THE DREAMTHIEF'S DAUGHTER - Michael Moorcock

There's no doubt in my mind that I never read this Elric novel prior to this.  I definitely would have remembered Elric and dragons and magic fighting World War II Germans!

Given that Elric and all he held dear - his city and its people - were destroyed at the end of his last series of books, it was hard to imagine how we would get new stories.  Prequels? Stories to squeeze in between some of the others?  Oh, no ... Moorcock is too creative for this.  Instead, we get an Elric existing in a 1000 year 'dream state' or 'astral state' (think Doctor Strange from the Marvel Cinematic Universe) where each months-long (maybe years-long?) adventure takes barely a moment in his reality.  This provides a nearly limitless number of opportunities for adventures.  And what adventures!

This story begins with Count Ulric von Bek, of Nazi Germany.  Ulric sees the rising threat of Hitler's Germany and does not want to be a part of it. Ulric's cousin, Gaynor, on the other hand has ambitions of climbing up the Nazi ranks and believes that he can do it with the help of a family heirloom ... a sword known as 'Ravenbrand.'  

Enter Elric ... literally. Elric's astral self, or his soul, enters Ulric and the two share one body. For awhile at least. And this sharing gives Ulric access to Elric's knowledge, which Ulric finds more than a bit stunning.

Keeping the runesword, Ravenbrand, out of the Nazi hands is more than just preventing an easier rise to power for the Nazis, but it is part of the battle between Chaos and Law, which is what brings Elric, as the Eternal Champion (that's some complicated history there), into the story.

In fact, this is nearly two very separate stories.  We get more than a fair amount of Count von Bek before we ever see Elric.  In fact, at one point I stopped and did some Googling to see if this was really an Elric story as I had thought, or if I had remembered it incorrectly.  But once Elric arrives, we get that sweeping fantasy that we expect, with a little less brooding and in a situation that it sometimes easier for us to imagine.

And that title ...?  Oh yeah, there's a woman here, Oona, the dreamthief's daughter. She doesn't play nearly as large a role as you might imagine, given her titular place.  She helps Elric/Ulric with some plotting and guides him to a few things. A bit disappointing, this.

Given Elric's ability to call upon the gods for help is sometimes a deus ex machina means of getting out of trouble, but it's never a sweeping plague or easy solution. In this case, Elric gets some help from dragons.  Yes, dragons.  And it's a lot of fun having the Third Reich face off against the fire-breathing lizards!

I really liked this book. Bringing Elric into this time period was quite clever and I wonder what the other books are going to be like.

Looking for a good book? The Dreamthief's Daughter by Michael Moorcock is an Elric story, combining the high fantasy of Elric with the historic setting of Nazi Germany. It's intense energy - a great read.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Edelweiss and Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

4-1/2 stars

* * * * * *

The Dreamthief's Daughter

author: Michael Moorcock

series: The Elric Saga #10, The Dreamquest Trilogy #1

publisher: Aspect

ISBN: 9780446526180

hardcover, 343 pages

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