Collects three early novels and the short story "To Rescue Tanelorn..." The Eternal Champion and Phoenix in Obsidian are the first two books of the John Daker/Erekose trilogy, but somewhat strangely, The Sundered Worlds, a space opera that seems to only be tangentially related to the Eternal Champion concept is stuck between those.

The Eternal Champion: ***
A twentieth century human, John Daker, is transported to another world and becomes Erekose, the Eternal Champion, who is tasked with fighting for humanity in a war against an elf-like race called the Eldren. This is an early Moorcock work, and it shows. The writing and story are very basic and pulpish, but the book is still fairly entertaining. This version has been modified to serve as something of an intoduction to the Eternal Champion concept, and now has a number of references to later Moorcock works included.

The Sundered Worlds: **
Renark von Bek discovers that the universe is contracting at an accelerated rate and ventures into a solar system that travels though different dimensions in search of a way to save the human race. He learns information about the true nature of humanity and the Multiverse. Eventually, humanity is forced to fight for its survival in a strange, psychic game against aliens.

This is basically a pulpish, space opera with a lot of fairly cheesy writing. Moorcock seems to be trying to present some bigger themes about the meaning of life, but they just don't fit too well with this kind of story. There are all kinds of large-scale events going on that are made to seem almost trivial while there is also a lot of detail on some seemingly trivial emotional issues of the characters. The whole thing just does not make a satisfying mix.

Phoenix in Obsidian: ****
Erekose, the Eternal Champion , is pulled from a century of peaceful life with the Eldren into another world and another incarnation as Urlik Skarsol, on a far future frozen Earth. His mission is apparently to save the remnants of humanity from a race known as the Silver Warriors. To do so, he is once again tempted to use the Black Sword, and must pay the price for doing so.

This is a fairly short simple fantasy novel where the conflict is more about the hero being forced to accept who is his and what his destiny entails than it is about the external conflicts he faces. Worth reading, especially for those familiar with other of Moorcock's Eternal Champion books.

"To Rescue Tanelorn..."
Rackhir the Red Archer must travel the dimensions to save the mystical city of Tanelorn from the forces of Chaos. An enjoyable fantasy adventure.

A human man, John Daker, has troubling dreams. He discovers that he is an incarnation of the Eternal Champion, and his name is Erekose.

Erekose and his great sword is to be the key figure in a war between the humans and the alien Eldren, but what Erekose has to work out, is humanity who he should really be fighting to save?

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