About Me

My photo
I have a burning need to know stuff and I love asking awkward questions.

Saturday, February 03, 2007

Just Finished Reading: The Dreamthief’s Daughter by Michael Moorcock

In early 1930’s Germany Count Ulric Von Bek is approached by agents of the Nazi party eager to examine and confiscate objects that have been in his family for generations. One is reputed to be the Holy Grail itself, the other is an ancient black sword reputed to have enormous magical power. When Ulric refuses to part with them he is arrested and thrown in a concentration camp where he is beaten and tortured. As he becomes convinced that he cannot survive much longer he is rescued by a British secret agent and a mysterious white haired woman. So begins Ulric’s adventures as he plays his part in an increasingly fantastical battle between Law and Chaos throughout the Multiverse.

Back in my youth I used to be a huge Moorcock fan and have read many of his books. I was particularly fond of his Elric stories and for a time there dreamed of having a flowing cascade of pure white hair. Unfortunately this book failed to live up to my memory of his earlier works. It certainly started well enough but as soon as the action moved away from the ‘real’ world into a fantasy one I found it increasingly difficult to maintain much of an interest in the story or the characters. What irked me most about the writing was that it was just so lazy both in style and execution. Far too many rabbits were being pulled out of far too many hats in order to save the heroes from increasingly impossible positions. Sure it was a fantasy novel – but there has to be some rules to maintain a credible storyline. Moorcock provided few (if any) in this book. Needless to say the other two books in the trilogy are no longer on my Amazon Wish List. Very disappointing.

6 comments:

OldLady Of The Hills said...

I am unfamiliar with this writer and these stories....Yiu make it sound very very interesting and something that might have made a GOOD film with sequels...(Wonder why that never happened?)
Ithe new ones won't be on my wish list either, from what you say....lol!
I couldn't find you till today...!
I will change yout address on my Blogroll now hat CQ has fixed her link!
I got worried that you retired from blogging...which would have been a big loss!

CyberKitten said...

Hey Naomi...

It's odd that a few people have mentioned some difficulty in finding me. I guess that it's something that Blogger has done... and I haven't even been forced onto new Blogger yet [grin].

Thank you for your kind comments.

dbackdad said...

I've always meant to read Moorcock but never got around to it. I guess I've been always been more of a hard sci-fi guy than a fantasy one ... though the book you describe sounds a bit different than the standard fantasy fare.

I'm hitting the huge annual VNSA Used Book Sale this weekend and have been sifting through your blog posts to get some of the authors that you've recommended. When looking at a half million books at a sale, it's a good idea to go in with some kind of game plan.

Skywolf said...

Shame. I'd always heard that Moorcock was quite good, although I've never read anything of his.

CyberKitten said...

dbackdad said: I guess I've been always been more of a hard sci-fi guy than a fantasy one.

Me too, though I like to read different stuff from time to time. I'm actually reading a hard Fantasy novel ATM - which is kind of odd as they have a technolgical society based on magic...

That book fair sounds awesome. I'm almost salivating thinking about it - not that I actually *need* any more books right now! [grin].

skywolf said: I'd always heard that Moorcock was quite good, although I've never read anything of his.

He is - normally - at least as far as I can remember. Either he wasn't as good as I thought or this is an unusually bad example of his work - IMO of course.

JR said...

Terry Brooks and John Grisham began annoying me with their lazy writing in their later books too. It's always a disappointment if you know what they're capable of and they don't rise to the bar.