The Dancers at the End of Time (Dancers at the End of Time, #1-3)

“Yet perhaps fear is no good thing. Perhaps it is only we, the fearful, who attempt to instill our own sense of urgency into others, who avoid reality, who deceive others into believing that only conflict and unhappiness leads us to the truth.”

This was a real pleasure to read. It's got humor, fun, adventure, romance. It's also weird and psychedelic, which I adore.

Moorcock starts us with a group of amoral humans from the far future who need nothing, can create fantasies at will, and have no responsibility. Ttheir lives are all sex and parties (incest is not off the table). As empty as it sounds, the good part is there is no want or or hate or violence or jealousy. Their world is a big toy until an alien arrives to alert them that the end of all time is coming.

With the arrival of a time traveller named Amelia from the Victorian age, it becomes a love story between her and end-of-time dweller, Jherek. Amelia is all about morality, purpose, responsibility. Jherek decides he must court her until she returns his affection. Much of the humor comes from the culture clash between the two of them. Amelia is an awesome character, clever, no nonsense, resourceful.

Eventually, Jherek and his fellow end of timers travel to Amelia's time as well. Wild, hilarious, and dangerous times ensue.

My only criticism of the book was that the end seemed a bit dragged out. Odd because this is actually three short (about 200 page) novels put into one volume. For the most part they moved pretty fast. But once the characters solved their problems, the denouement seemed stretched.

Micheal Moorcock has been around for a long time, but he's new to me. I'm really enjoying discovering his books and digging his humor, style, and imagination.

Three and a Half Stars

Story: 7 / 10
Characters: 8
Setting: 10
Prose: 8

An absolutely fantastic adventure during the last few years of Earth's life. Thus, probably the book that looks furthest into the future of all science-fiction (on par with Stapledon's Star Maker). The world at that time is a veritable paradise and technology enables the few people left to live as gods. While not as hilarious as The Hitchhiker's Guide, the story is hilarious.

Highly recommended, even the time travel sections (for their genre innovations).