The Knight Of The Swords
Michael Moorcock
Titan Books, May 5 2015, $9.95
www.titanbooks.com
ISBN: 9781783291656
As the Mabden begins its ascendancy due to
overwhelming hordes; the Vadhagh live in their family community castles on
Bro-an Vadhagh and their enemy the Nhadragh reside in their cities on
islands. Both ignore any threat from
these upstart cattle; as for instance if anyone bothered to capture a specimen,
they either would experiment or lock it away in a menagerie. Instead when these ancient races are not
internally focused, they concentrate on their million years of loathing for one
another.
Vadhagh Prince Khlonskey worries about family
extinction; as the Castle Erorn clan diminished from several hundred occupants
to the present dozen. He disregards
rumors of the sheep Mabden overrunning castles as impossible. Instead Khlonskey assigns his son Prince
Corum to seek their race to join them in his family home. Instead a massacre of those he came to
persuade at the hands of the Mabden greets Corum; followed by his mutilation at
their hands and the deaths of his kin.
Once Law-abiding, the insane Corum seeks vengeance; so he barters his
soul with Shool the Eye of Rhynn sorcerer to give him the power to take his
personal war to the Lords of Chaos manipulators of the Mabden horde, starting
with the Knight of the Swords.
This reprint of the 1971 first winner of the British
Fantasy Awards for best novel (with the five sequels to follow) focuses on a
raging certifiable protagonist who believes revenge is the only dish left for
him to serve. The storyline remains
entertaining though the hero’s allies (sidekick, odd rescuer and lover) fail
the test of four plus decades. Still
this dark coming of age epic is an enjoyable opening act.
Harriet Klausner
No comments:
Post a Comment