A Nomad of the Time Streams (1984)

More philosophical and less pulpy than the previous volume, it manages to be simultaneously better-crafted and less interesting. While the look at three different ways the twentieth century might have gone differently is a a good conceit, in practice it's rather repetitious and not all that profound, particularly since, in order to have airships, technology had to take a very similar direction in all three.

It's not bad, but it's not my favorite (which honor still belongs to Von Bek, I believe.) ( )

The Warlord of the Air: http://www.librarything.com/review/26985516
The Land Leviathan: http://www.librarything.com/review/7174287
The Steel Tsar: http://www.librarything.com/review/85190334

Man. This series was humbling. If it taught me anything, it's that my knowledge of early 20th century history is severely lacking. I'm absolutely certain that there were many instances of real personages of note playing roles in these stories that simply flew past me. The only reason that I figured out Stalin was because Moorcock took pity on me and laid it out plain at the very end of the book - otherwise, I never would have figured it out. And that is pretty sad.

In terms of this series as part of the Eternal Champion saga, I was not particularly impressed. We had the time shifting and the reality shifting - but not the identity shifting. Nor was Bastable plagued by memories of other champions. Additionally, unlike Elric or Erekose or Hawkmoon - Bastable was present at monumentous events, but not necessarily acting to make those events come to pass. He was more like a bit player than the star.

On the plus side, I really enjoyed the fun that Moorcock had with 20th century personalities in the multiverse - so many options that make just enough sense that they're compelling or funny or sadly accurate. ( )

It's hard to imagine steampunk alternative history being done better than the story of Captain Oswald Bastable, 53rd British Lancers, who escapes treachery in a Tibetan monastery in the year 1902 only to emerge in an alternate timestream in 1974, from which he begins searching for a way home. The novels work on the level of pulp steampunk, with dramatic air and land battles; and as puzzles, as the reader recognizes characters that are alternate versions of real-world figures (Joseph Conrad; Gandhi; Joseph Kennedy). But most impressively, under the churning story, the books work as a meditation on human civilization and violence. Every world he enters has technological marvels and also tragic, pointless war on an ever-increasing scale. Bastable starts as a chauvinist and racist; over the course of the novels, he grows in plausible fits and starts.

The first two books in the series, the Warlord of the Air (1971) and the Land Leviathan (1974), are pitch-perfect. The style of last book, the Steel Tsar (1981) begins to move in another direction -- darker and more raw, with less Edwardian color. That makes sense within the story, as the narrative has ostensibly been edited by Michael Moorcock himself, rather than his grandfather; but it also feels as though Moorcock had lost interest in the original project by the time he wrote the last book. Nonetheless, the plot hums, and the ultimate resolution makes (some) sense of all three novels. ( )

Who would have thought that lovable Oswald Bastable, one of E. Nesbit's beloved treasure seekers, would eventually become an opium-addicted time traveler?

Only Michael Moorcock.

Collected in one volume are the three main Nomad of the Time Streams novels, featuring Bastable, as well as Moorcock regulars (some borrowed from other literature as well), including Una Persson and Xenith the Albino, as well as cameos by Ronald Regan (the actor!?) and Mick Jagger, all scrambled together into three different alternate histories that all seem to have the same outcome.

Whether it's fantasy, science fiction, alternate history, or what-have-you, Moorcock continually proves himself to be a master of his realm.

If you'd like to read tales of a Victorian soldier being plucked from his life and deposited into strange new worlds, then I highly recommend you pick up A Nomad of the Time Streams, and follow along on Bastable's journeys. ( )

Actually a collection of three novels. I liked the first one, Warlord of the Air. The second one seemed a bit stretched, although reading about a different version of Gandi was amusing. The third, Steel Tsar, got a little corny towards the end, although there's some cool ideas. (Not radically new, similar to other books I've read that came out of the 70's in fantasy about alternative realities but still good).

But The Temporal League of Justice, or whatever it is? Kinda hokey.

Not bad, but I'd probably really only recommend the first book in the series and maybe the second. Or don't read them all back to back.