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jsilber42 's review for:
Elric of Melniboné
by Michael Moorcock
I finally got my hands on a copy of Elric of Melniboné after having read for years of various fantasy authors who cited Michael Moorcock's Elric Saga as having been a profound influence on the genre. The volume is nearly 45 years old as I write this, and it does feel substantially different from modern fantasy, or even the fantasy I grew up reading. Oddly short at about 180 pages in mass market paperback, it feels like a reaction to Tolkien in some ways - Elric and the Melnibonéans bear some resemblance to elves, but a much more violent, dangerous, self-serving kind who do what they want and care little for the outside world, lacking much in the way of traditional human morality. (Elric himself is a bit of an exception to this - he is widely regarded by his kind as odd and weak for his interest in morality). The way in which Moorcock writes feels almost like he is creating a mythology rather than a regular fantasy story - there is a slightly formal quality to the prose, the characters feel more like archetypes than three-dimensional, and they are often at the mercy of forces beyond their control, including the gods. We lack much insight into their inner lives beyond at a simple level, seeing more their actions and decisions. The novel is trimmed tightly, and there is little present that does not serve the story in some way, although it may not be obvious at first that such is the case. As I progressed through the book, and the plot became more evident, I found it a fairly quick read, and by the end, I was interested in reading the next volume.