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"Fascinating Elric tale"

The multiverse consists of multiple realms each linked in such a way that an impact on any world affects all in some manner. Oona was a person who walked through the realms until she met Baron von Bek and decided to stay in his world where they marry and have children. One day on vacation her husband is kidnapped by Native Americans and taken to their realm Kakatanawa, a pyramid of gold, which lies on a lake of ice.

Elric, sorcerer and emperor of Melnibone must find his magical sword Stormbringer or he, his friend Moonglum and perhaps Melnibone will be destroyed. He enters a dream, which is another person's reality where he learns that his sword is in Kakatanawa. He temporarily joins forces with the Pukawathers (pygmy) tribe who claim the sword is theirs stolen by White Crow. He enters the realm just as Oona has turned into a magical Buffalo who must fight one of the elementals.

Ulric von Bek is brought by the people of Nihrain (they made Stormbringer) because they desperately need his help. The Nihrain tend the tree of the multiverse and they want Ulric to deliver a certain sword to Elric. All three warriors are working to keeping the tree of the multiverse healthy and free of poison so the multiverse doesn't perish.

Michael Moorcock has never written a book this reviewer doesn't like. His point of view of the multiverse, the interconnection of the worlds within it, the people who travel between the realms performing daring feats of bravery make his novels totally enthralling. In THE SKRAYLING TREE, the connection between von Bek and Elric, who are both linked through Oona, makes for a fascinating tale.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by PNR Group Member
Posted February 15, 2003

Ulrik von Bek is plagued by mysterious and disconcerting events: Having traveled to Canada with his beloved wife Oona, he is visited by a strange and youthful albino resembling himself. When Oona is abducted by a band of albino Native Americans, Ulrik trails the group by using The Skrayling Oak and soon finds himself in the multiverse where he is reconnected with his alternate self, Elric of MelnibonČ. It is there that Elric/Ulrik discover that their arch-nemesis Gaynor, now ruling over a mob of outcasts, is behind Oona's abduction. And it is also there that they find themselves once again battling supernatural forces in the never-ending struggle between Law and Chaos that rages on in both their universes.