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While I prefer the books of Corum, there's no denying that Elric is a compelling character. The worlds he traverses are psychedelic, fantasmagorical. Moorcock draws on mythology but don't expect the story to follow the pattern of a good hero triumphing over an evil villain. Reality's not like that. Fantasy often is, but it can be so much more.

It took me a while to get around to Elric. The doomed albino and his wicked sword Stormbringer are essential parts of the fantasy canon. Moonglum makes a nice sidekick.

An evil British empire sets out to conquer the last pockets of continental Europe under its control. A hero from a German territory joins in the defence of the last holdout, the Kamarg. It's a fantastic (in both senses of the word) inversion of the events of WW2. Dorian Hawkmoon doesn't quite have the charisma as Moorcock's other eternal champions Elric and Corum, but the marvelously malign Granbretan, its bizarre ruler and its deranged generals more than make up for it. In my opinion this series is more enjoyable than the more famous Elric.

This was the first of Moorcock's heroic fantasy series I read, and I still like it the best. Corum's ultimate triumphs - and the terrible suffering he endures as either a tool or a nemesis of the gods - are primal and irresistible stories. The brilliant creation of the Eye of Rhynn and the Hand of Kwll are unmatched in fiction. Essential reading for fantasy enthusiasts and a good place to start if you are looking to experiment with a gateway drug.

When I first read this trilogy, I was still on a high from the previous books about Corum, and I missed the conflict with the gods of chaos. Somehow the battle with the monstrous Fhoi Myore was less consequential. But a second reading some decades later reveals a compelling story, wonderfully imagined enemies, and a romantic feeling which captures the power of the mythology it's inspred by. Essential for a Moorcock fan.

Moorcock gets more experimental here. Jerry is black, not necessarily African, it's like he's a negative of the Jerry in the first book. No reason, no explanation, it just happens. The setting of apocalyptic war and upheaval is almost a casual part of the background. Overall it doesn't hang together. If you like the style you'll like the book more, but plot and general readability are absent if you are not on the same drugs as Moorcock.

I wanted to read the other two books in the Cornelius quartet, but after this one I'd had enough.

Somehow the spirit of 1965 fails to properly emerge. You want Jerry Cornelius to be fantastically cool, but it's just a bit weak. The needle guns wielded by Jerry and his nemesis/brother Frank are cool, especially because the weapon is celebrated in a Hawkwind song, and the retelling of the Eternal Champion plot where the guns replace mythic swords is also fun.