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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Elric: The Definitive Edition, 24 Mar 2008
Please ignore the earlier dated reviews Amazon has posted in relation to this book [now removed!] - this is not a reprint of 'Elric: The Stealer of Souls, the Eternal Champion Omnibus, Vol. 11', but is rather the first volume in a new series which promises to be the definitive edition of Michael Moorcock's Elric stories. This series from Del Rey Books, subtitled `Chronicles of the Last Emperor of Melnibone', will present in publication order all the Elric stories of the Twentieth century, starting in this volume with the first nine stories from 1961-4, which introduced the albino sorcerer to the world, and were originally published in the collection 'The Stealer of Souls' and the novel 'Stormbringer'.
Over the years these stories have been revised and presented in different versions, but these promise to be the definitive versions of the texts, as carefully worked over by the editors and Moorcock, who says, "this version is without doubt my favourite and probably the last I shall produce" (from the Introduction). In addition, each volume will feature an extensive range of extras - in this case we get a wonderfully witty Foreword from Alan Moore, a substantial and informative Introduction from Moorcock, beautiful illustrations from John Picacio, and a number of essays and reproductions of artwork from the time of the stories' first publication, which helps to set them in their context; in particular, Jim Cawthorn's original map of Elric's world will be helpful to new readers.
But it's the stories themselves which take centre stage: The collection starts (naturally!) with the first ever Elric story `The Dreaming City', in which Elric lays siege to his home city of Imrryr in a desperate, and ultimately tragic, attempt to rescue his beloved Cymoril. In many ways, this will always be my favourite Elric story - in a single story it fits in so many monumental and archetypical events and defines forever the melancholic and ironic character of Elric and his story. Almost as good is `While the Gods Laugh', which sees Elric questing after `The Dead Gods' Book' which might reveal the meaning of life, and so provide a kind of peace to his troubled soul. Then we have `The Stealer of Souls' which is a more straightforward fantasy story, but none the worse for that. Elric, in the pay of a group of greedy merchants, leads an attack on the fortress of another, but his own agenda has more to do with revenge.
In the next two stories the quality drops off a bit, as Moorcock reveals in one of the essays, his enthusiasm for Elric was on the wane at this point, though there are some important developments in the overall storyline. However, the quality picks right back up again in the final four stories of the Stormbringer quartet. In these stories Fate slowly reveals its plans for Elric as he plays a fundamental role in the ultimate battle between the Lords of Chaos and the forces of Law, to decide the future of the Earth. Moorcock planned these stories as a single narrative, and the plot is a rollercoaster ride of triumphs and reversals, featuring an extraordinary cast of colourful characters and locations, in which the sword, Stormbringer, vies with Elric for centre-stage - a quite brilliant ending to the Elric saga.
However, it doesn't end there! Moorcock went back to fill in the details of Elric's world and earlier life, and in the next volume, Elric: To Rescue Tanelorn, we get, I believe, the rest of the Elric stories from the 1960s, again with loads of bonus features and illustrations. Personally, I can't wait!
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A perfect second half of the Elric saga, 11 April 1999
By A Customer
This book finishes the Elric saga wonderfully. Moorcock is in top form here as all the various themes of the stories come together here in one gloriously painful coruscation of words. Elric is THE dark fantasy series and this proves why.Here's an analysis of each story individually: The Sleeping Sorceress: Continuing the line of events set into motion by "The Singing Citadel," Elric searches for Theleb K'aarna for revenge. Also sandwiched in here is Elric's view of the quest of the tower of <insert long impossible-to-remember name here> with Corum and Erekose. This view of it has much more impact on the Champion in question than it did on Corum, and makes for some wonderful character and plot development. Overall, the diverse elements synthesize into one fascinating whole. It even has Tanelorn, and that can't be bad. Revenge of the Rose: This is much, much more recent than the rest of the Elric stuff, but it still fits in seamlessly. This is the best side-story Moorcock's ever written, which is saying a lot. It develops Elric's growing discontent with his current solutions to his problems and sets it against a rather amazing adventure story and a tasty bit of Melnibonean background. Combining that with the trademark bits of philosophical food for thought (and, for the less cerebral parts of our minds, cool battles and spells), this story wonderfully fills in a gap in the saga that we didn't even know existed before we read this. The Stealer of Souls: Compared to the longer, more epic stuff, this isn't as great, but its still a nice little Elric story with some good developments, including a meeting we've been waiting for: the other Melniboneans. Kings in Darkness: This is probably the weakest story in the book, and just as well that it's pretty short, but the ending and the storyline with Zarozinia is worth the rest of it, as it does give the one thing we all wanted him to have to Elric, for at least a little while. The Caravan of Forgotten Dreams: This is a prelude to the end, setting up the idea that all isn't as nice and cozy as it seems. As a prelude, its not as good for the actual story as what it hints and sets up, but as that it's quintessential. Stormbringer: This is the point of all the rest you've read. Everything hoped for and feared comes to pass, and then some. All the @#$% hits the fan in this one and the Balance gets thrown out the window in this narrative. The internal and external conflicts finally get resolved, one way or another, and Elric takes part in one final quest that you would never have thought of, but it makes perfect sense. This is a darkly shining piece of literature, a true triumph, and this sums up everything the Elric Saga stood for. The imagery, characterization, and plot are all as good as Moorcock ever was then. I sat awe-struck for fifteen minutes after the final pages, too moved to move(that's a bit awkward, but oh well).
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Manna For The Goths (and indeed, everyone else), 15 Aug 2006
Is this Fantasy? Is it Science Fantasy? Is it SF? Is it any good?
Well, it isn't SF, but it is stonkingly good. There was a time (on another Earth maybe) when the shelves of the SF section of WH Smith were full of brightly coloured Mayflower paperbacks with MOORCOCK emblazoned in large (mostly yellow) letters near the top of the cover under the reasonably subtle legend `Mayflower Science Fantasy'. I can't recall another genre author, apart from Asimov, who could be trusted to sell books on the strength of his surname alone.
Moorcock created the Multiverse, an infinity of worlds and ages between which there was occasional traffic. In each world was born again and again the same soul, the Champion Eternal (and his occasional companion) who could just as easily exist in a SF setting, or a surreal experimental work, or one of pure fantasy. One could argue that the Multiverse was a metaphor for the genre itself, where the same stereotype of a hero is often rewritten in different ages and settings.
Elric is an incarnation of the Champion Eternal, and was arguably one of the first real genre antiheroes, striking the same chord in the breasts of misunderstood teenagers that The Smiths were to strike twenty years later.
A weak albino Prince and sorcerer, he is reliant on the powers of a semi-sentient black sword with whom he exists in an uneasy symbiotic relationship. In return for endowing Elric with strength and vigour, the `hell-forged sword', Stormbringer: The Stealer of Souls, feeds on the souls of his victims, sometimes without even consulting Elric as to whether he wants these people killed.
Elric, of course, is both hooked by the power and the glory and self-chastised with his own guilt, and so begins a series of quite extraordinary books.
Being a creation of the Nineteen Sixties, Elric could quite easily be seen as a tragic addict with Stormbringer as a metaphor for either drugs, alcohol or numerous other dependencies.
This book consists of five stories from 1961-2.
`The Dreaming City',
`While the Gods Laugh',
`The Stealer of Souls',
`Kings in Darkness',
`The Flame Bringers.'
These early Elric stories seem in parts to be over-influenced by Robert E Howard and the portraits of dead and decaying civilisations as painted by the likes of Clark Ashton Smith. There is a depth to these stories however, and an attempt at characterisation which raises them way above the level of most fantasy of the time.
The tone is unremittingly tragic, from the first story where Elric, attempting to rescue his lover, the Princess Cymoril from her brother Yyrkoon, succeeds not only in killing her, but in bringing about the fall of his empire, which had stood for ten thousand years.
And so, Elric sets off on various adventures (some better than others) with his eternal sidekick, Moonglum (who also is reincarnated in various guises throughout Time and Space) such as a doomed search for the Dead God's Book, guarded by an immortal watchman so that mortals may not know its secrets, only to discover that the book has long since crumbled to dust.
Was Elric the original Morrisey? You decide!
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