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I'm honestly tempted to call this a classic, but with one caveat: it will mostly be a treat for any die-hard fans of Elizabethian court intrigue, also being devoted to subverting the spin on the same.
Wait... is that really a thing?
Yep. I mean, yes, you can read this as a political fantasy intrigue with lots of spycraft and court and great passionate characters and a woman who is unable to get any satisfaction at all, but I prefer to see it as only a single layer to a rather complicated quasi-sat ...more
Wait... is that really a thing?
Yep. I mean, yes, you can read this as a political fantasy intrigue with lots of spycraft and court and great passionate characters and a woman who is unable to get any satisfaction at all, but I prefer to see it as only a single layer to a rather complicated quasi-sat ...more
In the original edition of this novel, the rape of Gloriana is excised or at least only implied. In this edition the climactic rape is included, with a long explanation from Moorcock of why it was at first left out. Neither editorial decision seems to me a good one. I don't think Moorcock has a really good handle on what he's satirizing here and I think it leaves the book muddled.
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For what it's worth, I love Moorcock's sword and sorcery--his Elric series are among my very favorite fantasy novels of all time. I saw this book on lists of "great" fantasy novels, so how could I go wrong? I read the first chapter on May 3 then there it sat. Every time I went to pick it up I just couldn't crack the pages and read something else instead, so finally, 20 days later had to admit defeat. I think my complete lack of background or interest in the time period being lampooned (?) might
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Apr 21, 2009
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Angela Randall
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