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sisteray 's review for:
Elric of Melniboné
by Michael Moorcock
Elric was goth before there was goth. What if we put a pallid & pensive king in charge of a brutal and entirely physical kingdom? He's kind of moody and a bit reluctant (about just about everything), but his character works in contrast to the hedonistic draconian society that he is supposed to be ruling. Remarkably, we get to see growth and development of the Elric which is more than I was expecting in a punchy high-concept fantasy novella. Moorcock doesn't want to waste time, which I appreciate, so quite a bit of his characters and settings are broadly painted so that he can set the framework for his weirdo ideas. We are shown his kooky ideas about nature, gods, and dimensions. Everything is morally ambiguous à la Jack Vance and and almost as out there. The fights are engaging, the artifacts are fun and the tag along characters are enjoyable.
The whole literal deus ex machina thing is tolerable only in that the gods themselves are other characters that presumably will be relevant in future stories, and this book is merely establishing his relationships with them.
The only thing is that it never achieves greatness, rather it maintains a steady level of entertainment heading on it's bearings. That said, it does have the line, "The weak hate the weak." which I find entirely quotable. I'll certainly be checking back into this series sooner or later.
The whole literal deus ex machina thing is tolerable only in that the gods themselves are other characters that presumably will be relevant in future stories, and this book is merely establishing his relationships with them.
The only thing is that it never achieves greatness, rather it maintains a steady level of entertainment heading on it's bearings. That said, it does have the line, "The weak hate the weak." which I find entirely quotable. I'll certainly be checking back into this series sooner or later.