Knocked off Michael Moorcok’s Elric of Melnibone this week. An old, dusty box at my mother’s house held the entire seven DAW editions of Moorcock’s albino anti-hero, Elric. Elric is right up there with Conan as an iconic swords and sorcery character. I remember that as a teen, Elric’s tales felt somewhat more sophisticated for fantasy, probably due to a darker themes and a British author.
Elric of Melnibone is mostly about introducing characters and setting the stage. Elric is a quite discomfited emperor, showing empathetic capacity not in line with his cruel forbears. There’s a lot of probing of his and his cohort’s internal feelings about each and other and the world. Elric could easily be read as a metaphorical tale of a fading empire’s struggles.
While the characters are rich and distinctive, the actual plot and writing are nondescript. The book comes in at a thin 160 pages, and even at that I felt like it dragged in a few places. A lot of the base constructs (moody anti-hero, dark and treacherous gods, fading exotic empire) are well crafted, but the actual action is mundane. Eventually we’re reduced to a less than thrilling chase involving Elric trying to reach the evil black sword Stormbringer before his rivalrous cousin Yyrkoon. At the denouement, nothing is resolved and Elric sets out on a ridiculously foolish journey.
Still Elric of Melnibone is worth reading as a darker counterpoint to stuff like The Lord of the Rings. And if you’re even a middling fan of fantasy, you need to know what all the fuss is about.
I have to say though, the DAW cover just does not fit the character. Elric and bulging muscles are not synonymous in my mind.