The City in the Autumn Stars

Von Bek #3

by Michael Moorcock

Being a Continuation of the Story of the Von Bek Family and Its Association with Lucifer, Prince of Darkness, and the Cure for the World's Pain

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Science Fiction, Historical Fiction, Novels, Science Fiction Fantasy, Historical

344 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1986

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

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

More of the Von Bek family adventures in THE CITY IN THE AUTUMN STARS, which isn't as rollicking an adventure as THE WARHOUND AND THE WORLD'S PAIN (although there is a glorious set piece battle in an otherworldly tavern as warring factions attempt to seize the Grail ), but more an examination of one man's journey from disillusioned French revolutionary to alchemical perfection.

Of course, being Moorcock, the path to perfection is a rocky one, and the end of the journey is rarely the destination that was in mind at the beginning. But it's well worth going along for the wild ride again, as Von Bek escapes Paris, heads for Switzerland, and gets involved in schemes with an early balloonist to swindle a fortune while searching for an elusive Countess that has stolen his heart.

The Countess proves to be after much more than that, and soon we are off into another part of Moorcock's multiverse, where the quest for the Grail is taken up in one of Moorcock's trademark baroque cities displaced in time and space. There's also a Concordance, a great meeting of the spheres that regular Moorcock readers will recognise as a motif holding everything together ( and blasting everything apart.)

There's great characters, typical Moorcockian musings on the nature of humanity, some glorious alchemical symbolism shot through it, and a lovely bittersweet ending.

Another winner from the great man, and a fitting later addition to the Eternal Champion cycle, which has been broadened by these additions weaving later European history into the rich tapestry.

[Luana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hey, what's that?? A swashbuckling steampunk(ish) adventure that is ultimately all about rejecting the gender binary?

Moorcock my man you do be writin' 'em especially for me in your *checks notes* middle age?

This sequel to Warhound is set in post Revolutionary Europe during Robespierre's Terror, the fictional German principality of Mirenburg, but also in the Mittelmarch which is kinda-between-heaven-and-hell and the refuge of many an interdimensional traveler.

Manfred Von Bek is on the run from agents of Robespierre, who deem the nobleman a traitor to the cause. He joins up with balloonist (and swindler) St. Odhran, as well as the Countess of Crete Libussa (occasionally a Count, Mulan style) who unwittingly sets him out on a grail quest quite different from the one his ancestor undertook.

Autumn Stars is a little slower and more meandering than Warhound, but the ultimate denouement was powerful enough for me to forgive that.

I felt like a lot of the climax's symbolism went a little over my head (I don't know much about alchemy save for what 90s Vertigo comics taught me) but I was able to follow the gist of it.

I'd say the two Von Bek novels are actually pretty good barometers to find out if Moorcock is your jam, moreso than the more Byronic (Byronian?) Elrics people usually tend to delve in with.

[Steve Hornsby · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was a huge Moorcock fan in my youth. However have not read any of his fantasies in a long time.

This is really two books. The first a picaresque almost Dumas tale and pastiche of 19C adventure novels. It is a rumbustious quest to find a lost love across Mittel Europe with elements of steampunk.

Then one balloon ride and we’re in the Moorcock multiverse with black swords, doomed heroes, eternal multidimensional cities and disturbances in the cosmic balance.

Some of the minor characters are the most attractive, companion St Odhran, and innkeepers Red O’Dowd and Schuster.

I guess the book can be seen as part of Moorcock’s transition from the fantasy genre. For me the third quarter is most exciting with some classic Moorcock flourishes.

[Alex Sarll]

A story which begins in another wretched September, namely 1793, with the imprisonment of Thomas Paine as the French Revolution soured into the Terror – offering a depressing reminder that even if by some miracle we manage to remove the vampire squid on the face of humanity, most revolutionary regimes end up just as bad as the ones which preceded them. So there's that to look forward to. In the meantime: Manfred von Bek, idealist, revolutionary, now fleeing the events which have made a mockery of those ideals. Descendant of Ulrich von Bek from The Warhound And The World's Pain, though he doesn't like talking about the Grail legends associated with his family, and in truth I read that so long ago that going into this, I remembered little beyond 1) a sympathetic Devil whom I suspect I may have slightly conflated with Anne Rice's, met around the same time and 2) my first real introduction to the Thirty Years War and the degree to which it was quite emphatically A Bad Thing. Still, it makes sense to check in with the family during another dark time for Europe – though my collection omits the other big Moorcock book about a von Bek in bloody times, the 20th century carnage of The Brothel In Rosenstrasse. And this is a big book, I think edging out Gloriana as the single longest I've read from him. Which is a mixed blessing; a sense of capaciousness has always been part of his appeal, but at 400 pages his on-rails plotting does become more glaring, however much it's justified by talk of mystical conjunctions making chance encounters more likely, however many metafictional nods there may be when characters talk of being part of the same tapestry, as of course all characters in a given book must be.

Still, it's a fabulous thing, isn't it, that a writer could have begun working in the pulpiest of the pulps, and without outright betrayal worked his way to literary respectability, yet for much of that time has been hiding in plain sight one mystical-alchemical allegory, retold over and over in variant guises. It's closer to the surface here than usual – in the introduction, he explains that for this uniform edition of the Eternal Champion stories (now long since outdated, of course) he has chosen to open with von Bek as the most familiar incarnation of his myth, the one where we may have some existing familiarity with the forms his components take. And it's true – for all that the cosmology of Chaos and Order Moorcock created elsewhere is now familiar too, thanks to its wholesale adoption by the godfathers of gaming, the Devil and the Grail run deeper still, for the moment at least.

The main setting of the novel is Mirenburg, a dream of a Mitteleuropan city to the extent that if anything it at first makes the eponymous City, its otherworldly counterpart, seem less exciting; when we're already in a dreamworld, a slightly deeper level of distance from our world seems less remarkable than the initial transition. Still, things soon get stranger, and Moorcock's gift for creating something very evocative with surprisingly few details gets him a long way. For instance: one supporting character is a prince of thieves who is also a fox and a devotee of the Encyclopaedists. Any one of those details is an uninteresting character; two a little flip, but all three - while still far from three-dimensional - is enough to firmly lodge in the mind and catch at something deeper. By the time we meet said individual, in full low fantasy mode, the book has already thrown off a number of guises; the escape from the Terror (complete with historical namedrops) reminded me of Flashman, though I suspect it's really more pastiching the same originals as Harry. After that, we get a stretch of the idealist turned cynic, the revolutionary become ad-man/swindler (if that's not tautologous), which feels a lot more 1980s, when this was written, than 1790s, when it's supposedly set; for a while I cracked up at the realisation that, deliberately or not, Moorcock seemed to have written a metaphysical riff on The Producers. And the finale is in full mythic mode, even if you could say that the fate of the multiverse ultimately turns on a couple who are supposed to be getting married bickering about who's let whom down - all this from an author so famously, and for the most part justly, underwhelmed by novels about posh adulteries! The epilogue muses on the transition from one age to the next, the way that even an anticlimax may hide within itself the seeds of something unexpected and indeed unexpectable, but no less valuable for all that, and if John Crowley's Aegypt quartet did it better, well, Aegypt did most things better than most anything else. This was definitely worth reading, but I think next time I'll be back on the slimmer, punchier Moorcock.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

The City in the Autumn Stars continues the story from The Warhound and the World's Pain of the von Bek family in an alternate 19th century quest for... well, the Grail, Satan, and the cure for the World's Pain. It fits in peripherally with the other Eternal Champion books in his multiverse tapestry; there are overlapping characters and events and references, though it's not necessary to have read much else in the sequence (other than the first book, perhaps) to appreciate this one. It's a bit overly lengthy, I thought, as the middle section seems to drag. Then again, it's told in a somewhat Baroque 19th-century style, and there are some remarkably clever bits, and there's a fine fantasy story between the curlicues and gingerbread. It's not a Hawkmoon adventure, but fans of William Morris would like this one.

[Tony L. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Michael Moorcock's The City in the Autumn Stars is the sequel to the interesting but shaky The War Hound and the World's Pain. In the first novel (Spoiler Alert!), Ulrich von Beck ushers in the Enlightenment by securing the Holy Grail for a Lucifer in search of reconciliation with God. Fast forward a hundred years, and Ulrich's descendant, Manfred von Beck, must flee the violent excesses of Robespierre's French Revolution. During his escape, Manfred falls head-over-heels for a mysterious Countess with strange, arcane interests. His quest to reunite with her takes him on a journey through the Mittelmarch, a magical doppelganger of the real world, and, like his great-grandfather, he's enlisted in a search for the Holy Grail.

The Grail quest of the first book resulted in the advent of the Enlightenment. Guided only by reason, man was supposed to create a better world for itself based on human dignity, social contracts, and so on. But Manfred's world is already weary of the Enlightenment. The Reason of Diderot and Voltaire succumbed to the Romanticism (Sentimentality) of Rousseau and Wagner; the chimeric, monstrous brutality of Robespierre; and, fictionally, secret societies dedicated to alchemy, astrology, and Satanic worship.

The novel's beginning chapters are grounded. The choice of the French Revolution as a backdrop for the first act makes for a clever inversion of the first book's central conceit. The novel becomes increasingly steampunk-fantasy as Manfred's quest brings him closer to a fictional German city where arcanists converge to alter the future of human civilization during a once-a-millennia cosmological event.

The City in the Autumn Stars is much longer than its predecessor, and in many ways has the exact opposite problems. Whereas the first von Beck novel is too short to deliver on its premise, this one is probably two hundred pages too long. The overly simple philosophical position of the first book is now a muddled parade of pagan, mythological, and Christian symbols that never coalesce. Each scene in the sequel is longer, but here the extra words are in service of nothing.

As others have noted, Manfred lacks all agency and is led by the nose from encounter to encounter. Manfred follows the Countess sheepishly, never asks interesting or obvious questions, and is more thrall than person. Consequently, his journey feels more like a Satanic theme-park ride ride than an adventure novel. In the end, I found myself hating both Manfred and the Countess. (Spoiler Alert!) As a result, the novel's climax feels more like a horror than tragedy.

We're told Manfred fought in the American Revolution, served on the Russian Court of Catherine the Great, and was elected to leadership in French proto-republican governments. Here, however, he's a hapless fool, clearly bewitched by the Countess-- a character more dominatrix than lover. Even if this is the essence of the tragedy, characters like this are simply boring.

Ultimately, I can't recommend this novel. Even the promise of the Grail was scarcely enough to keep me interested.

[Ivan Lanìa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dopo The Warhound and the World's Pain ecco che concludiamo la dilogia dei Von Bek con The City in the Autumn Stars , in cui il buon ritter Manfred von Bek porta avanti la caccia al Graal del suo bisavolo Ulrich nell'anno 1793: nel complesso un romanzo superiore al primo sotto certi aspetti, inferiore sotto altri, sicuramente godibile ma non perfetto.

Partiamo dai meriti: anche questa volta Moorcock non si limita a scrivere un romanzo storico, bensì scrive direttamente le finte memorie del suo protagonista simulando una prosa antica, e di conseguenza la prima sezione del romanzo è un delizioso omaggio sardonico alla letteratura del tardo Illuminismo e proto Romanticismo, con Manfred tutto intento a meditare sui grandi filosofi della Ragione e a rigettare quel misticismo Sturm und Drang che però gli scorre nel suo sangue teutonico (esemplare la scena di vagabondaggi fra le Alpi svizzere che odora tanto di Jacopo Ortis a Ventimiglia); in secondo luogo la suddetta atmosfera di trapasso fra le epoche va a colorare una trama solidissima di vagabondaggi e innamoramenti, permanenze in ostelli e cospirazioni truffaldine (l'ingegner St Odhran è una spalla fenomenale), che tiene incollati alla pagina come piace a me – e l'atmosfera quintessenzialmente mitteleuropea di Mirenburg è la ciliegina sulla torta.
L'asino casca circa a metà romanzo, allorché si entra nel vivo della vicenda e le avventure di Manfred lo indirizzano inequivocabilmente alla ricerca del Graal, nell'eponima Città nelle Stelle Autunnali: a questo punto il ritmo della trama si impantana e ci dobbiamo sorbire diversi capitoli di situazioni autoreferenziali in cui l'intreccio non avanza di un millimetro e Moorcock ci inonda di scenette allegoriche e di ciance esistenziali – cosa che palesemente è di suo gusto, ma secondo me è un netto peggioramento rispetto al perfetto equilibrio fra concretezza e fantasmagoria, fra intreccio e atmosfera, che aveva trovato in The Warhound and the War Pain. E a peggiorare la situazione, laddove il cast di antagonisti del primo romanzo funzionava benissimo, a questo giro il trio Klosterheim-Montsorbier-Von Bresnvorts è una palla al piede che ingolfa l'intreccio con scontri senza costrutto: avrei preferito di gran lunga più spazio al rapporto deuteragonistico fra Manfred e Libussa!
Ciò detto, il romanzo non si impantana in una sfilata di scene surreali come Moorcock farà tre anni dopo in Elric: The Fortress of the Pearl e arriva a un finale sontuoso che incolla alla pagina e lascia lo stomaco in subbuglio, resituendo quel senso di "sublime cosmico" e di "pietà e terrore" che chiaramente il giovane Moorcock aveva tentato, invano, di creare già in Elric: Stormbringer! (di cui per certi versi abbiamo una palinodia) – e ciò è un risultato notevolissimo che quasi compensa le debolezze precedenti.

[Simon Mcleish · Rating 3 out of 5]

Originally published on my blog here in June 2001.

The second, much longer, von Bek novel has as its hero the young man of the family in the later eighteenth century, who has already been involved with the Russian court of Catherine the Great and in the American Civil War. When the novel opens, he is a deputy in the revolutionary French National Assembly, but is fleeing Paris, disgusted by the increasing atrocities of Robespierre's reign of terror.

The adventures Manfred von Bek faces in southern Germany and then in the magical countries of the Mittelmarch are, like those of his ancestor in The War Hound and the World's Pain, a quest for the Holy Grail, motivated not by desire for the object itself but by love of a beautiful woman. The adventures are quite similar in character, except that Manfred does not face attack from the Dukes of Hell. This is because the theological situation envisaged by Moorcock has now changed; in the earlier novel, Lucifer sought the Grail to help him to become reconciled to God against the wishes of his lieutenants; now, both have abandoned humankind while discussing this reconciliation.

Some might consider the ending of the novel, which involves a recreation of the crucifixion at a time of astrological significance to influence future events, blasphemous. Since many of Moorcock's novels are about religious ideas from the standpoint of a non-believer, this is a charge which has fairly frequently been levelled at his writing. In this case, such an accusation is not, I think, justified, because of the way in which the reconstruction is set up. The motivation of those involved is based on the idea that the crucifixion is an important event in spiritual history, so that (on alchemical principles) a recreation at an appropriate time would have similar power. What is depicted is clearly not intended by the participants, nor I feel by the author, as a mockery.

The City in the Autumn Stars is structured so that it begins mundanely, and magical elements gradually creep in. It is the early part which is the best, and it shows just how good a historical novelist Moorcock could have been. As a whole, the novel is overshadowed by its predecessor, which comes across as more individual.

[Ralph Blackburn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read a lot of Michael Moorcock over the last forty years and have come to expect that it's sometimes great and other times tedious. The Warhound and The World's Pain, the first Von Bek book is one of my all time favorites. This novel The City In The Autumn Stars has its moments and is for me an enjoyable read, but doesn't have near the impact of the 1st book. Moorcock here is still playing around in history, this time in the aftermath of the French Revolution, where Manfred Von Bek, once part of the revolutionary counsel, is fleeing for his life as others of his peers meet the guillotine. The story becomes travelogue, filled with danger, confrontation, and, of course, beautiful women. The prose is verbose and the conversations stretch off into oblivion. Still, I have The Brothel in Rosenstrasse, a third Von Bek to read, and I can't wait to get into it!

[J'aime · Rating 1 out of 5]

I love Michael Moorcock, but I hated this. Convoluted, confusing, and very hard to stick with. I am trying to read all of the Eternal Champion novels but I guess this one will have to be my glaring omission because I gave up two thirds of the way through.

[Kyle Pinion · Rating 2 out of 5]

Big step down from The Warhound and the World’s Pain. Everything and anything you’d get from this book is better presented there and more succinctly too.

[James Bennett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Visionary author Michael Moorcock continues his Von Bek opus with a new generation of the titular character and his reluctant quest to find the Holy Grail. What begins as a swashbuckling escape from the French Revolution becomes by turns a sweeping 18th century love story, a grand steampunk swindle and eventually a cosmic quest and alchemical wedding that's as out there and mind-bending as anything the author has written in his more classically heroic outings. The black sword even makes an ominous appearance.

Despite the wealth of history on offer, the sheer exuberance of a voyage on an airship with the devilish Scottish rogue St Odran, (and a duplicitous Cretan countess and an evil warlock at war with Hell to boot), it was the abstraction of the latter third of the novel that let it down somewhat.

Much better rendered was Manfred Von Bek's grounded scepticism and world-weariness - rare in a Moorcock novel - and the story overall would've had more impact had it cleaved to the same earthly yet ambiguous trajectory as the setup. Gradually, the plot became bogged down by reams of occult symbolism, repeated archetypal visitations, circuitous philosophical conjecture and a highly overwrought climax that blew suspension of disbelief out the window.

Nevertheless, the wildly overwritten denouement remains fun, for what it is, and the novel ends on a grace note of nostalgia and soul-searching that nicely ties into the first two parts of the novel, which are among the finest that the author has written.

[Angie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a disappointment, there were a lot of promising aspects to this book but ultimately it just wasn't very good. I took a long time to get through this, because I didn't find it very compelling. The protagonist starts out well, but turns into a cypher. The motivations make little human sense, and much of the action and explanation for the action take place in a passive way. Put together it left me not particularly caring what happens next.
There were some things I liked about this story, particularly that the setting is interesting and quite well developed. There are some scenes that are quite cinematic. Also, I generally enjoy this style of pseudo-mythological ethos of a story. The problem is that it isn't developed in a way that makes coherent sense to the reader, it is layered upon jumbled layer until it is nonsensical, yet somehow still vague. The only filling in of links, incomplete as it is, comes within the last few pages; I found it unsatisfactory. To be fair, apparently this is book 2 of a series and there is a possibility that I missed something essential from the first book, because I read it out of order. At this point, however, I don't think I'll make a point to find out.

[Simon Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though it's a far less focused effort than The Warhound and the World's Pain, I did enjoy this book. There's a lot of scene-setting in the early stages, protracted capers and meetings designed to introduce its main characters are enjoyable, if a little unnecessary in places.

When the story truly gets going, it's a steampunk/fantasy/Jules Verne mash-up with added Grail. Then it gets really weird. The author lets rip with his legendary imagination and paints a vivid picture of the otherworldly subject of the book's title.

There's also a dramatic commentary on religion, a giant shrimp, and a pub-based battle that would make an excellent Dungeons and Dragons adventure.

[to'c · Rating 3 out of 5]

Michael Moorcock and the Holy Grail. Is there ever a more delightful combination? Of course not! And the Black Sword even makes an appearance.

And does he have a more delightful character than the Chevalier de St. Odhran? Well, maybe Jhary-a-Conel. But they may be the same character! (sure, Jherek Carnelian may be more delightful but he's and aspect of the Champion, is he not? I'm focusing on the Companion here. ;0)

So read it already.

[Dark-Draco · Rating 3 out of 5]

OMG - this kind of went on a bit! I thought the first book was a bit wordy and unwieldy, but this one was worse. It took 7 chapters of random adventuring and introspection before anything remotely fantastical happened. Its saving feature was that once Von Bek and his companions entered the Mittelmarch, it got nicely weird, with devils and human/animal hybrids and grails and human sacrifice and blood drinking, etc, etc, etc. The ending was kind of sad - not only did Von Bek only sort of end up with the girl, he doesn't seem to have been left with much of a life either.

[Aleksandar Veskov · Rating 3 out of 5]

I honestly don't know what to think about this book. It took me 2 moths to finish it.
First half felt like very long prologue and I struggled with it. It wasn't bad, more like biting through dry doughnut so I can reach cream filling. The rest of the book was classic and yet more sophisticated Moorcock. Written with skill and developed characters (even the background ones that appear only brief).

[Kate Sherrod · Rating 4 out of 5]

If ever this gets a film adaptation, I demand the reins be given to Alejandro "Holy Mountain" Jodorowsky. I thought often of his masterpiece as I read this, and indeed envisioned his wife Valerie as Libussa XD

[Fyn Saltzman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Similar to the first Von Beck novel, this book starts off in an interesting place in history and ends with grand-scale religious and fantastical philosophy. Unfortunately, it does take its time reaching the meat of the divine and alchemical adventure.

[Andy Carter · Rating 2 out of 5]

Long-winded and repetitive, shame because there are interesting and illuminating ideas here.

[Arthur B · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting setting, shame the story isn't up to much. Full review: https://fakegeekboy.wordpress.com/201...

[Juli · Rating 5 out of 5]

In City in the Autumn Stars, Manfred von Bek escapes from revolutionary Paris, heading for home in Mirenburg, when he falls into the age-old von Bek family plot of serving, or not, Lucifer (those who've not read the series, their work even became part of the family moto: Do you the Devil's Work)....or rather, their duty, I should say, to protect the holy grail from Satan. The problem is, those two services seem to combine more than von Bek (especially, it seems, poor Manfred) would like.

So to City in the Autumn Stars. I found Manfred von Bek sweet, but not as dynamic as his predecessor. In fact, it's been a while since I read Warhound and the World's Pain, but I don't remember Ulrich Von Bek being as easily (shall we say) led by the (er...) nose by his heroine, The Lady Sabrina?


I'm not even sure I would use the term heroine for Manfred’s Libussa, mostly because of the way Manfred follows her every whim. Why, he even follows her into a strange new world--as does his foe of the French revolution, Montsorbier.

Also, where Warhound and the World's Pain has clear nods to the Elric series, I didn't see the same relationships here in City in the Autumn Stars. (Not that that's a criticism, it's just something I'd hoped for in beginning the novel.)There are nods, (and in some cases) I felt characters split. Klosterheim shows up, but also so does a new character, in the form of Manfred’s French nemesis Montsorbier, who felt like, half of Klosterheim, somehow. While Odrahan is charming and I enjoyed his almost steampunkish ambitions, he didn't quite have the same spunk or loyal streak as a Sendenko (from Warhound) or Moonglum. However, he does advise Manfred that Libussa’s ambitions to find the Holy Grail might get him in serious trouble. He ignores that in a way I don’t remember Ulrich doing and that might be because he is (or feels) younger.

Because of Manfred’s devotion to Libussa, I came out of the book feeling sorry for the poor boy, who seemed, to put it another way, bewitched into helping Libussa achieve her alchemical ambitions. Almost to his detriment.


(and for spoiler reasons, that’s all I’ll say about that plot point!)

However, for all my comparisons and criticism, I did enjoy City in the Autumn Stars, and was particularly delighted with its setting during the Reign of Terror.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are many different layers in this book as well as so many multifaceted characters but the main theme of the book is man always dealing with the boundaries of fanaticism regarding one kind of belief: religious faith, political faith, moral and ethics.

I see that Moorcock wrote this book as he said "briefly and for entertainment" but it is hard to put the plot in the backyards of your conscience after reading it.

The books starts dealing with the French Revolution and at the dawn of a century where mankind is transitioning from the dark age to a new age of science and reasoning. At the same time it seems man is still not tolerating disagreement which obviously always leads to violence.

As the book progresses Manfred, a natural atheist , man of reason and science meets a real strong, smart and sensual woman that turns his views towards life and influences his acts since this event.

Supernatural and religious aspects populate the book. But as we know, devil worshipers are not different from Nazis or killers and the essence of their evil is human not supernatural. This is not a book about devil worshipers and it is clearly a book about freedom, choices between the right and wrong.

The book takes place on the early 18th century Europe and two imaginary but fascinating cities appear: Mittlemarch/Mirenburg which seem to have influenced the imaginary cities of Neil Gaiman, Alan Moore or Jeff Vandermeer.

[Tony Calder · Rating 2 out of 5]

In the late 60s and the 70s, there were two authors who dominated the field of fantasy. One was the writer of a single epic novel (Tolkien) and one was the author of a vast catalogue of work (Moorcock). There were plenty of other authors writing fantasy, but these two were the best known. And in those days Michael Moorcock was churning out a prodigious quantity of work, much of it unlike anything his contemporaries were writing. His writing covered a wide range of styles of fantasy, but one thing almost all of them had in common was that they rarely ran much over 200 pages.

The City in the Autumn Stars, at 405 pages, is a good example of why Moorcock should generally stick to shorter works. The opening is fine, and there are some classic Moorcock moments, but the middle is far too long and drags, and by the end I was just forcing myself to finish it. This is partly due to the intense metaphysical nature of the story and largely due to the protagonist - Manfred von Bek - being a highly unlikable character. Not as unlikable as Stephen Donaldson's Thomas Covenant, but a character with few redeeming features.

I have many, many Moorcock books, and this is the worst of all that I have read.

[Raymond Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marvelous and enchanting this tale of one of the offspring of Ulrich Von Beck (it has been many years since i have read this so i may have some details wrong) But the young Von Beck, continues in his antecedentes mein and conducts another deal with the merciful Lucifer, the Lucifer that wishes to be redeamed and gain, again. the good graces of god. Moorcock i think the master of the evil goodie (or anti- hero) and the benevolent (shit)do badder plays this out with applomb. This story from my memory takes you to mirenberg (a rather adolescent prague, if memory serves- though it may have been Koln. just guessing) And plays happily with your ideas of god and satan in the jewish angel type senario. Marvelous, I can say that with assurety as i know i finished the novel in one night- it had grabbed me so.
So far as i remeber an absolute craker of a novel. One not appreciated enough.

[Alexander · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a direct sequel to "The War Hound and the World's Pain," this doesn't work very well. The beginning is pretty slow but I love the inversion of themes between this and its predecessor.

As a climax to Moorcock's bibliography, I think this works really well. I really enjoy how the book explores gender in fantasy as well as technology. I'm happy with the characters that return and I really like how the protagonist handles the central conflict. I think there are some clever surprises and it's worth a read. I was just hoping it would be closer to the first book. Instead, it's really only related in name only.

[Traummachine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an indirect sequel to War Hound, with a direct descendant of that protagonist playing the lead this time around.

Moorcock continues with a more modern fantasy setting here, and Manfred Von Bek is a big proponent of the Enlightenment. Revolution, the Rights Of Man, and Science are Manfred's gods, and yet he must play his role in his family's ongoing dealings with Satan. This dichotomy of mind-sets, moral conundrums, and blending of styles are something Moorcock pulls off well. I enjoyed War Hound more, but this was still a really good read.

[Luke Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

By far the best of the Von Bek novels. There's a little inconsistent characterisation here and there, but other than that this is pretty great. It even has a fairly strong female character (at least in comparison to Moorcock's other women) in the form of Libussa. Granted, she falls into a few stereotypes here and there, but she has her own goals separate from Von Bek and her life doesn't revolve around him.

[J. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Slowly working my way through all of the Eternal Champion books, honestly this one didn't feel like it added anything at all to the total structure of the series and felt very tertiary. Until the end I don't think I would have ever assumed it had anything to do with the previous book, Warhound and the World's pain which was definitively a fantasy story even if it was pseudo historical. Hopefully the next one will be better.

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of Moorcock's more polished pieces, this novel, set during the French revolution, explores the same Jungian and alchemical symbolism as the Chronicles of Corum and some of Moorcock's other work, but does so in a controlled and sophisticated way.

The city of the title ranks among his most vivid creations.