The King of Swords
Michael Moorcock
Titan Books, Jul 7 2015, $9.95
www.titanbooks.com
ISBN: 9781783291694
War weary and still with no respite to grieve the
deaths of his family and his people from the Mabden massacre and too aware of
the loss of fifteen planes to Chaos, Vadhagh Prince Corum knows it is not
over. Instead the Eternal Champion
realizes the victories by him and his allies on the side of Law against The
Queen of the Swords and The Knight of the Swords are
preliminaries before the main event. He,
his wife Rhalina and their companion Jhary the Conel must confront the enemy
leader King of the Swords Mabelode the Faceless on their deadly adversary’s
turf.
Instead of a direct assault, Mabelode uses
subterfuge to defeat his foe. His
supporters release a sorcery-created airborne toxin into the Eternal Champion’s
encampment. This leads to mistrust and
rage as friends fight to the death.
Desperate Corum accompanied by Rhalina and Jhary enter the conquered
planes to confront and kill Mabelode; but the Eternal Champion quickly
concludes they cannot succeed without help.
Corum recruits other Eternal Champions to join him on a dangerous Hail Mary to save the remaining planes from Chaos
and its invincible King of Swords.
The reprint of the third Corum Swords and sorcery
fantasy is a terrific climax to an enjoyable trilogy as this Eternal Champion
must control his need for vengeance in order to vanquish an unbeatable opponent
who unlike his defeated comrades uses cunning rather than direct attacks. Extremely fast-paced from start to finish,
this reprint of a British Fantasy Awards for best novel is a fabulous finish.
Harriet Klausner
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