Title: The Swords of Corum
Author: Michael Moorcock This edition brings together the three short novels of The Swords of Corum series. They can be classified as pure adventure fantasy without much difficulty. Each novel chronicles the progress of Prince Corum, a noble hero of ancient "Vadhagh" blood travels through worlds and across planes of existence where the laws of nature and time are manipulated by willful and indifferent powers. All mortal creatures are the playthings of various Gods and their henchmen; worlds are created and decimated in order to satisfy their aesthetic whims. Plains of endless lava and hellfire are ringed by seas of ice and a forlorn giant scours the sea floor for his lost treasure. Armed with two dark and mysterious gifts Prince Corum seeks vengeance for the gruesome fate of his family. He ends up in battle with the Gods themselves. Moorcock weaves his characters around a complex tale revolving around order and chaos, meaning and fancy, with a general focus on the cruel indifference of immortals to the fate of the creatures they create. His project is ambitious, but not entirely successful. The story cries out for richer descriptions and more involving, interesting characters. Much of the action is driven by dialogue, yet there's nothing that distinguishes the presence of any one character from any other. Moorcock works within a fairly barren fictive landscape – every movement of the text, every description, seems purely plot driven. The result is that his main narrative themes are hinted towards but never fully embodied. It's rare that I would ask for more description in a fantasy novel, but Moorcock makes the importance of setting the scene and creating the mood painfully obvious through this deficit. He skims through the action at an incredible pace, pausing only long enough to let us know details that will later be relevant. It's tantalising, but not in a good way – it feels like there could have been a really great story here, but Moorcock hasn't done enough with his ideas. It feels unfinished and unexplained. There are, however, some fantastically imaginative moments - Moorcock's description of Arioch, the Duke of Chaos, is grotesque and completely enthralling. Such isolated pieces of inspired writing make this book readable for those who appreciate this genre. Avid fans of this author or genre might well get a kick out of it. For my taste though there just isn’t enough to chew on.
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