The King of Swords

After turning back the invasion of Lywm-an-Esh with the help of Vadhagh from another plane, Corum and Rhalina returned to Castle Erorn.  His family castle was rebuilt and the pair lived contentedly for a time.  Then, the madness came.  Everyone in the castle began to have short tempers which soon turned violent and then murderous.  This madness had infected the whole plane.  When a delegation of Vadhagh arrived at Erorn, it turned into a fight to the death.

Taking one of the flying ships of the Vadhagh, Corum, Rhalina, and Jhary-a-Conel set out for Lywm-an-Esh to consult with Lord Arkyn.  Finding no solutions there, they were instead pursued by the man who took Corum's hand and eye.  The only hope of escape was to leap to another plane, but the pursuit followed them!  When at last they lost the soldiers of chaos, their craft shattered and they were stranded on some plane beyond the 15 planes.  Only by finding Tanelorn, the eternal city, could they return to their home and hope to counter the madness.  During his plane-hopping adventure, Corum meets his alternate selves: Elric of Melnibone and Lord Erekose.  It will take all three to defeat the creature of the Black Tower and find their way to Tanelorn.

The story hops from setting to setting, using the near omniscient and immortal Jhary to explain the oddities of the current plane.  As with previous books in the series, there is a deus ex machina feel to the story.  That the Lost Gods, whose hand and eye had been grafted to Corum in the first book, appear as saviors in this book shows that it was all foreordained.  Corum and his friends are mere pawns with no ability to determine their fate.

Compared to Elric, Corum is a bland hero.  Of course, he is from a sedate race of people who gladly spend decades composing a melody.  Just okay.  This series is only for the diehard Moorcock fan.

The Queen of Swords

Corum and Rhalina are enjoying their lives together in the wake of his victory over Arioch, the Knight of Swords.  Lord Arkyn, a god of law, now holds sway though his power remains weak.  The arrival of Jhary-a-Conel reveals the precarious situation despite Arioch's defeat.  Though their god is banished, the forces of chaos still dominate the plane.  They have called upon the Queen of Swords, Xiombarg, to provide support for eradicating the only nation allied with the forces of law.  Corum, Jhary, Rhalina and her retinue sail to Lywm-an-Esh, an idyllic kingdom, that must hold against the forces of chaos.  Sadly, they are not prepared, having lived in peace for too long.  Lord Arkyn suggests that Corum and company travel to the planes ruled by Xiombarg and recruit aid from the City in the Pyramid.  Of course, if Xiombarg discovered that the being who banished her brother was traipsing through her realm, she would surely kill him.  But the risk must be taken or chaos would destroy Lywm-an-Esh.

Jhary-a-Conel introduces himself as the Companion of Champions.  He is entirely self-aware of his various existences in which he finds himself a sidekick to the likes of Corum, Elric, and others.  This doesn't sit well.  It gives a sense of inevitability to the story.  I've done this many, many times and I'm still in the game, always siding with the hero.  This story is just one big deus ex machina, foretold by the mysterious forces of balance.

Corum makes more extensive use of the Hand of Kwll and the Eye of Rhynn, but somehow fails to use them enough.  Whatever the currently summoned allies kill are doomed to be his next batch of undead allies.  If he just spent his time summoning more undead allies as his current ones killed his enemies, he should be able to overcome almost any odds.  One supposes that his reticence to even use these powers explains why he does adopt such a strategy.

The City in the Pyramid proves to be a Vadhagh enclave that had traveled the planes long ago and got stranded in a plane now ruled by Xiombarg.  Corum is understandably ecstatic to find he is not the last Vadhagh after all.  The city is a technical/magical marvel.  It has force fields and flying ships.  If only they had some specific materials, they would be able to bring the City in the Pyramid back to their home plane and aid the folk of Lywm-an-Esh.

Entertaining.

The Knight of Swords

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.