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A review by xterminal
Stormbringer by Michael Moorcock
4.0
Michael Moorcock, Stormbringer (DAW, 1977)
Moorcock, in his acknowledgements, calls Stormbringer the first novel he ever wrote. (Much of what has come before in this series, in truth, is collections of shorter works.) It makes sense, in that Stormbringer, the last of the classic Elric novels, is a more coherent piece of work than those that have come before it, and is thus an easier read despite its being forty to seventy pages long than the other books in the series.
As the novel opens, Elric, Moonglum, and Zarozinia, with some other old friends and a large delegation from the southern and eastern continents, are trying to figure out what to do about Jagreen Lern, the sorceror king of the island nation of Pan Tang. Lern has allied himself with Elric's old masters, the Lords of Chaos, and Lern and his army are taking over the planet, piece by piece, with Chaos reshaping the planet into formless mass wherever it goes. The Lords of Law are stuck behind barriers raised by Chaos, and unable to communicate with earthbound folk; is the fate of the world sealed?
Of course not, this is fantasy literature.
Much of the pleasure of reading Stormbringer comes from seeing all the elements of the previous five books wrapped up into one neat package. I have mentioned before Moorcock's inability to foreshadow without hitting one in the face with a week-old herring with "FORESHADOWING" writ large in purple gothic script, but the effect of that is lessened greatly when the payoff is so much fun.
There are, once again, two factors which keep Stormbringer from a leap from the world of good, solid fantasy into the world of immortal literature. The first is the final battle between Elric and Jagreen Lern, which takes place over, essentially, the whole novel. The ability to draw such a thing out to almost two hundred pages is a rare quality in itself, but one cannot read of war on such an epic scale in a fantasy setting and not compare it to the final battle in Tolkein's The Return of the King; whereas much writing in any genre would be found wanting when compared to that scene, it seems more so when the subject matter is so parallel. Second, after it's all over, there is the inevitable denouement (as there must be in any classic tragedy). Again, Moorcock has set it up well, and with slight modifications it would have stood up to the rest of the novel; in fact, the rest of the series (and one of the tests of a truly great series is whether its last scene is a fitting, and well-scripted, ending to the whole schlemiel). Unfortunately, the last line of dialogue in the novel is unforgivably cheesy. All the more so because it's followed up with a perfect last sentence.
But the series ends, all is right with the world, and the reader must sit back and marvel at how well executed the whole thing is. Astounding, to say the least. ****
Moorcock, in his acknowledgements, calls Stormbringer the first novel he ever wrote. (Much of what has come before in this series, in truth, is collections of shorter works.) It makes sense, in that Stormbringer, the last of the classic Elric novels, is a more coherent piece of work than those that have come before it, and is thus an easier read despite its being forty to seventy pages long than the other books in the series.
As the novel opens, Elric, Moonglum, and Zarozinia, with some other old friends and a large delegation from the southern and eastern continents, are trying to figure out what to do about Jagreen Lern, the sorceror king of the island nation of Pan Tang. Lern has allied himself with Elric's old masters, the Lords of Chaos, and Lern and his army are taking over the planet, piece by piece, with Chaos reshaping the planet into formless mass wherever it goes. The Lords of Law are stuck behind barriers raised by Chaos, and unable to communicate with earthbound folk; is the fate of the world sealed?
Of course not, this is fantasy literature.
Much of the pleasure of reading Stormbringer comes from seeing all the elements of the previous five books wrapped up into one neat package. I have mentioned before Moorcock's inability to foreshadow without hitting one in the face with a week-old herring with "FORESHADOWING" writ large in purple gothic script, but the effect of that is lessened greatly when the payoff is so much fun.
There are, once again, two factors which keep Stormbringer from a leap from the world of good, solid fantasy into the world of immortal literature. The first is the final battle between Elric and Jagreen Lern, which takes place over, essentially, the whole novel. The ability to draw such a thing out to almost two hundred pages is a rare quality in itself, but one cannot read of war on such an epic scale in a fantasy setting and not compare it to the final battle in Tolkein's The Return of the King; whereas much writing in any genre would be found wanting when compared to that scene, it seems more so when the subject matter is so parallel. Second, after it's all over, there is the inevitable denouement (as there must be in any classic tragedy). Again, Moorcock has set it up well, and with slight modifications it would have stood up to the rest of the novel; in fact, the rest of the series (and one of the tests of a truly great series is whether its last scene is a fitting, and well-scripted, ending to the whole schlemiel). Unfortunately, the last line of dialogue in the novel is unforgivably cheesy. All the more so because it's followed up with a perfect last sentence.
But the series ends, all is right with the world, and the reader must sit back and marvel at how well executed the whole thing is. Astounding, to say the least. ****