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Second Ether #1
Blood: A Southern Fantasy
Tapping the power of the rift in reality called the Biloxi Fault, the jugadors of the Terminal Cafe gamble on games of probability, building and manipulating universes. But is the universe they live in any different from those with which they play? Jack Karaquazian, Colinda Dovero, and Sam Oakenhurst discover that it is not when they are invited by the Rose to play on a grander scale and for higher stakes than ever before in a battle between the Chaos Engineers and the Singularity.
302 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 1994
4 people are currently reading
376 people want to read
About the author
Michael Moorcock
1,209 books3,752 followersMichael John Moorcock is an English writer primarily of science fiction and fantasy who has also published a number of literary novels.
Moorcock has mentioned The Gods of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Apple Cart by George Bernard Shaw and The Constable of St. Nicholas by Edward Lester Arnold as the first three books which captured his imagination. He became editor of Tarzan Adventures in 1956, at the age of sixteen, and later moved on to edit Sexton Blake Library. As editor of the controversial British science fiction magazine New Worlds, from May 1964 until March 1971 and then again from 1976 to 1996, Moorcock fostered the development of the science fiction "New Wave" in the UK and indirectly in the United States. His serialization of Norman Spinrad's Bug Jack Barron was notorious for causing British MPs to condemn in Parliament the Arts Council's funding of the magazine.
During this time, he occasionally wrote under the pseudonym of "James Colvin," a "house pseudonym" used by other critics on New Worlds. A spoof obituary of Colvin appeared in New Worlds #197 (January 1970), written by "William Barclay" (another Moorcock pseudonym). Moorcock, indeed, makes much use of the initials "JC", and not entirely coincidentally these are also the initials of Jesus Christ, the subject of his 1967 Nebula award-winning novella Behold the Man, which tells the story of Karl Glogauer, a time-traveller who takes on the role of Christ. They are also the initials of various "Eternal Champion" Moorcock characters such as Jerry Cornelius, Jerry Cornell and Jherek Carnelian. In more recent years, Moorcock has taken to using "Warwick Colvin, Jr." as yet another pseudonym, particularly in his Second Ether fiction.
Moorcock has mentioned The Gods of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Apple Cart by George Bernard Shaw and The Constable of St. Nicholas by Edward Lester Arnold as the first three books which captured his imagination. He became editor of Tarzan Adventures in 1956, at the age of sixteen, and later moved on to edit Sexton Blake Library. As editor of the controversial British science fiction magazine New Worlds, from May 1964 until March 1971 and then again from 1976 to 1996, Moorcock fostered the development of the science fiction "New Wave" in the UK and indirectly in the United States. His serialization of Norman Spinrad's Bug Jack Barron was notorious for causing British MPs to condemn in Parliament the Arts Council's funding of the magazine.
During this time, he occasionally wrote under the pseudonym of "James Colvin," a "house pseudonym" used by other critics on New Worlds. A spoof obituary of Colvin appeared in New Worlds #197 (January 1970), written by "William Barclay" (another Moorcock pseudonym). Moorcock, indeed, makes much use of the initials "JC", and not entirely coincidentally these are also the initials of Jesus Christ, the subject of his 1967 Nebula award-winning novella Behold the Man, which tells the story of Karl Glogauer, a time-traveller who takes on the role of Christ. They are also the initials of various "Eternal Champion" Moorcock characters such as Jerry Cornelius, Jerry Cornell and Jherek Carnelian. In more recent years, Moorcock has taken to using "Warwick Colvin, Jr." as yet another pseudonym, particularly in his Second Ether fiction.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
April 27, 2014
As with the Owen Bastable time travel series, Moorcock positions Blood as a manuscript he has edited from papers he has inherited, this time from the estate of Edwin Begg, the famous Clapham Antichrist. He writes that he found the papers initially unintelligible, but that eventually a pattern and a narrative emerged. We are in an alternate version of the American South, where the landscape has been altered by the catastrophic efforts to mine “color,” a recently discovered power source whose disruption unfortunately rips a hole in the fabric of the universe. The rip creates the Biloxi Fault, in which the kaleidoscopic layers of the multiverse tempt adventurers and madmen to enter. The fault has destroyed electrical power, giving the novel a nineteenth century feel with steamboats, horses, and pirogues. This is also a world where African and Middle Eastern races dominate whites who take service positions except up north and in the Western Free States. Our heroes are jugadores, master gamblers who play high-stake games that involve role- playing, improvisation, and a working knowledge of chaos theory. The term “jugadores” epitomizes the language games Moorcock plays in this novel. Jugadores is Spanish for “players,” but you are on your own with the machinoix .There is much French crossed with Spanish, perhaps to create his own form of Creole, along with bits of German and Latin thrown in. You may be able to either read or work out most of this. Some may keep Google Translate open while they read. Or you could just let it slide by.
And I should come out and say that the novel is almost impossible to follow. Although for the last third I felt that I more or less knew what was going on, I might have been kidding myself. Moorcock must keep in his head all the complexities, all the crossed destinies, and all the fantastic physics of the multiverse that run through his novels. One sign of his excellent storytelling is that he often appears to be making it up as he goes along. But it’s fun, and Moorcock’s inventiveness is at times dazzling. I still wondered, however, if he was not possibly have more fun than his readers.
And I should come out and say that the novel is almost impossible to follow. Although for the last third I felt that I more or less knew what was going on, I might have been kidding myself. Moorcock must keep in his head all the complexities, all the crossed destinies, and all the fantastic physics of the multiverse that run through his novels. One sign of his excellent storytelling is that he often appears to be making it up as he goes along. But it’s fun, and Moorcock’s inventiveness is at times dazzling. I still wondered, however, if he was not possibly have more fun than his readers.
August 7, 2013
This is probably Moorcock's magnum opus, and I'm starting the sequel immediately. It's not for everyone, and I suspect you need to have read a fair amount of his earlier work before this would really work for you. I thought I was done with Moorcock, but this book has revitalized my interest.
The plot and setting, such as it is, deserves some explanation. It's an alternate earth where Africans rose to international power and colonized the world. The white races are sometimes enslaved or at least ghettoized. After discovering "colour spots" as a source of power, an attempt was made to drill into reality which resulted in the Biloxi fault, a massive rift in reality through which you can watch infinite realities being extinguished. The world is unstable and ever shifting, with typical Moorcock imagination.
Our protagonists include Jack Karaquazian, the greatest jugador alive. Jugador's are expert gamblers with a refined code of honour. What do they bet on? In the game "Desdemona's Luck" they create a virtual universe from scratch and contrive to make events play out such that Desdemona is responsible for Othello's death and Iago's redemption and conversion to Islam.
Meanwhile, there is war in the multiverse between the Singularity and the Chaos Engineers. This plays out in some ways like pulp science fiction if written in an odd dialect from an alternate dimension.
The book is strange, moves at a frenetic pace but manages to be extremely compelling. Motivations and character are always well realized. It turns the southern US into a strange fantasy world before slipping off into the Second Ether. It's almost nonsensical in places but it works.
Definitely a recommendation for a fan of Moorcock, and possibly if you like more challenging fantasy. I suggest reading some random samples or the first few chapters first to get a taste, because it certainly isn't straightforward.
The plot and setting, such as it is, deserves some explanation. It's an alternate earth where Africans rose to international power and colonized the world. The white races are sometimes enslaved or at least ghettoized. After discovering "colour spots" as a source of power, an attempt was made to drill into reality which resulted in the Biloxi fault, a massive rift in reality through which you can watch infinite realities being extinguished. The world is unstable and ever shifting, with typical Moorcock imagination.
Our protagonists include Jack Karaquazian, the greatest jugador alive. Jugador's are expert gamblers with a refined code of honour. What do they bet on? In the game "Desdemona's Luck" they create a virtual universe from scratch and contrive to make events play out such that Desdemona is responsible for Othello's death and Iago's redemption and conversion to Islam.
Meanwhile, there is war in the multiverse between the Singularity and the Chaos Engineers. This plays out in some ways like pulp science fiction if written in an odd dialect from an alternate dimension.
The book is strange, moves at a frenetic pace but manages to be extremely compelling. Motivations and character are always well realized. It turns the southern US into a strange fantasy world before slipping off into the Second Ether. It's almost nonsensical in places but it works.
Definitely a recommendation for a fan of Moorcock, and possibly if you like more challenging fantasy. I suggest reading some random samples or the first few chapters first to get a taste, because it certainly isn't straightforward.
June 9, 2017
At times it reads as an experimental work: how little concrete information can Moorcock actually put on paper while retaining an accessible narrative? Whole swaths of ideas, from the nature of the machinoix to the Second Ether itself, hurl past, and the reader's imagination is left to construct a picture from the blur. You just sort of ride this story wherever it goes.
And, at its heart, it is yet another reformulation of Moorcock's core Multiverse / Law-and-Chaos concepts sliced a new way, or perhaps a superset of every idea he had presented along those lines. You can detect ideas from the Dancers at The End of Time, Nomad of the Time Streams, the Seas of Fate, and endless Eternal Champion tales. But the new element is a dollop of chaos theory and mathematics, which if possible renders the extra-cosmic adventuring even weirder and less explainable. There is so much here that stretches beyond human existence and understanding. I never had a clear picture in my head about what Moorcock was describing.
And, at its heart, it is yet another reformulation of Moorcock's core Multiverse / Law-and-Chaos concepts sliced a new way, or perhaps a superset of every idea he had presented along those lines. You can detect ideas from the Dancers at The End of Time, Nomad of the Time Streams, the Seas of Fate, and endless Eternal Champion tales. But the new element is a dollop of chaos theory and mathematics, which if possible renders the extra-cosmic adventuring even weirder and less explainable. There is so much here that stretches beyond human existence and understanding. I never had a clear picture in my head about what Moorcock was describing.
March 6, 2024
Phenomenal. Unlike anything I have ever read. The only correct description of the experience of LSD. A masterclass in what the nuclear weapon does to metaphysics. A meditation on the human condition. The Cold War crossbred with a kaleidoscope.
I made an audiobook of it here: https://youtu.be/j-vf3YlLOvw
I made an audiobook of it here: https://youtu.be/j-vf3YlLOvw
April 16, 2020
Blood is a key piece of the puzzle that is Moorcock's multiverse tapestry, the chronicle of the eternal conflict between Law and Chaos and Entropy with shifting and fading versions of reality. It's labeled as the first volume of sequence (followed by Fabulous Harbors and the two Angels books), but in a work that's non-linear by nature that doesn't strike me as being too important. Many of his familiar characters appear in this one... or at least recognizable versions of them are here. (The Jerry Cornelius avatar is Jack Karaquazian.) It's a cosmic quest story, easier to follow than many of his works from the same period, but with a New Wave feel along with the strong drama. It's a good mythic vision in addition to the compelling story.
January 15, 2009
This was the one and only time I found myself wishing that Moorcock would have taken a more conventional approach. Blood contains some of Moorcock's most beautiful, poetic prose, some of his most perfectly painted imagery, it's peopled by intriguing characters and explores several great ideas . . . but its all somewhat undermined by a meandering, non-linear plot. Moorcock's more adventurous and experimental narratives usually works just beautifully for me. Here, I couldn't help but wish for a more clearly defined plot to hold onto.
February 4, 2013
Originally published on my blog here in August 2003.
When Moorcock began writing his vast collection of tales about multiple universes and the battle between Law and Chaos, there was no such discipline as chaos theory. Blood is the novel (first of a trilogy) in which he seeks to use ideas from the mathematics of chaos, particularly self-similarity and attractors, to add to his earlier ideas.
Blood purports to be part of a collection of manuscripts inherited by Moorcock, which (says the introduction) at first seemed disjointed and unconnected but whose overall coherence was eventually perceptible. The two main threads that Moorcock presents are a bizarre fantasy set in the American South and a parody of pulp-era space opera. The fantasy takes up by far the majority of the narrative, and is reminiscent of J.G. Ballard's apocalyptic science fiction. Civilisation as we know it has been changed dramatically by the appearance of pockets of physical chaos around the world; they can be used to provide power, and reckless drilling has spread their dangerous subversion of physical law. Most of the people who remain live as best they can, but there are some, the elite Gamblers, who spend their lives pitted against one another in complex games of chance and metaphysics.
The space opera sections are less serious, and are about a great struggle across the multiverse between two factions, the Chaos Engineers and the Singularity; most of the weapons and mechanisms of travel described have connections to fractals and chaos theory.
Most of Moorcock's writing seems influenced mainly by his ideas about the science fiction and fantasy genres as a whole, and by the writers he loved in his formative years. Blood is, as far as I know, unique in his output in seeming to show influences which are more individual and recent - Morris rather than Banks and Howard, Banks rather than Peake. The space opera sections have a more general influence. The style of the novel is opaque, quite difficult to see the meaning, similar to but more successful than John Clute's Appleseed. It doesn't all work, but Blood is an interesting experiment.
When Moorcock began writing his vast collection of tales about multiple universes and the battle between Law and Chaos, there was no such discipline as chaos theory. Blood is the novel (first of a trilogy) in which he seeks to use ideas from the mathematics of chaos, particularly self-similarity and attractors, to add to his earlier ideas.
Blood purports to be part of a collection of manuscripts inherited by Moorcock, which (says the introduction) at first seemed disjointed and unconnected but whose overall coherence was eventually perceptible. The two main threads that Moorcock presents are a bizarre fantasy set in the American South and a parody of pulp-era space opera. The fantasy takes up by far the majority of the narrative, and is reminiscent of J.G. Ballard's apocalyptic science fiction. Civilisation as we know it has been changed dramatically by the appearance of pockets of physical chaos around the world; they can be used to provide power, and reckless drilling has spread their dangerous subversion of physical law. Most of the people who remain live as best they can, but there are some, the elite Gamblers, who spend their lives pitted against one another in complex games of chance and metaphysics.
The space opera sections are less serious, and are about a great struggle across the multiverse between two factions, the Chaos Engineers and the Singularity; most of the weapons and mechanisms of travel described have connections to fractals and chaos theory.
Most of Moorcock's writing seems influenced mainly by his ideas about the science fiction and fantasy genres as a whole, and by the writers he loved in his formative years. Blood is, as far as I know, unique in his output in seeming to show influences which are more individual and recent - Morris rather than Banks and Howard, Banks rather than Peake. The space opera sections have a more general influence. The style of the novel is opaque, quite difficult to see the meaning, similar to but more successful than John Clute's Appleseed. It doesn't all work, but Blood is an interesting experiment.
April 24, 2019
"Remember!" she called, as she followed him up the narrow ladders towards the bridge. "It is only a matter of scale and experience. You are not a fraction of the whole. You are a version of the whole! Time will seem to eddy and stall. This is scale. Everything is sentient, but scale alters perception. The time of a tree is not your time." It was as if she shouted to him all she had meant to teach him before this moment. "To the snail the foot which comes from nowhere and crushes him is as natural a disaster as a hurricane; it cannot be appealed to and is impossible to anticipate. The time of a star is not our time. Equity is the natural condition of the multiverse. There are things to fear in the colour fields, but not the fields themselves! Remember, Sam, we are God in miniature!"
Oof.
This isn't my usual brand of fantasy.
This falls more in the camp of William Gibson in the days of Neuromancer , Iain Banks at his most metaphysical, and J. G. Ballard bringing readers to their knees with his truly fucking terrifying vision of our future.
And perhaps a little of Alan Gibson's spectral fantasy thrown in for good measure.
All of these writers unfurl their stories with a certain... language, lingo, patois.
And as much as we might try, we'll never understand it.
It's near impossible.
It veers almost into the realms of nonsense poetry.
And it's extremely frustrating, but wholly engrossing at the same time.
It pulls you along in a sort of bewildered stupor, and it doesn't matter that you're essentially deaf and dumb (but certainly not blind) to this strange world these writers have created.
You accept it.
You embrace it.
You follow it.
If you were to ask me what Blood is about, I don't think I could answer you.
It's too cerebral, or beyond my capabilities of understanding, or perhaps it's just self-indulgent crap.
Who knows?
I don't, however, think the latter is the case here.
I may have spent the majority of the book confused and groaning internally (sometimes externally; apologies to anyone in my general vicinity at the time) about the amount of metaphysics and moral philosophising I was being "made" to process, but at the heart of it, I was enjoying myself.
I wasn't reading out of my normal OCD need to finish every book I start.
I wanted to see what happened.
I needed to see what happened.
For me that's a sign of, perhaps not a good, but most certainly a compelling story.
...
I still don't know what it's about though.
Apart from maybe:
Love
Obsession
Morality
Mortality
Endurance
Idealism
Existentialism
Faith
Destiny
Empiricism
Mysticism
So many fucking "isms" and quite possibly nothing at all.
Which is perhaps the beauty of it.
Blood is more of an experiment in an idea; a speculation on existence, rather than a story with a beginning, middle and end.
It doesn't have to make sense.
It just has to be.
Like hearing a foreign language and not possessing the fluency to understand the words but knowing, innately knowing, and embracing the beauty in it.
That's what Blood is.
Or at least what Blood is to me.
And at the very least?
It wins the "Best Named Spaceship" award with, the Linear Bee.
...
I don't know why but that just kills me.
I want to name something the Linear Bee.
Scratch that.
I need to name something the Linear Bee.
...
There's a fair chance a kitten in my future will be dubbed with this particular moniker and...
I'm sorry, future kitten.
I'm so, so sorry.
May 11, 2025
I don't think Moorcock did a very good job with the racism of the story but I don't believe his intention was one of racism. He's normally very happy to challenge the status quo and has even revised stories due to problematic elements that he missed while writing them. I do understand, however, that I am a white man and Moorcock is a white man and I am already a fan of his work. I am undoubtedly not the best person to judge the racism or the author's intentions. Blood itself is all about the main characters leaving the world of the Biloxi Fault to fight to change the rules of The Game of Time and to use their power to create a better world to live in. I do think that the weird race politics of the story will be off-putting to some readers and I can't say I'd have continued the story if I wasn't already a fan of Moorcock.
The main setting of Blood is a world in which white people no longer hold any power and are used as slaves in most cities, the few places that see them as equals are seen as abominable places (I believe a protagonist likens one of them to Hell) but Moorcock doesn't really do anything with the concept. White people are just slaves and all the other races are just racist. Maybe there's value to a story like this othering white people and challenging how they view race in literature but it feels like Moorcock just didn't fancy writing a weird western with a bunch of white guys being racist the whole time.
The other parts of the story are just excerpts of a very boring pulp sci-fi thing that begin by saying "don't read this bit until you feel like you're ready" but it's all relevant to the final act and both the culmination to the Biloxi character' stories and the Second Ether cast's stories.
The world of the Biloxi Fault was very cool other than the weird race politics. Patches of colour have started appearing all over that grant basically unlimited electricity. Someone mined too deeply into one and it caused The Biloxi Fault, a rupture in the multiverse that allows chaos to spill into the world and has ended up flooding the continent. The main characters of this world are both Jugadors and spend their all their time gambling in games that have them playing characters in other worlds for centuries with a specific goal (very similar to the Dream Couch stuff in the Elric prequel comic).
I was a big fan of all the things happening in this part of the story but the Second Ether interruptions slowed the pace down and caused a loss in interest. The final act is all about the Second Ether characters being played by the Jugadors in the Game of Time and this section was admittedly very cool and made the previous Second Ether stuff not feel like a complete waste of time.
Unfortunately, I was under the impression I'd missed an important piece of information early in the book and I felt that way until the final act. I did reread some early chapters to see if I had but I didn't find anything. Looking at other reviews, it seems I wasn't the only one who felt this way.
The main setting of Blood is a world in which white people no longer hold any power and are used as slaves in most cities, the few places that see them as equals are seen as abominable places (I believe a protagonist likens one of them to Hell) but Moorcock doesn't really do anything with the concept. White people are just slaves and all the other races are just racist. Maybe there's value to a story like this othering white people and challenging how they view race in literature but it feels like Moorcock just didn't fancy writing a weird western with a bunch of white guys being racist the whole time.
The other parts of the story are just excerpts of a very boring pulp sci-fi thing that begin by saying "don't read this bit until you feel like you're ready" but it's all relevant to the final act and both the culmination to the Biloxi character' stories and the Second Ether cast's stories.
The world of the Biloxi Fault was very cool other than the weird race politics. Patches of colour have started appearing all over that grant basically unlimited electricity. Someone mined too deeply into one and it caused The Biloxi Fault, a rupture in the multiverse that allows chaos to spill into the world and has ended up flooding the continent. The main characters of this world are both Jugadors and spend their all their time gambling in games that have them playing characters in other worlds for centuries with a specific goal (very similar to the Dream Couch stuff in the Elric prequel comic).
I was a big fan of all the things happening in this part of the story but the Second Ether interruptions slowed the pace down and caused a loss in interest. The final act is all about the Second Ether characters being played by the Jugadors in the Game of Time and this section was admittedly very cool and made the previous Second Ether stuff not feel like a complete waste of time.
Unfortunately, I was under the impression I'd missed an important piece of information early in the book and I felt that way until the final act. I did reread some early chapters to see if I had but I didn't find anything. Looking at other reviews, it seems I wasn't the only one who felt this way.
December 29, 2023
“She was his goal, but she was also his reason”
“Human love, Jack, is our only weapon against chaos”
This is very much a Moorcock dialled up to 11. The kaleidoscope of ideas, characters, dimensions, universes, beings, is like Dancers at the end of time but at an accelerated pace, a stronger distillation. The writing is right and packed. This is a much more spiritual, metaphysical and resolved work than his other work, but you can see the links. After forty years he’s maybe found a solution to the chaos - order binary, with love as a point of connection, resolution?
The style is even more baroque, even more packed with imagination - but after reading his reality prose (Mother London) initially I miss his calmer focus on character.
But The Rose emerges as such a seductive entity, and then Cornelius emerges from Jarek, and Moorcocks deftness at writing adventure stories really hits stride, alongside these strong characters
The issues of race and the swap of dominance feel clumsy - but the intention is interesting. In the Second Ether, after meeting the white Captain Quelch:
“Some are not white. But they happen to be the people who elected to make themselves conquerors of the Second Ether. The rest of us were merely glad to be granted its beauty”
‘“You’re looking better Jack” said Sam
Jack deals seven hands of poker. In his skin is the reflection of a million dying cultures given up to the pit king before their time; in his green eyes is a new kind of courtesy… he is content in the speculation that, for a few of his fellows at least, there may be some chance of paradise.
I’m feeling it Sam” he says’
“Human love, Jack, is our only weapon against chaos”
This is very much a Moorcock dialled up to 11. The kaleidoscope of ideas, characters, dimensions, universes, beings, is like Dancers at the end of time but at an accelerated pace, a stronger distillation. The writing is right and packed. This is a much more spiritual, metaphysical and resolved work than his other work, but you can see the links. After forty years he’s maybe found a solution to the chaos - order binary, with love as a point of connection, resolution?
The style is even more baroque, even more packed with imagination - but after reading his reality prose (Mother London) initially I miss his calmer focus on character.
But The Rose emerges as such a seductive entity, and then Cornelius emerges from Jarek, and Moorcocks deftness at writing adventure stories really hits stride, alongside these strong characters
The issues of race and the swap of dominance feel clumsy - but the intention is interesting. In the Second Ether, after meeting the white Captain Quelch:
“Some are not white. But they happen to be the people who elected to make themselves conquerors of the Second Ether. The rest of us were merely glad to be granted its beauty”
‘“You’re looking better Jack” said Sam
Jack deals seven hands of poker. In his skin is the reflection of a million dying cultures given up to the pit king before their time; in his green eyes is a new kind of courtesy… he is content in the speculation that, for a few of his fellows at least, there may be some chance of paradise.
I’m feeling it Sam” he says’
April 2, 2019
Wow what a book. This is one of the best if not the best book I have ever read (imo). I absolutly love this book. It takes you on a journey of imagination. And you need imagination to read this book. Nothing is clearly described. It creates an atmosphere and pushes your imagination in certain directions an then it leaves you to it. It's a challaging book. And it made me so happy. I love it when a book respects my imagination and doesn't force anything on me. This book is like a tornado of creativity.
It is set in the near future and the world is infested with the so called "colour", at the same time a almost magical substance and a gateway into the multiverse. The protagonists are players in the game of time, a game that symbolizes life in the multiverse with it's infinit variations. And the players have to navigate those variations. It's very metaphysical and it adds a new layer to Michael Moorcocks construct of the multiverse. It adds to his ethernal champion mythos and expands it into something new, while still being coherent in the context of the old stories.
Well I can't realy put it into words. If you like experimental fiction I would highly recomend it. If you prefere a simple narative this is not for you.
It is set in the near future and the world is infested with the so called "colour", at the same time a almost magical substance and a gateway into the multiverse. The protagonists are players in the game of time, a game that symbolizes life in the multiverse with it's infinit variations. And the players have to navigate those variations. It's very metaphysical and it adds a new layer to Michael Moorcocks construct of the multiverse. It adds to his ethernal champion mythos and expands it into something new, while still being coherent in the context of the old stories.
Well I can't realy put it into words. If you like experimental fiction I would highly recomend it. If you prefere a simple narative this is not for you.
September 30, 2022
This is the weirdest novel I’ve ever read, confusing throughout, and somehow I still really enjoyed it. The setting feels like a dream (or hallucination), where everything is bizarre and mostly left unexplained. At first it appears to be an alternate history story, where the dominate group in America are the descendants of African people, while Europeans are oppressed. However the dreamlike nature of the story shows in details like the Black main characters having European-sounding names and often speaking in fragments of French and Spanish, despite one of them musing that all European languages sound the same to him. And that element is among the least weird in this story, which features the cyborg insectoid (I think) machinoix, something called “meat boats,” and riverboat gamblers who play games involving the manipulation of histories of simulated universes. The writing style also conveys this weirdness, as there some sometimes sudden shifts from third person to first person, past to tense to present, chapters set in another dimension written in a campy pulp style, and a chapter written like a play script. I’m still not really sure what happened, or why I liked it anyway. However, I wouldn’t recommend this book for readers new to Moorcock’s work.
August 7, 2023
This is the weirdest novel I’ve ever read, confusing throughout, and somehow I still really enjoyed it. The setting feels like a dream (or hallucination), where everything is bizarre and mostly left unexplained. At first it appears to be an alternate history story, where the dominate group in America are the descendants of African people, while Europeans are oppressed. However the dreamlike nature of the story shows in details like the Black main characters having European-sounding names and often speaking in fragments of French and Spanish, despite one of them musing that all European languages sound the same to him. And that element is among the least weird in this story, which features the cyborg insectoid (I think) machinoix, something called “meat boats,” and riverboat gamblers who play games involving the manipulation of histories of simulated universes. The writing style also conveys this weirdness, as there some sometimes sudden shifts from third person to first person, past to tense to present, chapters set in another dimension written in a campy pulp style, and a chapter written like a play script. I’m still not really sure what happened, or why I liked it anyway. However, I wouldn’t recommend this book for readers new to Moorcock’s work.
May 17, 2023
I spent too much time not having any clue what was going on to give this more than 3 stars.
Every other page, I kept wondering, "What?" or "Who are those people?" or "What is that?" or "When is it?" or "How in the world...?"
It made sense - mostly, not fully - in the last few pages, but I can't say I enjoyed getting there. It was too abstract for me to really grasp. This story would work best in a visual medium, in my opinion.
There are a lot of religious connections that don't seem to make much sense to me, and I have questions that I don't feel confident were answered. Was it real or just a fantasy of a sick, dying man? But more importantly: Did the Spammer Gain ever find her lost fishlings?!
Every other page, I kept wondering, "What?" or "Who are those people?" or "What is that?" or "When is it?" or "How in the world...?"
It made sense - mostly, not fully - in the last few pages, but I can't say I enjoyed getting there. It was too abstract for me to really grasp. This story would work best in a visual medium, in my opinion.
There are a lot of religious connections that don't seem to make much sense to me, and I have questions that I don't feel confident were answered. Was it real or just a fantasy of a sick, dying man? But more importantly: Did the Spammer Gain ever find her lost fishlings?!
January 14, 2026
If you’ve read a lot of Moorcock’s books, especially the time travelling Bastable and Von Bek series you might get a lot out is this. If you haven’t then you’ll have trouble, finding it quite strange and even a bit silly at times. As a fan of Moorcock I could see how it riffed about the multiverse but can’t say I really enjoyed it. I didn’t really care for any of the characters or the plot but it was lavishly written and so carried me along.
July 8, 2022
Absolutely loved it, but then when you're an Eternal Champion it's a real kick to read about yourself and multiple iterations of your best friends, especially when Moorcock chronicles your tale so well.
August 16, 2022
Moorcock seems to be under the impression that coming up with brand new quirks for the metaphysics and cosmology of his multiverse is enough to support a novel by itself. He is incorrect. Full review: https://fakegeekboy.wordpress.com/201...
September 13, 2020
Mmmmmm, not the best. Thanks for the signed copy, but it's not for me. Had to read another book half way through to break the doldrum.
December 30, 2021
An excellent piece of art, hard to believe he managed a trilogy and this is just the first one.
May 2, 2023
Too eclectic for me
March 3, 2019
The nature of the universe, and both the physical and varied 'cultures' of alien races are richly imaged. Moorcock scatters throw-away lines hinting at big possibilities.
As usual in his work, morals and philosophical ideas abound: "The best way to get out of trouble is to take a risk based on your judgment... Take another risk. An informed one, this time. Make a change..."
I wonder if Mievelle was inspired by this for Perdido Street Station?:
"He marveled at her beauty, the peerless texture of her skin, her natural, sweet scent, the ever-changing colors of her flesh, and he knew that his feeling for her was stronger than his bond with the machinoix. Stronger than with his own species."
As usual in his work, morals and philosophical ideas abound: "The best way to get out of trouble is to take a risk based on your judgment... Take another risk. An informed one, this time. Make a change..."
I wonder if Mievelle was inspired by this for Perdido Street Station?:
"He marveled at her beauty, the peerless texture of her skin, her natural, sweet scent, the ever-changing colors of her flesh, and he knew that his feeling for her was stronger than his bond with the machinoix. Stronger than with his own species."
June 9, 2024
This was a desperately odd read. I say 'desperately' because it made me feel desperate at times and I was never quite sure what form such desperation took. Was I desperately in love with the ideas, the language, the atmosphere, the characters, the extended metaphors, the world building? Or was I desperately frustrated by a book that seemed to veer from utterly brilliant metaphysical adventure fiction to pretentious gibberish and back again? I almost abandoned the book several times before finishing it, yet I knew deep down I would persevere and that's what I did, but was it worth it? Yes, a big yes, with certain big reservations too.
The background landscapes of Blood and the societies which exist within them are radically unconventional. In some ways, all that Moorcock has done is reverse some conventions of our own world; but he has also done a lot more than that. He withholds explanations of things that perhaps can't be properly explained, populating his fictional world with all manner of personalities, beings and characters that are difficult for a reader to clearly focus on. But that is the point. This is not orthodox fantasy fiction. It is something more. The downside is that by striving to give us more, it sometimes happens that we get less. We are less satisfied by the denouements of scenes because they are often too cryptic, the progression of the 'plot' too unusual.
The quality of the writing, however, redeems a lot of what isn't edifying in terms of structure and story. This is a fantasy written with the prose that Moorcock tends to reserve for his 'serious' fiction (such as Mother London and the 'Pyat' series of four heavyweight literary satires). The prose flows, evoking lush images as it goes along, rhythmic and singsong and quite peculiar, with long lyrical digressions in parentheses. It works admirably. The subtropical ambience that results is as heady as the best of Mutis, Marquez and Couto. Whether this (excellent) style of writing is entirely suited to the subject matter is another question.
There were times while reading Blood that I told myself it was surely Moorcock's best fantasy. I no longer believe this. The City in the Autumn Stars (despite the rushed feeling of its second half) is still his best fantasy. But Blood is certainly one of his best, and perhaps the strangest. It is a novel saturated with a love of old pulp fiction, of Westerns, of the bayou and the mannerisms of the antebellum, constrained or possibly expanded by a need to fit in with the great cycle of Moorcock's writing life, the unfolding saga of Chaos and Law and the Balance, with characters who have to be individuals but also types, as well as avatars of the Eternal Champion and/or avatars of the companion of the Champion. It is a splurge of a book, a gumbo of a novel, part Mississippi showboat, part mitteleuropa, part reverse Pilgrim's Progress, part Golden Age adventure blast, part nonsense, part over-egged fable. Fascinating, at the very least.
The background landscapes of Blood and the societies which exist within them are radically unconventional. In some ways, all that Moorcock has done is reverse some conventions of our own world; but he has also done a lot more than that. He withholds explanations of things that perhaps can't be properly explained, populating his fictional world with all manner of personalities, beings and characters that are difficult for a reader to clearly focus on. But that is the point. This is not orthodox fantasy fiction. It is something more. The downside is that by striving to give us more, it sometimes happens that we get less. We are less satisfied by the denouements of scenes because they are often too cryptic, the progression of the 'plot' too unusual.
The quality of the writing, however, redeems a lot of what isn't edifying in terms of structure and story. This is a fantasy written with the prose that Moorcock tends to reserve for his 'serious' fiction (such as Mother London and the 'Pyat' series of four heavyweight literary satires). The prose flows, evoking lush images as it goes along, rhythmic and singsong and quite peculiar, with long lyrical digressions in parentheses. It works admirably. The subtropical ambience that results is as heady as the best of Mutis, Marquez and Couto. Whether this (excellent) style of writing is entirely suited to the subject matter is another question.
There were times while reading Blood that I told myself it was surely Moorcock's best fantasy. I no longer believe this. The City in the Autumn Stars (despite the rushed feeling of its second half) is still his best fantasy. But Blood is certainly one of his best, and perhaps the strangest. It is a novel saturated with a love of old pulp fiction, of Westerns, of the bayou and the mannerisms of the antebellum, constrained or possibly expanded by a need to fit in with the great cycle of Moorcock's writing life, the unfolding saga of Chaos and Law and the Balance, with characters who have to be individuals but also types, as well as avatars of the Eternal Champion and/or avatars of the companion of the Champion. It is a splurge of a book, a gumbo of a novel, part Mississippi showboat, part mitteleuropa, part reverse Pilgrim's Progress, part Golden Age adventure blast, part nonsense, part over-egged fable. Fascinating, at the very least.
December 7, 2019
Strange wish-mash of a story.
It's part alternate history, part romance, part trippy sci-fi and part of Moorcock's multiverse saga.
But, almost none of those are treated as important to the story, which seems to be building up the Second Either and war for reality story thread.
This is supposedly the start of the trilogy, but feels very much like the typical 'middle of the trilogy' novel and I can't decide if maybe I'm reading this series in the wrong order or is Moorcock just messing with us?
Jack and Sam are interesting enough, they have this kind of Hemingway-ish manly friendship happening.
The women they are obsessed with seem to exist, just to be obsessed over.
We are told they are amazing and have grand destinies of their own, but then all they do is be significant others and ac t as plot devices.
I do really like this trilogy, but the first book is unfortunately the weakest,
It's part alternate history, part romance, part trippy sci-fi and part of Moorcock's multiverse saga.
But, almost none of those are treated as important to the story, which seems to be building up the Second Either and war for reality story thread.
This is supposedly the start of the trilogy, but feels very much like the typical 'middle of the trilogy' novel and I can't decide if maybe I'm reading this series in the wrong order or is Moorcock just messing with us?
Jack and Sam are interesting enough, they have this kind of Hemingway-ish manly friendship happening.
The women they are obsessed with seem to exist, just to be obsessed over.
We are told they are amazing and have grand destinies of their own, but then all they do is be significant others and ac t as plot devices.
I do really like this trilogy, but the first book is unfortunately the weakest,
November 23, 2009
this is the first of a trilogy - Fabulous Harbours comes next, then War Amongst the Angels is the finale. Many of Moorcock's characters from other series are in it. I found Blood not to be as good as Fabulous Harbours, and War Amongst the Angels rates ok, but of the three, Fabulous Harbours is the best. It's a stand alone, too, I think, moreso than the other two.
Moorcock has such a variety of ideas.
Moorcock has such a variety of ideas.
July 26, 2014
This is a very innovative and fun story that also does a great job of reframing a lot of the ideas of the Eternal Champion mythos. The fact that Moorcock has since spent 20 years refining the ideas of the Second Aether speaks to their strengths.
There are parts of the book that a bit rambling, with not enough happening for too long, and parts that are a bit too "New Wave" for me. Nonetheless, the imagination and the ending pay out all, making this a great work.
There are parts of the book that a bit rambling, with not enough happening for too long, and parts that are a bit too "New Wave" for me. Nonetheless, the imagination and the ending pay out all, making this a great work.
May 13, 2012
I found this very difficult to follow. I listened on audiobook so didn't have the visual division of stories that you get when changing chapters. I couldn't find any attachment to any of the characters as I was too busy trying to work out what was happening. I felt compelled to finish it in the hope that all would become clear but it didn't! Don't think I'll be rushing to get the next one.
April 14, 2012
I have picked this up and put it back down a couple of times... this time for good I think. It feels like Moorcock is trying to recapture the freely-streaming psychedelia of Final Programme, but this seems forced and is just boring.
August 9, 2013
I am between 3 and 4 stars. Michael Moorcock develops such complete worlds and they are so different from anyone else's ideas. His blend of sci fi and fantasy is terrific - but sometimes his writing style can just make reading difficult for me.
April 4, 2015
A wonderful book, but one difficult to review (and probably read), especially for those not already inculcated in Moorcock's multiverse.
Think I might just pitch straight into Fabulous Harbours next...
Think I might just pitch straight into Fabulous Harbours next...
January 15, 2013
So far my favourite Moorcock novel. In many ways this is a magic realism novel. A great work of art.
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