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Silverheart
This is a novel set at the very heart of Michael Moorcock’s multiverse, in Karadur, city of metal, steam, and ancient families, the mighty clans of the metal. In six days, Max Silverskin, thief and trickster, must discover the secrets of his heritage or die from the witch mark – the silverheart – which will devour his heart. Lady Rose Iron, daughter of the leader of the powerful Clan Iron is thrown into an edgy alliance with Max as she searches for the secrets that could save the city’s future. Captain Cornelius Coffin, head of the clans’ security forces, is in love with Lady Rose and obsessed with capturing Max. And there are others, in Shriltasi, Karadur’s underworld twin, who know the prophecy which says that only Max Silverskin can save both realms. In Silverheart, Michael Moorcock and Storm Constantine have combined their talents to produce a novel that is both surreal and gothic.
485 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2000
2 people are currently reading
172 people want to read
About the author
Michael Moorcock
1,207 books3,747 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 - 15 of 15 reviews
May 4, 2023
Silverheart, then. A book based on a concept for a video game that never got made, drafted by Moorcock and brought to the finish line by Storm Constantine. A standalone tale of the Multiverse, in a city of Metals that embodies the duality of Order and Chaos.
You could call this book an alloy, I suppose. But where a good alloy combines the strengths of two substances, Silverheart somehow becomes less than the sum of its parts.
Max Silverskin's odyssey through the opposed cities of Karadur-Shriltasi is a rambling quest narrative that makes itself up as it goes, just as Moorcock's early fantasies were. They had some energy though, and often a saving grace of brevity. Getting through to the end of Silverheart is painful work.
Like live bootlegs from the post-divorce acoustic eras of once-great songwriters, this is one for the completists only.
You could call this book an alloy, I suppose. But where a good alloy combines the strengths of two substances, Silverheart somehow becomes less than the sum of its parts.
Max Silverskin's odyssey through the opposed cities of Karadur-Shriltasi is a rambling quest narrative that makes itself up as it goes, just as Moorcock's early fantasies were. They had some energy though, and often a saving grace of brevity. Getting through to the end of Silverheart is painful work.
Like live bootlegs from the post-divorce acoustic eras of once-great songwriters, this is one for the completists only.
April 22, 2022
A very tough read.
The setup is magnificent. A city at the center of the multiverse, sundered in two. Metal rulers. Lost peoples. Secret artifacts. It's terrific.
But the characters are flat, the pacing is glacial, and the plot is largely a massive multiparty MacGuffin hunt.
Perhaps if it'd been 200 pages instead of 500 this might have been intriguing, but as was it was tough to get all the way through.
The setup is magnificent. A city at the center of the multiverse, sundered in two. Metal rulers. Lost peoples. Secret artifacts. It's terrific.
But the characters are flat, the pacing is glacial, and the plot is largely a massive multiparty MacGuffin hunt.
Perhaps if it'd been 200 pages instead of 500 this might have been intriguing, but as was it was tough to get all the way through.
March 12, 2019
The most disappointing Moorcock book that I've ever read. I've never read anything by Storm Constantine, but she's pretty well respected so I'm not prepared to assume that it was her fault. One thing that irritated me was the constant reference (starting with the jacket front) to the "multiverse". Yet in the text there are none of the little subtle references that Mike usually does to other books in his "multiverse". It was just a multiverse and not the Moorcock multiverse. That and the use of the name Cornelius (as a first name) seemed only there to generate sales and/or to connect the book to the rest of Mike's oeuvre in the laziest possible way. There are a few lively action scenes and a couple of times a character does something that I hadn't anticipated but that was still plausible. But those moments were few and far between. Mostly it was just dreary and I saw the twist involving a major antagonist coming a mile away. For Moorcock completists only (and I confess that I am one, so I stuck with it).
December 8, 2020
Halfway through, I would have given this 4*s. Once the underworld gets involved, it becomes more and more convoluted without enough substance behind the various quests, until it ends in a mess. By the last chapters, I had lost interest. Too many characters doing too many things without any clear objective.
That said, the characters are interesting (reminds me a little of Alice in Wonderland) and they interact well until things get too confusing.
P.S. Why is this story in 4 books. The first book takes up the first half, and the last book only 40 pages, and there is no separation in the story between books. Just pads the overall book and wastes paper.
That said, the characters are interesting (reminds me a little of Alice in Wonderland) and they interact well until things get too confusing.
P.S. Why is this story in 4 books. The first book takes up the first half, and the last book only 40 pages, and there is no separation in the story between books. Just pads the overall book and wastes paper.
June 10, 2017
It's not a bad book, but I couldn't get in to it at all and didn't even finish it which is rare for me.
May 1, 2022
Lovely little standalone piece of old-school dark fantasy with some steampunk flavoring. Some parts feel very much less thought out than others, but the central premise and our two leads are intriguing and likeable, and the rich atmosphere carries a lot the creakier sections along.
August 17, 2022
Who'd have guessed that Moorcock's last truly solid fantasy novel would be his story outline for a cancelled videogame, fleshed out to novel form by Storm Constantine? Full review: https://fakegeekboy.wordpress.com/201...
September 4, 2016
Karadur is an ancient city, ruled by the powerful metal clans who control the forges; it is a place of heat, darkness and political intrigue. Born into the silver Clan but now a rogue and thief, Max Silverskin, who delights in tormenting those in power. Captured and imprisoned in a sealed cell, he is overcome by a force that leaves a witch-mark on his heart and breaks the cell allowing his to escape. The mark he now carries is known as the silverheart and he has six days to find the original magical artefacts of the clans to save the city; or die.
Hidden below the city is a place that most of the people of Karadur don’t know exists; the hidden realm of Shriltasi. It is a secret known only to the head of the clans. With the arrival of the Silverheart, the Ashen, who live in Shriltasi, realise that the prophecy about the fate of the twin cities is about to come true. So beings a frantic race as Max has to use all his skills as a thief to try to obtain the relics, dodging Captain Cornelius Coffin who intends on capturing him and building an unlikely alliance with Lady Rose, heir and daughter of the powerful Iron clan.
There were a number of things about this that I liked, in particular the gothic, steampunk feel to the book, along with the light infusion of magic. The characters feel a little two dimensional though and never really developed over the six days or so that the story takes place. It is not a bad plot and is written with a nice pace and tension to it, but with a lot of these types of books it was a tad predictable.
Hidden below the city is a place that most of the people of Karadur don’t know exists; the hidden realm of Shriltasi. It is a secret known only to the head of the clans. With the arrival of the Silverheart, the Ashen, who live in Shriltasi, realise that the prophecy about the fate of the twin cities is about to come true. So beings a frantic race as Max has to use all his skills as a thief to try to obtain the relics, dodging Captain Cornelius Coffin who intends on capturing him and building an unlikely alliance with Lady Rose, heir and daughter of the powerful Iron clan.
There were a number of things about this that I liked, in particular the gothic, steampunk feel to the book, along with the light infusion of magic. The characters feel a little two dimensional though and never really developed over the six days or so that the story takes place. It is not a bad plot and is written with a nice pace and tension to it, but with a lot of these types of books it was a tad predictable.
January 31, 2015
The book looks interesting, on the surface. The authors have written many interesting works, and some of it appears on this book, but hidden behind uninteresting characters, a predictable plot and a city at the center of the universe that is neither interesting nor believable.
Like working at a coal mine, only for those desperate enough. Despite the Multiverse connection, it has no real link with the main Multiverse work.
Like working at a coal mine, only for those desperate enough. Despite the Multiverse connection, it has no real link with the main Multiverse work.
October 29, 2007
I really wanted to like this book, but oh after a while the tedium got to much and I gave up. Really expected a lot more form Moorcock and Storm Constantine but this ain't up to much. Same old same old, thin characters, yawnsville.
September 6, 2016
Co-written with Storm Constantine. Max Silverheart and Rose Iron have to save the world of the metals - Karadur through revitalising the magic or barishi and re-unite the links with their lost sister city of Shriltasi underneath. Loved it.
December 3, 2016
Enjoyed this late addition to Moorcock's Multiverse. Silverheart was no Elric or Corum but all the elements of his earlier heroic epic fantasy are there although not as developed. Would love to see more collaborations from the multiverse.
July 24, 2008
Enjoyable and inventive. Apparently this is part of a larger world of novels. Not a huge fan of Moorcock normally, but perhaps this is more Constantine than Moorcock.
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August 23, 2008isbn,original
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July 24, 2017Couldn't read the print was too small as was the spacing between lines. Disappointed at not being able to read it as was recommended by librarian
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews