In the Moons of Borea

Titus Crow isn't in this sequel to both THE CLOCK OF DREAMS, and SPAWN OF THE WINDS, although it's set in that cosmos. To appreciate this book, you'll need to judge it on its own merit. Silberhutte, formerly of the Wilmarth foundation as related in SPAWN OF THE WINDS, still leads the endless war against Ithaqua, the Wind-Walker - the great hope of the Old Ones, the only one who is somewhat free of his bondage. Ithaqua is alone as few creatures have ever been - Silberhutte is his great enemy partly for wedding Armandra, Ithaqua's only living child, which forever dashed Ithaqua's hopes of gaining her companionship in the void between the worlds. Enter Henri-Laurent de Marigny, whose time clock has been captured by Ithaqua. Silberhutte joins forces with him to retrieve the clock from its hiding place on one of Borea's moons, those tiny worlds where Ithaqua is nonetheless a force of terror. Since Ithaqua's goal in seizing the clock was to lure Armandra into a confrontation, she refuses the gambit and stays out of the main flow of the action in this volume. We finally meet some people whose reaction to the CCD isn't an automatic "aiee!" or "command me, Cthulhu" or "let's raise some demons here", although there are some, of course. What would a Lovecraftian novel be without a debased priesthood or two? CCD = Cthulhu Cycle Deities (Wilmarth Foundation terminology), who include Hastur, Nyarlathotep, etc. in addition to the big C. Lumley provides the most complex characterization of one of the great Old Ones that I've seen to date. What - an Old One who gets *lonely* and *jealous*, and maybe thinks about a few things besides spreading evil throughout the cosmos? Whoa, the CCD may take his union card away. :) Let me hasten to add that Ithaqua has no dialogue in this story; that would be too violent a break with the traditional "unspeakable, indescribable horror" characteristic of tales of the CCD. Ithaqua's character is revealed through his actions and behavior. Ithaqua is not held up as a typical member of the CCD, by the way; he is noted as an anomaly among the Old Ones. The writing style resembles that of SPAWN OF THE WINDS, except that MOONS is written in 3rd person. The lighthearted banter of the Dreamlands series is absent (it would be out of character here), as is the truckload of correspondence characteristic of THE BURROWERS BENEATH. MOONS is a good read, more fantasy than horror, providing an interesting view of the civilizations on Borea itself and its moons.