Elric of Melniboné

Having avoided these books in my teens when they were fresh and new, and when I really didn't care about fantasy apart from Tolkein, I've allowed a friend to put me up to reading the series. My initial impression is positive, as the intellectual and restrained (at least by the standards of Melnibone) Elric finds himself forced to be a man of action, when he'd mostly rather be a philosopher king. Seeing as anyone with even a brief impression of the series knows that this is all going to turn out badly, this tale is also drenched in irony; the point of it all will be the journey, not the destination.

This is some epic awesomeness.

I'm an absolute sucker for the grand sweeping personal quests to gain more and yet more magical power in the service of rescuing your one true love, casting aside morals, the greater good, your own health, and possibly your own sanity.

This tale holds up perfectly after all this time. All the best aspects of modern fantasy are encapsulated and written with such spartan clarity and diamond sharpness within Moorcock's classic. I only needed this one taste and I'm now a lifelong fan. It's that easy.

This is easily one of the classics of all Sword and Sorcery and I knew that people swore by it before I read it, but I was hesitant. Why? Hell if I know. It was such a brilliant, fantastic, imaginative world, but show more even better than that were the characters. Elric, of course, is the ultimate Nietzsche Super-Man, fully beyond good and evil, but he, like all super-villains, considers himself the ultimate hero of his story, and I have to agree with him. I love the story.

It's really cool that I've finally read something, after all this time, that evokes the same feeling as I get from the classic Star Wars films. When they faced each other with the two uber-powerful runic swords, I got chills. Seriously. I usually don't get suckered in this easy. I've read a LOT of fantasy and a LOT of really great fantasy, but this one was so diamond-hard that it left me speechless. :)

I was even more impressed by the author's command of sheer storytelling. The whole thing actually evoked awe and wonder. Each new mastery of magic came at a cost, and there was so much magic. Like the Ouroboros, Elric kept feeding on himself to gain more and more power, and the cycle repeated and repeated, with future sacrifice for power, now. Is it the ultimate faustian tale? I don't know, yet, but I'll be reading more. As it is here, we've got a meteoric rise from the simple mastery of the kingdom of Melniboné to the mastery of chaos magic, the elementals, and the godlike black sword.

Do you want a character so awfully OP that nothing, absolutely nothing, can stand in his way? Hell yeah. I'm a gamer. Do you want to have a story that manages to take him and never make him boring? Hell yeah! Here you go!

I'm seriously ashamed that I never got into this earlier. I knew it was out there. I know the author is recognized as one of the greats of fantasy. And now I know why, and I'm hooked. :) show less

That was a helluva lot of fun. "Elric" is considered Moorcock's most famous avatar of his "Eternal Champion" theme. I can't really explain it without sounding insane - just read the Wikipedia article if you're curious (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_Champion). To say Moorcock was prolific is putting it mildly. I was in a massive used bookstore today and he took up almost two rows himself in the fantasy paperbacks. Apparently the universes he spins in different novels and trilogies layer in on themselves and...yeah I've been nerding out today.

All that to say, "Elric" is damn fun - Moorcock's prose is lyrical, imaginative and it moves fast. The narrative is strong and it takes you to weird places but you're cool with it. Groom, show more the Earth King? Sure. The Ship That Moves Over Land And Water? I can dig it. The black rune-swords Stormbringer and Mournblade? Hell yeah. It hits the right spots to satisfy without overdoing it. I'll read the rest. show less

I read this ages ago, and remembered loving it. But I decided I could give it (and the sequels) away to a friend who has recently discovered classic SF, and then decided I should read them again before doing so. And wow—at least as great as I remember! Complex and interesting characters, weird ancient sorcery, evocative and lyrical writing... this book has it all. And while I can appreciate an exciting tome of 1000+ pages (Stormlight, Malazan, etc), its nice to be reminded of just how much an author can accomplish with less than 200 pages.

It's probably been close to forty years since I read the Elric novels and, though I have a vague memory of kinda sorta digging them, I could remember very little of them.

But lately, I've picked up a couple of Elric graphic novels that I enjoyed, and I've been listening to a lot of Blue Öyster Cult, who has several songs inspired by Elric. So, I went searching for my paperbacks to reread them...and I obviously lent them to some asshole who never got around to returning them. Likely the reason I run a strict policy of never lending any books anymore.

Anyway, by good fortune, while on vacation, I indulged in one of my favourite pastimes, visiting little hole-in-the-wall bookshops in small towns. And there, on the top shelf of the fantasy show more section, were the first six novels (handy, since I still have the seventh and last one, which I'm loathe to read because I distinctly remember hating it).

I snagged them all, and I'm going through the books again.

And while the plot of the first one seemed to meander a fair amount, I have to say, I enjoyed the hell out of it.

I mean, there's a certain amount of brain-checking at the door required, and you have to accept the 1970s standards of comic book typecasting: The brooding hero, the hero's hot girlfriend who's willing to wait however long it takes to be with him, and also conveniently acts as the standard woman-who-needs-saving occasionally, and finally, the villain who's a villain just because.

So, wrap your head around that, and the rest of the stuff is gravy.

Gotta say, while almost fifty years later, the fantasy genre has a much more seen-it-all done-it-all feel, back then, I have a feeling that Elric was truly something different. Yes, there was magic and gods, sword and sorcery, but it had never been stuffed together quite this way before. It wasn't Tolkien, and it was Robert E. Howard, but it was a pretty solid mash up of the two, with some bonus stuff thrown in for good measure.

Really looking forward to book two. show less

I have this feeling that my luck is none too good. This sword here at my side don’t act the way it should. Keeps calling me it’s master, but I feel like it’s slave.
Hauling me faster and faster to an early, early grave.
And it howls! It howls like hell!

"Black Blade" by Blue Öyster Cult, lyrics by Michael Moorcock

How many authors do you know who gets to write lyrics for a song based on his book to be record by a legendary metal band? Elric has to be just about the coolest most bad ass mofo in the history of fantasy fiction. He is clearly not a graduate from the Cimmerian School Barbaric Fantasy Heroism though, he is more the regal melancholy type, a tall red eyed albino with a penchant for navel-gazing between slicing & dicing show more sessions. Elric is armed with an accursed soul sucking black sword called Stormbringer, a weapon so fearsome Excalibur would want to put a restraining order on it.

Considering the gargantuan length of your average fantasy epic these days it is amazing how much plot, characterization and action Moorcock managed to squeeze into less than 200 pages. Elric's character its developed quickly and vividly. The plot of this book is like Games of Thrones on speed and the end is a beginning for many more adventures to come.

Elric is one of Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champions, essentially one hero in different versions protecting parallel universes. Most Eternal Champions books do not have to be read in order but as far as Elric is concerned this one is the best starting point. I am looking forward to reading them all. show less

This is a classic 'I really wanted to like it' review. I mean, this book is the start of an entire genre of morally ambiguous characters!

It turns out I appreciate that in theory, but the book itself was just... dear lord. In this case 'morally ambiguous' mostly comes down to a moping emo drama king, a very stupid arch nemesis, and a completely passive True Love.

Some of the descriptions were nice, and the world building was a bit shallow, but potentially interesting. That's the best I can do. It pains me to say, but won't read again, won't read the sequels, would not recommend.