Scan barcode
A review by clarks_dad
Elric of Melniboné by Michael Moorcock
2.0
This review will be for the first three books in the Elric series because I'm too lazy now to go back and review each independently. Moreover, the loosely connected, episodic nature of the series thus far makes me feel like I really haven't gotten into the heart of the story and that the first three volumes feels a lot like prologue.
I haven't been having a lot of luck with the NPR list of top fantasy and science fiction lately. The "classics" in particular don't seem to have aged particularly well, at least in the sword and sorcery genre. Elric of Melniboné is sold everywhere as an original fantasy story that centers upon an anti-hero, making it unique particularly for the time it was written (in the 70s), which at least thus far in the story, appears a dubious description of the titular character at best. Elric is the last ruler of the Bright Empire, a neutral evil society driven by hedonism and not particularly bound by any ethical or moral rules that might impinge upon doing whatever feels good and is entertaining. The examples of villainy provided by Moorcock involve the torture of traitors in a variety of medieval ways that most actual denizens of those centuries would have deemed cute. Elric himself is hardly an anti-hero, a philosopher prone to compassion and a distaste for his native culture, he proves to be a rather easy figure to identify with. He occasionally indulges in bouts of anger that he later regrets and finds himself consumed by guilt for making mistakes or for being involved in terrible events over which he had no particular control.
The crux of the story involves Elric's decision to leave his homeland and wander to become a more knowledgeable emperor and to better ascertain his and his peoples' place in a changing world. Books two and three follow Elric along on this journey as Moorcock attempts to build the geography and mythology of Elric's world. Here there is some intriguing development and some of the deeper mythology and the visual imagery created by Moorcock is pretty interesting. Unfortunately, I found it more interesting than the driving narrative and characters that the backdrop should have been created to serve. Plot developments are ridiculously convenient, as are the cast of supporting characters and the whole thing has the feel of a Dungeons and Dragons game - created on the fly without any particular forethought (albeit by a pretty decent dungeonmaster). Narrative developments feel arbitrary and random, like you're on a boat being tugged this way and that in unpredictable directions. "Oh, Elric was fleeing this town from a bunch of people who hate Melniboneans and then.....there was....A MAGIC BOAT THAT APPEARS OUT OF NOWHERE. And on the boat was...there was...A MYSTERIOUS CAPTAIN WITH A MYSTERIOUS QUEST." Companion characters seem to pop-up and disappear without the sense of laying any roots and you quickly learn that there's no point learning about or getting attached to anyone besides Elric because they're not going to be in the story particularly long. Elric's development is very melodramatic and the dialogue is stilted. The magic system is of the convenient variety that lacks realism in the sense that it lacks predefined rules the way the system in a story like the Kingkiller Chronicles does. Elric can summon enough magic to suit any particular situation at no particular cost besides appearing fatigued for a bit afterwards, which provides for an easy out for Moorcock in resolving action points without any ingenuity. Elric and crew get in trouble and it's "Arioch! Arioch!" and they're out.
I keep thinking that perhaps I'm just jaded to these older fantasy works because a lot of the great modern fantasy I've enjoyed is a kind of maturation of these building blocks. It's probably true, and had I grown up with Elric or Zelzany maybe my attitude would be a bit different. Still, I can't imagine that they've aged well even for people whose formative reading years were spent in these stories. It's like trying to go back and watch your favorite Saturday morning cartoons in your mid-30s. There's just something missing no matter how much you were in love when you were 10 - especially when you've discovered better fare in the intervening years. I thought the Elric series to this point was a little more than a shade more sophisticated than Zelzany.
Spoiler
at least until the point where Elric returns to and contributes to the destruction of The Dreaming CityI haven't been having a lot of luck with the NPR list of top fantasy and science fiction lately. The "classics" in particular don't seem to have aged particularly well, at least in the sword and sorcery genre. Elric of Melniboné is sold everywhere as an original fantasy story that centers upon an anti-hero, making it unique particularly for the time it was written (in the 70s), which at least thus far in the story, appears a dubious description of the titular character at best. Elric is the last ruler of the Bright Empire, a neutral evil society driven by hedonism and not particularly bound by any ethical or moral rules that might impinge upon doing whatever feels good and is entertaining. The examples of villainy provided by Moorcock involve the torture of traitors in a variety of medieval ways that most actual denizens of those centuries would have deemed cute. Elric himself is hardly an anti-hero, a philosopher prone to compassion and a distaste for his native culture, he proves to be a rather easy figure to identify with. He occasionally indulges in bouts of anger that he later regrets and finds himself consumed by guilt for making mistakes or for being involved in terrible events over which he had no particular control.
The crux of the story involves Elric's decision to leave his homeland and wander to become a more knowledgeable emperor and to better ascertain his and his peoples' place in a changing world. Books two and three follow Elric along on this journey as Moorcock attempts to build the geography and mythology of Elric's world. Here there is some intriguing development and some of the deeper mythology and the visual imagery created by Moorcock is pretty interesting. Unfortunately, I found it more interesting than the driving narrative and characters that the backdrop should have been created to serve. Plot developments are ridiculously convenient, as are the cast of supporting characters and the whole thing has the feel of a Dungeons and Dragons game - created on the fly without any particular forethought (albeit by a pretty decent dungeonmaster). Narrative developments feel arbitrary and random, like you're on a boat being tugged this way and that in unpredictable directions. "Oh, Elric was fleeing this town from a bunch of people who hate Melniboneans and then.....there was....A MAGIC BOAT THAT APPEARS OUT OF NOWHERE. And on the boat was...there was...A MYSTERIOUS CAPTAIN WITH A MYSTERIOUS QUEST." Companion characters seem to pop-up and disappear without the sense of laying any roots and you quickly learn that there's no point learning about or getting attached to anyone besides Elric because they're not going to be in the story particularly long. Elric's development is very melodramatic and the dialogue is stilted. The magic system is of the convenient variety that lacks realism in the sense that it lacks predefined rules the way the system in a story like the Kingkiller Chronicles does. Elric can summon enough magic to suit any particular situation at no particular cost besides appearing fatigued for a bit afterwards, which provides for an easy out for Moorcock in resolving action points without any ingenuity. Elric and crew get in trouble and it's "Arioch! Arioch!" and they're out.
I keep thinking that perhaps I'm just jaded to these older fantasy works because a lot of the great modern fantasy I've enjoyed is a kind of maturation of these building blocks. It's probably true, and had I grown up with Elric or Zelzany maybe my attitude would be a bit different. Still, I can't imagine that they've aged well even for people whose formative reading years were spent in these stories. It's like trying to go back and watch your favorite Saturday morning cartoons in your mid-30s. There's just something missing no matter how much you were in love when you were 10 - especially when you've discovered better fare in the intervening years. I thought the Elric series to this point was a little more than a shade more sophisticated than Zelzany.