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 Reviewed by: The Rev 27th Jan 2003 
 


Elric of Melnibone

Michael Moorcock
Purchase this title at B&N

Perhaps more than any fantasy series since The Lord of the Rings, the six “classic” Elric novels stand as the definitive fantasy novels. Not long after their original American publication in the authorized editions (with stunning Michael Whelan cover art), the TSR folks included a section on Elric in the original AD&D book Deities and Demigods, removed in subsequent printings for legal reasons. Then the gothic metal band Cirith Ungol used some of Whelan's Elric paintings for their album covers. And thus, the legendary books gained fame beyond that of normal readers…

But I digress. Given the unique nature of the growth of the Elric cult, the question needs asked: do the books themselves, the subject matter therein, stand up to all the hype? Yes, they do. Despite having some problems in the execution (clumsy handing of foreshadowing and detail introduction, overuse of exclamation points, inability to call a character by either a first or last name when a character has both [e.g., Dyvim Tvar is never referred to as “Dyvim” or “Tvar,” but always “Dyvim Tvar”], etc.), Elric hands us something fantasy readers up to that point hadn't been used to: an antihero, and a sympathetic one to boot.

Elric is the eighty-eighth lord of the island kingdom of Melnibonë, once a power that ruled over the world. Its power has waned in the interim, and some see the sickly Elric as proof of this. His cousin Yyrkoon wants the throne as badly as Elric doesn't. The bulk of the first novel deals with the struggle between Elric and Yyrkoon for the throne, with Yyrkoon's sister Cymoril, who also happens to be Elric's betrothed, caught in the middle between them. It also sets up much of what comes in later books—Elric's meeting with his longtime friend Rackhir, descriptions of the defenses of Melnibonë against outside invasion, the rules which dragons follow on Moorcock's earth.

There are some minor niggles to get through in the way Moorcock presents his characters and their backgrounds; however, that may be retrospect speaking (it's impossible to compare stories Moorock was writing in the sixties, stylistically, to, for example, George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire; Martin is far better at slipping pieces of his characters' backgrounds into the text without drawing our attention to them, but few if any authors working in “genre fiction” were interested in the conventions of high literature at the time these books were written).

An excellent beginning. If you haven't yet read the Elric novels, whether you are a fantasy fan or not, this is where to begin.



See also
Count Brass by Michael Moorcock reviewed by The Rev
Firing the Cathedral by Michael Moorcock reviewed by Ian D.
Kane of Old Mars by Michael Moorcock reviewed by The Rev
King of the City by Michael Moorcock reviewed by Ian D.
London Bone by Michael Moorcock reviewed by Ian D.
Stormbringer by Michael Moorcock reviewed by The Rev
The Bane of the Black Sword by Michael Moorcock reviewed by The Rev
The Blood Red Game by Michael Moorcock reviewed by The Rev
The Champion of Garathorm by Michael Moorcock reviewed by The Rev
The Chronicles of Corum by Michael Moorcock reviewed by The Rev
The Dreamthief's Daughter by Michael Moorcock reviewed by Ian D.
The Ice Schooner by Michael Moorcock reviewed by The Rev
The Jewel in the Skull by Michael Moorcock reviewed by The Rev
The Mad God's Amulet by Michael Moorcock reviewed by The Rev
The Quest for Tanelorn by Michael Moorcock reviewed by The Rev
The Runestaff by Michael Moorcock reviewed by The Rev
The Sailor on the Seas of Fate by Michael Moorcock reviewed by The Rev
The Skrayling Tree by Michael Moorcock reviewed by Ian D.
The Swords Trilogy by Michael Moorcock reviewed by The Rev
The Vanishing Tower by Michael Moorcock reviewed by The Rev
The War Hound and the World's Pain by Michael Moorcock reviewed by Ee Lin
The Weird of the White Wolf by Michael Moorcock reviewed by The Rev
Wizardry and Wild Romance by Michael Moorcock reviewed by The Rev
A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin reviewed by The Rev
A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin reviewed by The Rev
A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin reviewed by Ee Lin
A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin reviewed by The Rev
A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin reviewed by Fanoula
Fevre Dream by George R. R. Martin reviewed by The Rev
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien reviewed by The Rev