THE DRAGON IN THE SWORD wraps up one part of Erekose's place in the Eternal Champion cycle in fine style.

It's another slightly later addition to the whole great dance, and brings on several well loved characters along the way as signposts to Erekose's quest for the Dragon Sword, a McGuffin that drives this plot along.

There some of Moorcock's proto-steampunkery in the great city-vessels that steam across the marshes, there's much high weirdness travelling through space, time and melting reality and there's even an appearance by my favorite undead warrior army in the climactic battle scene.

As ever, Erekose is a bit of a moody old bugger at times, but the supporting cast keep him honest, there's some magnificent set pieces, and all in all, it's another fine example of sword and sorcery from the master.

And now that the Lords of Chaos are introduced, and the swords are in play, we can get on to the really strange stuff. Next up for me, more marshes, and another doomed hero, as Dorian Hawkmoon pays a call at Castle Brass, and the history of the Runestaff unfolds. ( )

The last of the 'Eternal Champion' trilogy, which really should be called the John Daker trilogy. In this one, Daker is now Prince Flamadin, a deposed twin ruler from one of the Six Realms of the Wheel. Accompanying him this time from the start is Ulric Von Bek, a gentleman from 1930's Germany, Earth. For once, Daker recognizes the time and place of someone's origin, though the fact that he is from 1960's London is confusing. (He's also very well disposed to a German). Accompanied by Daker on the strange marsh planet on a floating/rolling citadel, they meet the elven Ghost Women at a meeting of people from the Six Realms. He's shocked to find that one of them exactly matches his lost Ehrmizahd in appears - but she cares for him not a bit! The usual Eternal Champion adventure ensues as the three move from world to world, trying to prevent Flamadin's twin sister from gaining control of the Black Sword and letting Chaos into the realms. Along the way there is a strange viewing of Hitler, Himmler and Goering trying to gain control of an artifact which was odd, but there are lots of odd things in Moorcock books. ( )

Erekose is incarnated this time as Prince Flamadin, a pulp hero of the Six Realms of the Wheel. As he quickly discovers, however, he's not on easy street - his sister, Sharadrim, wants him dead and wants to give the Six Realms to the Lords of Chaos in exchange for immortality and unlimited power. And, oh by the way, the Eldren - the race of Erekose' long lost love Ermizhad - are caught in the crossfire and need the help of the Eternal Champion to survive.

Fortunately, the Champion in joined by the 20th century incarnation of a member of the von Bek clan. This one has spent the last several years fighting Nazis and hopes that by helping the Champion, he can help defeat the 3rd Reich. In classic Star Trek (or Twilight Zone) fashion, he succeeds in his goals using a secret ritual gathering of Hitler Goebbels and Goering to reclaim the Holy Grail and by accident telling them to attack Russia thereby setting the seeds for their own defeat.

I definitely preferred this volume to the City in the Autumn Stars - although that's really setting the bar quite low. This read like a standard Moorcock story - horrible creatures, lust for power, corrupt rulers, deception, betrayal and eventual retribution. ( )

Continues the story of the story of the aspect of the Eternal Champion known as John Daker/Erekose that started in the books The Eternal Champion and Phoenix in Obsidian. His only desire is to be reunited with his lost love, Ermizhad, but instead he is pulled into the dimension of the Six Realms, where he meets Ulrich Von Bek who has escaped from the Nazis on Earth into this realm. The Six Realms are an area where six different worlds inhabited by very different cultures and races come together through a number of interdimensional gates. Daker soon learns of a plot by the forces of Chaos to conquer all the realms and knows that it is his mission as the Eternal Champion to stop that from happening.

This is one of the better examples of Moorcock's fantasy adventure style. The different realms have creative, if fairly limited, cultures, and the depiction of Hell is interesting. It is nothing groundbreaking, but is a solid conclusion to the Erekose sequence. ( )