Take a photo of a barcode or cover
incarnationblues 's review for:
Elric of Melniboné
by Michael Moorcock
Ahh, Elric. One of the classics of 70′s pre-epic fantasy. It was pretty much what I expected. Filled some folks would probably call “cardboard” characters – although interesting ones, I think – it is quite obviously a product of its times. And I like that.
Things basically just flew by – I mean, it was only ~150 pages! Yet the MC survives an assassination, befriends a few ancient elementals, retakes his throne, submits himself into the service of an ancient chaos god, loses his love, finds his love, chases the enemy into another realm, makes an ally, recovers an ancient and awesomely powerful sword, survives possession by said sword, realizes he and his enemy are, and some other junk…all at breakneck speed.
If you want to read a book, probably in one sitting, where shit just plain happens, 70′s fantasy is the place to go. I think you have to have the right kind of tastes to enjoy this stuff – but I have that kind of taste. In fact…one of my long term goals, if I ever make it to being a career author, is bringing back this type of fantasy & sci-fi. I mean, new paperback are $8 now! EIGHT freakin dollars son. Of course, for that $8 you can get the new Neal Stephenson, also on my reading pile, which clocks in over 900 pages, or a Dresden book at 1/3 the length…so there are still page count bargains out there.
What was my point? Oh yeah, someday I’d like to bring back $4 books – maybe in a format kind of like this. Or, a split book (remember those?) for $4-6 which would have 2 150 page books by two different authors… maybe crosspollinate some readership or some junk. Annnnnnyway….
So yeah, I’ll continue reading the Elric books as I can find them. I prefer original 70′s paperbacks, with those yellow pages and the old bookstore smell….ahh old bookstore smell. I pretty much won’t buy reprints of stuff like this, defeats the whole purpose – plus, the modern formatting can also make them read kind of strange. It’s like a mind game…the cover/page layout/size/paper type/lack of old bookstore smell all trick you into thinking you’re reading a modern book, then the story itself becomes a little jarring. Or maybe it’s just me….
OH. Right.
TWO AND A HALF STARS – it is what it is.
Things basically just flew by – I mean, it was only ~150 pages! Yet the MC survives an assassination, befriends a few ancient elementals, retakes his throne, submits himself into the service of an ancient chaos god, loses his love, finds his love, chases the enemy into another realm, makes an ally, recovers an ancient and awesomely powerful sword, survives possession by said sword, realizes he and his enemy are
If you want to read a book, probably in one sitting, where shit just plain happens, 70′s fantasy is the place to go. I think you have to have the right kind of tastes to enjoy this stuff – but I have that kind of taste. In fact…one of my long term goals, if I ever make it to being a career author, is bringing back this type of fantasy & sci-fi. I mean, new paperback are $8 now! EIGHT freakin dollars son. Of course, for that $8 you can get the new Neal Stephenson, also on my reading pile, which clocks in over 900 pages, or a Dresden book at 1/3 the length…so there are still page count bargains out there.
What was my point? Oh yeah, someday I’d like to bring back $4 books – maybe in a format kind of like this. Or, a split book (remember those?) for $4-6 which would have 2 150 page books by two different authors… maybe crosspollinate some readership or some junk. Annnnnnyway….
So yeah, I’ll continue reading the Elric books as I can find them. I prefer original 70′s paperbacks, with those yellow pages and the old bookstore smell….ahh old bookstore smell. I pretty much won’t buy reprints of stuff like this, defeats the whole purpose – plus, the modern formatting can also make them read kind of strange. It’s like a mind game…the cover/page layout/size/paper type/lack of old bookstore smell all trick you into thinking you’re reading a modern book, then the story itself becomes a little jarring. Or maybe it’s just me….
OH. Right.
TWO AND A HALF STARS – it is what it is.