Customer Reviews

The Weird of the White Wolf (Elric Saga, No. 3)

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

 

 

In defense of one of the greatest and most original sagas in the annals of heroic fantasy, I would like to address some of the negative comments (and misconceptions) of the Spotlight Reviews.

First and foremost, the Elric Saga is a tragedy. None of the stories have a particularly happy ending, and the final book, "Stormbringer", ends along the same lines; sad, but dramatically fulfilling. One should consider that when Moorcock first started writing these, tragedy was virtually unheard of in Sword and Sorcery Fiction. This is not Tolkien. The hero does not get the girl and ride off into the sunset. If that's what you're looking for, you should avoid Moorcock and seek satisfaction elsewhere.

Secondly, the story that everyone has the most problem with, "The Dreaming City", is actually the FIRST Elric story that Moorcock ever wrote. He did not write these chronologically. As it stands, "The Dreaming City" is the most pivotal, and arguably, the most important story in the entire Elric Saga. It's the story that defines the character and his subsequent actions throughout the rest of the series. One person noted that Elric's actions (in leaving S. Baldhead to die in order to save himself) was uncharacteristic. Well, its supposed to be uncharacteristic, BECAUSE THE CHARACTER UNDERGOES A PROFOUND CHANGE IN THIS STORY. The character of Elric at the end of "The Dreaming City" is not the same character at the beginning of the saga. In the first two novels, he is idealistic as well as naive (especially in trusting Yrkoon a second time). But after his actions bring ruin to everyone he cares about, he becomes embittered and vengeful, all the way up until midway through "The Bane of the Black Sword", where the character changes once again. As for the complaints that some of his actions are inexplicable and inconsistent, I must remind the readers that Elric is a drug addict. His sword, Stormbringer, is his addiction. Anyone who has ever dealt with addiction in the real world, either directly or as an observer, can tell you that an addict's actions are often illogical and inconsistent.

The idea that Elric never really cared about Cymoril is ludacrous. Anyone who gained that from reading the stories must not have been paying very close attention. While I don't like to give away spoilers (unlike some people, who are content to ruin it for everyone just because they personally didn't like it), I will say that the tragic events of "The Dreaming City" haunt Elric throughout the rest of the saga.

In closing, I would suggest not to prejudge the series based on this one book. Reserve your judgement until you've completed the entire saga.

Five stars. Highly recommended.

Michael Moorcock, The Weird of the White Wolf (DAW, 1977)

The third book in the Elric series introduces the reader to Moonglum, Elric's longtime companion (and, thanks to AD&D's Deities and Demigods book, the companion most readers can't imagine him without). Much of the second novel moved away from the events of the first, and concentrated Elric's character on other adventures. The Weird of the White Wolf brings Elric back to Melnibonė along with Moonglum, their friend Smiorgan Baldhead, and an army of raiders bent on overthrowing Yyrkoon, who stole the throne when Elric left Melnibonė for a year to travel the world. For those wondering, whether you've read the book or not: the "weird" of the title is an archaic definition of the term, given by Merriam Webster as "One's assigned lot or fortune, especially when evil." And when he finds it, he's not all that happy about it. But that's to be expected when one's antihero has a crisis of conscience, I guess.

Certainly not a slow book by any means, nor a weak one in the context of the series. And it's definitely a necessity as a prelude to what comes after it. But I still felt there was something missing here; some pieces of description left out, a few places where things could have been filled in better. All of the Elric novels are short, to say the least (Stormbringer, the last and longest of them, clocks in a 217pp.), and feel as if they could use some fleshing out; this one, however, gives that feeling the most. One wonders if the brevity of them was not the insistence of the publisher, and what Moorcock would do with them, given the opportunity (a la King's unexpurgated edition of The Stand). Loads of fun, and highly recommended for fantasy and non-fantasy readers alike, as is the whole series. ****

I must say that Elric of Melnibone is one of the most tiresome heroes or even antiheroes I have ever come across...his self-pity, fatalism and incessant whining and angst are easy to identify with, but can also be quite heavy-going...this is not to say that this book is bad, it is exceedingly well written, and Elric is an interesting character, i like the emphasis on his demon origins and natural ancestral cruelty especially...I liked this book better than the Sailor on the Seas of Fate, though both that one and Weird of the White Wolf are a bit disjointed since it was originally a number of stories written by Michael Moorcock for fantasy magazines. I think i liked the first book the best, because I loved the vivid portrait he painted of the ancient, decadent Island of Melnibone, with their pre-human inhabitants and elaborate, cruel pleasures...they were evil all right, and you knew they were doomed as a race, but they certainly had style. I was very disappointed that Imrhyrr fell in the Weird of the White Wolf...I felt a great civilisation and era were gone forever. The humans just dont seem as interesting...too clumsy. As for Elric, I believe the tragedy of him is that he is the main source of his misery and undoing...Watching him go down is almost painfully annoying...you want to shout at him or something to stop being such a fool. Its also is a bit boring and monotonous hearing his constant whining, but it somehow makes it even more tragic. He knows he's doomed and yet he doesnt quite have the courage to commit suicide and end it all. His indecision defeats him. He's sort of like Hamlet that way. All in all its a great read...Michael Moorcock is a fantastic writer. I sometimes read him just for the great descriptions

A Review by Joe

The Book follows an Albino emperor, named Elric who has given up his ruling of his land. Elric has done this in order to find out why he is on earth, why he exists. The book takes the reader along on all of Elric's journeys to find the meaning of life. Elric goes to many lands and fights off many mystical creatures to find this out. He will meet many new friends along the way, and the reader will lose some friends too, as you go along on his journeys.

I like how the book always kept me wanting more. The stories in the book are just as exciting as the next. It makes the reader feel like you are right next to Elric. The book is so descriptive. It almost makes the reader think that the monsters are real. I really like this description of Elric and his new found friend Shaarilla mounting their horses. "They mounted there swift, black horses and spurred them with abandoned savagery down the hillside towards the marsh, their clocks whipping behind them lashing them high into the air." In the book the vocabulary was easy enough, but I could not understand some of the names. I kept wanting to call Elric, Eric. I really thought that the cities were hard to pronounce like Jharokor, Imrryr, and Melnibone.

I recommend this book to readers who like adventure, fantasy books. This book has all of those great genres jammed packed into on whole book.

This Story Brings to a climax the first act in the Elric Saga and really ushers in the second. Elric brings down the kingdom he was born to inherit, Melnibone, and slays his rival Yyrkoon. Yyrkoon tests and plagues him in this part of the saga. Stormbringer, his sentient sword, kills his one true love and steals/eats her soul. The Story really highlights the best and worst of Moorcocks early work. The writing is not detailed nearly as richly as a reader would like today, and characters are more two dimensional that in Michael's later stories.

The Elric Saga was written for a vastly different market 40 years ago. Elric was an original figure in fantasy at that time, an anti-hero in a story that plays out as a Tragedy. This is not LOTR, it is however a wonderful tonic for anyone whose had enough of hobbits for now. The underling idea's are fascinating. By introducing then wrestling with ideas concerning:

The necessary balance of Law and Chaos,
The Nature of Evil,
Hero's, Anti-hero's and the possibility one man can affect great events.
A greater Multiverse, in which our Universe is just one small sphere.

I cant help but add that speculation about The Multiverse, is all the rage in Physics now, as string theory points to this "foam of possibility" Micheal invented the word Multiverse, and the Conjunction of the Million Spheres in the Corum Saga, sounds awefully like the Foam. Hard Science is now catching up to Micheals vision 40+ years on.

Through the Elric saga and other stories Moorcock helped to create the rich fantasy market we have today. The D&D universes that so many modern stories are set in owe their Law vs. Chaos Duality to Moorcocks stories and influence. The Elric stories are seminal works in fantasy fiction and all fans of Sword and Sorcery should read them.

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.

I guess Elric has stolen my soul, but then I guess I had a soul to steal. That's what these books have. Like good rock and roll, they have SOUL! And nothing can give you that, if you can't get it. Moorcock has never dealt in junk. He keeps his readers by constantly surprising them. These stories, written forty years ago, inspired a genre as much as LOTR and you can see echoes of them in almost every fantasy book written from McAffery to Pullman. Many of those authors acknowledge their debt and Moorcock is one of the most respected writer's writers around (I know, I'm a writer). These are early stories, written when he was scarcely out of his teens, and they still have more vitality than the majority of thin-blooded imitators who followed him.

If you've seen my reviews of either of the first two books in this series, let me just say that this is more of the same. You get the picture. Moorcock continues to be competent in his use of the english language. That he writes prose ably keeps this from getting a single star rating. As a storyteller, however, Moorcock is a huge disappointment. Elric continues to be a boor and the stories are grim and cheerless.

In this book, Elric brings down what's left of his civilization to get revenge (for what?) on his cousin. In the process, he kills the woman he loves (actually his sword kills her; apparently Elric is unable to control its actions). After leaving his allies to their fate, he wanders aimlessly through the human world, which is an unrelievably dull and grim place. He's not seeking adventure and cares about nothing, but adventure finds him and he pursues it, anyway. For example, "Elric followed, conscious of his own indecision, yet half-careless of it." And so it goes. Plus, there are ever-present contradictions. At one point, he is in a totally dark cave, his two companions clinging to him, but he is unaware of them. "He was lost and his brian was numb." A moment later he is acutely aware of their unspoken fear. These stories all meander in the meaningless and contradictory fashion. In the end, Elric never gets himself out of whatever predicament he is in. He is always calling upon Arioch to save him.

Some people seem to like this stuff. Well, I leave it to them. Happily, this is the last Elric book for me. In my view, these stories are dull, pointless and boring. There is little to entertain and Elric is a completely unsypathetic hero. I advise readers to avoid these books. There must be better fantasy novels than this out there somewhere.

I have just finished this third art of the Elric Saga, given to me for free by a friend that loves fantasy as much as I do. I've reviewed each as I finished them. You can read the other reviews if you'd like, by clicking on my name. I must warn you they are not pretty, and I am loosing patience with the series.

I caution those of you that are not fans of the other books, this read may not be worth your while. This is the worst of the lot so far, and that's saying a bit. The first tale was weighted down with many, many, literary albatrosses, and the second, while lightening a little on the cheesy fantasy rhetoric, and actually taking some interesting twists, continued the insulting trend of revealing too much of future plots, and then taking to long to get to the fufilment of these dropped hints of prophecy. This third book totally trashes any progress made by the second, and gives birth to a few defects in the main character that are unforgivably preposterous given his earlier actions.

First we are given the unattached (yet relevant, Moorcock hastens to inform us,) tale of Aubic carving lands from chaos, then we are given the ridiculous conclusion of Elric's tale involving his cousin yrkroon (or some such ridiculous name.) For those not in the know, Elric is almost murdered by his cousin for his throne, and returned from near death to topple his foe in the first tale, only to willingly relinquish his throne at the end to this same traitor, saying essentially that the playing field was level once more. Now he's returning for "revenge" (Revenge? For What? Gee, I gave you my throne, and now I don't wnat it back, but I will kill you for accepting my offer. By making elric not care about his throne at the end of the first book, the author diffuses the need for any "revenge" here in the third, and this makes any motivation for vengance, and actions that follow from it, non-sequitors.) Anyhow, we must put that aside, for Elric , rightfully or no, does desire revenge, so in a singularly bold move, Elric decides to destroy his own homeland in a thirst for blood and vengance. In the process he kills his only love, which he really didn't care about anyway. But in any case, he acts shocked, although her death could hardly have been a suprise, he should have known it was coming, because he himself (in the guise of his future self, Erikose,) told him (Elric) he would kill the woman he loved. Or are we to believe that Elric is as silly as Moorcock thinks his readers are? In any case, perhaps you should put that aside as well. In the flight from his city, as his troops are routed, he betrays his companions in a feat of totally uncharacteristic, and therefore unbelievable, cowardice. (Elric earlier alligned himself with three or four guys he met on a boat and had no real allegiance to, and fought a pair of otherworldly sorcerers for no real reason at all, in that case many of his companions died, and Elric had as much chance to fear for his life then as he does during the rout of his forces, yet now he flees where before he stood fast? I don't think so. Get some constancy in your character, he's a man who will stand, or one who will flee.)

Anyhow, put all of that aside too. After this fiasco, Elric goes out in search of his never outlined Destiny, (That's what "Weird" means in the title, you know. It's not just alliterative, or maybe it is...,) which seams to simply be Elric wandering around becoming not-involved with various women he can never love, and adventures he doesn't care to resolve or has no motivation to begin, yet he does anyhow, and attempting to kill various conjured things and failing and then calling on his gaurdian for help, and sometimes getting it, sometimes not, but always Elric gets hints and etc dropped his way from his pet god, about his greater bolder destiny. Well get to it I say! We're what, three books in an no word of it? How long must we suffer this tripelike filler to reach the meat of the tale?

Ah well, suffice it to say that this third book is simply awful, and only true Elric fans could find anything redeeming about it. With some great reluctance, I will start on the fourth book.

In all honesty, I find WEIRD OF THE WHITE WOLF to be a frustrating disappointment. Like SAILOR ON THE SEAS OF FATE, this third installment of the Elric Saga is essentially a collection of three, disjointed tales pitting Elric against only slightly varying opponents and obstacles. WOLF, to it's credit, is slightly more coherent than SAILOR, but it's repetitive and terribly unfulfilling.

The Elric Saga is great fun out of the gate, with ELRIC OF MELNIBONE telling an original, complete tale of love, war, and betrayal...and with a compelling open end, to boot. But nothing is done with it. Elric drifts near-aimlessly through the second volume, and here, in volume three, Elric's much-awaited return...along with the Dreaming City's destruction, is glossed over in a mere 60 pages(!), only to return Elric to his tired, pointless wandering where he spends his time largely bemoaning his existence.

Once again, there're quicksand-like marshes, organic tunnels which take the belly of the whale metaphor a bit too literally, seemingly abandoned building's which give birth to ghastly monsters within, and stray companions who are easily disposable. It's all just more of the same, with a poorly relayed love interest haphazardly thrown in.

To reiterate, Elric's much-anticipated return to Melnibone is a shameful bust. We off-handedly find out that Elric is once again dethroned by his cousin, that his betrothed has once again been put to sleep by a spell, and that Elric is once again considered an outcast. No time is spent exploring his relationship with his hateful cousin Yyrkoon, Cymoril is a total non-entity as she sleeps right up until her unfortunate death, and Elric's other established friends and supporters from the first volume are completely ignored. I can't emphasize how much of a let-down all of this is. Elric secretly visits the Dreaming City days before its destruction...if he had but one conversation with a coherent Cymoril, or a brief, friendly encounter with his friend and supporter Dyvim Tvar (who isn't even mentioned!), this could have been infinitely better, allowing the reader to at least momentarily empathize with Elric. But alas, all the potential energy is fruitlesslly discarded.

I feel as if Moorcock became completely disinterested in the Dreaming City and wanted to be done with it as soon as possible, deferring, instead, to the enveloping (and boring) relationship of Elric and his symbiotic sword.

In my opinion, it's just a huge, wasted opportunity. Perhaps, if I were 14 years old again, none of this would matter and I'd be content with all the soul-sucking and incantations. But as an installment in a series with such a strong first part, WEIRD OF THE WHITE WOLF has extinguished any desire of mine to continue with the Saga.

Moorcock, you lost me.