The Elric Saga: Part I (Elric of Melnibone, The Sailor on the Seas of Fate, The Weird of the White Wolf)

by Michael Moorcock

Hardcover, 1983

Status

Available

Call number

823.914

Publication

Nelson Doubleday (1983), Edition: Book Club Edition, 374 pages

Description

Elric of Melnibone: "It is the colour of a bleached skull, his flesh; and the long hair that flows below his shoulders is milk-white. From the tapering, beautiful head stare two slanting eyes, crimson and moody....He is Elric, Emperor of Melnibone, cursed with a keen and cynical intelligence, schooled in the art of sorcery -- the hero of Michael Moorcock's remarkable epic of conflict and adventure at the dawn of human history" --provided by Goodreads. The sailor on the seas of fate: "Leaving his cousin Yrkoon sitting as regent upon the Ruby Throne of Melnibone, leaving his cousin Cymoril weeping for him and despairing of his ever returning, Elric sailed from Imrryr, the Dreaming City, and went to seek an unknown goal in the world of the Young Kingdoms where Melniboneans were at best, disliked" --provided by Goodreads. The weird of the white wolf: "Imrryr, the dreaming city; Yyrkoon, the hated usurper; Cymoril, the beloved... all had fallen to the fury and unearthly power of the albino prince and his terrible sword. An Elric faced at last the fate that was to be his in this haunted era - that he must go forth, sword and man as one, and havoc and horror would be forever at his forefront until he found his Purpose that was yet obscured to him" --provided by Goodreads.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member rakerman
Elric is gloomy.
Elric helps destroy his own civilization.
This makes him more gloomy.
Blech.
LibraryThing member dakobstah
The Elric Saga is a collection of short stories revolving around a sickly, albino king who uses dark magic to become an extraordinary adventurer. It is a dark, adult-themed fantasy that doesn't get as much recognition as it deserves.
LibraryThing member DavidBurrows
Quite a dark novel and very bizare inparts. A good read though
LibraryThing member AlexEpstein
I took it into my head to reread a bit of Moorcock lately. The stories are fine, short and yummy.And, oddly, not very dark at all, when you compare them to almost anything Neil Gaiman has written. Honestly, THE GRAVEYARD BOOK is quite a bit more disturbing. Funny about that. In THE GRAVEYARD BOOK,
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one boy is at risk of being killed. In the Elric books, the hero lays waste to lives and souls, serving the evil lord of Chaos, Arioch. A couple of times, the existence of all Earth is up for grabs. But it's all a fun read. Nothing truly disturbing at all.I guess part of it is that in Elric, you know who's evil and who's not. On television, it's not the level of carnage that makes something acceptable for network or restricted to pay cable. CRIMINAL MINDS has horrific torture porn, and it's on broadcast TV at 10 pm. What puts a show on cable is when you're not sure who's good and who's bad. It's the shades of gray. DEXTER is a serial killer, but we like him. That's disturbing. Take NEVERWHERE. Is the Marquis de Carabas a good man? Mmm, no, not really. Is Hunter?Maybe that's why I read right through THE ELRIC SAGA BOOK ONE with great pleasure, and have no need whatsoever to pick up the next compilation. It doesn't leave me with anything. While Neil's stuff pops into my head at odd hours.Not because Neil's trying to slip something by. It's all there, the gods, the fae, London Under. It's not an allegory. But it is a fairy story, in the Tolkien sense. It's a new myth. Or as Puck says in Sandman #19, "It never happened, but it's true!"
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LibraryThing member coffeesucker
Interesting - not great though.
LibraryThing member blanchvegas
Original dark fantasy, I love it! Elric is a great protagonist, the world is original, and the demons and different plains of reality are so well described. A character that isn't perfect, that mopes and feels bad at times, that is uniquely different and yet... is still powerful and smart enough to
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amaze. So different from the mainstream in this genre and a great read!
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Language

Physical description

374 p.; 9.6 inches

ISBN

156865040X / 9781568650401
Page: 0.1526 seconds