Hawkmoon: The Jewel in the Skull
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About this ebook
Fantasy legend Michael Moorcock won hundreds of thousands of readers with his vast and imaginative multiverse, in which Law and Chaos wage war through endless alternative universes, struggling over the fundamental rules of existence.
Moorcock's heroes of the multiverse have been lauded as some of the most influential characters in fantasy. Among the Eternal Champions, Dorian Hawkmoon is one of the most loved. In the far future, Hawkmoon is pulled unwillingly into a war that will eventually pit him against the ruthless Baron Meliadus and the armies of the Dark Empire. Antique cities, scientific sorcery, and crystalline machines serve as a backdrop to this high adventure.
Dorian Hawkmoon, the last Duke of Koln, swore to destroy the Dark Empire of Granbretan. But after his defeat and capture at the hands of the vast forces of the Empire. Hawkmoon becomes a puppet co-opted by his arch nemesis to infiltrate the last stronghold of rebellion against Granbretan, the small but powerful city of Kamarang. He's been implanted with a black jewel, through whose power the Dark Empire can control his every decision. But in the city of Kamarang, Hawkmoon discovers the power inside him to overcome any control, and his vengeance against the Dark Empire is filled with an unrelenting fury.
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Michael Moorcock
Michael Moorcock is one of the most important and influential figures in speculative fiction and fantasy literature. Listed recently by The Times (London) as among the fifty greatest British writers since 1945, he is the author of 100 books and more than 150 shorter stories in practically every genre. He has been the recipient of several lifetime achievement awards, including the Prix Utopiales, the SFWA Grand Master, the Stoker, and the World Fantasy, and has been inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame. He has been awarded the Nebula Award, the World Fantasy Award, the John W. Campbell Award, the British Fantasy Award, the Guardian Fiction Prize, and has been shortlisted for the Whitbread Award. He has been compared to Balzac, Dickens, Dumas, Ian Fleming, Joyce, and Robert E. Howard, to name a few.
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Reviews for Hawkmoon
167 ratings6 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5WAR FLAMINGOS and BATTLE BATS, y'all. 'Nuff said.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A young knight, having lost everyone and everything he holds dear, travels to a strange land, falls in with an older man and a beautiful woman in a battle against an evil empire, one that is ruled by a mystical ancient emperor and his most trusted evil, general, a vile battle-hardened brute who always wears a mask. There's a mystical force controlling our hero's destiny although he knows little about it at first, oh, and there's also a trusted companion covered totally in long ginger hair.
Stop me if you've heard this before :-)
Moorcock's tale came a few years before Star Wars, but a fairy tale is a fairy tale, however it's told, and this one follows the same great themes. It takes place in the far future on earth rather than in a galaxy long ago and far away, and being Moorcock, reality is never all that stable, but it's another great romp.
Dorian Hawkmoon is the latest incarnation of the Eternal Champion in this one, book one of the four-book history of the Runestaff. And again there's epic battles -- even more of them than in previous volumes -- some truly vicious bad guys, and heroic defenders standing against them.
The evil empire of the future Great Britain, with its beast-masks, vast military, flying machines, time palaces and crystal bridges is more of Moorcock's early proto-steampunk, and comes alive wonderfully in the mind's eye, as does the castle in the Camarg that stands against them.
As book 1 of 4 it's a wonderful introduction to all the main players, and the big battle is a joyous romp of old-school sword and sorcery. These four books as a whole are among my favorites of all of Moorcock's work, and I'm looking forward to spending most of the weekend lost in his world with them. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dorian Hawkmoon tried and failed. He tried to rally his people against the tyranny of the Dark Empire of Granbretan and failed. He was captured and sent into the heart of the empire, changed into a tool to be used to further the Dark Empire's goals - goals that included the humbling of the defiant Count Brass and the salting of the earth of his home in Kamarg. The wise Count, however, sees through Hawkmoon's ruse and through the Dark Empire's plans, giving Hawkmoon a new chance at a free life. Unfortunately, there's something of a time limit on that life, so if he's going to make it a life worth living, he'd better hurry.A solid tale of the Eternal Champion. Not quite so fantastic as some others. While I enjoyed the book, I'm not yet sold (as some are) that Hawkmoon is the best of the Champion's incarnations. But time will tell, I imagine...
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Of all of the Eternal Champion books, this may be my favorite. Dorian Hawkmoon and his friends, fighting the empire in their strange alternate earth. The human and no so human allies of the Empire are creepy, and there's just something extra heroic about Dorian, as opposed to the weird evilness of Elric.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5First of a series, this fantasy story is about Count Brass, a man who runs the small kingdom of Kamarg, in what we know as southern France. He wants to spend his remaining years in peace and serenity, so he has no interest in allying with anyone, against anyone. Kamarg is also the last holdout against the forces of Granbretan, the Dark Empire, who have been uniting the many warring factions in Europe.Baron Meliadus, the right-hand man to the Granbretan king, pays a visit to talk alliance between Kamarg and Granbretan. Count Brass is not interested. Meliadus is infatuated with Brass's daughter, Yisselda, and attempts to kidnap her. It doesn't work, and Meliadus is thrown out of the castle.Back in Granbretan, Meliadus decides to send someone else to kidnap Yisselda. Dorian Hawkmoon, Duke of Koln, is a recent loser against Granbretan, and has been held prisoner for a while. Promised his lands and title if he succeeds, his loyalty is assured by a black jewel implanted in his forehead. It will let Granbretan see everything Hawkmoon sees, and it can be used to destroy Hawkmoon's mind, if necessary.The people of Castle Brass are able to temporarily neutralize the black jewel, rendering it useless to Granbretan. A large force is sent from Granbretan, to take care of Hawkmoon and Castle Brass, once and for all. Even with a 20 to 1 advantage, a combination of Hawkmoon's military knowledge and several high-tech weapons stationed around the castle leads to a huge defeat for Granbretan.The neutralizing of the black jewel will not last forever, so Hawkmoon undertakes a journey far to the southwest (approximately present-day Iran) to find Malagigi, the only person with enough sorcery to permanently neutralize the jewel. When he arrives, Hawkmoon finds himself in the middle of a civil war brought about by an attack from Granbretan and Meliadus.This one is really good. It has plenty of action. Moorcock is a veteran in the fantasy field, so he very much knows what he is doing. For Conan fans looking for something else to read, look here. It is well worth reading.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5There are just some authors that you know what you're going to get. Tom Clancy. John Grisham (in his mystery days). The author of "If You Give a Moose a Muffin." Michael Moorcock is one of those authors. You know what to expect. A good, pulp fantasy novel, often times layered with abstractions in the form of the "multiverse" - multiple universes layered on top of each other.Jewel in the Skull is the story of Hawkmoon (no, not like the U2 song), one of Moorcock's Eternal Champion characters. Act 1 of a 4 part series, Jewel in the Skull is a fast-moving piece that introduces us to the characters in this section of the multiverse and sets the stage for the major battles to come.As with any good pulp fiction book, the heroes are good and the villains are exceptionally bad. Hawkmoon must take on an empire that is, in many respects, a perverted clone of the Nazis and defend a little corner of Europe (this time in southern France) that is holding on for dear life.In lining up this story, Moorcock knows where to put the emphasis - and it ain't in character development. He is 100% focused on plot. He has crafted a tight plot that keep the action moving forward - much faster than other of his more famous works such as the Elric series. Stripped down to the bare essentials, this is like the Tarzan or John Carter novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs.A fun, quick read.