Rating: 
Summary: A wonderful,fantastic journey.Love,magic and creatures!
Review: A journey through time and space.A search for ones beginning,finding true freindship and love.Elric is the ultimate antihero,forever trapped and at the calling of his master and lord Chaos.
Rating:
Summary: An Experiance with the Anti-Hero
Review: Being my first adventure with Elric, an incarnation of the Eternal Champion, I was quite perplexed by Moorcocks approach to dark fantasy. This book, Song of the Black Sword, contains three full length original Elric novels with the addition of three short stories that would most definetly become a burden to collect. Just having so much out of print or hard to find literature in one novel is well worth the price alone. The most interesting aspect of these books for myself was not the massive genocide Elric commits with Stormbringer or the bizarre adventures he physically and metaphysically sets foot on , but the strong development of Elric himself.
He has changed the way that I view fantasy with such a dark hero.
Rating:
Summary: Moorcock at his finest
Review: Elric is probably the best, and best known, of all of Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion characters (though Jerry Cornelius must be a close second), and I almost rushed through the previous four volumes in the series in an effort to get to this book. And while those books were excellent examples of Moorcock's writing, this blows them all out of the water, showing fantasy unlike anything else. Here are some thoughts on the individual stories:
Elric of Melnibone: Great introduction and brilliant way to kick off the volume. Everything about Elric is explained here.
The Fortress of the Pearl: It's interesting to note that even though this one wasn't published until nearly the nineties, it fits seamlessly into the rest of the books, and of course the device of making him forget explains why the events here aren't referred to in later novels. This one is good, still.
Sailor on the Seas of Fate: Easily the best story in here, period. You know its good when three other Eternal Champions show up (Erekose, Hawkmoon, and Corum), and they only stay through the first part, and the rest of the book just gets better!
The Dreaming City: Elric takes out his home city. I thought this was just a short story until I read the end and saw the rather major upheval Moorcock threw in at the end. Quite the tragic tale.
While the Gods Laugh: Another quickie tale, also tragic. Elric appears to be wrestling with many demons (in his mind, at least). Someone get this guy a shrink.
The Singing Citadel: Last short story of the collection and probably the best, it shows Elric finally getting at least partially over the events of The Dreaming City, for a little while. And hey, any volume with the Duke of Hell in it can't be all bad.
My only quibble is that the entire six book series wasn't reprinted here in its entireity (only the first two were). Hopefully that will be rectified when the eleventh book in the series: Elric: Stealer of Souls, is published. I'll be waiting
Rating:
Summary: Essential Moorcock, a must-read
Review: I first became aware of Moorcock's work through the songs he had written with Hawkwind and Blue Oyster Cult, although I was not a sci-fi fan of any great proportion (and still am not, even as of this late date). But when I first spotted this omnibus edition in Borders, and having been familiar with the tale from Hawkwind's album "The Chronicle of the Black Sword," I knew I needed to familiarize myself with the stories themselves. And I don't regret having done so. Elric is one of Moorcock's best-known, and best-drawn, characters; and although these stories utilize the unhappy ending, that is a much more realistic approach than "they all lived happily ever after." Moorcock's universe doesn't work that way. Furthermore, none of these tales goes on too long. You want Elric to succeed, even though there's no payoff for him, as he is doomed to continue searching for Tanelorn, and to be more slave than master to Stormbringer. These tales made me want to read more of Moorcock's work--to date, I have read one third of the Eternal Champion series, and I intend to read the rest. You should do so as well. It's worth the time spent, as well as the money.
Rating:
Summary: Still the best
Review: I read some of the Elric books when they first appeared and have been rereading them since The Dreamthief's Daughter came out. This first volume of Elric stories is a bit patchy and The Fortress of the Pearl has a formulaic quality most of Moorcock lacks and which isn't evident in any of the other stories (beyond their obvious genre roots) but given that most of these were written by a twenty year old, they are amazingly good. Moorcock is a poetic writer and a naturally eloquent story teller, qualities that don't often go together. If you enjoy a real writer with a real sense of language you are unlikely to find anyone better in fantasy than Moorcock, together with Peake and possibly Lord Dunsany. If the quality of writing doesn't interest you, I suspect you'll be a bit baffled by the enthusiasm some of us have for these books. The great thing about these books is that they can be read at any age and you get more from them. They have introduced many young readers (including me) to ambitious literary fiction and they have fans as varied as Peter Ackroyd, Derek Woolcott and Walter Mosely. Even the current Spanish minister of culture says King of the Swords is his favourite novel. The books reflect Moorcock's complexity as a writer but can be read quickly and enjoyed entirely for their imaginative adventures. This is smart fantasy from a writer who has kept expanding his horizons for over forty years. This is where he started and the talent, if not the literary control, shines through.
Rating:
Summary: Still the greatest!
Review: I was given the new Elric Dreamthief's Daughter for my birthday a week ago. It had been a while since I had read Elric and DD was as good as the best. This sent me back to reading the whole saga and while I've matured since I first read it, the book also seems to have matured! It's true, folks. These books can be read on several levels. It isn't Marcel Proust, but there are so many more resonances in Moorcock (as in Peake) than in Tolkien that you wonder how Tolkien got so big, since they both started at the same time (admittedly Moorcock was a teenager and Prof. T was an oldster). Tolkien is much more an escape from reality, I guess. Cotton candy to Moorcock's sturdy nightmares ? Elric never lets you avoid the fundamental truths whereas LOTR, IMHO, helps you avoid them. Maybe that's what the mass public wants, but frankly I'll go for the adult quality of Moorcock's writing any old day. Now I have to get back to The Stealer of Souls. You can't help hoping that this time he won't die. I feel like that about Desdemona in Othello. There is also a distinct touch of the Hamlets here! The Prince of Ruins and the Prince of Denmark don't always take the most positive view of their situation... These books were a revelation to me when I first started them. They still offer revelations. Echoes of Byron, Shakespeare and Robert E. Howard. Heartily recommended.
Rating:
Summary: The Quintessential Dark Fantasy Saga
Review: Lovers of dark fantasy, look no further than Michael Moorcock's Elric. He is a hero for the modern age, constantly wrestling with his own morality and resigned to his fate at the hands of forces beyond his control. Elric is by no means an anti-hero, on the contrary he is a realisticly tragic hero. His actions are governed by a complex ethical code that may, at times, lead him to acts of revenge, deception and treachery, but he is also capable of risking all for a worthy cause. Real life is rarely black and white and Elric's decisions reflect the complexity created by this terrible truth. Throughout the book the irresistable temptation of the power that Elric wields drives him to commit terrible atrocities, sometimes for good, sometimes for ill. However, what makes Elric a hero is the fact that he never stops searching for the unattainable goal of a truly peaceful exsistence. For a time he even manages to achieve that pipe dream, but the moment is fleeting and h! e is called, once again, by the forces of destiny to assume the mantle of the world destroyer. Anti-hero? No. Tragic hero? Defintely.
Rating:
Summary: The Quintessential Dark Fantasy Saga
Review: Lovers of dark fantasy, look no further than Michael Moorcock's Elric. He is a hero for the modern age, constantly wrestling with his own morality and resigned to his fate at the hands of forces beyond his control. Elric is by no means an anti-hero, on the contrary he is a realisticly tragic hero. His actions are governed by a complex ethical code that may, at times, lead him to acts of revenge, deception and treachery, but he is also capable of risking all for a worthy cause. Real life is rarely black and white and Elric's decisions reflect the complexity created by this terrible truth. Throughout the book the irresistable temptation of the power that Elric wields drives him to commit terrible atrocities, sometimes for good, sometimes for ill. However, what makes Elric a hero is the fact that he never stops searching for the unattainable goal of a truly peaceful exsistence. For a time he even manages to achieve that pipe dream, but the moment is fleeting and h! e is called, once again, by the forces of destiny to assume the mantle of the world destroyer. Anti-hero? No. Tragic hero? Defintely.
Rating:
Summary: PIONEERING WORK
Review: Moorcock ranks among the gods of fantasy. What he did with the Elric series was unveil new areas of exploration in the genre, with stunning success. These works imprint themselves in the psyche and leave the reader changed, and exhilerated.
Rating:
Summary: As good as LotR, if not better
Review: My favourite story in the Song of the Black Sword was the first one, Elric of Melnibone. It was so interesting. There was always something new that the author adds to keep on saturating your mind. For all fantasy fans, read this book along with the rest of the Eternal Champion series.
| 
