The Dreamthief's Daughter: A Tale of the Albino

The Dreamquest Trilogy #1

by Michael Moorcock

As Nazism engulfs the Fatherland, the albino Ulric von Bek, last Count of Bek, battles to keep the dark sword Ravenbrand from being taken by Adolf Hitler...

As an unhuman army engulfs Tanelorn, the albino Elric, last sorcerer-king of Melniboné, fights to keep the black sword Stormbringer from being taken by Gaynor the Damned...

They both fail. Now, their destinies suddenly entwined with that of Oona, the mysterious Dreamthief's Daughter, Elric and von Bek must become one hero. For the entire Multiverse will be destroyed--unless Elric can summon his dragon kin across space and time to the Battle of Britain, and show the Third Reich what hell on earth truly means...

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Dark Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, Sword and Sorcery, High Fantasy, Science Fiction Fantasy

460 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Michael 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.

Reviews

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Elric and Von Bek versus the Nazis, dragons versus german fighters, time travel. A childhood dream come true.

Happy, happy, happy!

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I wrote elsewhere, I read the Elric stories first many years ago and have done a couple of re-reads since. But that is only the “classic” tales all of which predate the 21st Century. While searching out copies for a recent re-read (my own volumes are stored away), much to my surprise I found that there were additional tales crafted only a decade or so ago. The Dreamthief’s Daughter is the first in a trilogy.

Note:     My reviews of the older books are hideously late, except for the first volume. I’ll get back to them eventually.

As I noted in my last Elric review, since our Author decided to kill off the Melnibonean Prince in his second batch of stories and his entire world, adding to the canon required writing prequels (which he did) or “sandwiching in” stories between older ones (also done). To make these tales “fit”, an interesting device is used: Elric exists in a 1,000 year dream state which takes only moments (or a couple of days) in his “official” history. So, while he remains bound to the mast of a ship, his astral being (if you will) roams the multiverse serving as one aspect of the Eternal Champion.

I’m going to omit most of the narrative details, as I think those who like this character and author deserve to find these things out for themselves. I will make a few comments on the story and the writing, though.

If you remember the frenzy and energy of the original stories; The Stealer of Souls, Stormbringer, The Vanishing Tower, Elric of Melnibone, and so on, they were very fast-paced. Indeed the first two novels read like a whirlwind. I found this book to feel and read more like the later Eternal Champion novels (e.g. Dorian Hawkmoon & Count Brass era stories). There is more description without immediate action and personal observations. I say this not as a criticism, but just to describe how it differs from the earlier works. Remember this is not his homeworld. The balance of forces, magic, and science is different, so why should the story read the same?

Mr. Moorcock is in places more “playful” with his story and his reader. He sprinkles many references to his own works throughout the book both to tie it in to his multiverse, but also to engage the reader at many levels (and maybe to amuse himself, as well.) One of the passages I liked best is on page 83:

      “The name was faintly familiar. I remembered a book from my library. One of those unlikely memoirs which enterprising hacks turned out in the wake of Grimmelshausen’s Simplicissimus and Raspe’s Munchausen. The author, perhaps the pseudonym for an ancestor, claimed to have visited an underground kingdom, a refuge for the disposed, whose natives were more stone than flesh. I’d enjoyed the tale as a boy, but it had like so much of that fantastic stuff, and I had grown bored with it.”

It hit me just the right way that I accurately recalled the page number weeks after reading it.

So, spoilers aside, I will say that I was happy to read the further adventures of the White Wolf. I have read (and will review) the third novel, but the BPL has let me down on the second volume. It’s not to be found. But someday I may have another “new” book to read, so that’s okay. For nostalgia alone, I’d rate this book a three, but it brings a new perspective and dimension (if you will) to one of my favorite characters. That’s at least another ½ star. The ethical and moral issues that form the backbone of this book earn it another ½ star.

Four Stars (4.0).

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Dreamthief's Daughter

by Michael Moorcock

Earthlight, 342 pages, hardback, 2001



In pre-WWII Germany, with the Nazis on the ascendant, Count
Ulric von Bek is one of the many who look upon developments with
dismay — but a largely passive dismay, for fear of the
bully-boys. He is not allowed to continue thus, however, for the
Nazis, in the person of his cousin Prince Gaynor von Minct, seek
the ancestral sword of the von Bek family, Ravenbrand, as well as
the Holy Grail, also entrusted to the family but reputedly lost
by von Bek's mad father. Von Bek contacts the Resistance, and,
with the enigmatic Herr El and the lovely wildling Oona, who is
like himself an albino, makes plans to retain the status quo.
Another albino appears frequently to von Bek in dreams and
visions — a berserk-seeming figure who has a savage cast to
him.

Before much can come of any Resistance schemes, Gaynor has
von Bek thrown into a concentration camp where, despite physical
torture, he declines to reveal the location of Ravenbrand. At
length, as he nears death, the albino of his dreams appears
magically with Oona and an enigmatic British agent, Oswald
Bastable, to free him. They flee to Hameln where, … la
Pied Piper, von Bek splits open a rock using the regained
Ravenbrand and they enter a subterranean realm, Mu-Ooria,
populated by the mentally superhuman Off-Moo. Here they are
pursued by Gaynor and his Nazi demon sidekick Klosterheim.

And here, too, the mysterious dream albino — who is of
course Elric of Melnibon‚ — gains a greater reality, in due
course managing to combine himself with von Bek so that the two
become one. The dual entity returns to Tanelorn, where as Elric
it discovers that Gaynor has ambitions far beyond the mundane
ones of the Nazis: through forming a duplicitous alliance with
the Goddess of Law, Miggea, Gaynor hopes to overthrow Chaos and
gain the rule of all the multiverse. Elric, as an arch-prince of
Chaos, must resist him.

The remainder of this tale twines its way absorbingly through
various aspects of the multiverse — Moorcock's great
conceptual creation, the myriad related worlds in which stories
are eternally played and replayed, with archetypes as the puppets
of unknown puppeteers. In the end, of course, the balance between
Chaos and Law is restored, at least for now.

The novel (although divided into three) has essentially four
parts: von Bek's time in pre-War Germany; his and Oona's
adventures in Mu-Ooria; the adventures of Elric and of the dual
Elric/von Bek entity in and around Tanelorn; and the long,
complex final section in which Elric, von Bek and the ever-
resourceful Oona — who is Elric's daughter by the dreamthief
Oone, and with whom von Bek, despite an uneasy sensation of
incest (for he and Elric are alter egos), falls in love —
journey between the worlds and bring a resolution to the main
conflict while also, in the conflict of this world, bringing a
resolution of sorts by turning the tide of the Battle of Britain
back against the Luftwaffe.

The four sections succeed to greater and lesser (mostly
greater) extents. The Mu-Ooria sequences, with their Edgar Rice
Burroughsian ambience, in the telling hark back even further, to
the sort of 19th- or even 18th-century otherworld fantasy in
which the otherworld itself is deemed to be of such marvel that
the reader is intended to be entertained by somewhat painstaking,
plodding accounts of the geography and populace rather than any
plot advancement. There are longueurs here and also a sense of
alienation on the writer's part, as if Moorcock recognized while
writing them that the sequences were failing to lift off the
ground but could not abandon them because this section of the
book is integral to the rest.

That rest, by contrast, in general sings. Von Bek's
experiences in Nazi Germany, and his growing knowledge that he is
part of a greater mystery, are as gripping as any World War II
adventure story. The sequences where Elric and later the dual
entity must quest, with Moonglum, through the bleak and alien
world into which the goddess Miggea has transplanted Tanelorn,
like an orchid into a desert, are superbly conceived High Fantasy
and eerily evoke the dream-sense; while the long concluding
section — with the small exception of the clumsily handled,
contrived-seeming sequence in which a dragon-mounted Elric and
von Bek attack the advancing waves of the Luftwaffe, thereby
giving rise to the legend of the Dragons of Wessex —
demonstrates why Moorcock possesses the towering status he does
in any consideration of the history of fantasy. In this final
section he is creating new structures of fantasy, rather than
recrudescing the old — a rare achievement, alas, in the
modern genre.

Of great interest throughout is the question of
identity and the workings, through the nature of the
multiverse, of not just the multiplicity of a single identity but
the coalescing into a single identity of a multiplicity; one has
the sensation, reading this book, of this going on all the time
in a kind of endless flow, as reality itself shifts and twists
— rather like an analogy of the impermanent alliances the
villain Gaynor forges with the different gods. Von Bek is at one
and the same time both Elric and not-Elric, and that duality
persists even once their two identities have fused. (The same
obviously is true of Elric, who is both von Bek and not-von Bek.)
Elric's sword Stormbringer and the von Bek family's sword
Ravenbrand have a single identity, even though they are
physically twain and remain so, even when in proximity. Oona is
both a daughter and a lover to the double identity that is Elric-
von Bek. Gaynor is at one and the same time a human being and an
eternal Evil Principle. There are other examples.

That this is in fact a true nature of reality is plausible in
a post-Heisenberg frame of reference (whose analogue might be
Chaos, by contrast with Newtonian-style Law), which sees identity
as a transient property, dependent upon, among other factors, the
act of perception. It is pleasing to see such notions worked out
in a novel of, ostensibly, High Fantasy — not a subgenre
noted for its deployment of scientific thinking, and indeed
generally marked by antiscientism.

This is also an intensely political novel. Time and again
Moorcock explores the motivations behind the parasitic quest of
tyrants for power and their obsessional need to stamp order (Law)
on that which should not be ordered — to wit,
humanity. The relevance of this is obvious when Nazism is the
despotism under consideration; but there are not so subtly
encoded references to other, more recent, "democratic despots" of
the Right. The name of the Goddess of Law, Miggea, seems a clear
anagrammatic reference to Maggie/Margaret Thatcher, a political
figure who while in power earned the public hatred (or fear) of
many surprisingly disparate creators. Here, for example, is
Moorcock's description of the world Miggea and her rule of Law
have created:

Miggea's was no ordinary desert. It was all that remained of
a world destroyed by Law. Barren. No hawks soared in the pale
blue sky. Not an insect. Not a reptile. No water. No lichen. No
plants of any kind. Just tall spikes of crystallized ash and
limestone, crumbling and turned into crazy shapes by the wind,
like so many grotesque gravestones.

Later Herr El (aka Prince Lobkowitz), in talking of the rise
of the Nazis but also of any regime of obdurate Law, however
convivial its veneer — any regime that pretends the
solutions to complex problems are simple, and then imposes
through the use of power or force those simple, but (or hence)
profoundly wrong solutions on the world — is the
mouthpiece for a sideswipe at Thatcher's American counterpart:

They are the worst kind of self-deceiving cowards and
everything they build is a ramshackle sham. They have the taste
of the worst Hollywood producers and the egos of the worst
Hollywood actors. We have come to an ironic moment in history, I
think, when actors and entertainers determine the fate of the
real world.

Moorcock's contempt for the politicians of Law is of course
allowed to be seen more naked when the subjects under
consideration are safely distant in history, like the Nazis and
(in brief references) the Stalinist despots of Soviet Russia.
Late in the book there is a long and hilariously — though
darkly, bitterly — satirical scene in which a disguised von
Bek, inadvertently thrust into a car with Rudolf Hess, must
listen to an interminable outflow of arrant, antiscientific,
credulously ignorant nonsense from the Deputy Fuehrer. Hess and
by implication his colleagues in the Nazi hierarchy are portrayed
as what Brian Stableford has termed "lifestyle fantasists", the
attempted reification of their particular brand of insane and
simplifying fantasies involving, of course, untold human
suffering. Hence Elric's — and one presumes Moorcock's
— detestation of Law and adherence to Chaos.

As mentioned, there are some doldrums in this book, but they
are in a relatively early part of it and easily ploughed through.
Overall, The Dreamthief's Daughter is mightily impressive
not just as a demonstration of the fantasticating imagination in
full flight but because of all the different aspects of meaning
which it embodies — analogues, in a way, of the myriad
diversely aspected worlds of the multiverse. It is one of those
rare fantasies that merits repeated reading with, each time, a
different facet of its full meaning to be derived.



This review, first published by Infinity Plus, is
excerpted from my ebook Warm Words and Otherwise: A Blizzard
of Book Reviews, to be published on September 19 by Infinity
Plus Ebooks.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was an okay read for me, but it didn't sweep me away in the way I had hoped. It starts as an interesting historical novel featuring von Bek and the rise of Hitler in Germany. Then Elric shows up and there are dragons and it just never came together for me. Elric lacked the poetry and energy of the earlier volumes, and the historical aspect was washed away by the overly fantastical Eternal Champion portions. There are some very good sequences, and Moorcock's prose is always enjoyable, but I wasn't captivated. I should give it another try someday...

[Scott · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was a huge fan of this author in my youth and I still recall the original Elric saga and the other books I read at the time fondly, but this return to his work after so many years was a disappointment.

I actually enjoyed the first third or so of this story quite a bit. There is no fantastical aspect yet, and it depicts Count Ulric of Bek's view of the rise of Nazism in his beloved Germany. Ulric's ambitious cousin Gaynor has joined up with Hitler, though he sees him only as a stepping stone to something greater. He demands Ulric turn over a family heirloom, the sword Ravenbrand, but Ulric, seeing the Nazis for what they are, refuses, and is thrown into prison and then a concentration camp for his trouble.

It's once Elric shows up and teams with Ulric (initially occupying the same body) that I began to become bored. The main reason is that Elric, last prince of Melniboné, has ties to many patron gods, and can call on them any time he gets into a fix and needs a hand. And so he does. This recurring deus ex machina sucks any drama or tension out of the story. There's also a lot of smaller scale mystical hand-waving stuff that had the same effect. After the first act, I felt no weight to any of the action. Even the ending doesn't require much on Elric's or Ulric's part.

I guess I would have preferred this as a pure historical novel, or at least something a bit more down to earth.

[Kylie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The premise for this book is bizarre. Elric fighting Nazis? Pathways to other dimensions? I was prepared to go "what?!" at the end of every chapter. Instead, I only went "what?!" after the occasional long and probably too philosophical for me explanations of how all this was technically possible. Oh, and at the civilization living under the earth. In terms of the main storyline, it's surprisingly enjoyable. As the story is told from the point of view of Elric's 'avatar', Ulric von Bek, the language is less high fantasy and more modern prose, which means you can read it for longer periods of time without feeling the need to get away from some excruciatingly melodramatic sentences (as much as I love the original series, this was the problem I had). Ulric is a engrossing character in his own right, possibly even more likeable than Elric as he is human and therefore comes with all the appropriate moral baggage.

[Derek · Rating 4 out of 5]

This last trilogy of Moorcock's Elric books almost seems like an all-star extravaganza series, pulling in stars and references from throughout his multiverse/Eternal Champion canon. Some might find it a bit vain and trite, but I rather enjoyed this way of explicitly tying everything in his multiverse together. The use of the Nazis as a representation of pure evil was a bit cliche, and the tone of his musings about the Nazis was a bit self-righteous. But I rather like the overall story arch, the use of this different avatar of the Eternal Champion to narrate the story of Elric was nice. It seems that with Gaynor the Damned, Moorcock finally found a worthy and interesting nemesis for his White Wolf.

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Elric vs Nazis

Michael Moorcock never shies away from throwing his infamous albino sorcerer into increasingly bizarre scenarios, and 2001's "The Dreamthief’s Daughter" is no exception. This time, Elric finds himself entangled in a multiversal tangle of Nazi occultists, alternate identities, and the usual cosmic strife—because, naturally, no dimension is safe from fascism.

Moorcock’s prose flows smoothly, carrying readers through dreamlike landscapes and existential dilemmas without ever losing momentum. The introduction of Ulrich von Bek—Elric’s alternate-reality doppelgänger—is an intriguing twist, adding layers to the saga’s ongoing examination of identity, fate, and eternal struggle. The villains, predictably reprehensible, serve their purpose well, and the stakes remain satisfyingly high.

The sheer absurdity of the premise keeps the novel firmly in the realm of pulpy guilty pleasure. Ancient sorcery clashing with Nazi occultists in a cosmic showdown? It’s hard not to appreciate the audacity. The story revels in its own heightened drama, never pretending to be more than a fever-dream collision of high fantasy and historical pulp fiction. While undeniably entertaining, it lacks the weight or depth needed to elevate it beyond an enjoyable genre romp—but sometimes, that’s exactly what you want.

The Dreamthief’s Daughter is equal parts ambitious and bewildering. It’s not peak Elric, but it’s entertaining enough to justify the ride—after all, few things are more delightfully surreal than watching a doomed antihero battle Nazis across dimensions.

[Jamie Connolly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Elric and von bek nazis. Gaynor the damned. WW2. The holy grail. Arioch. The dreamthiefs daughter. A little of everything. Like all of moorcocks books, 5 stars.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This review originally published in Looking For a Good Book. Rated 4.5 of 5

There's no doubt in my mind that I never read this Elric novel prior to this. I definitely would have remembered Elric and dragons and magic fighting World War II Germans!
Given that Elric and all he held dear - his city and its people - were destroyed at the end of his last series of books, it was hard to imagine how we would get new stories. Prequels? Stories to squeeze in between some of the others? Oh, no ... Moorcock is too creative for this. Instead, we get an Elric existing in a 1000 year 'dream state' or 'astral state' (think Doctor Strange from the Marvel Cinematic Universe) where each months-long (maybe years-long?) adventure takes barely a moment in his reality. This provides a nearly limitless number of opportunities for adventures. And what adventures!

This story begins with Count Ulric von Bek, of Nazi Germany. Ulric sees the rising threat of Hitler's Germany and does not want to be a part of it. Ulric's cousin, Gaynor, on the other hand has ambitions of climbing up the Nazi ranks and believes that he can do it with the help of a family heirloom ... a sword known as 'Ravenbrand.'

Enter Elric ... literally. Elric's astral self, or his soul, enters Ulric and the two share one body. For awhile at least. And this sharing gives Ulric access to Elric's knowledge, which Ulric finds more than a bit stunning.

Keeping the runesword, Ravenbrand, out of the Nazi hands is more than just preventing an easier rise to power for the Nazis, but it is part of the battle between Chaos and Law, which is what brings Elric, as the Eternal Champion (that's some complicated history there), into the story.

In fact, this is nearly two very separate stories. We get more than a fair amount of Count von Bek before we ever see Elric. In fact, at one point I stopped and did some Googling to see if this was really an Elric story as I had thought, or if I had remembered it incorrectly. But once Elric arrives, we get that sweeping fantasy that we expect, with a little less brooding and in a situation that it sometimes easier for us to imagine.

And that title ...? Oh yeah, there's a woman here, Oona, the dreamthief's daughter. She doesn't play nearly as large a role as you might imagine, given her titular place. She helps Elric/Ulric with some plotting and guides him to a few things. A bit disappointing, this.

Given Elric's ability to call upon the gods for help is sometimes a deus ex machina means of getting out of trouble, but it's never a sweeping plague or easy solution. In this case, Elric gets some help from dragons. Yes, dragons. And it's a lot of fun having the Third Reich face off against the fire-breathing lizards!

I really liked this book. Bringing Elric into this time period was quite clever and I wonder what the other books are going to be like.

Looking for a good book? The Dreamthief's Daughter by Michael Moorcock is an Elric story, combining the high fantasy of Elric with the historic setting of Nazi Germany. It's intense energy - a great read.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Edelweiss and Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review

[Jamie Barringer (Ravenmount) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Odd mix of fantasy and WW2 historical fiction- Elric meets Hitler, literally.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m reading through the saga and so far any Elric book gets a 5 star review. Moorcock is a master of the craft and Elric is fascinating!

[Wheeler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fine. Just fine.

[Michael Battaglia · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's been a while since I've read an actual Eternal Champion novel. Years ago I devoured White Wolf's reprinting of Moorcock's entire Eternal Champion series, including most of his early novels and ones that had been retrofitted to become Eternal Champion stories. Its a sprawling series that's undoubtedly confusing to new readers, akin to going to a party that's been going on for a week where the host keeps changing and thus the nature of the party itself. In that light, there's no real good entry point other than just picking your Champion and diving right in.

For most people one Champion stands out amongst the rest like a tall, pale, exquisitely tortured beacon . . . Elric of Melnibone, he of the albino complexion, evil sword and constant veil of weary despair, like a university student of Romantic poetry asked to choose his favorite Lord Byron poem. Thanks to his interesting backstory, conflicted demeanor and instant conversation starter in the giant black soul-sucking sword he's one of Moorcock's most memorable characters. Any story with him generally guarantees a good, if slightly tormented, time.

In recent years most of what I've read of Moorcock has been less concerned with writing weird fantasy than tackling more serious concerns. Jerry Cornelius and Colonel Pyat have been the leads of choice with interesting sidetrips to novels like "Gloriana" or "Mother London." More literary in nature and not always as crowd-pleasing, its interesting to see if Moorcock could rediscover his older more freewheeling style or adapt Elric to these more contemplative times.

As it stands we get Elric versus Nazis and yet its not as crazy as you'd expect.

In a hearkening back to the good old days, Moorcock decided to write this one of those combo Eternal Champion novels, where multiple incarnations come together to tackle a villain that threatens to unravel the Multiverse, never the most ordered place to begin with. So while Elric is mentioned in the description the tale is subtitled, "A Tale of the Albino" and apparently the idea is that while one albino is good, three are even better. Thus, we dispense with the idea that the novel is going to take us to the beach (unless its a grey, moody beach) and get ready for worlds to collide.

That said, enter Ulric Von Bek and a horde of everyone's favorite historical villains, past or present.

Longtime readers will remember the Von Bek as keepers of the Holy Grail (sadly, no one gets to say, "You have choosen . . . poorly") and Ulric is the last of his line, hanging out on the family lands while Germany falls to pieces around him as the Nazis take over and proceed in being evil in that way we've all come to know. Fortunately for Von Bek, he's not evil. Unfortunately for him, his great black sword has attracted Nazi attention and they'd love to have it for reasons that seem to rhyme with "destroying everything."

Moorcock still knows his way around a period piece and while its easy to gather outrage against a group who attempted to fulfill the "racial purity" merit badge in ways that are still incomprehensibly horrifying (not seeming to care that there's no way to achieve that goal without being rightly seen as total monsters) Moorcock does attempt to tell an actual story of someone trapped inside his beloved country while it changes in ways that he can't even recognize. And there is a good story to be told of what it was like to watch all the old monarchies and social structures completely crumbling to dust in what was left of Europe after the First World War. That was honestly the part that interested me the most, even if Ulric is so passive as a narrator you start to wonder if he's even in his own story. But then Elric shows up and everything goes sideways.

He's such a strong character that the story immediately picks up when he arrives and the story lurches into fantasy territory. Elric's got his own problems facing a version of one of Von Bek's cousins (who wants Stormbringer) and spends a good portion of his early scenes a victim of sorcerous trickery before the two of them (aided by the third albino, Oona, and the title character) decide to tackle the problem head on.

Longtime readers will probably enjoy the callbacks and references to past stories (I did enjoy Oswald Bastable's brief appearance, personally) and once the fantasy scenes arrive Moorcock's imagination moves into full swing, giving us not only his version of Fantasy Anytown, Tanelorn but a number of other interesting areas. There's dragons and demons and strange magic and of course, plenty of shouting for blood and souls for his boy Arioch.

The problem is that longtime readers are going to find a lot of this as going over old ground, right down to Elric's tortured guise and the combining of the Champions to face a threat to the Multiverse . . . we get some mileage out of Von Bek reacting to Elric, especially as the wispy fellow is not exactly nice at times but there's not really enough different here to make it stand out from other, earlier novels, except perhaps for the inclusion of Nazis. But even then Moorcock goes with idea of Nazis being obsessed with sorcery and old artifacts and while at times he seems to be trying to show them as banal buffoons and not seeming to convey the menace in people who might have been otherwise an ordinary brand of awful somehow managing to stumble into the perfect storm of circumstances that allowed them their great capacities for getting lots of innocent people killed. While its silly to some extent watching them go nuts over a soul sucking sword, it wasn't like they needed the extra help in real life.

The other problem is that if we're just having another average day in the life of Elric, new readers may find it a poor introduction. The original Elric stories were reasonably short and thus had a sort of feverish intensity to them . . . here, at over four hundred pages the book is just too long and doesn't justify its length. It feels at times like two different stories that Moorcock couldn't develop uneasily wielded together for the sake of the setpieces and as such never really develops a real momentum. It doesn't have the feel of a breakneck race against time nor do we really have a good opportunity for an extended exploration of the Multiverse and the constant struggle between order and chaos. The one new element is Oona, indeed the daughter of a dreamthief but beyond plotting with Elric and seeming to act as a guide (and a convenient way to dispense exposition at times) there's not much else she does. There's not even much dream stealing going on, although I imagine stealing Elric's dreams would be like bottling screams.

He still gets some good scenes out of it . . . I think the most memorable is Arioch's appearance but others may enjoy the dragons and their somewhat over the top role in things. But the Arioch scene to me has what much of the book is lacking . . . a sneaky verve and a decadent, dangerous strangeness that much of Moorcock's best fantasy possessed. Too much else feels rote, everyone plodding through escapes from Nazis and monstrous henchmen while alliances and counteralliances swirl around depending on how the plot needs to shift. Maybe a trim would have tightened it up better, maybe Moorcock doesn't have quite the feel for the material he used to have. And while its nice to see Elric again, he can't disguise the novel's feel as a band's reunion tour, running onto stage and performing all the expected hits for the cheering crowd. Even if the songs are well played and the band's trying its hard to shake the sense that its one of those exercises that makes both the listeners and the band feel like they're young again, allowing them for one night to ignore that its been done before and that professionalism is sometimes no excuse for a certain fire in the belly. At least this time we can snag a T-shirt.

[Paula ϟ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Official Rating: 4.5 stars

This book is so well written. There is nothing lacking. The pacing is perfect, with the exception that I had a hard time getting into the book (the first couple of chapters) for one main reason. This was the first eternal champion novel I had read, and this is the tenth in the saga, so I was a bit lost. It picked up quickly though and never slowed down to where it got boring. Which leads me to Moorcock's usage of words. Brilliant! He's just so poetic, Even in parts of the story where things seem to slow down, I was never bored but always consumed with the worlds he created, because of how he wrote. He would write one or two paragraphs laced with his (the author's) personal morals/beliefs/philosophical thoughts and then the next paragraph jump back into complete reality of the story. This was done so subtly and through the characters themselves that I had to reread many parts, then stop and pause, awestruck with the beauty and intelligence of the author. Finally, there is a such author with enough great intelligence that it subtly reverberates through a story. Well appreciated. Next, the storyline was amazing. This book follows the perspective of Ulric and Elric at various points throughout the book and even dares to follow both of their minds at once. The characters are lovable and I was truly rooting for them. Rather than just being along for the ride, I was held captive by this story and invited into the minds and souls of the characters and of the setting itself.

[Christian · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was another entry that I found difficult to review.

The first quarter of the book was superb as an historical fiction piece. I was enamored with the character of Count von Bek and his perspective of Weimar Germany and the rise of National Socialism.

But then, you know, Astral Elric, dragons fighting Messerschmitts, a Journey to the Center of the Earth type adventure, time travel (sort of), alter egos, and supernatural occult Hitler looking for magic swords and the holy grail to use in the conquest of Britain.

It just didn't do it for me. Way too much going on. Aristocratic French foxes? Nazis sword fighting in magic cave cities?

I will say that Moorcock used some clever storytelling devices to make these settings and developments work with his multiverse idea, and it's not lost on my that he had been teasing the inclusion of a modern setting with his old character Wheldrake (who gets his name dropped a few times) through several other books in the series.

Overall, it basically works as an Eternal Champion title, but if you step back and look at the book through any other lense, the whole thing looks like a silly, clumsy alt-history fanfiction.

Honestly, give me a book about the life of Von Bek without all the magic and I think it's a better book. Moorcock shocked me with his competence as an historical fiction author.

[Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this to be a more modern story. Obviously the fact that it starts in the early 1900s in Germany and mainly focuses on the WWII period for that part of the story gives it a modern feel. However, because we have a human MC in Count Ulric for at least part of the time, much of the narration relies on the sensibilities of a modern, civilized man, rather than the bloodthirsty Elric. There also is less of the misogyny, as a woman leads and helps Count Ulric. She, the Dream thief's daughter, is a very major character - not a side piece. This is not a typical Sword and Sorcery story.

This is part of a trilogy and is a little disconcerting in that we start with Elric hanging upside-down on an enemy ship but don't come back to that until the next book!! Very interesting device.

The story is brilliant and very perceptive of motivations and machinations. The thought processes of both the protagonists and antagonists are examined and the characters are well developed. Fascinating use of the multiverse! With all the Marvel movies, it's interesting that Michael Moorcock was one of the (if not the) first to use the multiverse in fiction.

I highly recommend.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just had a discussion about this book over dinner and realised I hadn't rated it yet. I read it when it was fresh out, hesitantly so because I could never have imagined that it would work. As a die hard Elric fan I couldn't see how the saga could be transported to 1940s Nazi Germany. But it worked. It hurts to admit it but it is actually better crafted than the original series.

[Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoy the old Elric / Eternal Champion books, they have a dreamlike quality. Elric is a half-mad, manic/depressive...at least in the old stories. That aspect has been missing from the recent books...until this one, that is! The albino's back in full force.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely brilliant! Micheal Moorcock writes fantasy, but it's so beyond most others in the genre, it's incredibly refreshing. Elric is a great anti-hero, and it was interesting to see him compared with the more human Ulric. Very well written, I couldn't put it down!

[Steve]

The Eternal Champion (ala Elric of Melnibone/Ulric von Bek) fights Nazis in the Center of the Earth. Fantastic.

[Chrisman · Rating 4 out of 5]

## Why I picked it up ##

I've long heard that Michael Moorcock does really good sword & sorcery fantasy. So I grabbed this one because it was available and I'm an opportunist.

## What surprised me ##

Okay, I thought I was going to be getting wizards and dragons and stuff, so I was flabbergasted when the story started out in early Nazi Germany. That's on me for not even bothering to read the jacket or the synopsis. I was disoriented, but the writing around the insidious, creeping rise of fascism was good enough to stick with it, even though there were not wizards or dragons.

## What I liked about it ##

Most good fantasy stories are all allegory, right? This one beats you over the head with it: in the fantasy realm the hero of chaos must fight the corrupt, senile, and insane Lord of Law. An obvious stand-in for fascism. While in our world, Europe cowers before the threat of Nazism, itself a corruption of law and authority.

The allegory might be a little on the nose, but it was done well enough. And the rise in fascism in the US and elsewhere made it all the more poignant, and all the more satisfying and cathartic when the dragons actually dogfight the Nazi bombers and literally dragonbreath them to pieces.

## What I didn't like about it ##

Otherwise a kind of cliche heroic fantasy. Which, don't get me wrong, is what I wanted. But Elric is basically godlike and at no point did it feel like there was ever any danger he couldn't punch or magic away.

And, while I don't honestly know how *I* would explain two doppelgängers who sometimes inhabit the same body while they bounce back and forth between Fantasy World and Nazi Germany, the amount and variety and speed of the dimension hopping was dizzying.

## What I want to remember ##

As a fantasy and a D&D nerd, I feel like I'm coming to Moorcock late in the game. Apparently his whole Chaos vs. Law shtick is the origin of that part of D&D's iconic "Good/Evil + Law/Chaos" alignment chart.

Also he also created the eight pointed symbol of chaos that is used in occult media everywhere.

## Who I'd recommend it to ##

Anybody who likes pulp action fantasy where the heroes are untouchable. Who likes a dash of time travel and multiversal shenanigans. And anybody who wants to see Nazis get hacked with swords and flamed by dragons.

[Jim · Rating 2 out of 5]

Book#10 overall, and Book#1 in the reimagined/recreated timeline finds Elric battling Nazis! Yep, I said Nazis.
We start with Ulrik, Graf von Bek, albino (!!), aristocrat, swordsman, scholar, man-about-the-world. With little to do, being wealthy and young, he takes to learning the family blade - Ravenbrand - how it is used, how it came to be. All quite idealistic and romanticized and historically enigmatic, and as young men are wont to be - detached from the world’s ugliness - Ulrik is entranced with attaining its mastery, amongst his other asides. Then the Nazis show up and the fun begins. ell, should have anyway.
The story relied too heavily on actual historical events for me, taking it out of the realm of the fantastic and into the derivative in many places. Plenty of characters, old and new, to keep track of throughout. Prince Gaynor is here and was probably the best of the lot. He serves no one, or everyone, or anyone, and regrets nothing. Quite the appropriate Nazi. Oona, The Dreamthief’s (Elric’s) Daughter, was just a bit dull for me. Yeah, dream travel sounds great, but then the narrative just gets lost in the quandary: Is this really happening? Is this happening here? Is it happening in millions of other places? If I die here (in the Matrix…) am I dead everywhere? Erlic/Ulric (imaginative naming!) was half the man he used to be. Hahaha! Not a fan of the Grail aspect, it felt a bit Indiana Jones-ish, even with sneering, jackbooted, clad-in-black Nazis. Honestly, the Nazi theme felt forced and didn’t add anything to the plot, as it was. Sure, everyone hates Nazis, but there is no nuance to them, and that makes for dull theatre. Even the Lords of Law and Chaos are fickle and irrational, which makes them fun as forces behind the scenes.
Overall, a middling novel that I would have found greater enjoyment in with less dialogue, fewer single-scene characters, less Multiverse catechizing, and way more blood and brooding. Elric, I hardly noticed you...

[Gabriel Benitez · Rating 3 out of 5]

La hija de la ladrona de sueños apareció en el año 2000, después mucho tiempo sin publicar Moorcock ninguna novela de Elric de Melniboné y la promesa bastante seductora: Elric y la familia von Bek en busca del Santo Grial contra los nazis ¿Quién no iba a querer leer eso?
Al principio, cuando comencé a leerla, me encantó. Sentí lo que sentía antes cuando había una nueva novela de fantasy por leer en la colección amarilla de Ed. Roca. Mi último Elric completo, fue decepcionante, "La fortaleza de la Perla", tan mala y aburrida que no tengo recuerdo de ella. Después comencé a leer "La venganza de la rosa" que deje a medias porque tampoco se me hizo la gran cosa, pero que debo de terminar. Pero con esta novela, fue diferente. Comenzó bien, pero poco a poco fue perdiendo sentido y coherencia, la novela se movía de un lado al otro sin avanzar hacia ningún lado y con una cantidad de "deux ex machina" que solo daban la sensación de que no había ninguna amenaza real en todo aquello porque 1. No se entiende bien cual es la amenaza para todo el multiverso y 2. siempre hay una solución sacada de la manga con alguno de tantos y tantos dioses con los que Elric tiene pactos (debe cargar con una lista telefónica de todos ellos del tamaño de la de la Ciudad de México).
En lo personal pensé que vería toda la parafernalia de las creencias sobrenaturales nazis en una historia con Elric, pero más allá de las referencias al Grial y el viaje al mundo subterráneo de la Tierra Hueca, pues nomás no. También resulta decepcionante saber que el Grial es otro objeto que ya conocemos de anteriores novelas, pero que puede cambiar y de forma y así...
De todas formas, la novela tiene imágenes potentes y algunas escenas interesantes y al principio y al final (en la Alemania Nazi) se lee con mucho gusto. Pero no es lo mejor de Elric. O a lo mejor es que Elric SIEMPRE fue así pero yo no lo notaba... en fin.

[Stuart Schneider · Rating 5 out of 5]

Which came first, Moorcock or Marvel? This book was published in 2001, but it is based in large part on the multiverse Moorcock created with his character, Elric in novels going back to the late 70s, early 80s, so I would have to say, at the very least, that Moorcock’s ideas concerning the multiverse LARGELY influenced the writers of Marvel’s multiverse. It is all there for the reading. This book flowed beautifully, well written and well thought out. I am reading this book on the cusp of rereading the Brust and Modesitt series of novels that I have promised myself I would so as soon as I finished this book to “get it out of the way and into my collection,” but because it was so well written, I will likely buy however many installments of this series were written thereafter and pause wherever am I in their rereadings to finish this series, as I expect any subsequent installments to be just as good, if not better than this one. Keep this in mind too: i do not like my fantasy interspersed with the real world and history, but this book did exactly that and I am STILL giving it my highest rating. Bravo!!!

[Andy · Rating 3 out of 5]

As something of a Moorcock superfan, I really enjoyed this novel but also knew how to navigate my way through this somewhat convoluted tale that combines what starts off as a straightforward WWII historical thriller with a pulpy tale starring his signature character Elric. A bit all over the place but, as an American, considering the timeframe in which I read it (spring 2025), eerily prescient passages like this made the effort beyond worth it:

"I believe that every so often the monster goes out of control and it is left to certain of us, who call ourselves by various names, to fight that monster and to show that it can be wounded, if not destroyed. Not all of us use guns or swords. We'll use words or the ballot box. But sometimes the result is the same. For it is motive, in the end, that the public must examine in its leaders. And given time, that is exactly what a mature democracy does. But when it is frightened and bullied into bigotry it no longer behaves like a mature democracy."

[Leslie Munday · Rating 3 out of 5]

Von Bek, Elric and his daughter defeat the German Nazi party during the early years of the 2nd world war.
This book is in 3 parts -
1. Von Bek is taken prisoner by the Nazis
2. Elric meets Nazis
3. Von Bek, Elric and their allies save the multiverse

chapter 1 is a history lesson on the Nazi party. Afterwards the story starts to get interesting, with Von Bek meeting many Elric at which point Elric taks over and we meet many of Moorcock's fantasy characters. (We also get to meet most of the highest ranking Nazi party characters.) The 3rd book describes a continuous battle between good and evil. Characters on both sides are indestructable and shake off injuries with magic, as needed. The end of the book reads like a Hollywood script for a Marvel comic superhero movie.
The final nail in the coffin for the novel, is the author giving credit to Elric for the Battle of Britain victory.
Starts well, but I was bored and by the end could not wait to finish.

[Bohemian Book Lover · Rating 2 out of 5]

*This managed to
*Hook me from the start,
*Especially when the opening 1st person protagonist, Ulric von Bek,

*Declares himself an "existentialist... one given to
*Reading and brooding",
*Enough to make him instantly relatable. The philosophical instances within the narrative & the gradual, mysterious
*Appearances of Elric of
*Melniboné into
*The Nazi-overrun timeline,
*Helped keep me
*Intrigued. When 1st person
*Elric eventually takes centre stage,
*Finding himself under a sleeping spell, the book
*'S initial

*Dynamic
*Alters, and we enter into Moorcock's
*Usual, pulpy Sword & Sorcery, which
*Got me nostalgic for the earlier Elric novels.
*However, I did begin to
*Tire somewhat of the chases & battles, & the repetitive mention of how apocalyptically disastrous the main antagonist Gaynor's actions were going to be if he wasn't defeated in the last dragging quarter of the book before the flagging
*End; to the point where I just kept
*Reading simply because I was nearly finished.

[C · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed how this book crossed over my two favorite parts of the Eternal Champion saga, Elric and Von Bek. Though it is marketed as an Elric book, Ulric Von Bek is the more prominent character. However, it is clearly connected to the Fortess of the Pearl, and shares the villain of Revenge of the Rose, Gaynor. For readers familiar with Gaynor from other Eternal Champion stories, this book shows how and why he became “the Damned.” The book is also very reminiscent of the Dragon in the Sword, as again a Von Bek joins forces with another Champion to take on the Third Reich and save the Multiverse. The plot can be a bit confusing, and I suppose it could be especially so if you have only read Elric and not Von Bek. Nonetheless, it’s another very enjoyable adventure in the Multiverse with Moorcock’s usual imagination.

[C · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed how this book crossed over my two favorite parts of the Eternal Champion saga, Elric and Von Bek. Though it is marketed as an Elric book, Ulric Von Bek is the more prominent character. However, it is clearly connected to the Fortess of the Pearl, and shares the villain of Revenge of the Rose, Gaynor. For readers familiar with Gaynor from other Eternal Champion stories, this book shows how and why he became “the Damned.” The book is also very reminiscent of the Dragon in the Sword, as again a Von Bek joins forces with another Champion to take on the Third Reich and save the Multiverse. The plot can be a bit confusing, and I suppose it could be especially so if you have only read Elric and not Von Bek. Nonetheless, it’s another very enjoyable adventure in the Multiverse with Moorcock’s usual imagination.