THE HOLLOW LANDS

Reviewed by Steven H Silver

The Hollow Lands is the second volume of Michael Moorcock's Dancers at the End of Time trilogy and reads as a continuation of the first novel, An Alien Heat. Both books are quite short, together comprising about half the page count of the trilogy and in modern publishing could easily have been published as a single novel, both for page count and as far as the narrative structure is concerned, with the ending of An Alien Heat serving as a way-station to the chapters told in this second volume.

At the End of An Alien Heat, Jherek Carnelian has returned to the End of Time from his adventures in Victorian London, without Mrs. Amelia Underwood the woman he has decided he was in love with. The Hollow Lands pick up with him lamenting his loss and trying to figure out how to return to reclaim her from Victorian London During the End of Time, the denizens continue their lives of debauchery and seeking diversions with massive parties, one of which is interrupted by the arrival of aliens who decide to take many of the End of Timers hostage.

One aspect of this particular world of Moorcock's that is intriguing is the misinterpretation his characters have of historical events, and the reader can easily play a game of trying to figure out not only what the characters are referring to but the specific logic by which their mistakes have been made. Even when faced with the reality of their own history, as happens in The Hollow Lands, they continue to interpret the world around them through their own blinders, failing to understand that not everything is created for their amusement.

While a small segment of An Alien Heat took place in London in 1896, a larger part of The Hollow Lands takes place in the time period and Jherek unexpectedly finds himself having to deal with the fallout of the events from the earlier books as well as his new adventures, which are exacerbated by the fact that Londoners remember his earlier appearance.

Jherek finds Amelia in Bromley with the help of an historical figure, and his attempts to woo her and his inexperience with the actual Victorian era as opposed to his imaginations of the period lead to an ever more chaotic and ever more gonzo escapades culminating in a public riot that not only includes Moorcock's characters, but also historical figures and a reporter named Jackson, who possesses a remarkable similarity to both Jherek's End of Time friend Lord Jagged of Canaria and Lord Jagger, the Victorian judge who sentenced Jherek at the end of An Alien Heat.

In An Alien Heat, Moorcock hinted at some of the unexplored backstories of Jherek Carnelian's life and Mrs. Amelia Underwood's kidnapping. While he does not fully explain either in The Hollow Lands, he does begin to offer the culprit behind both, even if the motives are mostly left unexplored. This continuing storyline and its slow execution, along with the feeling that The Hollow Lands is very much the second half of An Alien Heat, makes it clear that despite the original publication in three volumes, The Dancers at the End of Time is really a single story and not three novels as originally published.

The Hollow Lands does not stand on its own (neither, really, does An Alien Heat) and while it often feels like the second half of An Alien Heat, it doesn't conclude that novel either, instead coming to what could have been considered an ending, but offers indications of the final chapter of the adventure, as well as unanswered motivations, which Moorcock has set up for the third volume in the series, The End of All Songs, which is practically as long, in and of itself, and the first two volumes combined.

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