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In his The Dancers at the End of Time series, of which this omnibus volume presents the central trilogy of novels, Michael Moorcock— who has possibly the broadest range of works in science-fiction, swords and sorcery, historical fiction, or speculative fantasy of any contemporary writer—brings all of his considerable knowledge and talent to bear on a story line that quite literally spans the history of life in the Universe, or as Moorcock's lexicography would have it, the Multiverse. The base setting for the action of the interlinked novels is The End of Time, a version of Earth so far in the future that the remaining remnant of the human race has, by virtue of their access to the accumulated reality-altering technology of all preceding eras, "at last ceased to take itself seriously." It depicts in other words a society steeped to the brim with aesthetic decadence and imbued with the power to bring any conceivable fantasy to life. Moorcock's genius manifests itself in populating this playground of ultimate decadents with a richly varied cast of characters who allow him to explore, in both satirical and humanistic terms, what sort of society humans might develop in an environment that allows—and can manifest—absolute freedom. As his two focal characters he gives us Jherek Carnelian, the last human born of natural means, and Mrs. Amelia Underwood, a reluctant and involuntary time-traveler from the Bromley district of London and a very prim and proper contemporary of H.G. Wells. The story is essentially a masterfully woven pastiche of Victorian love story and comedy of manners, beset with all of the attendant difficulties that afflict lovers in such stories—but what raises Moorcock's opus to the realm of masterpiece is his placement of the main action of the story in a realm that is physically and morally the antithesis of Victorian ideals of duty, truth, honesty, work, and Christian faith—qualities which at the End of Time are so foreign and antiquated as to be incomprehensible to its inhabitants, who exist in a paradoxically Eden-like innocence of and freedom from malice, avarice, or jealousy, unless they are employing some shallow mimicry of those qualities to stage one of their performance art-like amusements. What drives the story, and makes it well worth pursuing through the 664 pages offered here, is the very genuine love story that develops between Jherek, the ultimate decadent and aesthete, and Mrs. Underwood, the ultimate guardian of Victorian propriety. Touching and well-wrought as Jherek's transformation from aesthetic poseur to love-stricken but courageous young man and Mrs. Underwood's transformation from emotionally and morally constricted avatar of Victorian propriety to adventurous and morally sympathetic woman may be, however, it is the cast of characters and events that surround them that makes this a book worth reading. Morcock has peopled the end of time with a cornucopia of brilliantly conceived and animated secondary characters, each brilliantly named and festooned with craftily wrought character traits and physical embellishments, as well as enough amusing subplots to make each of the three installments of the trilogy a rococo, art noveau confection of nearly infinitely detailed artifice.

This series is awesome. It largely takes place millions of years in the future, on the verge of the end of the universe. Humanity has progressed into a bunch of carefree socialites supported by technology granting them godlike powers.
They spend their days oblivious to negative emotions, playing and hosting incredible parties with lavish themes.

I think the best part of the End of Time series is the exploration of innocence. The inhabitants of the end of the universe are not familiar with adversity, pain, or hardship. They are afforded all the time and resources in the world to devote to their creative endeavors. They are kind (though a little thick with regards to the feelings of those unfamiliar with their world) and eager to please. They have never been bothered with bullying, with war, disease, or even the impossible.
Thus Michael Moorcock lets us see the works of omnipotent beings immune to the darkness in us humans.

There is far more to the series than that of course, as we are taken across time to Victorian England (or an English era named after some other queen, I don't remember), where we are allowed to contrast the utopia of the future to the cumbersome rituals of the past.
Really worth reading, even if the 3 part book is a little unwieldy. You may want to consider buying all three separately (or just the first, to see if you like it).

Lastly, the only thing that comes to mind in criticism, is the timeline. I would think that time would end in billions, rather than millions, of years. But that's honestly so damn trivial it isn't worth mentioning.
A superb read. You won't regret it. It's really super.

Allot of well written and intellectual reviews here. I am a very simple man. However I have been reading Moorcock for over 25yrs. I can say some of the books many times. I avoided this series due to how off the beaten path it seemed and I am glad I did. Not because it is bad, but because its so different. It takes a while for you to get into the story but the story is at times so all over the place. This is why I do not recomend it for some one whoe is not a seasoned Moorcock reader.

But that is only one perspective of course. This is such a wonderfully moorcock book and I appreciate his ability to be diverse yet stay within the multiverse theory.

I was yet again sad to see the end of the book and wanted there to be another to read just as big.

This was a 'sleeper' - by that I mean it started out kind of slow like another reviewer mentioned, but it became very captivating about 1/2 way thru the first book. It's wonderful in that it really brings to awareness many aspects of the human drama that we otherwise take for granted and never think about, all wound up in an entertaining and truly imaginative story without fear & violence. The other thing I liked about it - without giving away the story - it presents an alternate postulation of the future of artificial intelligence than I have otherwise come across.

very good

Least favorite of the series, just doesn't fit.

Pretty much, the penultimate decadent novel.
a story about bored, immortal aesthetes that can warp reality on a whim, and one of them goes on a journey to seek love in a woman from the past. beautiful concept and execution, if you dig on the works of Ocsar Wilde, you love this.

The three novels that comprise The Dancers at the End of Time are among the funniest books ever written. I personally can't think of a book that made me laugh as much. The trilogy is simply a masterpiece.

I've never read The Eternal Champion and when I first read these books back in the 1970's, I never heard of The Eternal Champion or Michael Moorcock (sorry, Michael). I'm not even really interested in Elric or that kind of fantasy.

If you buy this book, you will not be sorry.