num_pages: 544
description: In 1922, Eddison published his first novel The Worm Ourobouros, a novel of daring adventures and dastardly treachery set in a never-never-land on Mercury; his four novels channelled the evolution of genre fantasy, not least by being much admired by both Lewis and Tolkien. The gallant and noble lords of Demonland are threatened by an assortment of villains--the various kings Gorice of Witchland and the thuggish generals of their court, aided and abetted by the compulsively treacherous Lord Gro; Gro is one of the more fascinating villains in fantasy: charismatic, intelligent, sensitive and flawed. Eddison was obsessed with the poetry and prose of the Elizabethan era--not trusting his own poetic skills, he simply has his characters quote sonnets and epigrams and ballads, some of them famous; when his characters deliver heroic defiance or counsel betrayal, it is always in a rhetoric that for once sounds like what the characters of a heroic age might say. What makes The Worm Ourobouros a classic fantasy is, quite simply, that it has some of the best battle scenes, some of the more terrifying scenes of magic and some of the most tender love scenes that the genre has ever achieved--it is nice to have it back again. --Roz Kaveney
language: English
title: The Worm Ouroboros
titlecomplete: The Worm Ouroboros
characters: Lady Fiorinda, Barganax, Duke of Zayana, Lord Spitfire, Lord Brandoch Daha, King Mezentius, Edward Lessingham, Gorice XII, Lord Goldry Bluszco, Lord Juss, Horius Parry, Vicar of Rerek
genres: Fiction, Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction, High Fantasy, Science Fiction Fantasy, Classics, Literature, Epic Fantasy, Novels, Fantasy
ratings_count: 4715
places: Zimiamvia, Mercury
series: The Zimiamvian Trilogy
publisher: Pan Ballatine