Reviews

The Sailor on the Seas of Fate by Michael Moorcock

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malignantcactus's review

2.0

As good as the first book was, this and Fortress of the Pearl have let me down quite a bit. I'll still give Weird of the White Wolf a chance (as it's included in that new bind up, and on audio it's quite short), but if things don't really improve I'll more than likely drop the series. This book in particular feels more like a collection of short stories that just are not interesting to me.

will_cherico's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Very mixed feelings on this Elric entry. On one hand, I was a huge fan of the first and third stories; seeing Elric sail with Dorian Hawkmoon and other incarnations of the Eternal Champion (as well as slowly beginning to figure out who they are and what their relation is to Tanelorn) was super fun, and the increasing sentience of Stormbringer as well as Arioch's threat to Elric that he's kickstarted something terrible is setting up later stuff really well. My big issue is how disjointed the book feels. Apparently Moorcock didn't really intend for these three stories to be published together as one book, and it shows. They're only loosely connected by the idea of voyages at sea, and while Moorcock's incredible setting definitely helps - the blind captain and mute steersman of the Dark Ship, the Boiling Sea, the Crimson Gate, etc. - but the nonlinearity made the stakes feel very low... that is, at least until the end of Sailing to the Past. Admittedly that does mean it made the ending all that much more shocking, so maybe my criticism is misguided.
Furthermore, huge credit to Moorcock. His prose is such a good blend of poetic description and brutal realism, and it creates a type of fantasy setting that I don't think can really be replicated.