Corum Jhaelen Irsei, el Príncipe de la Mano de Plata, también conocido como el Príncipe de la Túnica Escarlata, ha perdido a Rhalina, su esposa mabden, y vive sumido en la melancolía y el desconsuelo. Pero Corum, como encarnación del Campeón Eterno, no es un ser destinado a conocer ninguna clase de reposo, y aun en medio de su desdicha se ve arrastrado a un nuevo conflicto que lo arranca de su propio tiempo.
Mucho después de la muerte de todos los dioses, el pueblo de los mabden se enfrenta desesperadamente a la terrible amenaza de los Fhoi Myore, una raza monstruosa exiliada en el Limbo que está destruyendo su mundo mediante el frío. Corum es llamado en su auxilio y conoce al rey Mannach y a su hermosa hija Medhbh. Y así, el destino de ambos y de todos los mabden queda en manos de un príncipe vadhgah que se encuentra acosado por su propia e ineludible desesperación.
Autor de una vastísima producción literaria que le ha consagrado entre los autores más importantes de la historia de las letras inglesas, Michael Moorcock es uno de los principales artífices que han configurado la forma de la fantasía moderna. Su ciclo de novelas dedicadas al Multiverso revolucionó el género y consagró la figura del héroe acosado por la fuerza del destino.

It seems Michael Moorcock got tired of Corum and went back to writing Elric books, but I feel the Corum books are among his best work, and the second trilogy (of which this is the first volume) is even better than the first.

In this story Corum is summoned into his distant future by the descendants (or possibly ancestors) of his late wife to repel the threat of an Ice Age brought by bestial Gods from Limbo. There's an eerie sense of loss about the piece, as if Moorcock anticipated Brexit Britain. ( )

It's official. I like Corum best of all the Eternal Champions. It's fascinating how he's shed so many of the accoutrements of his identity as he's gone along. I miss Jhary & Whiskers though. ( )

Corum was happy. Living in his ancestral home of Castle Erorn with his loving wife Rhalina, he was at peace. And then, she died. He was fated to live many times longer than her, and it happened. So Corum returned to the normal behaviors of the Vadhagh - thought, contemplation, artistic creation and introspection - but he had something the other Vadhagh did not have - anguish. So his life wasted away until he started having dreams of people calling his name. A visit from Jhary convinced him to accept the dream and the summons that it encompassed and so Corum was transported many thousands of years into the future where his name was known and revered and the people who named themselves after him needed help against the Fhoi Myore, ice people from Limbo, who threatened to extinguish all life on earth.

As the first of three herculean tasks, Corum is tasked with finding the ancient Sidhi spear Bryionak which is the only way to command an ancient Sidhi war bull - a beast bred to crush the ice people but who would answer to no one unless they held the spear. Along the way he meets an old seeress who tells him to fear beauty, harp and brother. Of course, this is the central riddle for the whole series, so it doesn't get resolved in the first book.

We meet Medhbh, Corum's new love, and Calatin, a wizard of questionable integrity, and Goffanon, the last Sidhi on Earth. ( )