(2001) Michael Moorcock, Earthlight, £16.99, hrdbk, pp342, ISBN 0-684-861313-3
The World is not as it seems, or at least Moorcock is determined to prove that.
For Satan knows how many years the man has been spewing out more and more fantastic works with considerable commercial success. I suppose it is so easy to label all of this as "weird", because he continues (especially recently) to merge fantasy and mysticism with history, but then innovators will be innovators. Yes, he's doing it again!
Elric meets von Bek. Moorcock writes as well as anyone in the 20th Century and with this superb blend of fantasy, history and mysticism, he will continue to appeal to his fans if only for the expectation of future meetings of fantasy characters with historical characters or our contemporaries (whatever they're called).
Synopsis: A von Bek heir (sceptical about all mysticism) runs from the Third Reich who want the Holy Grail from him. Much fantasy, beautiful Underworlds, Stormtroopers versus Eternal Cities and a glorious flight to Scotland by plane (Elric loved it!); and the tale is told.
Moorcock only ran to 342 pages; I wanted more!
Graham Connor
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