Customer Reviews

Elric at the End of Time (Elric of Melnibone)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The Lords of Chaos asked Elric to weild there powers of chaos and create for them the most chaotic thing he could think of. He created an image of himself................HE CREATED HIMSELF! Ponder it!!!!!

This volume consists of several Elric short stories. The first, eponymous one, took me completely by surprise. It was an all-out spoof of the fantasy genre in general, and of Elric in particular.

Tongue planted oh-so-firmly in cheek, Moorcock spends almost 70 pages skewering his own melancholic albino prince. How can any true Elric fan resist lines like these: [To Elric] "You are very welcome here," said Werther. "I cannot tell you how glad I am to meet one as essentially morbid and self-pitying as myself!" Or Werther's first assessment of Elric: "What a marvellous scowl! What a noble sneer!"

Up until this book, I had been reading the Elric novels because they are often held up as classics of the fantasy genre, and because my brother said they were good books. But, while I (mostly) admired the writing ability displayed by Moorcock in the previous novels, I found them repetitious at times, the main character nearly always unlikable, and the situations often incomprehensible.

After having read this short story, I am ready for an all-out Moorcock assault. I plan to read some of the other "eternal champion" books, but mostly, I am determined to find Moorcock's other comedies, for which he displays an even greater ability than he does for fantasy. In the forward to this book, Moorcock states: " . . . though I do prefer my comedies to my melodramas and personally would put a greater value on books such as Gloriana, The Condition of Muzak, Byzantium Endures or The Brothel in Rosenstrasse." I can't wait for my next experience rolling-on-the-floor laughing with Michael Moorcock.

This book seemed to me to be lacking the great rich adventure I have come to expect from Michael Moorcock.. It is not acctually a full book., It contains other stories that are not directly linked to the Elric Saga.. It is a very fine book. But I wouldn't rate it as highly as the first 6 books of the series., I have read them all.

As an long time Elric/Moorcock fan I was happy to happen upon this book. I found it very satisfying from the perspective of a fan that had read the previous Elric saga (6 books in all). It fits into the continuity of the character and world of Elric and yet takes you beyond it. If you are already an Elric fan I am sure you will enjoy it.

Best wishes and better adventures,
KC

In this short book Elric gets tangled up with the whole bizarre crew at the End of Time, Lord Jagged, Werther de Goethe, all those guys.

There is another Elric story where the Lords of Chaos give him a task to undertake.

The book also includes a couple of essays about Elric and others, by Moorcock, and also his Sojan stories that were written early on. Sojan being a Carter/Gordon/Kane type of interplanetary swashbuckler.

The only reason I give it 2 stars is because it is Elric. This book was complete garbage, and this from a huge fan of the series. I liked the "Fortress of the Pearl" and "Revenge of the Rose" books that were written after the original series. This was the only book I think I ever read that I actually stopped reading it about halfway through - I simply couldn't take any more. I did try, trust me I tried...

I really expected more from this one. The only good thing about it is the really short story about Elric, not the one with him at the end of time which is just strange and really lacks a plot other than resembling a D&D dungeon crawl. The other stories are not even worth reading. Not worth a lot of money at all. Keep your eyes open in used book stores.

To keep it short the whole series was outstandind. It was one of the first fantasy books that read and I'd have to say it is one of my all time favs. A must read series!