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 Reviewed by: The Rev 5th May 2003 
 


The Quest for Tanelorn

Michael Moorcock

The Quest for Tanelorn ends with the words “the end of the saga of the eternal champion.” A quarter-century later, of course, we know the untruth of that statement; still it's tough to read.

In this last novel of Dorian Hawkmoon and his compatriots, Hawkmoon, united with his wife, goes on the search for his children. He is pulled into a land of limbo suddenly while on a journey to Londra, there to find himself with his old friend Jhary-a-Conel, and the two of them adrift in a boat. They soon work out that they are in limbo, and have been sent there for a particular purpose…

Readers of the Eternal Champion novels will no doubt remember Hawkmoon popping up in various places throughout where he doesn't seem to have ever gone before in the series dedicated to him. Well, here it all is; the battle with Agak and Gagak (and what happens afterwards, when whichever manifestation of the Champion the series in question revolves around leaves Hawkmoon and his coterie in the ruins), the boat on the seas of limbo and its odd, blind crew; the whole mess. (One point, for those who have read the Elric series; how the Runestaff itself ends up in the tower of Voilodion Gaghnasdiak is never explained.)

All in all, the series draws to a satisfying conclusion, with the events coming in the most logical time flow they ever do in the eternal champion novels, and with the final mystery of the deaths of the gods, presented at the end of the first Corum trilogy, solved. Everyone (well almost everyone) who has survived ends up happy, and all is right with the Universe. Or so we think.



See also
Count Brass by Michael Moorcock reviewed by The Rev
Elric of Melnibone by Michael Moorcock reviewed by The Rev
Firing the Cathedral by Michael Moorcock reviewed by Ian D.
Kane of Old Mars by Michael Moorcock reviewed by The Rev
King of the City by Michael Moorcock reviewed by Ian D.
London Bone by Michael Moorcock reviewed by Ian D.
Stormbringer by Michael Moorcock reviewed by The Rev
The Bane of the Black Sword by Michael Moorcock reviewed by The Rev
The Blood Red Game by Michael Moorcock reviewed by The Rev
The Champion of Garathorm by Michael Moorcock reviewed by The Rev
The Chronicles of Corum by Michael Moorcock reviewed by The Rev
The Dreamthief's Daughter by Michael Moorcock reviewed by Ian D.
The Ice Schooner by Michael Moorcock reviewed by The Rev
The Jewel in the Skull by Michael Moorcock reviewed by The Rev
The Mad God's Amulet by Michael Moorcock reviewed by The Rev
The Runestaff by Michael Moorcock reviewed by The Rev
The Sailor on the Seas of Fate by Michael Moorcock reviewed by The Rev
The Skrayling Tree by Michael Moorcock reviewed by Ian D.
The Sword of the Dawn by Michael Moorcock reviewed by The Rev
The Swords Trilogy by Michael Moorcock reviewed by The Rev
The Vanishing Tower by Michael Moorcock reviewed by The Rev
The War Hound and the World's Pain by Michael Moorcock reviewed by Ee Lin
The Weird of the White Wolf by Michael Moorcock reviewed by The Rev
Wizardry and Wild Romance by Michael Moorcock reviewed by The Rev