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wdomingue's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting tie-in with the Elric series. A bit hard to follow early on, but I'm definitely hooked enough to want to continue to the series. Onward! Corum of the Red Robe!
wdomingue's review against another edition
4.0
Exceeded my expectations. Very impressive how Moorcock is able to build out these big worlds and grand stories with so few words. The character crossover in this also made my jaw drop. 2/2 so far in the Corum books.
jeteitsworth's review
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
arthurbdd's review against another edition
2.0
More formulaic waffle. Full review: https://fakegeekboy.wordpress.com/2012/01/22/the-vengeance-of-cornwall/
andopmck's review against another edition
4.0
Is this a good book? I don’t know, but it’s the kind of surreal 70’s DND esque fantasy that I was craving. The first sections of the book are a little slow, but really picks up at the end.
thomasroche's review against another edition
5.0
I think this is my fourth time reading this book, which would mean that I re-read it roughly every 10 years. That's not a bad policy.
This novel (and presumably the trilogy, which I'm in progress on) holds up much better than I expected. I actually liked it more this time than ever, despite having read it the first time when I was about 12, sort of the "golden age" in which boys of a certain generation are known to like goofy fantasy works with overtones of BRUTAL METAL BADASSERY.
Moorcock can be a wooden writer, but his images are haunting, and his concepts are just simplistic enough to evoke a whole philosophical cosmology without reaching the point of absurdity. It's very much the same fictional principal that makes Zelazny's Amber cosmology seem credible despite its being so sketchy that it ultimately can't make any naturalistic sense. Both of these worlds thrive because they are built using the tools of myth: They don't need to make sense as long as their building blocks are conceptually evocative. Here, the building blocks are Law and Chaos, with a healthy subtext about war, genocide, political authority and apocalypse, which are all the things that make 20th Century philosophy and politics different than those of any century that came before.
When I was 12 that seemed brilliant; when I was 20-ish it seemed pseudo-intellectual; when I was 30-ish it seemed, well, wooden. But now that I'm thinking in terms of pure reading pleasure, I find it hits just the right spot -- a spot that even the Elric series couldn't hit, partially because Elric's story is so fragmented and episodic.
Anyway... I really enjoyed this re-read and will probably re-read it in another 10 years.
This novel (and presumably the trilogy, which I'm in progress on) holds up much better than I expected. I actually liked it more this time than ever, despite having read it the first time when I was about 12, sort of the "golden age" in which boys of a certain generation are known to like goofy fantasy works with overtones of BRUTAL METAL BADASSERY.
Moorcock can be a wooden writer, but his images are haunting, and his concepts are just simplistic enough to evoke a whole philosophical cosmology without reaching the point of absurdity. It's very much the same fictional principal that makes Zelazny's Amber cosmology seem credible despite its being so sketchy that it ultimately can't make any naturalistic sense. Both of these worlds thrive because they are built using the tools of myth: They don't need to make sense as long as their building blocks are conceptually evocative. Here, the building blocks are Law and Chaos, with a healthy subtext about war, genocide, political authority and apocalypse, which are all the things that make 20th Century philosophy and politics different than those of any century that came before.
When I was 12 that seemed brilliant; when I was 20-ish it seemed pseudo-intellectual; when I was 30-ish it seemed, well, wooden. But now that I'm thinking in terms of pure reading pleasure, I find it hits just the right spot -- a spot that even the Elric series couldn't hit, partially because Elric's story is so fragmented and episodic.
Anyway... I really enjoyed this re-read and will probably re-read it in another 10 years.
kateofmind's review against another edition
4.0
I find that, 30 or so years later, I like Corum better than Elric. Less emo 8)