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The History of the Runestaff

The History of the Runestaff

by
Michael Moorcock

Synopsis of The History of the Runestaff

The earth has grown old, her landscapes mellow, her people lost in abrooding dream. It is an age of antique cities, scientific sorcery, crystal machines, great flying engines with mechanical wings. And the armies of the Dark Empire are relentlessly taking over the once-peaceful city states, ravaging and destroying as they advance, mile by brutal mile . . . The Dark Empire has humiliated and multilated Dorian Hawkmoon, but it cannot rob him of his two consuming passions: his love for Yisselda of Brass and his hatred of her ruthless suitor Meliadus. But before he can defy the Dark Empire and win the beauteous Yisselda, he must seek the Runestaff, a quest that will send him into barbaric wonder and perverse evil . . . and only if he succeeds will her avert the doom of all the world . . .

Reviews of The History of the Runestaff

83%

Moorcock's vocabulary, imagination and sense of atmosphere pervade these, as all his novels. -- Jeff Gardiner, The Alien Online

were and are brilliant works of fantasy fiction, published in the 1960s when this genre was taking off. -- Phil Stoyle, SFCrowsnest

Mutant flamingos, lost temples, hidden desert citadels, sanguinary pirate cults, brutal warriors, treacherous courtiers, chivalry and poetry, all helped this reader at least to pass the time without feeling I was wasting it. -- Nicholas Whyte, Infinity Plus