That was a tough read. Nothing like the Worm other than it's complexity, it did not endear itself to me at all though as it's predecessor did. ( )

That was a tough read. Nothing like the Worm other than it's complexity, it did not endear itself to me at all though as it's predecessor did. ( )

A very, very different book from Eddison's most famous work [The Worm Ouroborous]. The character of Lessingham is in both books, though in this one he is returned from death into a vibrant life lived on the same world, Zimiamvia. Instead of one great adventure and travel after another with mythical creatures, this book has Lessingham and his allies in friction with the bastard son of the late king. There are a number of different leaders and lesser men, a Vicar who serves as the power to the young king, and many, many beautiful women in their own kingdoms.

Perhaps it is correct to say this book is a successor to "Ouroborous" but I would hazard that it is much less a successor than an addendum. The world presented here has very little bearing on the world of Goldry Bluzco. The shifting alliances, the dalliances, the attempts by the king to woo his lady love (who does not want him), the Queen and her lovely young friend, all are characters presented in a work without the Elizabethan English that so captivated me in "Ouroborous." While there is an index at the back of when a character is first mentioned, it is often not the first mention that drives the story and this convoluted tale becomes increasingly hard to follow and less and less interesting as it progresses. ( )

One of the greatest fantasy novels ever written, though less read because Eddison chosen to write it in a high renaissance style of English. It concerns a power struggle between Duke Barganax of Zayana, bastard of the late king Mezentius, and Horius Parry, Vicar of Rerek in the middle part of Mezentius' empire, who is back by his kinsman Lessingham. Both Barganax and Lessingham are in some sense avatars of an Englishman named Lessingham, and their respective lovers (Fiorinda and Antiope) are in some sense avatars of the goddess Aphrodite. The Eddison decided to work backwards from this srory instead of forwards, the later books in this series (A Fish Dinner in Memison and The Mezentian Gate describe earlier events in the history of Zimiamvia in the reign of Mezentius. ( )

First book in the Zimiamvian trilogy, and the best. Eddison uses this novel to begin to expound his esoteric philosophy. ( )