Customer Reviews
A mixed bag - By: HJC, 29 Jun 2008 
Having recently undertaken the task of working my way though MMs work I approached this novel with no preconceptions. The book is split into three parts of which the first "Warhound & the World's Pain" I felt was very strong indeed containing an engaging story. Unfortunately I felt that the second story "Cityin the Autumn Stars" was over-long & became very confused & attempted (and failed) to incorporate too many disparate mythologies. This story lacked the pacing & characterisation of the first. The 10 page short story at the back really adds little more to this collection.
I'd probably recommend this for the MM completist to read but if your just encountering these works for the first time would suggest trying Corum rather than Von Bek.
Eternal Classic - By: jamo, 24 Aug 2007 
Warhound & the World's pain is the best of the threein terms of entertainment value & is an excellent read even though a lot of the ideas are well used & being shorter than CIAS means it is a lot truer to Moorcock's other Eternal Champion stories & better for it.
CIAS is has the feel of an adventure novel with some characters we are familar with from the previous book & although it is probably more original then WAWP it's does lose it metaphysical focus that made WAWP so thought provoking. It still has the Moorcock charm but it only takes second place.
Pleasure Garden of Felipe Sagittarius is a strange cocktail of familar charactersin a perverse 'Nazi' envrionment. It is writtenin a very short & sharp prose & I can't say it was really that good - just a bit of filler.
Seminal fantasy - By: Father Thyme, 24 May 2006 Moorcock has originated so many of the themes, images, characters & plotsin fantasy fiction that if you come to him AFTER you've read one of his many imitators, you might not realise just what an original he is. Yet the difference between Moorcock & HIS imitators is the same as the difference between Tolkien ane HIS imitators. It's the difference between the original & a degenerated photo-copy. This is the key volume to understanding his conceptions, which are far more complex & sophisticated than people who have copied him & it's much better written than the other 'key': that is The Eternal Champion, which Moorcock wrote at the very beginning of his career & which shows him still feeling his way. The two novelsin the Von Bek volume were writtenin what many regard as the beginning of his most ambitious period as a writer of fantasy, the late 70s & early 80s. You might want to start with one of the more fast & furious series, like Elric, Hawkmoon or Corum, but I personally recommend Von Bek.
Get stuck in! - By: , 11 May 2002 This is where the series starts. It's Moorcock's attempt to give some sort of linearity to the Eternal Champion series, so you might as well start with this. Though the first book is one of his best -- fast-paced, original ideas, great
scenes & characters -- The Cityin the Autumn Stars is darker & better, with an understnding of the alchemical philosophy you findin very few
writers. Sagittarius is a short, but a key storyin the notion of the multiverse. The only disappointment for me is that The Sundered Worlds,
includedin the US series, is missing. It's a
fairly standard space operain its plot -- but it is the book where Moorcock first introduced the
multiverse, anticipated quarks, black holes & half the ideasin modern advanced physics or
astro-physics. Still, for sheer historical
adventure, this is a great start. Go for it!
Three great fantasy stories with some social comment - By: Ubik, 11 Mar 2002 Von Bek (Tale of the Eternal Champion, No 2) is a reunion of 3 books by Michael Moorcock: "The War Hound & the World's Pain", "Cityin the Autumn Stars", & "The Dragonin the Sword". It has also bonus short story, "The Pleasure Garden of Filipe Saggitarius". All these stories are related by the Von Bek family, that is entrusted with the task of protecting the Holy Grail.
The hero of each of the (somewhat) related books is someone belonging to the Von Bek family, & the stories talk about the eternal struggle between the forces of Chaos & Order. Not all is what it seems, & not always the greatest evil comes from the usual suspects (Lucifer, the fallen angel plays an important, if suprising, part on this saga).
The first book, "The War Hound & the World's Pain", is perhaps the one i enjoyed best,in part because it is more intimate. The lead character's pessimistic view of the world sounds very real & makes him the perfect romantic hero. Even so, the book has adventure of great scale, be it fighting armies, scary creatures or magic dimensions.
The two other books are also quite good, but something is lost when the extravagant settings & characters take greater part of the story. The short story, on the other hand, seemed useless, & was quickly forgotten...
This Hardcover edition is a beauty & has a beautiful presentation. Careful lettering & a few pictures help create your own mental vision of the magical tales presented by this master of the fantasy/sci-fi literature.
