A review by sophietica
The Worm Ouroboros by E.R. Eddison

1.0

I went through a few stages with this book. First it was: omg, what is this faux Jacobean nonsense? Extremely verbose, lots of description and adjectives. But I got over that and started to enjoy the stories...for a bit. And then I realised that although the disjointed narrative and flowery old-timey language weren't necessarily deal breakers, the stupidity of the stories was. Characters were taking completely idiotic decisions, seemingly only to create exciting scenarios, which then solved themselves in equally unrealistic ways (one guys falls down the unclimbable cliff, as does the other after having the flesh torn off the lower part of his leg by a manticore, and yet they manage to hike for a few days after...right). It is the book equivalent of a Michael Bay movie.