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The Eternal Champion

The Eternal Champion

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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Bad prose, great story
Review: At first I found "Eternal Champion" very hard to get into, because the writing style is often heavy-handed; Moorcock first wrote it when he was 17, and it shows. Once the story got going, however, I found it easy to lose track of sentence structures that would have had me banging my head against a wall earlier. Though Moorcock's prose style has its problems, his stories are captivating and greatly entertaining. I accidentally read the entire first section one night when I really should have been writing a paper -- much more enjoyable :) . As a kind of litmus test for books, I often ask myself whether I'd purchase the sequel; the answer, for this book, is a resounding 'yes.'

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Good except for SUndered Worlds
Review: Eternal Champion is undoubtly, the most original fantasy series I have ever read next to LotR. Moorcock did a great job with the first-person perspective. I didn't like sundered worlds because I am not a sci-fi buff.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent beginning to Moorcock
Review: I always wanted to read the Eternal Champion series by Michael Moorcock, but it included so many series and so many different books that were either hard to find or out of print that I figured the task was too hard. Fortunately, the author has help set up this new series for lazy fans like me. And it's very, very welcome.

There are four novels in this volumn, so I'll take them separately:
The Eternal Champion: One of his first and his simpliest, but the themes protrayed in it would have a lasting effect on the rest of the series. Some of the best scenes are those where Erekose is dreaming and the names of the other champions are being shouted. Classic.

The Sundered Worlds: Little departure, but its sets up the rest of the multiverse, although it can be hard to follow all the ideas at times. But, hey, there's a Von Bek in it, can it be all that bad?

Phoenix in Obsidian: I just like the title to be honest. A nice continuation of the story of Erekose/John Daker/whoever, furthering the themes presented in the first story. I think it's even simpler than The Eternal Champion, but still fun to read.

To Rescue Tanelorn: A short story about the peaceful city that was only included because of said city. A good fantasy tale with hints of what will later happen in the series. And hey, it mentions Elric! It can't be all that bad.

So, while these stories are simple, one has to start somewhere, and with Michael Moorcock, the beginning is always the best place

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: It is a good intro to the Eternal Champion series
Review: I have the Millenium edition of this book, which contains the three novels, The Eternal Champion, Phoenix in Obsidian and the Dragon in the Sword. It is a good intro to the Eternal Champion series because it is the simplest. John Daker, moaning that he has many lives, many forms, introduces the true nature of the champion. Yet for me, the Eternal Champion is one of the best switching-sides story. The hero is told by humans that they're the good guys and the Eldren are the bad guys, and so he fights for them. Then he realizes that the truth is the other way around, so he switches to the Eldren and beats the crap out of humans. It makes me wonder, is what we've been taught as right since childhood really right, or are we being deceived? There's some implied philosophy for you. The next two parts are about the other guises of the Eternal Champion. After this, Moorcock has placed the Eternal Champion in every possible speculative fiction setting: post-apocalyptic earth, steampunk, time travel, sword and sorcery, etc. It's a series any questioning hero would love.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This book was a tremendous surprise! I loved it!
Review: Moorcock delves into some rather philosophic areas with this fantasy novel, as well as testing the realms of mental and scientific knowledge. This book was almost enlightening!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Moorcock revisited is worth the read
Review: Moorcock presents a wild ride of Earth on many levels of a multiversal dimension. His characters do tend to be underdevloped but it flows with the pulp craze the original titles were published under. His ideas are fresh and the action is exciting. It's worth a look, especially if you've never read Moorcock. If you like Sci-fi and fantasy however this is a must read

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This book was great.
Review: Ok heres the shocker, I have read 2 books besides this one(Jurassic Park and Eaters of the Dead). Those 2 books were good and took a long time to read. However I just finished reading the first part of the book The Eternal Champion, in one night. Granted it is storming out right now and it is 4:30 AM I loved the book and could not put it down. thats just my 2 cents.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Eternal Champion is a worthy intro to the Moorcock world.
Review: The Eternal Champion is the first in the series of re-issues of Moorcock's short stories with new forewards, and introductions. This book contains four stories, all centered around The Eternal Champion. The first story The Eternal Champion is a brilliant tale. In it the man John Daker is drawn into another world, slowly. Attracted by the word Erekose, he is brought to another dimension where he is the reincarnation of the great warrior Erekose. Erekose is enlisted by humanity to defeat the so-called demonic Eldren. Erekose defeats the Eldren, but eventually realizes that humanity is the blight on this planet, not the Eldren. He turns traitor and helps the Eldren against the savage humans. This is one of the most intriguing stories I have ever read. From the humanity as ignorant savage theme, to the horrific ending relating to the abuse of superior weaponry, this story has rarely been equaled. Erekose is then drawn out of a happy existence to another world in The Sundered Worlds, where humanity must travel the multiverse to rescue itself and prove to those running the universe they are ready to evolve and take the next step in the big picture. Phoenix in Obsidian is the third story in which, similarly to The Etenal Champion, Urlik Skarsol, must fight those he originally sees as his friends. This takes place on a world of ice, similar to the setting of The Ice Schooner in Vol. 8 Sailing to Utopia. Seemingly tacked on to the end is ...to Rescue Tanelorn a short story about the quest of one man to find help for the fabled city of Tanelorn before it is overrun by the forces of Chaos. Worth the price for the first story alone

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Tolkien-esque hero story fans need not apply.
Review: The most important thing about this book is the first story out of the four in this book. Originally published in the 1950's, it was a very different type of fantasy writing than the L.O.T.R. and Conan the Barbarian style that was and remains insanely popular. The Eternal Champion features a hero who is at times scared, unwilling, and most importantly, evil. The protagonist does not fully agree with his own actions and this presents a hero who is *gasp* human.

This seriously rocked the boat when held up against the other fantasy and sci-fi of the day. Has the anti-hero concept been more skilfully rendered since? Of course, several have done it better, and Moorcock himself has improved upon his early writing greatly, which is to be expected since he was 17 when he wrote The Eternal Champion.

The stories in the book are interesting enough, but the real value of this volume is the way it changed the rules for a genre of fiction and the fairly complete introduction to a decent series of books it provides. The series is well worth the read if you have a couple of months or years to get through it all and you want to see fantasy done with more of a human realist perspective.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: The Sundered Worlds sucks
Review: These stories aren't my favorites by Moorcock, and "The Sundered Worlds" and "To Rescue Tanelorn" are pretty mediocre. "The Eternal Champion" is okay if you give it a chance, and "Phoenix In Obsidian" is a good continuation of that story, my favorite in this volume.

I know that "The Sundered Worlds" is a key work to understanding Moorcock's multiverse, but it reeks of 1950's Asimov(zzzzzzz). It was put between "Champion" and "Obsidian" in this volume for some reason, but I only saw it as an annoying distraction. The whole thing is worth reading if you're a big Moorcock fan, but it's not something I could ever re-read.


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