Rating: 
Summary: Great if somewhat short
Review: Very well written fantacy novel such that I could not put it down. Elric is the classic hero with fears, doubts, and confusion as to what he is really doing, and why he is doing it.
Elric has to find his own way in this novel of treachery, gods, elementals, and friendship. If he can find and accept his destiny, he might even be able to live with himself at peace.
I recommend this book to any who like fantasy novels in the least. It is a great book for those of you who love the way swords tend to be the deciding factor.
Rating:
Summary: The beginning of a great reading experience
Review: The first book of the Elric saga introduces us to the hero but also consists of a very good story. I can recomend it to everybody who is willing to discover Moorcock's universe
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic Magical Voyage with an Eternally Dammed Champion
Review: The Elric Saga is a great series to read, taking you across
time, across planes of existance to a universal law that
the balance must be kept. I strongly urge anyone who
enjoys battles, magic, and lucid detail to grab all of
the Elric Saga, wonderful wonderful books.
Rating:
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.
Rating: 
Summary: Pulp era fiction, for better *and* worse
Review: Having recently discovered the sub-genre of Sword and Sorcery, I was really excited about this book. Unfortunately, while the stories do have their particular strengths, enough of the worst aspects of the Pulp era of genre fiction were present to degrade the experience overall.
I got the impression that these tales were rushed. Another reviewer mentioned that he got the impression that these stories were made up as the author went along. I have to agree.
The overall quality of the writing is rather low, unfortunately.
There *were* some very interesting ideas here, but the execution was poor; this book is guilty of most of the stereotyped writing crimes that the Pulp era writers have been accused of by various critics.
Rating:
Summary: Disjointed
Review: The book started out well, but then rapidly degenerated into a string of unrelated short stories. There was no plot line to glue them together. One could change the order of the stories randomly without much effect on the reading experience. I kept reading, expecting to see these vignettes wrapped up together but it never happened.
The book ends abruptly, as if the author suddenly ran out of new ideas for short stories.
As others have mentioned, Elric is a ditherer and whiner who paralyzes himself with agonizing introspection. This seems to be a popular theme among certain fantasy and sci-fi readers and writers, but it leaves me cold.
I also agree with previous commentators that the character development is nil. Other characters come and go in a seemingly interchangeable fashion - sort of like the guys in the red security shirts on the original Star Trek. You knew that when the party beamed down to the planet the guys in the red shirts were going to get killed. That's pretty much what happens with the new characters in each episode here, with a few exceptions. If they don't get killed, they wander off on their own in ensuing pages or else Elric cuts them loose. No matter - in the next chapter he makes new disposable friends.
In summary: poor plot line, negligible character development, and a protagonist who needs Prozac.
Rating: 
Summary: If you old enough to vote, skip this one
Review: Ok,
I was going to just finish this book and put it away, having to be content with having lost a few hours of my life that I'll never get back. Now however, I feel a sense of duty to help the older readers of fantasy out there. I had heard of this series for some years now (my college roommate swore by it 10 years ago). But I have to say I can't see what people like about it.
As the other negative reviews state, Moorcock's style is to VERY briefly touch on a scene, weather it is a triumphant battle, and interrogation, or a reunion, and devote about a page and a half to it and then move on. At first didn't mind because it kept the pace going, but halfway through the book I realized I was never going to get and character development or detailed sequences. There is just pure plot driven, five or six page chapters. Also, Moorcock must have skipped the lesson on how NOT to start a new sentence with the word "and." I know it's not a hard rule, and authors are allowed a degree of license, but this book has whole pages where every new paragraph starts with and. It became a distraction as I stopped reading to skip ahead to see how many ands I could find.
I don't know if this was intended as a children's book; had I read it in my teens I may have liked it more. The four and five star ratings may have come from younger readers and that's fine. Now that I am in my in my thirties it did nothing for me. If you like any degree of refinement to the books you read, look elsewhere.
Rating:
Summary: The anti-Tolkien
Review: Tolkien emptimizes about half of all fantasy literature. Moorcock is muse for the other half.
In contrast to Tolkien's psuedo-Christian take on all things medieval and fantastic, Moorcock gives us a worldview dominated by a paganism unsullied by concepts of good or evil, at least at first. Chaos and Law are the only points on the moral compass of Melnibone and it's kings.
This book is the best of the series. The whole thing is worth reading, but if you can only read one, read Elric of Melnibone. If you can only read two, add the Fortress of the Pearl.
Oh yeah, and you can find this stuff at the library. You're in debt enough already. Don't buy so much stuff you don't need.
Rating:
Summary: Loved the cover ...
Review: 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....
Rating:
Summary: Elric saga one that will make you run to get the next one
Review: Some of Moorcock's books are pretty spaced out (esp. the Jerry Cornelius ones) but Elric of Melnibone made me go back time and again to buy the subsequent titles through to Stormbringer. The writing style which takes each book from where the last left off does help this desire though!
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