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jonathan_von 's review for:
Elric of Melniboné
by Michael Moorcock
This was a collection that contains: The Fortress of the Pearl, The Sailor on the Seas of Fate, and The Weird of the White Wolf.
An 800-page collection of stories and novellas that proceed the first novel. I found the quality to grow with each story. The first was good but a little boring, but then it gradually got darker and more literary. These stories are from the '60s and '70s and the style seems very influential to the gritter, more realistic side of dark fantasy. I was a big fan of the Witcher series, and now I see that this must have been an influence. Reminds me of Robert E. Howard meets Brian Lumley, maybe a little bit of Dune.
This is a fantasy collection about the existential terror of power. There are wizards, monsters, beautiful maidens, moral quandaries, and swordfights with minor gods. Each of these stories has traditional but imaginative threats. There's adventure and boat rides and he goes to different lands. If it were simpler, it could be a light fantasy. But at the center of all this is a barbarian hero with whom something is wrong. Elric is an heir to a kingdom known for their brutality, he is a learned man and soldier fit to be a king but rebels. Like Conan, he is a powerful warrior who seeks to understand and enforce moral rights in a morally ambiguous world. But he is too powerful. He finds a sword early on that radiates magic, which cuts any man down like nothing and eats a man's soul. At first, he is proud to be formidable but the sword starts to eat him too. He becomes monstrous. He's the hero and the villain, striking down dozens, eating their souls, and trying to be the good guy. But something isn't working. He is like a hero as a cancer. Elric cannot escape power's effect on a person and though there is combat and the saving of kingdoms, the real struggle is to preserve one's own humanity.
An 800-page collection of stories and novellas that proceed the first novel. I found the quality to grow with each story. The first was good but a little boring, but then it gradually got darker and more literary. These stories are from the '60s and '70s and the style seems very influential to the gritter, more realistic side of dark fantasy. I was a big fan of the Witcher series, and now I see that this must have been an influence. Reminds me of Robert E. Howard meets Brian Lumley, maybe a little bit of Dune.
This is a fantasy collection about the existential terror of power. There are wizards, monsters, beautiful maidens, moral quandaries, and swordfights with minor gods. Each of these stories has traditional but imaginative threats. There's adventure and boat rides and he goes to different lands. If it were simpler, it could be a light fantasy. But at the center of all this is a barbarian hero with whom something is wrong. Elric is an heir to a kingdom known for their brutality, he is a learned man and soldier fit to be a king but rebels. Like Conan, he is a powerful warrior who seeks to understand and enforce moral rights in a morally ambiguous world. But he is too powerful. He finds a sword early on that radiates magic, which cuts any man down like nothing and eats a man's soul. At first, he is proud to be formidable but the sword starts to eat him too. He becomes monstrous. He's the hero and the villain, striking down dozens, eating their souls, and trying to be the good guy. But something isn't working. He is like a hero as a cancer. Elric cannot escape power's effect on a person and though there is combat and the saving of kingdoms, the real struggle is to preserve one's own humanity.