The Worm Ouroboros (Millennium Fantasy Masterworks) (Paperback)

In contrast, the Lords Juss, Spitfire, Gouldry Blazsco and Brandoch Daha are great and noble in a way never seen these days, and rarely seen erenow. They are men of honor, bold in emprise, valiant and fierce as hawks, but well-spoken, gentlemen first and last. To climb the unclimbed mountain at the end of the world, or to wrestle unto death a King for possession of a kingdom, or to rescue a brother from the pale regions of the dead, were all one matter to them; they flinch at nothing. Great wars, opulent prose, women of beauty without compare, bold princes, splendor, horrors stirred up from the pit by unlawful grammery, treasons, escapes, sword-fights, beauties to pierce the heart, all are here in this book: but this book is not meant for all.

This was a rather flowery summation for me, but this book rather brought it out in me. The book is written using archaic words and phrases, which means that it is not for the faint of heart, but the gist of the meaning is always easy to determine. The use of the man Lessingham in the first few chapters is poorly done, but is quickly forgotten in the reading of the book.

Overall, let me say that this book does not read like any other fantasy book I have ever read, not even Lord of the Rings. The author's use of the language, combined with style of telling, gives the story the feel of an epic, such as the Iliad. This book is quite rightly considered one of the classics of fantasy literature, and it is something that every fantasy-lover should read.

I first was directed to this book by a throwaway remark by Fritz Leiber in the introduction to his "Swords and Deviltry", the first book in his Lankhmar series (reprinted in the Fantasy Masterwork series as "The First Book of Lankhmar", and well worth getting, another 5 star book but Sword and Sorcery, not Epic Fantasy, so different in tone.) Because Leiber referred to it, I assumed it must be good and so I tracked it down and read it, c. 20 years ago. I was immediately impressed by how good a book it was.

It can be criticised. The book is written in Old (thou, thee, spake unto him, etc) the putative setting on Mercury is ridiculous given modern knowledge, the names of the Nations as Witches, Demons, Imps, Pixies, etc, names drawn from myth and legend yet having no connection at all to their legendary source - all these are faults, and there are others. Tolkein criticised Eddison's naming schemes as being ridiculous and having no structure (read LOTR to see how it's possible to go a little too far the other way) and he is right. And the ending is terrible.

So why the 5 stars? Because if ever a book was greater than the sum of its parts, was able to transcend its flaws and become literature, this is it. It is quite simply one of the most magnificent works of Epic Fantasy ever written. The archaic language is not too clumsy to stop the flow of the story, perhaps even enhances it (and I don't usually like archaic language, I'm trying to modernise "The Faerie Queeen"), we can ignore or suspend modern knowledge of Mercury, the Nations' names are a minor irritant as are the people's. And we don't get to the ending until the end (obviously) and so there is the whole story to get through first. Eddison takes us on a wild journey, a magical quest, a war between two great nations and a tale of unrequited love all in one volume. It leaves you breathless and overcome and ready even to forgive him the ending. I don't often give books five stars and the fact that I've given this one five despite all the flaws should tell you about the power of the story. Everyone should read this book.