From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. In British author Moorcock's latest installment in an epic fantasy saga that began in 1965, Prince Gaynor the Damned and his sidekick, Klosterheim, plot the end of the created universe and try to capture a 12-year-old English girl, Oonagh von Bek, to attain their ends. The Dreamthief's daughter, Oona (who's Oonagh's grandmother); Elric of Melniboné; and others who constantly fight to restore, maintain and sometimes destroy the Cosmic Balance seek to protect the girl and, eventually, another youngster kin to Elric and Oona. Told from the viewpoint of young Oonagh and filtered through her later adult perspective, the adventure starts in Yorkshire then spans the multiverse and several versions of Mirenburg to reach its climax in the Dark Empire of Granbretan. Informative philosophizing by various characters adds to, rather than impedes, the complex and entertaining plot. In lesser hands such intrusions as Una Persson's spiel on Elric's Dream of a Thousand Years probably wouldn't work, but from the ever original, vastly influential Moorcock (
The Dreamthief's Daughter), they only enhance a triumph of mature talent and imagination.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From School Library Journal
Adult/High School–In the 1960s, Moorcock created Elric of Melniboné, an albino elf who is as much a blood-lusting villain as a hero. Over the years, he has created other eternal champions, each of whom fights to maintain the delicate balance between good and evil. This story belongs primarily to Oonaugh, a distant relative of Elric's who lives in modern-day England. The 12-year-old's normal lifestyle shatters when Prince Gaynor the Damned and his assistant, Klosterheim, attempt to kidnap her. She avoids their plots but falls into a Lewis Carroll-inspired alternate reality populated by sentient houses and foxes that quote Robespierre. As she travels through different realities, readers learn that Gaynor and Klosterheim believe she is an essential piece of their plot to destroy the multiverse and re-create it in their own horrible image. Elric, his daughter, and a host of others who protect the Cosmic Balance seek to defend her. Numerous eternal champions, references to Moorcock's works, and no small bit of philosophy make this a detailed and deeply involved book. While these aspects will appeal to fans, they create a barrier for newcomers. The author does an admirable job trying to clue those readers in to the backstory, but it gets a little overbearing if one is reading for pure action. Not to fear. Moorcock develops political plots aplenty, and the climactic scene spins more thrills than almost anything else the author has penned. This fresh, fabulous book shows what an artist dedicated to his vision can create in the often worn-out epic fantasy genre.
–Matthew L. Moffett, Northern Virginia Community College, Annandale Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
