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david_halada 's review for:
Elric of Melniboné and Other Stories
by Michael Moorcock
Just to clarify, the two-star review is meant for the book Elric of Melniboné and Other Stories, not the Elric of Melniboné story. That story is an absolute banger. This is a nitpick, but to my mind, the book should be called Essays and Elric of Melniboné, as the titular story makes up only 43% of the whole book. Like I said, a nitpick, but it feels appropriate. Now for the review itself.
The book is an editorial mess. From its subtitle (Elric chronological order #1), one might guess that this has all of the relevant stories to start and enjoy the lore, the character of Elric and his journey through the world. Instead, for the first 40 pages or so we are greeted by essays, prefaces, some of them spoiler-y, which is mind-boggling to me. These essays are aimed at someone who has read at least some of the other Moorcock stories. Talks of the Eternal Champion, Stormbringer, Melniboné, Chaos, and so on. The essays themselves are fine. They are not terrible, I really enjoyed those about the nature of fantasy or about how we should criticise fantasy, but I really did not find them in any way necessary to enjoy the story.
And then finally a real story, traditional story telling, pure fantasy. And it’s not about Elric??? The first “real” story in the book is about Earl Aubec of Malador. Who is that you might ask? No idea. How does his story tie to that of Elric? No idea. The only possible explanation why this particular short story is in the book, is because Elric uses his sword. The sword is not magical (or at least is not described as such), it’s just a basic sword, one which has no significance to the story of Elric of Melniboné. Okay, although not really relevant, I enjoyed the story. Now for the next one, the one where we finally meet the albino emperor. Well… It’s a script for a graphic novel from 2007. As I was reading this, I had no idea how to feel about it. Yeah, I admit, it’s cool seeing a script for a graphic novel. On the other hand, I have not read the comic. I don’t understand why I should care about it. The story at least ties a bit to the story following it, but man, really? A script?
Then finally, the good stuff. There is a short summary of how Elric rose to power as an emperor, some background info about Melniboné, overall good exposition. And then, Elric of Melniboné. The story is really good. We follow Elric, emperor commanding one of the strongest nations in the world. But this nation is decaying, has been, in fact, for five hundred years. Elric is weak, his blood is defective, and he needs potions and drugs to sustain his life. He is also different in other ways. He is the most powerful sorcerer in all the lands. Thanks to his deficient blood, he used to stay indoors and read. This changed him as he read about morality, conscience, and other typically human emotions and feelings. Ordinary Melnibonéans don’t bother themselves with such useless concepts, they live for pleasure - whatever suits them best, they will do. This is the reason why most of them hate Elric, for he is too alien, too different and he threatens the status quo. Traditions are a big part of Melniboné’s culture. And so they prefer another candidate upon the throne, Elric’s cousin Yyrkoon. And so Elric has to deal with himself, with his cousin, with Chaos, and demons. Great to end on a high note.
Weeell, not so much. The story is followed by another two essays, once again talking about fantasy, its development and, after that, an essay about what historical figure inspired Elric’s conception. I also consider this essay as spoiler-y, but it’s whatever.
So overall, I would say read some other edition, like this one https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56897579-elric-of-melnibon - which seems to contain only Elric’s stories and stories that are relevant to him.
The book is an editorial mess. From its subtitle (Elric chronological order #1), one might guess that this has all of the relevant stories to start and enjoy the lore, the character of Elric and his journey through the world. Instead, for the first 40 pages or so we are greeted by essays, prefaces, some of them spoiler-y, which is mind-boggling to me. These essays are aimed at someone who has read at least some of the other Moorcock stories. Talks of the Eternal Champion, Stormbringer, Melniboné, Chaos, and so on. The essays themselves are fine. They are not terrible, I really enjoyed those about the nature of fantasy or about how we should criticise fantasy, but I really did not find them in any way necessary to enjoy the story.
And then finally a real story, traditional story telling, pure fantasy. And it’s not about Elric??? The first “real” story in the book is about Earl Aubec of Malador. Who is that you might ask? No idea. How does his story tie to that of Elric? No idea. The only possible explanation why this particular short story is in the book, is because Elric uses his sword. The sword is not magical (or at least is not described as such), it’s just a basic sword, one which has no significance to the story of Elric of Melniboné. Okay, although not really relevant, I enjoyed the story. Now for the next one, the one where we finally meet the albino emperor. Well… It’s a script for a graphic novel from 2007. As I was reading this, I had no idea how to feel about it. Yeah, I admit, it’s cool seeing a script for a graphic novel. On the other hand, I have not read the comic. I don’t understand why I should care about it. The story at least ties a bit to the story following it, but man, really? A script?
Then finally, the good stuff. There is a short summary of how Elric rose to power as an emperor, some background info about Melniboné, overall good exposition. And then, Elric of Melniboné. The story is really good. We follow Elric, emperor commanding one of the strongest nations in the world. But this nation is decaying, has been, in fact, for five hundred years. Elric is weak, his blood is defective, and he needs potions and drugs to sustain his life. He is also different in other ways. He is the most powerful sorcerer in all the lands. Thanks to his deficient blood, he used to stay indoors and read. This changed him as he read about morality, conscience, and other typically human emotions and feelings. Ordinary Melnibonéans don’t bother themselves with such useless concepts, they live for pleasure - whatever suits them best, they will do. This is the reason why most of them hate Elric, for he is too alien, too different and he threatens the status quo. Traditions are a big part of Melniboné’s culture. And so they prefer another candidate upon the throne, Elric’s cousin Yyrkoon. And so Elric has to deal with himself, with his cousin, with Chaos, and demons. Great to end on a high note.
Weeell, not so much. The story is followed by another two essays, once again talking about fantasy, its development and, after that, an essay about what historical figure inspired Elric’s conception. I also consider this essay as spoiler-y, but it’s whatever.
So overall, I would say read some other edition, like this one https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56897579-elric-of-melnibon - which seems to contain only Elric’s stories and stories that are relevant to him.