The Dreamthief's Daughter: A Tale of the Albino (Elric Saga #13) by Michael Moorcock
With Hitler on the march, Count Ulric von Bek has been imprisoned by the Nazis until he agrees to relinquish the black sword he inherited from his family. Half dead, he is rescued from Sachsen-hausen concentration camp by a mysterious Englishman and a lovely young woman named Oona. Journeying with them to a strange underground world, he meets a figure known to him only in dreams-Elric of Melniboné, the wandering Prince of Ruins. Somehow the same person, yet separate, their very beings fuse spectacularly. Now the never-ending struggle between Law and Chaos must be fought in both their universes.
Author Biography: Michael Moorcock has written over 80 books and has won the Nebula Award, the World Fantasy Award and the Guardian Fiction Prize. He lives in Bastrop, Texas.
The first new "Eternal Champion" novel in ten years and a major fantasy publishing event, "The Dreamthief's Daughter" continues the highly successful Elrick Saga. The Count Ulric von Bek meets a figure known to him only in dreams--Elrick of Melnibon, the wandering Prince of Ruins. Somehow the same person, yet separate, their very beings fuse spectacularly. Now the never-ending struggle between Law and Chaos must be fought in both their universes.
In the elaborate fictional cosmos Michael Moorcock has created, Elric and the various von Beks are all aspects of the Eternal Champion who fights for the Balance, preventing both Law and Chaos from dominating the universe and trapping it in either barren sterility or pointless fecundity. Elric, the albino sorcerer and last prince of the inhuman empire of Melnibone, was the creation of Moorcock's adventurous pot-boiling inventive youth, just as the von Bek family featured in the heroic fantasies of his more thoughtful middle-life. In The Dreamthief's Daughter, he brings together Elric and Ulric von Bek, last scion of the family, and we finally learn the sin for which the perpetual villain Gaynor the Damned was doomed: Nazi occultists are searching for the Grail and the Black Sword and must be prevented from attaining them. Ulric seeks allies wherever he can find them, including Oona, who wanders through dream realities and with whom he falls in love. This is fast-moving phantasmagorical stuff with ambiguously virtuous heroes and baddies whose villainy and charm is total. Moorcock's immensely powerful visual imagination and sense of the innate drama of crucial scenes make this a breathtaking read.
Description:
The Dreamthief's Daughter: A Tale of the Albino (Elric Saga #13) by Michael Moorcock
With Hitler on the march, Count Ulric von Bek has been imprisoned by the Nazis until he agrees to relinquish the black sword he inherited from his family. Half dead, he is rescued from Sachsen-hausen concentration camp by a mysterious Englishman and a lovely young woman named Oona. Journeying with them to a strange underground world, he meets a figure known to him only in dreams-Elric of Melniboné, the wandering Prince of Ruins. Somehow the same person, yet separate, their very beings fuse spectacularly. Now the never-ending struggle between Law and Chaos must be fought in both their universes.
Author Biography: Michael Moorcock has written over 80 books and has won the Nebula Award, the World Fantasy Award and the Guardian Fiction Prize. He lives in Bastrop, Texas.
The first new "Eternal Champion" novel in ten years and a major fantasy publishing event, "The Dreamthief's Daughter" continues the highly successful Elrick Saga. The Count Ulric von Bek meets a figure known to him only in dreams--Elrick of Melnibon, the wandering Prince of Ruins. Somehow the same person, yet separate, their very beings fuse spectacularly. Now the never-ending struggle between Law and Chaos must be fought in both their universes. In the elaborate fictional cosmos Michael Moorcock has created, Elric and the various von Beks are all aspects of the Eternal Champion who fights for the Balance, preventing both Law and Chaos from dominating the universe and trapping it in either barren sterility or pointless fecundity. Elric, the albino sorcerer and last prince of the inhuman empire of Melnibone, was the creation of Moorcock's adventurous pot-boiling inventive youth, just as the von Bek family featured in the heroic fantasies of his more thoughtful middle-life. In The Dreamthief's Daughter, he brings together Elric and Ulric von Bek, last scion of the family, and we finally learn the sin for which the perpetual villain Gaynor the Damned was doomed: Nazi occultists are searching for the Grail and the Black Sword and must be prevented from attaining them. Ulric seeks allies wherever he can find them, including Oona, who wanders through dream realities and with whom he falls in love. This is fast-moving phantasmagorical stuff with ambiguously virtuous heroes and baddies whose villainy and charm is total. Moorcock's immensely powerful visual imagination and sense of the innate drama of crucial scenes make this a breathtaking read.