Hawkmoon: The Eternal Champion

I have the Millenium edition of this book, and it was my first taste of the Eternal Champion series. It had a Dune-like feel with the ornithopters, and though it's bleak and dark, it's certainly exciting and fast-paced. After reading this, I realized that I had to see more of Michael Moorcock. I never regretted that.

When I was in 10th grade, my friend Joe introduced me to the evil and depressing fantasy Elric. By the second book Corum, Erekose and Hawkmoon showed up to do something of great importance which didn't seem all that important except to forshadow Elric's first inadvertant Black Sword victim in the next book. But from that series I was hooked.This trilogy didn't impress me when I read the first book, but many years later I picked up the entire series and as with many fantasy serieses I needed to read the entire trilogy. Hawkmoon develops from a pawn to a hero and the people around him change in accidental moods. D'Avarec and Count Brass are two of the most intriguing characters in fantasy. The villains make up a fully realized society of animal masks and freaky customs, while the question of how do you deal with anarchy is up for grabs. While you can see that the heroes will fight against the evil empier of Granbretan, the question as to whether an evil government like Granbretan is preferable to chaos is not one that is often asked in fantasies where the evil empires are only in need of defeat.Overall, this is an underrated and often overlooked Moorcock masterpiece that reads fast, has some very enjoyable moments and gives you something to chew on for years afterwards. In other words, it's everything fantasy should be.

This is possibly my favourite of Moorcock's interwoven Eternal Champions - the battle of Londra is heroic fantasy at its best. However you MUST read this as part of Moorcock's whole body of work to fully appreciate the magnificence of his creations.

This book is simply amazing.I could not put it down no matter what my family tried. The characters in HawkMoon are intrestign and detailed, and the story offers a great look into a possible future out of hundreds. HawkMoon as a charcter is at the same level if not higher than elric. If you get a chance to get a copy of this book do it, and you won't regret it.

This is the third volume of Moorcock's Eternal Champion series and they just keep getting better and better. Hawkmoon is one of the key characters in the series, and it's great to finally have all the hard to find novels in one large book, especially since reading them all together gives you the impression of one long sustained work. Here are some quick comments on the individual novels: The Jewel in the Skull: Almost thought it was a Count Brass novel, since Hawkmoon doesn't really do much in this one. It sets up the characters and their motivations and is a nice, quick read. The Mad God's Amulet: The Warrior in Jet and Gold shows up more (he's also the Knight in Black and Yellow from the other books), and Hawkmoon continues his quest. The Sword of the Dawn: It's a good thing Moorcock explains that the Runestaff makes complex patterns to draw people in, because it's seems that the plot twists come out of left field, especially here, where the pirates just happen to have the right sword. Still, it's always fun to see Hawkmoon take on massive hordes of people and win. The Runestaff: The final novel is also the final battle for a lot of people. This is probably the most costly war I've ever seen in literature, with people dying left and right. Moorcock tells it all with a dispassionate tone similar to Mailer's Naked and the Dead. The truimph is definately earned here, closing the Hawkmoon saga for now. This is a great continuation of the series, with little mention of the Eternal Champion, which seems to be Hawkmoon. Though, I do miss the ironic commentary of John Daker from the earlier series. Hopefully, he'll return soon. Perhaps the next book . .