The Dreamthief's Daughter: A Tale of the Albino

by Michael Moorcock

Book Overview

The first new "Eternal Champion" novel in ten years and a major fantasy publishing event, "The Dreamthief's Daughter" continues the highly successful Elrick Saga. The Count Ulric von Bek meets a... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0446611204
• ISBN13: 9780446611206
• Release Date: June 2002
• Publisher: Warner Books (NY)
• Length: 480 Pages
• Weight: 0.54 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 4.6" x 6.7"

Customer Reviews

As great as Tolkien, but different.

When I was growing up there were only Tolkien, Moorcock, Howard and Leiber writing this kind of fantasy and for me Moorcock was always the best, in spite of a certain haste in one or two of the earlier books. Stormbringer has to remain the greatest apocalyptic ending of all time and nobody has ever done better.But one or two of the 'in-between' books, where Moorcock filled in some of Elric's past, didn't always come up to his best. Then, from Gloriana and The Warhound and the World's Pain on, we got a different, more thoughtful, far deeper Moorcock which was reflected in the Elric books he started to write in the mid-1980s beginning with The Fortress of the Pearl and then the superb Revenge of the Rose, which is almost Dickensian in its writing and detail, yet still has the dash and splendor of the best early work. Now, with The Dreamthief's Daughter, we see still another maturing and deepening of the Elric myth. Where most authors would thin down their character, or farm him out (as with Howard, for instance) Moorcock has stayed with him, bringing the wisdom of his non-fantasy books like Mother London and King of the City to the fantasy form. He has not abandoned his love of fantasy and remains as creative and innovative as always, but he has become more thoughtful -- exploring, as in this case, the elements of the form itself. He takes Nazi romanticism and shows how it is attractive and deadly at the same time. He explores Nazi ideas, such as the notion that there is a world below the Earth's surface (the famous 'Hollow Earth' theory) and he even has dragons making a brief, crucial appearance in the Battle of Britain. All this produces, as well as a great dynamic, a series of reflections, which leave you far more satisfied with the book than you are with almost all other modern fantasy and offers the reader something as great as Tolkien, but of an entirely different character. In brief -- Mr Moorcock doesn't let his readers down. As we mature, so does he. This story, which pulls off some interesting ideas (such as two characters -- Elric andUlric von Bek -- inhabiting the same body), is like nothing I'veread before. The next novel, The Skrayling Tree, which will deal with Elric and Ulric in the America of Hiawatha, promises to develop the intellectual strengths of the first book of the new sequence and still keep the action fast and furious. From being one of the leading best-selling fantasy writers of the 70s -- second only to Tolkien -- Moorcock seems to have been swamped by Tolkien imitations and lost his mass readership. The 80s saw him writing mostly literary fiction such as Byzantium Endures and Mother London. But what fantasy he did produce was outstanding, including Gloriana and The Warhound and the World's Pain, both of which won several prizes. For this reader, at any rate, he remains as original and as powerful a writer as he was when he began, second only to Tolkien in his influence on the genre. I loved this book a

Two of fantasy's great characters, together--don't miss this

Anyone picking up this novel hoping for a mindless fantasy romp featuring their beloved Elric should be forwarned: Elric is the featured hero in less than half of the book. The true protagonist is Count Ulric von Bek, who becomes embroiled in a chase across several planes in the multiverse in his attempt to thwart the destruction of his beloved Germany by Adolf Hitler and his minions. In this, his latest novel, Michael Moorcock continues to examine many of the same themes that have concerned him in previous novels. Moorcock has done much research on Nazi Germany, and infuses the early chapters of the book with fascinating glimpses into the ways in which otherwise rational men convinced themselves that Nazism wasn't so bad. Bringing von Bek together with Elric about halfway through the book, Moorcock proves that he is still one of the masters of fantasy writing. Various incarnations of Stormbringer fight impossible forces against fantastic backdrops, as Moorcock displays his virtuosity. As you read, you can almost feel the author's delight in creating new foes, finding new ways to describe battles, confronting his protagonists with new situations, and juxtaposing ideas in previously unimagined ways. The words seem to blast across the pages, flowing and writhing just as do the runes on Elric's sword. I can think of no other fantasy writer who can with such ease conjure whole new worlds in a mere paragraph, describe bloody battles in which the hero simultaneously kills and mourns, and make the reader care so much for his characters. If you enjoy the Elric stories, this novel is a must-read. If you like what you read here, be sure to go and get the other Von Bek novels, which are great reads, too.

A Perfect Hero for Our Times

In his book about heroic fantasy, Wizardy and Wild Romance, Moorcock attacks what he believes is Inkling (Tolkien, Lewis and Co) sentimentalized Christianity, yet Elric is in some ways a far more powerful extension of Christian mythology, like other Gothic hero villains before him, dying essentially for our sins or so that we might live in some kind of harmony! (See Behold the Man and even the Jerry Cornelius books if you don't believe me!). Elric is also a creature for our time because he is a man in transition between cultures, between one value system and another, at a time when we are all having to re-think our value systems and work out how to make them stay functioning in the modern world most of us experience daily. Just as Jerry Cornelius takes on various distinct roles from book to book or story to story, so does the Eternal Champion continue his own quests and struggles in different guises. But the quest is always the same -- a discovery that existing values don't quite fit the bill and that new values must be forged. If that isn't a message for our times, I don't know what is! We have to learn increasingly to hold a decent value system in spite of it not being a conventional one, the kind our grandparents relied on successfully enough -- until Hitler! Hitler changed our world. Some of the changes were ultimately for the better, in our response to try to make sure his like never gained such power again, with the Declaration of Human Rights and other worthwhile advances. Out of evil can be said to have come good. And that is also Moorcock's message -- to judge, but not to judge too quickly. Elric, like many an existentialist before him, discovers his own values, only slowly accepts the values of humanism, rather like a mediaeval man trying to come to terms with the Enlightenment! His story is both apt and universal and that is why his adventures continue to entertain us on so many levels and why Elric's encounter with the Nazi holocaust in this book isn't just a plot device. The Nazis in their corrupted version of Nietzsche believed the strong always triumphed, that it was their destiny to devour the weak. These are the values of Elric's Melnibonean people. They are not his values, but he has yet to find any he can completely accept. He has to discover his own, through his own transcendental adventurings. Moorcock has earned his authority. We know that he considers every theme in his stories and links one book with another often in quite unlikely ways. The argument found in one book is extended or countered in another. You could read The Dreamthief's Daughter straight and never have to know another Elric book, but if you're a big Elric fan -- you have a treat in store! I speak as one who finds most fantasy both unimaginative and unoriginal. This is the cream and if you read no other fantasy this year, you'll be glad you read this one!

What better title than: Read this book!

As has happened before with so many of Michael Moorcock's books I was gasping for air when I was done. Again and again this men surprises me with the way he can make a plot twist, and how he can make different puzzles into one that fits and makes sense! In this book, about every character from the von Bek series is mentioned or drops by in one form or the other. But it doesn't stop there, Oona, the daughter of Elric is introduced and she takes him and Ulric von Bek on a journey through the multiverse to save not only 'our' world but many other worlds and realms.. What I loved most about this book is the way Moorcock describes Elric. Where in the earlier books Elric's internal torment was usually obvious but not really explained other than 'he has feelings unknown to Melniboneans' in this book he takes it a step further and explains how Elric feels about certain things. Especially when he is paired with Von Bek we get to read why Elric does as he does.. So many little questions that were always in the back of my head were answered with this book (Gaynor!!) yet so many new questions were raised.. (a twin?!?) I hope to get these answered soon as well. Until then I will re-re-re-re-re-re-read all of Moorcock's books. Until the end of time..

Moorcock is superb

Through his long career, every form that Michael Moorcock has touched he has changed. Science Fiction was never the same again after New Worlds. The space story was changed through The Black Corridor and Behold the Man examined religion. He has put his unique stamp on mainstream novels like Mother London, King of the City or the Pyat sequence. And he has done the same for fantasy. Before Moorcock, there was nothing like this. After Moorcock, there was a lot like this -- but nothing which really has the flavour of the original, full strength old Master. This Elric book is a gem. I really hadn't expected to like it as much as I did. This really isn't the old mixture as before. This is a refined and intelligent supernatural adventure, full of love, magic and philosophy. It is the familiar Moorcock mix and it doesn't come any headier. This zoomed by and sent me straight back to the first Elric books. If you've never read Elric -- this is a fine place to start. The finest single Elric tale remains Stormbringer! but this runs it a very close second. The dragons are gorgeous, too, and the Nazi theme has more to do with an examination of perverse romanticism (and by extension sword and sorcery fiction) than it has to pointing out who the bad guys of the 1930s were. The great thing about this novel is that you can enjoy it on so many levels and they're all stimulating! Recommended! TT