I read this absolute banger of early Moorcock today.
Well worth the read, I'll have to read the previous two books.
As ever, here is my Good, Bad, and Ugly.
GOOD
Here we see the prototype of Moorcock's soulsearching champion. Kane regrets killing others (which he also does a LOT of), sees the humanity even in captors, enemies, and the insane or sick, and has a very philosophical view of human nature and behaviour. Unlike Elric, he is optimistic and wary of the 'magic' of ancient technology.
BAD
Not so much bad as meh, but Moorcock is still finding his feet describing action. The melees are vague, and he will focus on a detail, such as a stinging cut on the arm that has to be bandaged later and seems to portend it is infected or worse, but which goes nowhere. Contrast this to the economy of description of fights in Hawkmoon and Elric and you can see he is cutting his teeth.
UGLY
There are a few references to notions of 'man and woman' that are outdated and could be taken as misogynist. I prefer to think they are just mistakes of a young man, and considering the catwoman heroine, and that Kane's wife is just as intelligent and valued in the council of nobles, and this can be forgiven.
VERDICT
Definitely add it to your collection if you are a Moorcock fan. I'll have to pick up the previous entries in the series, and maybe actually read Jon Carter at some point.
No comments:
Post a Comment