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A review by angrywombat
The Vanishing Tower by Michael Moorcock
3.0
The saga of Elric the Emo continues. Seriously, I've not read any other 'hero' who whines so much about his own life and fate (except maybe Luke Skywalker), but nevertheless this is an entertaining tale.
The more I read, the more it seems the Elric is actually his own worst enemy. He manages to inspire the people he meets into ever more insane levels of revenge and plotting evil deeds, and seems to get out of trouble only to put himself each time into even worse situations. It's almost comedic :)
This book has the now standard structure of 3 linked tales. In the first he is chased by a revenge seeking petty sorceror, he escapes but finds a damsel in distress (what is it with coma induced women, mr moorcock?). She temporarily wakes up to set a quest for stuff which let's her do a spell to kill the sorceror's forces... But Elric being the self hating guy he is can't stay and be happy, but runs away again...
Then we get a nice story where the Sorceror finds new allies who also have been done over by Elric in the past, and they setup a nice trap for Elric, involving stolen heirlooms, tricksy whores, and trapped demons. Once more he is saved by his alliance with Chaos...
Which leads to the let down part with all the 'multi dimension' hopping stuff to find a weapon to use against the invulnerable creatures summoned by the increasingly pissed off Sorceror - which ends in the sorceror's escape, and the death of the woman from the first tale...
And Elric descends into even more self loathing :)
I'm being a bit flippant, but I actually am enjoying this tale of a 'chosen one' who really doesn't want to he chosen!
The more I read, the more it seems the Elric is actually his own worst enemy. He manages to inspire the people he meets into ever more insane levels of revenge and plotting evil deeds, and seems to get out of trouble only to put himself each time into even worse situations. It's almost comedic :)
This book has the now standard structure of 3 linked tales. In the first he is chased by a revenge seeking petty sorceror, he escapes but finds a damsel in distress (what is it with coma induced women, mr moorcock?). She temporarily wakes up to set a quest for stuff which let's her do a spell to kill the sorceror's forces... But Elric being the self hating guy he is can't stay and be happy, but runs away again...
Then we get a nice story where the Sorceror finds new allies who also have been done over by Elric in the past, and they setup a nice trap for Elric, involving stolen heirlooms, tricksy whores, and trapped demons. Once more he is saved by his alliance with Chaos...
Which leads to the let down part with all the 'multi dimension' hopping stuff to find a weapon to use against the invulnerable creatures summoned by the increasingly pissed off Sorceror - which ends in the sorceror's escape, and the death of the woman from the first tale...
And Elric descends into even more self loathing :)
I'm being a bit flippant, but I actually am enjoying this tale of a 'chosen one' who really doesn't want to he chosen!