Fortress of the Pearl

The seventh installment in the prolific Moorcock's series about warrior Elric of Melnibone is set early in the warrior's career, opening as the Lord Gho Fhaazi seeks the principal seat on the ruling Council of Seven of the city of Quarzhasaat. He lures Elric into seeking the Pearl at the Heart of the World--the price of admission to the council--by addicting him to a slow-acting poison to which he, the Lord Gho, has the only antidote. Moorcock leads Elric over a course of monstrous and horrifying obstacles, pits him against the Sorcerer Adventurers, servants of Quarzhasatt's jaded rich, and then thrusts him into a dreamworld within the mind of an adoelscent girl. Trapped in a comatose state by the Sorcerer Adventurers, she is undergoing her own rite of passage into adulthood. Through the vast and turbulent landscape of the Dream Realm, guided by the Dreamthief Lady Oone, Elric seeks the Pearl. This is a superior adventure, colorful and exotic, well-paced and exciting. (Oct.)