The Skrayling Tree: The Albino in America

I must admit that I haven't read nearly as much of Michael Moorcock's fiction as I probably should, since he's been among the foremost practitioners of science fiction, and especially, fanatasy, in the Anglo-American realm of science fiction and fantasy for decades. Each time I have read one of his works, I have been quite impressed with his beautifully wrought lyrical prose and the compelling ideas introduced in each tale. The same holds true in his current "Multiverse" novel, "The Skrayling Tree", which chronicles the adventures of Oona van Bek, her husband Ulric, and her father Elric of Melnibone, in a fantastical America of nearly 1,000 years in the past. There they will meet up with the legendary Hiawatha, whose role in the tale is as pivotal as that of Gandalf's in Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" saga. There is a splendid fusion of Norse, Western European and American Indian mythology and history present throughout this novel. My only minor complaint is that Moorcock occasionally stumbles by writing stilted prose in some of his descriptions of the "Multiverse" and its relevance to the main characters. But this is only a minor complaint of yet another fine novel by an unquestioned master of his craft. I found it so engrossing that it was impossible to put down.

This is Michael Moorcock coming to grips with what he calls The Matter of America. He is using his Elric character and his gift for fantasy to deal with some fundamental ideas in American mythology. In this book he continues the saga begun in The Dreamthief's Daughter and the same main characters appear here, but now they are on the American continent, meeting the likes of Hiawatha, the legendary native American first written about by Longfellow. He starts from three different geographical points, slowly bring his characters together as they seek either to destroy or save the legendary 'Skrayling Tree':- the native American Tree of Life, the Viking World Tree, which also represents Moorcock's own vast Multiverse. Moorcock's theories based on Mandelbrot's Chaos theories give us characters of physically different sizes as they merge from different parts of the multiverse. There is history here, both European and American, and as usual a moral and symbolic dimension to the book, which is the mark of a Moorcock fantasy novel. Highly recommended!

It was great to read about Elric after almost ten years of his being away (apart from his graphic novel appearances in such things as Michael Moorcock's Multiverse). That waa in The Dreamthief's Daughter which I picked up in paperback. Because I'd so enjoyed Dreamthief, I decided to get myself the hardback of this new one and I don't regret it. It is even better, even more original and even more exciting a story -- on a very grand scale. Moorcock manages to beat his own high standards almost every time. This story, set in pre-Colombian America amongst heroes such as Hiawatha (Ayanawatta) and combining American mythology, like Eldorado, with European and Moorcock's own invented multiverse, carries genuine mythic resonances. It confirms Moorcock as England's greatest living writer of fantasy and the news that Universal is making a series of Elric movies is a joy! At last we are to see Elric even larger than life on the big screen. Meanwhile, this book rivals anything you might have seen or imagined before. The ending is particularly gorgeous, epic and vast -- better than any movie finale you've ever seen! I can't imagine what the third and final volume will be like.

I won't repeat what the other reviewers have stated, they've got it right so far. This is classic Moorcock, with a more mature viewpoint. The enthralling characters and theories are still here, but the charaterizations seem to have grown up. This is a great follow-up to The Dreamthief's Daughter and a wonderful addition to Moorcock's fascinating multiverse of eternal champions. If I had to find fault, I might say that this book lacks the focus of the previous one, due to it's narration being spread out over the characters of Count Ulric von Bek, Elric and Oona. Dreamthief was more focused on Ulric and thus more unified. However, this is a minor thing and only detracts a little for me. For others it might not at all.If you are a fan of Moorcock's eternal champion series, I don't see how you can fail to enjoy this most recent addition.

This book brilliantly uses three themes which come together perfectly at the end. It begins in the contemporary world but soon goes back to pre-Colombian America when Oona, the dreamthief's daughter (and Elric's daughter), tries to follow her kidnapped husband, Ulric. She teams up with a native American adventurer, Hiawatha, who has been into the future and met Longfellow, now bound to live out the myth in the poem!Meanwhile Elric, living his dream of a thousand years, is in 10th century Europe, teaming up with the rascally Viking leader Gunnar the Doomed. Ultimately all of them link up in a spectacular final scene where the nature of the Skrayling Tree is revealed. Plenty of high adventure, wonderful inventions and landscapes - but a lot to stimulate the mind, as well. Only Moorcock seems to be able to pack fast action and genuinely brilliant new ideas into the same book like this. If you love Moorcock already, you certainly won't be disappointed.If he's new to you, you will be introduced to the work of a genuinely original writer who knocks most of his contemporaries into a (Moor) cocked hat! Totally recommended!