Customer Reviews

The Elric Saga Part II The Vanishing Tower; The Bane of the Black Sword; Stormbringer.

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

 

 

This book includes the fourth through the sixth 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.

The second of the Doubleday editions, this contains The Vanishing Tower, The Bane of the Black Sword and Stormbringer.

The Vanishing Tower

This book is also known as The Vanishing Tower. Elric is not a fan of the sorcerer Theleb K'aarna. In fact he is so much not a fan he would like to introduce him to the Black Blade, in an up close, personal, and body cavity penetrating kind of manner.

He is having a lot of problems getting to him though, until he gets help from The Sleeping Sorceress.

4 out of 5

The Bane of the Black Sword

The Bane of the Black Sword is also a collection.

The Stealer of Souls

Kings in Darkness

The Flamebringers (also called The Caravan of Forgotten Dreams)

To Rescue Tanelorn

The first three are adventures with Elric and Moonglum, and the latter is actually a story of Rackhir the Red Archer, one of the worthy individuals the Eternal Champion meets from time to time.

4.5 out of 5

Stormbringer

Stormbringer is the end of this Elric cycle. Many times Elric has struggle with his symbiotic relationship with the powerful demonsword Stormbringer. It gives him energy, but has caused him to destroy those close to him, earning him the sobriquets Kinslayer and Womanslayer, at times.

He finally faces the Dukes of Hell, again, and must summon all his creativity, and dig deep into the last of his bag of tricks, not the least of which are the Dragons of Melnibone.

This is the end for this Eternal Champion, as he faces his final destiny, and his place in the multiverse.

5 out of 5

This book truly does leave you with a feeling of emptiness. But, combined with the 1st saga, it truly has left an impression of beauty entertwined with sadness that has stayed with me for over a decade. I have read this series 3 times now. A masterpiece. Truly one of the greatest fantasy stories ever written.

I've only read the Elric saga part 2 and that was a few years back, now I'm looking to read the rest of the series. I've read fantasy/sci-fi all my life and I would rate this saga right up there with Terry Brooks, Shannara series, Raymond Feists, Riftwar saga and Jordons, Wheel of Time Saga. If you enjoy any of the above this book is money well spent but good luck even the used bookstores recognize it's popularity and ask above average prices. It's a must have for my collection.

After reading Part 1 of this series, I had mixed feelings about the characters and storyline as a whole. Now, having finished the 2nd part I have to say that I am left with a rather disappointed feeling.

Elric is constantly pitying himself and making foolish decisions throughout the story. These are interspersed with noble acts that in themselves are unmoving. The author seems to try so hard to make Elric out to be an anguished hero with a dark side, but the attempts are so obvious and the subplots are so poorly developed that you really begin to not care about any of it.

Midway through the book, the flow of the storyline seems completely broken as Elric moves from one place to the other, encountering random events that seem to have no purpose other than to give him yet another poor excuse to demonstrate how anguished and tormented he is.

I have read a good number of fantasy books before this one, but this is the first where I began to feel so absolutely detached from the hero that I really no longer cared what happend to him.