The Bane of the Black Sword

Book Five. Every time I finish one of the books in this series I think, I'll read something else before the next one...but end up slavering for another one of these cookies instead. Though the writing in these books lacks polish—a red pen in the hands of an editor these days might leave it looking like one of the gory slaughterfests the author so graphically describes—I'm not that concerned.

Elric is the ultimate tortured soul. Not a good man, he is steeped in ten thousand years of sorcerous ancestry and willing to do just about anything to achieve his ends; but he pulls it off in such a graceful way I end up rooting for him. So do his friends and lovers; they fear him, but they stick around. His bottomless suffering softens and show more hardens him at the same time, making him unpredictable, scary and fascinating.

I thought Book 5 was a bit more focused than some previous installments. Here Elric finds peace at last, but of course I don't trust that. He has too many demons. What keeps me reading these books is the classic heroic tension between love and hate, beauty and desolation. Despite formidable hardpan weaknesses, Elric wreaks mayhem on his terms, sometimes just because he can. He is very creative about it. A proper hero if ever there was one. show less

A nice addition to the Elric Saga. Elric has found an uneasy peace, love and it seems a chance to put his past behind him. Things go south very quickly as he is drawn into a world that has other plans for him and Stormbringer.

So close to contentment, and then it is ripped away.

I think this typifies the Elric experience. Pure melancholy undiluted by even a shard of true happiness...

Elric adventures again with Moonglum, gets vengeance on an old foe, finds love, and is responsible for fewer friends than usual dying. Also an interesting epilogue that contains absolutely no Elric other than a mention in passing, although it features an old ally of his, last seen several books ago. Happy to have read it again after so many years, and glad to now be passing it on to a friend.

I almost wondered if Moorcock originally planned this as the end of the Elric saga, just the way he left Elric toward the end.

Regardless, still a hell of a lot of fun, and interesting to see the author taking Elric in different directions.

Two more books to go!

Definitely the pinnacle of Sword and Sworcery. Elric, the mage of legend, is a transformed warrior descending from lofty ideals into the realm of chaos and back again, casting off his allegiance to the goddess of chaos itself to battle... um... just about everything. :)

I can say this is less strange and less idealistic and mysterious and archetypal than the previous volumes, focusing more on the quest and the battle and retaining a core of his idealism, as corrupted as that has become.

Mister anti-hero Elric. :)

It isn't so challenging anymore. It IS pretty wonderful, however. Epic, even, for being so short. :)

In which our anti-hero fights wizards, ghouls, and barbarian hordes and, shock of shocks, gets a life! Maybe. The cursed sword Stormbringer is not that easily disposed of.