Product Description

Enter a decaying far, far future society, a time when anything and everything is possible, where words like 'conscience' and 'morality' are meaningless, and where heartfelt love blossoms mysteriously between Mrs Amelia Underwood, an unwilling time traveller, and Jherek Carnelian, a bemused denizen of the End of Time. The Dancers at the End of Time, containing the novels An Alien Heat, The Hollow Lands and The End of All Songs, is a brilliant homage to the 1890s of Wilde, Beardsley and the fin de siecle decadents, satire at its sharpest and most colourful.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #75084 in Books
• Published on: 2003-05-08
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 672 pages

About the Author
Born in London in 1939, Michael Moorcock now lives in Texas. A prolific and award-winning writer with more than eighty works of fiction and non-fiction to his name, he is the creator of Elric, Jerry Cornelius and Colonel Pyat, amongst many other memorable characters.

Customer Reviews

Not as amusing as it thinks, but still brilliant
Going by the blurb one would think that this is a laugh a minute comedy in the vein of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy – while its nowhere near as amusing it does share an incredible proliferation of wild ideas. The story is essentially a comedy of misunderstanding between decedent end of time dweller Jherek Carnelian and prim housewife Mrs Amelia Underwood. The most successful scenes are those of Jhereks complete failure to understand the morals of ‘ancient’ Earth, and the nature of sin. A trifle overlong, and some of the knockabout humour gets tiresome (the alien Lats) but this is still a fantastic and thought provoking read. Highly recommended.

better than elric
These three books are probably among the finest michael moorcock ever wrote, full of humour, they examine morals and how ludicrous they can be, there are no swords and it's unlike moorcock's other settings, a prudish victorian era lady sent to a future time where the inhabitants have the the power to do or create anything and have a damn fine time of it!! however as usual moorcock can write a short piece of work free of waffle and without the need for sequel upon sequel or the dreaded prequel!! (God that's rare nowadays!!)It's a good place to start with regard to his work and it is a very original piece of writing.

Of Its Time, & Still a Classic
Fully deserving of its place in the masterworks series and in numerous "100 best" lists of SF, this collection of three volumes published in the mid-seventies shows Michael Moorcock in a lighter, if no less creative, mood, than in the Elric & Corum books for which he became justifiably famous.
At the end of time there is no such thing as death (or if there is, it's speedily followed by resurrection), and onyx cathedrals and ebony citadels can be created at the stroke of a power ring. Moorcock's version of his eternal champion figure in this instance is Jherek Carnelian, whose pursuit of Amelia Underwood, plucked from her life in Victorian Bromley, forms the framework around which the many sub-plots are constructed. The first two parts are the best, culminating in an hilarious laugh-out-loud climax at London's Café Royal at the end of the 1800s. The third part 'The End of All Songs', does outstay its welcome a bit, and perhaps could have benefited from a bit of judicious editing. Nevertheless, it's a triumph in a genre which, Terry Pratchett & Douglas Adams aside, is not known for its comic potential. Fans of this book are suggested to go immediately to the tale 'Elric At the End of Time' in the volume 'Legends from the End of Time', also from Gollancz