Elric Swords and Roses (Chronicles of the Last Emperor of Melnibone) [Paperback]

This is all top-notch material from the great Michael Moorcock. My only regret is that the publishers, with the obvious blessing of Moorcock, have chosen to sequence the Elric stories in roughly the order they were written rather than following the internal chronological sequence. I much preferred the sequential ordering of the White Wolf editions of a few years ago. Elric's story has a definite beginning ('Elric of Melnibone') and end ('Stormbringer'). While Elric stories written since 1965 are, in fact, prequels since they must necessarily fall before the events in Stormbringer, they do have an internal sequence whether they were penned in 1967 or 1991. In the battle between Order and Entropy Moorcock seems to have opted for Chaos in this publishing cycle.

I guess it may be meant to reflect the nature of Moorcock's 'multiverse', everything that has happened is still happening or will happen again. It may be conventional of me, but I prefer to read the stories in the order that the character experienced them. These editions seem tailored for existing fans rather than new readers. I would suggest that a first-time Elric reader start with the White Wolf volumes Elric: Song of the Black Sword (Eternal Champion Series, Vol. 5) (1995) and Elric: Stealer of Souls (The Tale of the Eternal Champion, Vol 11) (1998) (not to be confused with the more recent 2008 Del Rey edition of the same name). They collect all of the essential Elric canon in two volumes. I'll admit it is sometimes a little jarring to go from prose written in 1991 back to stuff from 1964 but I think it's still the best way to go.

After that, the new editions are worthwhile if you want to pursue the supplemental materials (screenplays, essays, etc.) and the few Elric short stories he's written in the last ten years or so. Even that will still leave the supposedly final Elric appearances in 'The Dreamthief's Daughter' trilogy which just wrapped up, although these have more of the feel of the Von Bek novels than earlier Elric material.

While Michael Moorcock has written scores of novels over the years, only in the past decade has his work met with approval outside of fantasy and sci-fi circles. While this recognition is belated to say the least, it has to be admitted that Moorcock's talents have continued to blossom as time has gone by.

"Elric: Sword and Roses" is the sixth and final volume of Del Ray's series focusing on Moorcock's most popular character--the albino antihero Elric. There are two major works included here--"Revenge of the Rose" and the script for the "Stormbringer" screenplay written in the mid 1970s.

Moorock returned to the most famous character of his multiverse in the late 1980s and early 1990s as he brought back Elric, the aristocratic antihero who ranks as one of the most popular creations in the fantasy genre. The result were books like "The Fortress of the Pearl" (included in the fifth Del Ray volume) and "The Revenge of the Rose."

"The Revenge of the Rose" is a bit of an odd fit in the Elric books and fans of the earlier novels--some of which were penned almost three decades before this one--will find it to be quite different. Elric remains at the center of the story but Moorock is more willing to allow readers his view on society, such as a stinging look at contemporary capitalism and real estate in a strange nomadic city. It's different than some of the earlier books and Moorcock also goes deeper into his multiverse. There is an excellent foil for Elric in this book who would come back to haunt him in later novels--Gaynor the Damned, a fallen knight who was trying to preserve the balance between Law and Chaos. There are some fun action scenes and the book should hold the attention of most readers.

Still, there are some problems. Moorcock tries to leave the reader with a sense of time being disrupted by playing around between past and present tense. It simply did not work. Moorcock's attempts to bring humor to the story with a poet familiar with contemporary literature and Elric's reactions to them. This is inconsistent at best. Some of the supporting characters--including the Rose included in the title--are not fully fleshed out, something of a disappointment compared to other recent Moorcock works.

Still, while this does not rank among the best Elric books, "Revenge of the Rose" is a solid story that should appeal to most fans of Moorcock, Elric and the multiverse.

The screenplay for "Stormbringer" is much weaker. Elric does not appear in it nor does the script have anything to do with the novel of the same name. The black blade Strombringer does appear but it ends up in the hands of a man from our world who ends up as the fantasy hero Ulrick. Reading the screenplay, one can see why it was not made into a film. It simply is not that appealing of a story with a confusing plot and shallow characters.

The other works included here are superb. "Black Petals," a recent Elric story by Moorcock is excellent. The fourth part of Moorcock's seminal essay "Aspects of Fantasy" is republished here. There is also a charming forward by Tad Williams and an interesting introduction by Moorcock. There is also a very useful reader's guide to Elric by John Davey.

Readers of fantasy will enjoy this book and fans of Moorock--and Elric in particular--will find it indispensable. Still, the book is not as strong as it could be due to the screenplay's inclusion.

The author has a powerful imagination which is most helpful to all of us in this current world of blurred differences with abuse of so called rights which are gained by eroding and expropriating cultural ways and living standards of dominant civilizations. Michael Moorcock is unto something very big and threatening in our modern day world. There is a huge cultural war taking place and the first requirement from the civilizations being destroyed is "not to say anything about it as we do not want to offend". Michael bares the issues by using allegories and metaphors and draws from true life energies and conflicts to bring a powerful reality to what he has created and kicked into high speed breath taking action. Few writers have the multiverse scope of Michael's imagination.