Elric of Melinbone Comments
Elric of Melinbone (Michael Moorcock)
Description (Amazon)
It is the color of a bleached skull, his flesh; and the long hair that flows below his shoulders is milk-white. From the tapering, beautiful head stare two slanting eyes, crimson and moody... He is Elric, Emperor of Melnibone, cursed with a keen and cynical intelligence, schooled in the art of sorcery and the hero of Michael Moorcock's remarkable epic of conflict and adventure at the dawn of human history.
Be prepared for a real treat if you have not yet read this series. Without a doubt, Elric of Melnibone is an outstanding fantasy, truly one of the “great” works up there with Rings, Gormenghast, and Martin. So, why should you give this series a chance? This is a dark fantasy through and through where things don’t happen the way you think they should. The characters are complicated, multidimensional, easy to love but far too often, easier to hate. The brooding hero Elric is perhaps one of the most complicated and fascinating characters in the fantasy genre. The plot never drives in a straight line, keeping you on your toes. And this, folks, makes the Elric novels delicious. This is another book on this list that tends towards the literature side of things, but for those with short attention spans, there is plenty to love for you. It’s rare to find a fantasy book that can satisfy those intellectual types and those pop-corn chewing readers who love action. This is one of the most unusual and philosophical fantasy series written. It’s also one of the greatest. This series is not as “popular” as some of the so called big names of fantasy. But don’t make the mistake of letting that fact that you’ve probably never heard of this author stop you from reading this book. It’s good. Damn good.
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I started reading Moorcock when I was about 14 in the 1970's and I found it an inspiring read - which dragged me into a long time enjoyment of this genre. I have re-visited these books many times - and on the surface are novels that are fairly simplistic from a story perspective and character development - but on a deeper level show an incredible imagination with the multi-verse and all its many inhabitants. Also helped that Hawkwind were one of my favorite bands at the time and he guested as their poet/ narrator - so it seemed a ready made coincidence that at 14 also drew me into his worlds.
I discovered Elric through the comic book series; I was both a comic book nerd and fantasy/scifi nerd, and took a chance picking the first issue of Sailor on the Seas of Fate ordering from Westfield. Enjoyed that so much, I went through and read the whole series, buying paperbacks as money allowed. Definitely not for everyone, but one of my favorite fantasy series...
Well, it is in my top 10 Fantasy series in any event. The whole Eternal Champion saga (several of Moorcock's) it amazing. The Elric books are the best of the bunch IMHO. Those used to current fantasy offerings may have a hard time appreciating it, but that does not diminish its impact.
Elric is one of my favorite characters.It has been a long time since I've
heard the name but no-one can forget the White Wolf once they have been introduced.I just don't know where to find more of him.
This series maybe a great series when it first comes out in the 70s, but for today, it is below the par by far
This by fr was my favorite fantasy series ever. And I've read many.
Seriously, you can't put the Moorcock's Eternal Champion books in the same class as the works of someone like Donaldson, Jordan, Cook, Feist, Williams and other quality fantasy writers. I tried to read this back in the 80's in high school because a few of my friends really liked it. I had already read some of the better works like Fest ,Tolkien and Donaldson before and was a fantasy junkie. I found Moorcock to be hack compared to the quality writers of his time who was far to interested in torture scenes than in developing a character. Even his main character, Elric, was so shallowly developed I thought it was a short story. Not to mention that the fight scenes were flat even more poorly written than Sword of Shanara and that is hard to do!
I gave up on it just after the "big" battle at the black tower about half way through if memory serves. I would definitely find something else to read since there are so may better authors and series to spend time and money on.
Has anyone else noticed that this author's name is Moorcock?
LOL
i also liked his Corum series!
This is one of my absolute fafourites! It is epic fantasy from the 70ies and a must to every fantasy-fan!
Elric is different to the normal bright heroes, because he is the king of an really reckless, bad people. He decides to betray the one he belongs to, and after that he is hated by everybody! He is bound to the Gods of Chaos and the story is switching between doing good things and have to do bad things!
Liked this ambivalent style.
Loved it!