to spoil the fun. Read it for yourself.

The Hawkmoon novels are, of the "classic" Eternal Champion books (Elric, Corum, Hawkmoon, John Daker, and Erekose), those which best approach the brilliance of the Elric series. Where the problems lie in the DAW editions are in the pervasive and annoying typographical errors. Someone at DAW was asleep at the wheel the day The Jewel in the Skull landed on their desk. Hardly a page goes by without an ugly typo that, if the reader is skimming, will change the meaning of a sentence. Very sloppy work from the publisher. Unfortunately, Murphy's Law dictates that the better the book, the more likely this sort of thing is to happen. And make no mistake, The Jewel in the Skull is a very good book. Would that it had been treated as such by its publisher. *** ½

It's a 3 1/2 story but I gave it 4 stars as I felt some of the reviewers were too harsh.

OVERALL FEELING: Evil Empire trying to take over an alternative European world; standard pulp swords and sorcery; easy read; somewhat good; few interesting points; some interesting characters; some are caricatures; flows well.

MARKETING APPEAL: This story came about in the 60s, I believe, when pulp sci fi magazines were a big thing; I doubt it made a lot of money at first but the Eternal Champion, most notably Elric and Corum, were a popular series. Remember, this was during a time when fantasy was just getting some notice but mostly in pulp magazines. Besides Tolkien and Le Sprague de Camp and a handful of others, there weren't that many.

SCORING: Superb (A), Excellent (A-), Very good (B+), Good (B) Fairly Good (B-) Above Average (C+), Mediocre (C ), Barely Passable (C-) Pretty Bad (D+), Dismal (D), Waste of Time (D-), Into the Trash (F)

DIALOGUE: B STRUCTURE: B- HISTORY SETTING: C CHARACTERS: B EVIL SETUP/ANTAGONISTS: B- EMOTIONAL IMPACT: C+ SURPRISES: B- MONSTERS: B- PACING: B+ THE LITTLE THINGS: B OVERALL STYLE: B- FLOW OF WORDS: B CHOICE OF FOCUS: B- TRANSITIONS/FLASHBACKS/POV: B- COMPLEXITY OF WORDS/SYMBOLISM/THEMES: B-

OVERALL GRADE: B-

CONCEPT: The idea of a technologically mixed Eurpean area, which exists thousands of years into the future, is an interesting one. During the 60s to 70s one could easily believe the world was destroyed by nuclear warheads and the results ended up in a future medieval Europe with magic and technology. Archetypes are heavy (see below for more details) . . . at its time, it was quite original.

CHARACTERS: they're average to very good.

DIALOGUE: Again, as character introspection is rare in this tale, it's reflected, to some degree, in dialogue. See the CHARACTER section on this point. Overall, the dialogue flowed well and the characters sounded somewhat different. But, no one stood out exceptionally like in better series like that of GRRM or even lesser ones like Kate Elliot's THE KING'S DRAGON.

PACING: The book is sparse to begin with; only 160 pages . . . but it moves quick. I think the pacing is great. Of course, the pacing is so good b/c Moorcock doesn't give us a lot of details. Everything is brief . . . succinct . . . he should be writing scripts. Sometimes though; I'd like more details. Have to be fair here in comparison to authors who have meatier texts; 160 pages; it's easier to move fast compared to 900 pages as the typical epic fantasy. Back when Moorcock was writing, novels were shorter and would be considered almost novelettes today. By the 70s and 80s the fantasy novels shot up to 400 or 500 pages. Since RJ's WHEEL OF TIME series, the novels have shot up to 800 pages or so per book.

FAVORITE DESCRIPTIVE PASSAGE: "The castle was built of the same white stone as the houses of the town. It had windows of thick glass (much of it painted fancifully) and ornate towers and battlements of delicate workmanship."

"The Baron was almost as tall as Count Brass. He was dressed in gleaming black and dark blue. Even his jeweled animal mask, which covered the whole of his head like a helmet, was of some strange black metal with deep blue sapphires for eyes."

OPENING PASSAGE: "Count Brass, Lord Guardian of Kamarg, rode out on a horned horse one morning to inspect his territories. He rode until he came to a little hill, on the top of which stood a ruin of immense age. It was the ruin of a Gothic church whose walls of thick stone were smooth with the passing of winds and rain. Ivy clad much of it, and the amber blossoms filled the dark windows, substitute for the stained glass that had once decorated them.

FLAWS: Not enough character introspection . . . most of the characters were archetypes so the emotional arcs were less than say in his ELRIC series where the character is far more developed and emphatic. Again, give it some latitude, as I believe he wrote this out in pieces for magazines. Quite different from the expected fantasy novel of today. OVERALL STYLE: Again, he's succinct. One thing I really like is Moorcock's narrative approach; he'll sometimes jump in as a narrator to explain things; sort of like Tolkien's THE HOBBIT but not quite as much. He also has a setup at each chapter to sort of lay down the setting.

THE LITTLE THINGS: Moorcock's division of the Evil Empire into jeweled masked faces in the shapes of different animals was interesting . .. pig, wolf, mantis, etc. The mix of technology with magic made for some interesting fights and events.

COMMENTS: Apparently, Moorcock was never big on Tolkien so he took the opposite approach in his works; far darker; less details; more gore; not as happy.

Dorian Hawkmoon is the Eternal Champion. The Runestaff is the key to overthrowing the enemies of his people, so Hawkmoon must try and find it, with his fellow adventurers.

However, the evil lurks within him as well, in the form of the Jewel in the Skull, and this Jewel must be detected and removed before they will get anywhere.