Customer Reviews

Elric: Stealer of Souls (The Tale of the Eternal Champion, Vol 11)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Think twice about this collection of Elric stories. On the plus side, this and the companion volume (Elric: Song of the Black Sword; Eternal Champion Series, Vol. 5) are the easiest way to get all the Elric stories in one place. Although created on an editor's suggestion that Moorcock imitate Robert E. Howard's Conan, Elric is primo adolescent fantasy stuff, probably the main inspiration for Neil Gaiman's Goth icon Sandman and countless other fantasy characters.

On the down side this is a strikingly unattractive edition, with a horrible cover painting (particularly compared to the phenomenal paintings created by Michael Whelan and Brom for previous editions) and populated by ugly, ill-conceived sketches. Moorcock has retitled, rearranged, and even rewritten parts of his own series, which inspires the same don't-mess-with-my-childhood reaction as the Greedo-shoots-first-now reworking of Star Wars. And while the original six-book series was famously written in under two weeks per volume, it possessed an adolescent urgency that made it seminal - a quality sorely lacking from the equally-hurried but uninspired prose of recent Elric novels The Fortress of the Pearl and The Revenge of the Rose, which are shamelessly pastiched into the original series, diluting and sullying the collection.

Ick. Save your pennies for the individual paperbacks, still in print with a clever jacket design. Or - better - track down the original paperback editions with Michael Whelan covers.

ADDENDUM: As of 2008, the best way to get all the Elric stories in one place is the series beginning with Elric: The Stealer of Souls (Chronicles of the Last Emperor of Melniboné, Vol. 1).

This book finishes the Elric saga wonderfully. Moorcock is in top form here as all the various themes of the stories come together here in one gloriously painful coruscation of words. Elric is THE dark fantasy series and this proves why.

Here's an analysis of each story individually:

The Sleeping Sorceress: Continuing the line of events set into motion by "The Singing Citadel," Elric searches for Theleb K'aarna for revenge. Also sandwiched in here is Elric's view of the quest of the tower of <insert long impossible-to-remember name here> with Corum and Erekose. This view of it has much more impact on the Champion in question than it did on Corum, and makes for some wonderful character and plot development. Overall, the diverse elements synthesize into one fascinating whole. It even has Tanelorn, and that can't be bad.

Revenge of the Rose: This is much, much more recent than the rest of the Elric stuff, but it still fits in seamlessly. This is the best side-story Moorcock's ever written, which is saying a lot. It develops Elric's growing discontent with his current solutions to his problems and sets it against a rather amazing adventure story and a tasty bit of Melnibonean background. Combining that with the trademark bits of philosophical food for thought (and, for the less cerebral parts of our minds, cool battles and spells), this story wonderfully fills in a gap in the saga that we didn't even know existed before we read this.

The Stealer of Souls: Compared to the longer, more epic stuff, this isn't as great, but its still a nice little Elric story with some good developments, including a meeting we've been waiting for: the other Melniboneans.

Kings in Darkness: This is probably the weakest story in the book, and just as well that it's pretty short, but the ending and the storyline with Zarozinia is worth the rest of it, as it does give the one thing we all wanted him to have to Elric, for at least a little while.

The Caravan of Forgotten Dreams: This is a prelude to the end, setting up the idea that all isn't as nice and cozy as it seems. As a prelude, its not as good for the actual story as what it hints and sets up, but as that it's quintessential.

Stormbringer: This is the point of all the rest you've read. Everything hoped for and feared comes to pass, and then some. All the @#$% hits the fan in this one and the Balance gets thrown out the window in this narrative. The internal and external conflicts finally get resolved, one way or another, and Elric takes part in one final quest that you would never have thought of, but it makes perfect sense. This is a darkly shining piece of literature, a true triumph, and this sums up everything the Elric Saga stood for. The imagery, characterization, and plot are all as good as Moorcock ever was then. I sat awe-struck for fifteen minutes after the final pages, too moved to move(that's a bit awkward, but oh well).

Not really, but somewhere there's a great tagline for an ad campaign for this book waiting to be used. Michael Moorcock has a gigantic catalog of novels and short stories, many of them dealing with his Multiverse concept, in which Law and Chaos constantly battle and a fellow known as the Eternal Champion tends to help sort it all out, with varying results. Back in the last decade White Wolf and Moorcock took most of the stories/novels, grouped them by character and concept and then put them out as a series of collections. This is the eleventh of those and second featuring Elric, perhaps Moorcock's most famous creation. While not my personal favorite of Moorcock's many characters (that honor goes to Jerry Cornelius, who I find has more personality) Elric definitely has a loyal following and his stories did a lot to nurse the then fairly low-key epic fantasy genre. Basically, Elric is a weak albino from a very old race that is dying out (and is quite evil) but he carries the magical sword Stormbringer that likes to suck the souls out of people (though Moorcock never says where the souls go, into the sword or straight to hell?), thus giving the sword and Elric vitality. Unfortunately, Elric has a very rough life and that makes him a somewhat dour person, since he's constantly caught between Law and Chaos (technically he's on Chaos' team though he swaps sides often). The stories in this volume depict the end of the Elric saga, when the war between Law and Chaos heats up on Elric's world and finally threatens to come to a conclusion. Moorcock's type of fantasy takes some getting used to, with a lot of really odd place names and bizarre monsters (some sound like they're straight out of Lovecraft) as well as some definitely odd situations. Elric himself seems to act more as an observer in most of these stories, trying to keep out of trouble. The earlier stories are typically the most formulaic (though brilliant for anyone else, as the cliche goes), since Elric generally has to fight Someone Bad and often saves the day by casting a spell or invoking the aid of some Old Elemental Spirit or just wading through crowds of people with his magical intelligent sword (oh by the way, it wants to kill all his friends too). Moorcock has definite style and flair when executing this kind of material but if you read them all at once there can be a definite sameness about them, where Elric just mopes and mopes and goes "wow is me" for chapters on end before getting attacked and summoning dragons or something to save him. The later stories (and Revenge of the Rose, which was written later) are much better, especially when they deal with the Multiverse directly, because the ideas and action and giant battles just keep coming, until it becomes a kind of sensory overload and toward the end of Stormbringer (the last story) everything gets all weird and metaphysical and it's just great. Moorcock can be lauded for bringing a mature sensibility to fantasy (Elric's a dour fellow but he has his passions) and for all of Elric's moping, he's far more memorable than most other fantasy characters. I won't go as far to say that these are his best work (again, I like the Cornelius stuff better and I haven't read Mother London or the Pyat novels yet) but for lovers of fantasy it's basically essential (if you can find them, the White Wolf editions went out of print and apparently command a high price, they must have been rare . . . the British editions are still available, I think) and no matter what you think of his style it's clearly one of the more original concepts in a genre that feels fit to merely repeat the work of a certain hobbit-loving author over and over again. Moorcock stands on his own and to understand fantasy at all, these books are required reading.

I like the cover of this edition! Elric's inner torments are far more subtly shown than in some of the frankly crude pictures I have seen which give the impression that Elric is some sort of skinnier Conan. Elric is a complex, sensual man -- someone who has gone through unknowable torments simply to learn the sorcery he possesses -- a genius and a warrior -- but also a man trying to come to some understanding and moral balance within himself. This is all reflected by his internal struggles and the struggle with his living sword, which leads him into places he doesn't want to go! This is about every kind of adventuring and, for all its kind of formalised violence, it is Moorcock's humanity which blasts through all the vast cosmic landscapes and mighty tragedy and makes this deservedly one of the great classics of its kind. It deserves its place with Tolkien and Peake and is, with them, one of the cornerstones of modern fantasy. Like Tolkien, this is high adventure, with quests and dragons, but like Peake it is the story of tormented individuals looking for understanding and meaning in a seemingly chaotic environment. Start anywhere -- but save Stormbringer for last! Multiples of everything seem to be Mr Moorcock's stock in trade! TT

I was told by a friend that you had to trust Moorcock. Not only do his stories unfold rather like life, with new information coming in from new angles all the time, but they march towards the greatest dramatic conclusion in all fantasy. And this is where you'll find it, in STORMBRINGER, the final volume. You will be mightily rewarded with one of the most powerful literary fantasy stories you've ever picked up. And once you start reading him, it becomes fascinating -- because no writer has written so much at such a high level of literary ambition. Read his Jerry Cornelius stories, his Pyat novels or books like Mother London and you will know why Moorcock got the Grand Master award and why he has been winning prizes since his career began.

There are some books that, once you've finished, you have to put down and ponder the moment upon. This is one of those books. I find myself flipping through those last few pages, reading again what excited me so much. I think it would be a waste for anyone to have read the first half of Elric's tale and miss out on the ending to it.

Elric of Melbone is a dark anti-hero who was portrayed perfectly in The White Wolf(WW). His dark and sorcerous soul was given solid definition. This book, Stealer of Souls(SOS), was an extra-dimensional nightmare that was fortunately easy to escape. In WW the journey of Elric had an undeniable flow that all great fantasies possess, but in SOS there was no firm plot that a reader could enjoy. Try as I might I could not stay interested in Elric's blundering about the Cosmos in search of Lord Knows What. The many small subplots could not generate enough concern about the characters. As hard as it was for me to do I could not finish this tedious tale of a once proud prince who has been reduced to a traveling sideshow.

I totally disagree with the previous reviewer. For me the later Elric books show maturity, wonderful writing, and deeper understanding of Elric's character. Revenge of the Rose has beautiful prose, much of it rhyming when you start to realise it! I found Fortress of the Pearl a little disappointing -- but it sets the scene for the new Dreamthief's Daughter, which if anything is the best Elric since Stormbringer. It also develops and matures its themes. Of all popular and prolific writers only Moorcock and King seem constantly to be engaging with the modern world through their fantasy stories, maturing their own world views, offering us their consideration. You don't get that from many big-selling popular writers and we should be deeply grateful for the ones we have! There's scarcely a writer in the genre who doesn't acknowledge Moorcock's influence and his extraordinary and constant originality (I know because I have my own debt to him) and many of us thought it rather belated of the World Fantasy Convention to wait until last year to make him a Grand Master, since the genre owes as much to Moorcock as it does to Tolkien. And Moorcock offers a rare maturity only found in a few writers like the outstanding Gene Wolfe, whose work is equally interesting, equally ambitious. Most of this stuff, like LOTR, was written before there WAS a fantasy genre and to a degree it has been buried under its imitations. In my view Moorcock is an incredibly underestimated writer, except in his literary fiction, which continues to get great reviews in England but which we hardly ever see over here.

When I read the last page of the series as a teenager many many years ago. The only thing I could do was throw the book in the air and roll off my bed. I lay there in a mind expanding daze for at least an 30 minutes! The ending took me totally by surprise, yet it fits the entire theme of the book and makes perfect mind boggling sense. This series is a must read. Elric is a tragic hero which rises to the level of the ancient Greek classics. This series will transform your worldview and shake the very foundations of your being.

I have read much in these reviews and fan websites to led me to believe that I was about to read the Holy Grail of Fantasy and I was understandably dissapointed. Those expectations are much to high. I was intrigued by the character and was immersed in the universe so adeptly created by our illustrious author. All the tales leading up to Stormbringer were at times quick paced, brooding, and always fascinating. Mr. Moorcock has a knack for character development but I found Stormbringer to be at times awkward and unwieldly. Almost as if he tried to pour too much into one novel. I have to believe that if he were to write the end of the Elric Saga today it would be much different and a little more developed. My greatest dissapointment was the end..the almost melodramatic line "I was always more evil than you" sounded horribly stiff after so much wonderful writing. I put the book down and felt empty. It was just too abrupt a finish for something that was so grand in scale. I would encourage anyone with a taste for fantasy to read the Elric saga but to judge for themselves whether or not it is worthy of all the acclaim given.