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Summary: One of the top must-read fantasy series
Review: Moorcock's literary fantasy models tend to share more with Peake and T.H.White than Tolkien and people who expect a version of The Lord of the Rings are often disappointed, if LoTR-type fantasy is all they read. However, if you like Graham Joyce, Jonathan Carroll and M.John Harrison -- if you read Le Guin and Russ for their arguments as well as their invention -- if you have an engagement with the political world -- if you love romantic language and characters -- if you don't like sentimental Disney-type movies -- if you do like warm stories about human courage and pain -- then you'll probably like Moorcock a whole lot! Read Elric of Melnibone and his latest King of the City if you want to get some idea of the astonishing range and career of this literary giant! The same jackhammer prose for forty years!
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Summary: A unique fantasy classic!
Review: My decision to read Elric of Melnibone was based solely on the reviews I read right here on Amazon.com. I must say that I was not disappointed! This book now ranks as one of my all time favorite fantasy novels.THE GOOD: 1) It is easy to read. The book is short (180 pages) and divided into chapters of about 10 pages each. The author's style of writing also makes for quick reading as he gives only the important details. Thus, a few pages might be devoted to intense action that is taking place over a few minutes, or they might cover a half-year of searching for a missing person. I like this style, but if you are into super detailed accounts of everything then you may not like it. 2) It is a good story. I really liked the blend of story elements. It seems to be part adventure story, part love story, part hi fantasy and part ruler-fighting-against-all-the-treacherous-relatives. It keeps the book interesting, and makes it move at a fast pace - not many dull moments here! 3) There are a lot of familiar fantasy elements that we all know and have come to love. There is the wise and talented king, dragons, powerful sorcerers, and all kinds of good and evil gods. 4) There are a lot of unique elements of hi fantasy. One of the reasons that I read fantasy books to come in contact with new ideas that really stretch the imagination - this book did not disappoint me in that regard! There is a ship with a unique way to travel, a mirror with a capacity for more than looks, a nice pantheon of elemental gods and a twist on the Greek Labyrinth maze! THE BAD: While I liked the brevity implored by the author, there are a few times that his brief writing style fails to fully capture the feelings of the characters. So while we believe that there is a lot of love between Elric and Cymoril, the author doesn't make a great effort to convince us. Personally, I don't mind this style of writing (being brief), but if you are more into nice, long, enriched accounts of great detail then you may not like the book as much. OVERALL: If you like classic fantasy, then you should give this book a try. It is a good read and a great story with lots of ideas that make people like me read and totally enjoy fantasy novels!
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Summary: simply THE GREATEST SCI-FI WORK EVER
Review: This series is one of the few that i have really gotten into. I am currently on the 4th book, and i bought the first 7 in a garage sale about a week ago. For me, thats pretty fast reading. Moorcock paints a unique picture with his albino prince that quests through the supernatural to find his traitorous cousin, only to forgive him at the end... to his regret in fi=urther books. These books get more tortured through time, but they are still deliciously exciting to devour. if you can read, read it!
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Summary: Forced reading gone...rather well
Review: After grimacing as I picked this title up from my College's book store, I ventured into the land of Elric of Melnibone. It wasn't half bad. While I am not a "typical" fan of this fantasy genre, it was a novel that I could not put down. The characters are complicated, and multi-dimensional, easy to sypmathize and easier to hate. This is a tale of love and love lost in a magical land full of sorcery and magic. Prince Elric is forced to make decisions for his land and his people, discarding his "morality". Although the plot takes a lot of unexpected turns, Elric shows his true strengths and superiority on his quest to save his lover. This is definately a good novel for those who have never read any fantasy novels, and are looking to expand their knowledge of literature, or just for an interesting read. Michael Moorcock has also left me on the edge of my seat, looking to pick up the next book in the series.
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Summary: It begins here, one of the great dark fantasies.
Review: Michael Moorcock created the character of Elric, a doomed albino prince of a dying race who carries a cursed sword called Stormbringer in his wanderings throughout the Young Kingdoms of the humans, in the mid-sixties for "Science Fantasy Magazine." Elric starred in a series of novellas which brought his saga to its apocalyptic conclusion in the novel "Stormbringer." However, the popularity of the character made Moorcock write many prequel novels detailing other adventures of the albino prince, and he shows no sign of stopping. This novel, written in 1972, the chronologically the very first episode in the Elric Saga. If you are new to Elric, this is the place to start. The fast-moving, always creative story passes through three "acts" that take Elric from the weakened Emperor of dying Melniboné, a kingdom of inhuman, cruel people, to the start of his lonely sojourn in the Young Kingdoms (which will occupy the rest of his adventures). The tragic arc of the saga is established here: Elric pledges his service to the God of Chaos, Arioch, and takes possession of the treacherous sword Stormbringer. Moorcock's writing is breathlessly beautiful and intense, especially when he describes the decadent magnificence of the casually cruel Kingdom of Melniboné and the splendor of its capital city. The action is also brilliant and constantly inventive, especially the sequences involving ships trying to navigate the maze that protects the harbor of the capital of Melniboné. And through it all is the wonderful, brooding hero of Elric, one of the greatest creations in all of fantasy. This is the place to start to experience one of the great, unusual, and philosophical fantasy series ever written.
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Summary: Elric the Self-pitying Whiner
Review: NOTE: The stars are for the cover art ONLY. The book seems like it was written by some teenage D&Der going through puberty. Loved the covers ... but the series is dreary, bleak, devoid of humor or heart. The protagonist - emphasis on agony - is in a constant state of despair, doubt, self-loathing, and anguish, you want to grab him by the neck and shake him out of his weepy, whining, crybabiness. The story, as you read the series, feels like the author simply made it up as he went along, piling event upon event seemingly(?) without purpose or structure, not much different from some high-school attempt at suicidal fantasy, quite unlike Zelazny's Amber series, where you are always aware that it's a live universe where things are going on behind the scenes. It's like reading the lyrics to a "complaint rock" album over and over: I destroy the people I love, I'm cynical, I'm being oppressed, I want to be a CEO. By the second book, you won't care for any of the characters one whit. They're cartoons, but not like those in "King of the Hill", who have umpteen times more flesh and blood than Elric and his paper doll troupe; they're flat, one-dimensional. Did I mention the whining? The early premise was interesting, what with Elric's amorality and medical condition and all, but there's too much teenage angst in this series, unless you like being depressed for long stretches of time, interspersed with dreariness. And whining. I loved the cover art, though....
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Summary: Loved the cover ...
Review: ... but the book is dreary, bleak, devoid of humor or heart. The hero is in a constant state of despair, doubt, self-loathing and anguish, you want to grab him by the neck and shake him out of his weepy crybabiness. The story, as you read the series, feels like the author simply made it up as he went along, piling event upon event seemingly(?) without purpose or structure, not much different from some high-school attempt at suicidal fantasy. You don't care for any of the characters one whit. They're cartoons, but not the good kind (like those in "King of the Hill", who have umpteen times more flesh and blood than Elric and his paper doll troupe). The early premise was interesting, what with Elric's amorality and all, but there's too much teenage angst in this series, unless you like being depressed for long stretches of time, interspersed with dreariness. I loved the original covers, though. The paperback ones back in 198? or so. Can I buy those?
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Summary: a Sci-Fi fantasy classic
Review: This is the first Sci-Fi/Fantasy novel i've read - as a matter of fact, this IS the very first 'novel' i ever read (heh-heh). Michael Moorcock hath the juice that is quite rare amongst fiction writters; his words paint a vivid picture in the mind about the story that he is relaying - it makes one to wonder if he's got the annointing of Satan himself! But all kidding aside, i love Moorcock's books; and the Elric siries is one of the best novels to frolic in the circuit of the publishing market.
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Summary: Good, adventurous reading
Review: I just re-read ELRIC OF MELNIBONE, having last read it almost 15 years ago. It still holds up quite well. This first book of the Elric Saga has all the elements of a great, fantasy adventure. A great setting and lore, great characters, and an ever-progressing story through creative and dangerous lands...plus it's a quick read. A nice time-filler between LORD OF THE RINGS movies. This book is a fantastic film or PS2 role-playing game just waiting to happen.
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Summary: 1 of 6: This is where it all begins...
Review: Michael Moorcock, Elric of Melnibonë (DAW, 1972) Perhaps more than any fantasy series since The Lord of the Rings, the six "classic" Elric novels stand as the definitive fantasy novels. Not long after their original American publication in the authorized editions (with stunning Michael Whelan cover art), the TSR folks included a section on Elric in the original AD&D book Deities and Demigods, removed in subsequent printings for legal reasons. Then the gothic metal band Cirith Ungol used some of Whelan's Elric paintings for their album covers. And thus, the legendary books gained fame beyond that of normal readers... But I digress. Given the unique nature of the growth of the Elric cult, the question needs asked: do the books themselves, the subject matter therein, stand up to all the hype? Yes, they do. Despite having some problems in the execution (clumsy handing of foreshadowing and detail introduction, overuse of exclamation points, inability to call a character by either a first or last name when a character has both [e.g., Dyvim Tvar is never referred to as "Dyvim" or "Tvar," but always "Dyvim Tvar"], etc.), Elric hands us something fantasy readers up to that point hadn't been used to: an antihero, and a sympathetic one to boot. Elric is the eighty-eighth lord of the island kingdom of Melnibonë, once a power that ruled over the world. Its power has waned in the interim, and some see the sickly Elric as proof of this. His cousin Yyrkoon wants the throne as badly as Elric doesn't. The bulk of the first novel deals with the struggle between Elric and Yyrkoon for the throne, with Yyrkoon's sister Cymoril, who also happens to be Elric's betrothed, caught in the middle between them. It also sets up much of what comes in later books-Elric's meeting with his longtime friend Rackhir, descriptions of the defenses of Melnibonë against outside invasion, the rules which dragons follow on Moorcock's earth. There are some minor niggles to get through in the way Moorcock presents his characters and their backgrounds; however, that may be retrospect speaking (it's impossible to compare stories Moorock was writing in the sixties, stylistically, to, for example, George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire; Martin is far better at slipping pieces of his characters' backgrounds into the text without drawing our attention to them, but few if any authors working in "genre fiction" were interested in the conventions of high literature at the time these books were written). An excellent beginning. If you haven't yet read the Elric novels, whether you are a fantasy fan or not, this is where to begin. ****
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