Recommend Some non-Elric Moorcock

[Rackhir]

As I mentioned before, the quality of the Hawkmoon books is not on a par with his other stuff. Each Hawkmoon book took him about three days to write and in places it shows. Again, they're good fun, but not fantastic. However, if you start to get into the broader "Eternal Champion" saga metaplot* that ties lots of MM's work together, the final Hawkmoon book (Quest for Tanelorn) is one of the saga's main finales. So you may wish to read it just to get that nice sense of closure that it offers.

How can you NOT love the end of "The Runestaff"? The first Hawkmoon trillogy was terrific. The second trillogy was not as good though.

 

[Mark Hope]

How can you NOT love the end of "The Runestaff"? The first Hawkmoon trillogy was terrific. The second trillogy was not as good though.

Oh, I do love it. I'm maybe being overly critical. My point is more that I think the Hawkmoon books lack the quality of writing that some of MM's other works possess. So when I say they're a bit more hackish, that's what I'm referring to - that, and the fact that they have a slightly more rushed feel to them. As for the ideas and the plots, however, they're up there with the best of them.

Heck, even some of the Elric short stories suffer from slightly dodgy moments here and there (I'm thinking of Flame Bringers and Three Kings in Darkness here.) While those are great plots and narratives, for me they don't have the poetry of Stormbringer, Warhound or the Corum books. Even though Elric is my overall favourite, actually, I think that the first Corum trilogy is near-flawless. So I think that Hawkmoon suffers by comparison is all I'm saying

EDIT: You may already have seen this, but Tor Books are reprinting the first Hawkmoon tetralogy next year. [ame=http://www.amazon.com/Hawkmoon-Jewel-Skull-Michael-Moorcock/dp/0765324733/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1258038824&sr=1-3]Jewel in the Skull[/ame] and [ame=http://www.amazon.com/Hawkmoon-Gods-Amulet-Michael-Moorcock/dp/0765324741/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1258038824&sr=1-1]Mad God's Amulet[/ame] are both up at Amazon. These are also going to be illustrated, so that's something cool to look forward to.

 

[jaerdaph]

My favorite book by Michael Moorcock is Behold the Man. It's about a time traveller who goes back in time and becomes Jesus. It's pretty intense and might be offensive to some.

 

[catsclaw227]

I'll triple-vouch for the Corum books as well. I read these even before the Elric ones and really loved them. It may be of note that I was only 15 at the time, but they were still really good.

 

[Rackhir]

(Random Observation) Maybe it's just me, but happy endings always seem out of place in Moorcock stories.

 

[Darth Shoju]

My favorite book by Michael Moorcock is Behold the Man. It's about a time traveller who goes back in time and becomes Jesus. It's pretty intense and might be offensive to some.

Won't offend me. Sounds cool.