Customer Reviews

The Elric Saga: Part I (Elric of Melnibone, The Sailor on the Seas of Fate, The Weird of the White Wolf)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Next to Tolkein, The Elric Saga is likely the best fantasy ever produced. Moorcock's portrayal of his characters is both vivid and wonderfully done. The power of his prose is flawless, and the books simply grab the reader and hurl them into a land where Chaos and Order strive for the souls of men. Elric is one of the best fantasy characters of all time. If you love fantasy and long for something akin to Tolkein quality, this is the series for you. Moorcock is a master storyteller.

I'm truly sorry for having taken so long in discovering Michael Moorcock. The element of the supernatural in his stories is as uncanny and unearthly as in vintage Robert E. Howard and H.P. Lovecraft. Definately the most addictive fantasy I've picked up in some time: the prose runs on adrenaline, every chapter ending on a hook that makes the book nearly impossible to put down. But it is the Elric character that bestows upon this series its deserved immortality. An albino, a weak offspring who should've died and yet lived on to become the most powerful sorcerer of his age...Elric is the archetype of all visionaries throughout the ages - those who felt the burden of existence too intensely to bear it. Those whom the rest of humanity both requires and scorns.

This book includes the first three of the old six book Elric series that Moorcock put out. I was seriously into Moorcocks Elric stuff as a teenager and now after rereading it after all these years I still consider this to be a classic in the fantasy genre. Elric is far from being a typical or cliched fantasy hero, in fact I would label him as an anti-hero. Instead of being a strong chivalric hero Elric is a foppish weakling albino who is kept alive only through the use of drugs and sorcery. He sits on the throne of a declining empire that takes pride in being cruel and unjust to the rest of the world. He comes into possession of a sword that is more or less a demon physically manifested into the form of a black bladed two handed sword. The sword, named Stormbringer, feeds on the souls of those that Elric kills giving Elric their lifeforce and energy. He becomes dependent on Stormbringer like a heroin addict to heroin, needing it and the souls of those that he kills just to function. So yeah like I said not exactly Sir Galahad here.

A very dark tale without being overly contrived. I'm surprised more of the black trenchcoat wearing goth/black metal/Marilyn Manson crowd of the younger generation hasn't caught on to the Elric stuff. I really enjoy Moorcocks Mulitiverse/Champion Eternal concept and would put those original Elric stories at the top of the Fantasy heap, second only to Robert E Howard and Tolkiens work.

Moorcock is an excellent writer. His most obvious talent, to me, is his ability to drive both his story and his character's development via the same dark and despairing prose. Even when he writes the brightest, most gorgeous days, in the Elric saga, they are undercut by a real feeling of weight, depression, despair, and fatalism. This contrast can be shocking, especially if you have not previously read anything else by Moorcock.

Moorcock's ability to build a character, and his methods, fall somwhere between Tolkien's action based and Gene Wolfe's sometimes explanatory styles. His prose is as dark as that of Mervyn Peake, though Moorcock is less poetic, and is much more focused on action. This collection of the first three books of the Elric portion of his even larger "Eternal Champion" multiverse, holds, in my opinion, some of the best fantasy available on the market. The story is less predictable an more engaging, more 'different' than I have been accustomed too by years of McCaffrey, Terry Brooks, Salvatore, etc. dominating the fantasy fields. Moorcock brings back the strangeness that, almost twenty years ago, enticed me into the genre of fantasy, via Tolkien's books.

I do not wish to equate Moorcock to Tolkien. Moorcock is a very, VERY different writer, with a style that is very, VERY much his own. It is a good, strong style. It is even a, dare I say it, UNIQUE style, in a literary genre that is consistently derided for the lack of new works with original writing styles. I highly recommend the purchase of both this collection and its sequel collection, 'The Elric Saga, Part II'. They offer an engaging and enjoyable reading experience.

"There are 6 books in the original Elric saga; Elric of Melnibone is the first. All of them are classics not to be missed. Unlike most modern fantasy works, Moorcock's books have complex plots and are rich in language. Keep a thick dictionary at your side as you read these."
-- Glenn G. Thater, Author of 'Harbinger of Doom'

An Omnibus edition that includes three books.

Elric of Melnibone

Elric is the emperor of a declining civilisation. It is threated from without, by the 'lesser' races of humanity.

He also has to deal with the power plays and ambitions of his relatives, and has his own illnesses to bear, as well.

However, he has a plan. He doesn't realise what and who it will cost him to carry it out, as he makes a deal with Chaos.

5 out of 5

The Sailor On the Seas of Fate

There are three parts to this book. Sailing to the Future includes the crossover where Elric meets, Erekose, Hawkmoon and Corum aboard the Dark Ship of the Captain.

Then there is Sailing to the Present, and Sailing to the Past. The latter is a reworked version of the Jade God's Eyes.

5 out of 5

and

The Weird of the White Wolf

The Weird of the White Wolf also is a book that contains several smaller pieces of work, namely :
The Dream of Earl Aubec
The Dreaming City
While the Gods Laugh
The Singing Citadel

The first is a quick Eternal Champion interlude.

In the Dreaming City Elric returns to the Dragon Isle to attack his cousin, who is holding his lover captive.

While the Gods Laugh show Elric journeying with Moonglum, his version of the Companion to Champions, to find the Dead Gods Book.

The Singing Citadel is a building with the properties of a siren, basically. Elric and Moonglum investigate.


4.5 out of 5

A fan of Michael Moorcock in my 20s I don't know if I've changed with age or this is not up to the standard of his other works. While I knew that this story was about sword and sorcery I didn't know it was 99% sorcery as even Elric's sword is possessed. And the sorcery quickly becomes predictable as Elric always manages to conjur up a convenient spell seconds before impending doom. The biggest disappointment is the lack of emotional depth of Elric himself. There are many sword and sorcery novels far superior to this.

The chief criticism leveled against the entire Elric saga is that the plot is disjointed and contrived. This would be a flaw in most novels but before passing judgement the author's intend shoud be taken into context.

The title character, Elric, is a fatalistic character. Elric has been chosen by the gods to fulfill a specific purpose and no deviation is possible. This very plot driven story was deliberately designed by Moorcock for the purpose of impressing upon the reader just how powerless Elric is in the face of the higher powers that compete for dominance over his world and manipulate him like a pawn on a chess board. If the story was character driven, as some critics would prefer, it would necessitate that Elric would be someone who makes his own fate, which would have subverted Moorcock's intent.

If you like character driven stories with intricate and integrated plots, then the Elric Saga is not for you. What constitutes this 4 part 'saga' are stories that were originally published separately in achronological order.

This was in exactly the shape described, very minor signs of wear. The delivery was well within the promised window of time. A polite e-mail followed from the dealer. A timely request for a review came from Amazon, which I apologize for not having dealt with until now.

It was actually a gift for a friend, and it's on his short list of to-read material. He confirmed the details I have listed above, with regard to the book itself.