City of the Beast

by Michael Moorcock

Book Overview

Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion returns as Kane of Old Mars, a brilliant American physicist whose strange experiments in matter transmission catapult him across space and time to the Red Planet. Kane's is a Mars of the distant past -- a place of romantic civilizations, fabulous many-spired cities and the gorgeous princess Shizala. To win her hand and bring peace to Mars, Kane must defeat the terrible Blue Giants of the Argzoon, whose ravaging...

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0879974362
• ISBN13: 9780879974367
• Release Date: January 1979
• Publisher: Daw Books
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Age Range: 16 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 11 and higher

Customer Reviews

Homage to Burroughs succeeds

City of Beasts/Warriors of Mars succeeds, admirably, at being a homage to the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs. For anyone who is a fan of the genre of Planetary Romance, or who just enjoys well written action, this is a good book to read. Is it high literature? No. Does it make sense with what we know of science today? Not only no, but a resounding no! In the end will you understand the Human Condition better than before? Well, not really. What it is, is a fairly simple straight forward story of adventure. In this book you will find all the derring do, vile villians and heroic... well, heroes that you would wish from a book of this type. The writing in this novel only hints at the true depth of Michael Moorcock's gift for writing. Any fan of his who has read any of the later Eternal Champion series should see in this book the development of a truly gifted author. I am not sure when Michael Kane was added to the list of Eternal Champion's but so be it. As a homage to the literary genre, though, it is a truly fun book. In the end, it is that word that makes me feel really happy about having taken the time to read a novel and why I am willing to give this one five stars (in spite of some minor flaws): That it is in the end a FUN read.

Moorcock's Early Work

I picked this book up on a day when I was exhausted and did not want to read anything heavy. It is a lot of fun. An easy read and reminds me of Burroughs Barsoom. I am sold on the whole Planet Stories line and thank Erik for his love of books and his work to bring us these out of print classics. I look forward to reading them all.

Left me wanting more

I'm relatively new to Moorcock, having somehow missed the Elric novels in my youth. I set out to remedy that, and just completed the first Elric saga, which I enjoyed greatly. The next book I read was City of the Beast. I enjoyed this book every bit as much as the Elric saga, and in some cases, more. Michael Kane is a fantastic hero, and Mr. Moorcock somehow really conveyed to me the beauty of Shizala and her city, so that I could sense Kane's willingness to sacrifice everything for them. This book had it all: likable characters, interesting landscapes, high action, thrills and chills. There was one stretch where the description made me so claustrophobic that I actually began to sweat. I'm dying to read the next installment. Fortunately, it comes out this month.

Great Afternoon (or Late Night) Read

This is a very exciting book! I started reading it around 10:30 as some intending it as some before bed reading and finally finished it around 2:30am. I did not even notice the passing of time. I could not put the book down. I am a huge fan of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Mars books, and this book definitely the same genre. There are two sequels to this book that will be released later in the Plaent Stories Line: Lord of the Spiders and Masters of the Pit. I hope that you enjoy this story as much as I did.

Super Reader

Moorcock has written an unapologetic, no holds barred, Burroughsian rip..errr.. riff. :) Complete with the same lack of wardrobe for the characters. Michael Kane, a physicist, becomes involved with a project that can transport consciousness, it appears. Think Adam Strange sort of thing, complete with limited time of travel. It also happens, than growing up, he lived near a French fencing master, who gave him many, many lessons. Needless to say, he ends up projected to Mars, meets a princess, fights Blue Giant armies, has an evil raven haired sorceress femme fatale lust after and want to kill him, after seducing his princess' fiance, no less. He also happens to rescue a relative, make friends with an enemy, and all that sort of thing. Pure escapism, and a lot of fun.