Prince Corum of the Scarlet Robe lived in an isolated castle with his parents, siblings, and a handful of servants. He was a Vadhagh, a race of people who predated the coming of man, here called Mabden. The Vadhagh, who had lifespans of a thousand years, rarely ventured from their remote castles. The doings of the barbarous Mabden were of little interest to them. However, Corum's father was curious about his brother and asked that Corum visit him and get news. What Corum discovered was ruins and corpses. The Mabden had been slaughtering the Vadhagh, one remote castle at a time. Racing back to his home, Corum arrived to find his family slaughtered and the castle in flames. In a mad rage that he had never even conceived possible in his hundreds of years, he dared to attack the Mabden. Though he killed many, they captured him and promised a long torturous death as he was the very last of his kind.
He was rescued by a mysterious being during a lull in his torture and taken to a castle of Mabden! These Mabden proved to be civilized, having adopted much of Vadhagh culture. Here, he was able to recover from his ordeal, but he was forever maimed. He had lost an eye and a hand. He had hardly recovered when the same barbarous Mabden arrived at this castle. Though the castle held out against this first attack, they would return with greater numbers next year. Something must be done!
So it was that Prince Corum sought a wizard on the Isle of the Gorged God. The wizard, Shool, 'gifted' Corum with a six-fingered hand and a faceted gem-like eye that granted him powers. So armed, he could face the Sword Rulers, the gods of chaos who brought the Mabden into this world and sought to purges the races that had been left by the gods of law, notably the Vadhagh. Alone, Corum set out on his quest to somehow acquire the heart of Arioch - the Knight of Swords - and deliver it to Shool.
This is very different from Elric, the most famous of Moorcock's Eternal Champions. Where Elric's folk were a cruel people with powers far beyond the regular folk that they terrorized and oppressed, Corum is a member of a vastly superior culture that has atrophied beyond violence and thus suffered when it arrived in the form of barbarian raiders. The attack on the Vadhagh castles is similar to the Vikings sacking Christian churches along the English coast.
The story has some aspects that don't work well. The Mabden ride chariots to battle, despite the existence of stirrups. That is unusual. The land is described as vast forests, which are not friendly to chariots. The castle of the civilized Mabden, as described, should have easily resisted the assault, but instead was nearly overwhelmed. There is much talk of the five planes and how the older races could shift among them, thus becoming effectively invisible. Cool. Beyond that, the other planes are a mystery. Could some of his people long ago have migrated to one of these other planes and lived in peace? Considering how often the five planes are mentioned - or the 15 planes, of which the 5 are Arioch's domain - there is precious little explanation of these alternate planes. Maybe The Queen of Swords will explain.
Corum is not an engaging character. He reminds me of Frodo. He doesn't want to go on an adventure but duty calls. His success comes often by dumb luck rather than his skill and ingenuity. Often, his six-fingered hand makes decisions that he would not, but the hand is always right. Yeah, he is too frequently the victim of fate, a pawn in a game he doesn't realize he is playing. Is he a hero or just a random gear in the machinery?
Just okay. Perhaps the rest of the trilogy will build on this foundation.
