Good Christ, Erekosë is a whiny bastard.

Lots of good ideas and weirdly incomplete. Better than The Eternal Champion technically, but I definitely preferred its themes to these, which seem to be "John Daker thinks his life sucks, and he's right." ( )

With the benefit of 50 years of hindsight this sequel to The Eternal Champion seems to be a bit of a potboiler. On the other hand there is sufficient drama and intrigue to make it entertaining. ( )

In PHOENIX IN OBSIDIAN (aka THE SILVER WARRIORS ), the Eternal Champion, Erekose in a new guise, is called to an icy world, and a new quest.

This is the one where the Black Sword on which so much of his fate rests is introduced, a soul-sucking blade as dangerous to friend as it is to foe. And it is put to good use here, in some stirring set-piece battles and serving as a plot device to bring us all up to speed with the raising of stakes for our champion.

Once again Moorcock's eye for a visual is striking, not least right at the beginning, with our fur and mail clad hero riding a chariot drawn by polar bears -- an image that Frazetta fans, or owners of the Dell edition called THE SILVER WARRIORS in the USA, will recognize immediately.

There's a doomed race in a world under a dying sun, huge beasts engineered eons passed for strange purposes, decadent peoples, plucky salt of the earth types and, along with the sword, an early appearance of what will become a well-known and well-loved companion for our champion.

It's a short, fast, read that I blew through in a couple of hours. Again it's all blood-stirring stuff, even if Erekose is a bit of a moper between the epic battles, and it rolls along at breakneck pace for the most part, to an ending that gives Erekose a glimpse of the sort of powers he'll be dealing with in the books to follow.

Like our champion, I'm now hooked into the multiverse, and won't be able to let go until we reach Tanelorn and the conjunction of the spheres. It will be a while yet before that, but I intend to enjoy the ride.


( )

The 2nd in the Eternal Champion series. This is often referred to as the 2nd Erekose book, but it isn't. This book is entirely about Urlik Skarsol, human prince of the Southern Ice, long slumbering on an dying Earth orbiting a red dwarf sun. Erekose wakes up as Urlik, summoned by Warriors who demand his aid. Urlik longs to return to his incarnation as Erekose and his Eldren lover, though he dimly remembers that he is also John Daker. Forces conspire to force him to act in this realm, despite his determination not to take up the Black Sword and kill. As always he is a victim of his fate, yet also in control of it. ( )

Phoenix in Obsidian

By Michael Moorcock

Publisher: White Wolf Publishing

Published In: Clarkston, Georgia, USA

Date: 1970

Pgs: 138

Summary:

The Champion awakes in another world, drawn away from his idyllic life with his Eldren princess Ermizhad. Awakes to a world of men at war with the Silver Warriors from the Moon, a Moon crashlanded on the far side of this dying Earth. Bear chariots, the Black Sword, giant sea beasts, and a city filled and fueled by debauchery greet the Champion in this next step along the multiverse in another of his guises, Ulrik Von Skarsol.

Genre:

Sword and sorcery, militaria, alien worlds, alternate worlds, alternate history, science fiction, fantasy

Main Character:

Ulrik Von Skarsol

Favorite Character:

Ulrik Von Skarsol. This aspect of the Champion is more the tortured soul than the previous aspects. He is more in line with my expectations. Love the bear chariot. The wielder of the Black Sword is still being pulled along by his odd destiny and the blood hunger of the sword that he hates.

Least Favorite Character:

Lord Shanosfane. This severely austere character in the midst of the decadence of Rowenarc, probably had more answers than he gave, but he chose his exit too easily.

Favorite Scene:

When Ulrik awakens at the reins of the bear chariot going hellbent for leather across the icy wastes of this alien Earth with it’s small red sun way up in the sky.

Plot Holes/Out of Character:

Who or what were the Silver Warriors in the greater scheme of things? Were they just silver skinned humanity who had taken up residence on the Moon before it’s crashing or were they from somewhere else? Were they Eldrenkin?

Last Page Sound:

Ah…birth pangs.

Author Assessment:

I love him. And am probably going to seek out more of the Eternal Champion series.

Disposition of Book:

Keep it ( )