Do You like book The Warlord Of The Air (1971)?
First published on Radiant Attack - Sci fi, fantasy, weird and big freakin' squidThe rise and rise of steampunk has seen an almost astronomical amount of books featuring airship captains in battle for the sky. But in 1971 Michael Moorcock wrote the original airship novel, The Warlord of the Air. Moorcock’s novel, written under the guise of his fictional grandfather (also called Michael Moorcock), makes comment on colonialism and the alternate futures of the British colonies.Taking the character Captain Bastable from E. Nesbit’s The Story of the Treasure Seekers, Moorcock narrates the story as a recounted narrative. His grandfather, taking a respite break at Rowe Island, has a chance encounter with opium addicted Bastable, who recounts his unbelievable story. Bastable, once a soldier in the British Raj, marches upon the mystical city of Teku Benga. After a drastic earthquake, he is transported to an alternate 1973 where British India still exists and the world is divided into powerful colonies. In stead of airplanes, airships dominate the skies, and Bastable is trained to pilot these ships.Moorcock nails the Edwardian adventure tale with writing so skilled it is difficult to differentiate from period tales. Perhaps he is too good – for I felt the novel so convincing in its voice that I struggled to view it in a contemporary sense for the first half. The plot takes time to become more than just an adventure tale; it seems Bastable’s plight is to be buffered by the “slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.”Moorcock’s political discussions kick in at the halfway mark and elevate an ordinary adventure tale into something more important. Moorcock is a self-confessed anarchist, and the characters like Una Persson and Count von Bek often reflect these values. Bastable himself is a pure example of the colonial chap, who is changed through his encounters with both Indian and Chinese people. One of the main differences between the Edwardian style and contemporary writing is the lack of suspicion – Bastable is rightly shocked when anarchists, communards and feminists invade his life.He utilises the anachronistic narrator in a parallel 1973 to quip about contemporary issues."The Suffragettes of my own day would have been happy to hear that women over thirty now had the vote and there was talk of extending the franchise to woman of twenty-one."Over time, Bastable is slowly converted to the opinions of the anarchists after seeing oppression in colonies throughout the world. There are idealists and pragmatists among the revolutionaries. Vlaimir Illyitch represents the old idealists. He says:"A revolutionist is a man who, perhaps, fails to keep his innocence but so desperately wants it back that he seeks to create a world where all shall be innocent in that way."On the other hand are the pragmatists like General Shaw, who embody the concept of power obtained by military strength:"Political power grows out of the erupting casing of a bomb like the bomb we are carrying. With such bombs at their disposal, the oppressed will be able to dictate any terms they choose to their oppressors."I am a huge fan of literature that seeks to address political issues through alternate histories, but I don’t think the message quite works here. The plot feels sidetracked in order to espouse certain values on colonialism; despite my interest in colonialism I don’t need to be hit over the head with political messages in order to understand them. On the other hand, it is in keeping with the Edwardian/late-Victorian style of the novel. But it’s a difficult balance which isn’t consistently maintained through the novel. The first half has too little commentary, the last half has too much.For fans of steampunk, especially tales of airships, The Warlord of the Air is an essential read. Titan Books are currently reprinting the complete ‘A Nomad of the Time Streams’ trilogy. While the book may seem less original in an oversaturated market of corsets and corsairs, Moorcock still poses valuable questions about the nature of colonies and their affect on indigenous peoples. Viewed in the context of its original publication date, The Warlord of the Air is an important book in the canon of science fiction and fantasy.
—Kat
Com a chancela da Saída de Emergência, chega-nos o primeiro livro de uma trilogia do aclamado autor britânico Michael Moorck, vencedor de um Nebula Award, dois World Fantasy Award e três prémios da British Fantasy Society. “O Senhor da Guerra dos Céus” foi publicado em 1971 (seguiram-se “The Land Leviathan” e “The Steel Tsar”) e é uma das provas de como este autor é um grande nome da Fantasia e Ficção Científica mundiais.tO livro começa com a recuperação de Michael Moorcok (supostamente o avô do autor) numa remota ilha do Índico. Certo dia, trava conhecimento com um vagabundo que chega de barco. Acreditando que é um viciado em ópio, ouve a sua mirabolante história de vida. Ele é Oswald Bastable, um soldado britânico do início do século XX que numa das suas missões na Índia é surpreendentemente atirado para o futuro, mais precisamente para 1973. Mas esse futuro alternativo, polvilhado por grandes dirigíveis que dominam os céus, é muito diferente do esperado. O mundo vive um clima de paz duradoura baseado no poderio inglês. Porém, depressa Bastable se vê confrontado com uma realidade dura e escondida pela força ocidental. Apesar de se ver envolvido numa conspiração anarquista, o soldado é novamente engolido pelas correntes de tempo e atirado para uma vida sem destino certo.tDevo confessar que o livro foi uma surpresa. Não sendo leitor assíduo de ficção científica e não estando familiarizado com a obra do autor, fiquei assustado pela capa pouco apelativa. Mas bastou ler as páginas iniciais para perceber que “O Senhor da Guerra dos Céus” é uma excelente obra.tApesar de ter sido publicado em 1971, a linguagem é bastante acessível e, talvez devido à tradução, adapta-se perfeitamente a uma leitura mais casual. Michael Moorcok tem o dom de criar mundos e personagens complexos, mas a leitura é tão agradável que é notória a facilidade com que o faz. Tanto as descrições dos locais como a caracterização das personagens estão excelentes e o leitor é imediatamente envolvido por elas.tA história segue uma estrutura básica dos clássicos de aventuras, mas é igualmente empolgante. Bastable é o típico herói que é atirado para uma série de situações que lhe são estranhas, mas mantendo as suas virtudes e força. É uma personagem bastante sólida e é muito fácil gostar dele. É enriquecida pelas várias personagens secundárias com quem toma contacto, algumas delas personagens históricas que seguiram outro destino (Reagan, Lenine, Mick Jagger, etc.).tO aspecto mais interessante desta obra é a facilidade com que transpomos as suas metáforas para os dias de hoje. Com uma mente visionária e uma certa intenção moralista, Moorcock baseou-se no contexto sócio-político da altura para criar o seu próprio futuro alternativo. No entanto, alguns desses aspectos são encontrados nos dias de hoje: o falso clima de paz, o domínio dissimulado das grandes potências mundiais, a opressão das velhas colónias, a anarquia, entre outros.tTalvez o que vai desagradar mais aos leitores seja a rapidez com que o autor resolve cada conflito na história. Bastable salta de situação em situação sem que sejam fornecidos muito detalhes sobre a sua resolução. Todavia, estas passagens forçadas acabam por estar de acordo com a própria “maldição” do protagonista, uma vez que ele está condenado a viajar de forma quase aleatória pelo tempo.t“O Senhor da Guerra dos Céus” é um título recomendável a qualquer fã de ficção científica ou de histórias de aventuras. É uma obra intemporal e um importante marco na literatura do género. No meu caso, vou aguardar ansiosamente pela tradução dos restantes livros da trilogia. Perdido no Tempo, será que Bastable irá algum dia aparecer na nossa era?(Opinião publicada no blog Bela Lugosi is Dead)
—Fábio Ventura
This review copy was provided by Titan Books, who just last month re-released this classic novel, originally published in the 70’s. Which I think is awesome, since Michael Moorcock is among those writers who stand accused of starting the whole steampunk thing. The Warlord Of The Air is the story of Oswald Bastable, a man from 1902, who is mysteriously jolted out of his own time, and into the world of the (then) present, 1973. But this isn’t the 1973 that we all know and love. Oh no. The British Empire is still very much intact and alive, and colonialism rampant throughout the world. The atomic bomb has not been developed, nor has heavier than air flight. Instead, the skies are alive with airships, from the luxury liner Loch Etive to the run down old ship, The Rover. The story is written in the style of H. G. Wells, which is kind of interesting, but it doesn't slip into excessive rambling, as writing of that time period often does. All the nostalgia of the style, none of the annoyances, I would say. H. G. Wells, and other writers of the time, often started a story with the premise of it being a recounting of events - either the story is being told to another character, or the narrator is committing remembered events to paper. The Warlord Of The Air follows this tradition - the narrator of the first chapter is the man who discovers Bastable, after all the events of the story have occurred, and convinces him to tell his story. Bastable himself is a likable enough character, if naive. He's innocent enough that I could forgive him for being so staunchly supportive of British colonialism, believing the world to which he'd been sent a utopia. While his blind support of the status quo got to be a bit of an eye-roll after a while, when he did finally realize the cruel injustices of colonialism, it was a slow enough transition that it was believable. He's not a stupid character, he just knows what he knows, and a big part of the story is his discovery of the world. The funny thing was, I realized this story is structured very similarly to The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman, which I disliked quite a bit for being little more than a masterpiece of world-building hung on nearly no plot. The difference between the two though, is the world of The Warlord Of The Air is much more integral to the main character's emotional arc, which kept me much more engaged in the story. William Mandella of The Forever War observes his world in a cold, emotionless way, whereas Bastable describes 1973 with wonder and excitement, and later frustration and despair, and that world - the point of the story - changes him as a person in the end. William Mandella's character is unaffected and unchanged by his experience.
—Lindsay Kitson
