The Whispering Swarm by Michael Moorcock

 

Michael Moorcock is known as one of the masters of science fiction and fantasy.  He started early and by age sixteen was running a magazine of fantasy tales in London.  He has written over eighty novels and this one is the first in a new trilogy, The Sanctuary Of The White Friars.

Moorcock has chosen a memorable structure for this novel.  It is a mixture of biography and fantasy.  He tells the story of his own early life and life in London in the 60's.  He talks about other fantasy and sci fi authors he knew and about the music scene as he is also a guitarist and played in several bands.  It talks about the sexual revolution and his own love life, his eventual marriage and his children, two little girls.

But as he tells it, a monk he met in one of the publishing houses asks him for tea one day to continue a conversation they had started. He takes Moorcock to a place he could never have imagined, the Alsacia.  The Alsacia is a place out of time, a neighborhood set in the past, maybe the 1700's or 1600's.  There are old taverns, highwaymen, and the Sanctuary of White Friars, of which the monk is a member.  Soon Michael is caught up in a love affair with a woman who robs coaches and a plot to rescue Charles I from Cromwell and the execution he is facing.  Michael goes back and forth between his modern life and the one hundreds of years before.

This is a fascinating book.  Readers will learn about London, both centuries ago and in more modern times.  Comingling the two worlds is an interesting concept and using his own life as a basis is a unique choice.  Either story would have made a good book and intertwining them is something it takes an author such as Moorcock to pull off.  The book could have used some editing as there seems to be repetition at times but fantasy readers will welcome another series by Moorcock.  The second novel in the trilogy is being released in early summer 2023.  This series is recommended for fantasy readers.