Cory Pelligreno Pelligreno থেকে Los Algarrobos, Panama
Although this book was interesting, it was not as good as the first, Traveling Mercies. Still a good read.
I first read this book as a teenager some thirty five years ago. At that time, I found the haunting atmosphere of Elizabethan sensuality to be extremely arousing and stimulating. Moorcock serves up a rich pageant of decadence, luxury and pleasure, with every variety of sex either shown explicitly or hinted at. The problem is that Moorcock is the kind of guy who gets all the little things right -- but can't create a big picture story-line to save his life! Tiny episodes are scorchingly erotic, like Queen Gloriana's offhand caressing of Lady Mary, or Captain Quire's hypnotic conquest of pouty-lipped boy Phil Starling. But the major plot of the book -- Quire ruins Gloriana, then saves her, then seduces her -- just doesn't ring true. Without making any judgments, it's fair to say that Quire is much more convincing as a gay anti-hero than a heterosexual stud for hire. The scenes where he seduces Phil Starling are a lot tighter, more realistic, and more convincing than the scenes where he supposedly beds Gloriana. Moreover, Moorcock never succeeds in establishing Quire as a credible tough guy -- all the rowdies in the wrong part of town are supposedly in awe of this guy, but then he shows up to the big infernal jamboree with a teenage boy as his heavy date! You would think some benighted soul would wonder aloud just how masculine Quire really is. Moorcock carefully shields his hero from such impertinence. And believability goes right out the window! Speaking of believability . . . Gloriana is supposed to be a great queen, an able statesman, and a woman of high principles, but she comes across much more Marilyn Monroe, all jiggles and weepy quivering. Moorcock really has no insight at all into her character. Seems like she'd fall for a stern father figure like Montfallcon much sooner than a closet queen like Quire. All her love scenes are sexy . . . except for the ones with Quire! The maddening thing is that after you've read this book you keep thinking about all the other, better characters. There were about a dozen people in this book I actually liked, but where did they go? Countess Una of Scaith, Lady Mary Perrott, Tinkler the snaggle-toothed ruffian, Wheldrake the poet, Lady Lyst, . . . There were enough characters here for a half dozen good novels, but instead they all got stuck in one bad one!