/lit/ - Literature

>>8886979
It's not deep but Michael Moorcock's Runestaff series is simple and pulpy in the Robert Howard way, a basic good versus bad tale with a mutilated prince and his band of friends, with lots of sword fights, battles, exotic monsters and random magic/technology. It's a feudal/dying earth sort of setting where some steamunk-esque technology has survived.

Its lack of pretence, and small chapters, varied action, locales, and fast pace make it a good holiday read.

Each novel is only about two hundred pages, which I found refreshing when every modern fantasy novel seems to be as big as War & Peace. They are collected in an omnibus called History Of The Runestaff.

But if you want something along similar themes to Frankenstein, about science and responsibility, there is also HG Wells' The Island Of Doctor Moreau. It's less dense than Frankenstein and can be easily read in a weekend.

I finished the first book of Michael Moorcock's The History Of The Runestaff series, the Dorian Hawkmoon books. All four books are collected in an omnibus in the Fantasy Masterworks series and elsewhere.

This is the first thing I've read by Moorcock and I enjoyed it. It's a brisk read, written in short chapters that move the action along quickly. Its unadorned and action-led style feels refreshing in this age of long and overly descriptive and meditative modern fantasy books, and I am looking forward to reading the rest of the series.