funfamilyvideos's review
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
voodude's review
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
carmelitasays's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
duncan_black's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
highlander2006's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
luana420's review against another edition
5.0
Big fan!
The complicated publishing history of Elric makes jumping in a bit of a challenge (several recommendations by friends were simply no longer in print), but as a newly-former-noob I can say this ones's a good entry point.
Moorcock's prose is wry and sardonic, often making me laugh out loud as I read this on my morning commute. The absurdities and Big Vistas/Situations pile on so quickly, and the responses by characters are never less than turned to 11, you can't help but think a lot of this is simply a larf.
The incidents that pile on at breakneck speed ("Making of a Sorcerer" features Elric being taken in by the Sea King, learning of a Chaos Lord drinking the oceans with a big hollowed-out tree for a straw (!!!), AND he is keeping the Sea King's mermaid sister hostage in a big clam) almost make this look like The Gothic Hobbit -- but I suppose nobody should tell Moorcock that.
Well, I guess I'm down to see the, uh, downfall of Melniboné! I don't think that sword's up to any good!
The complicated publishing history of Elric makes jumping in a bit of a challenge (several recommendations by friends were simply no longer in print), but as a newly-former-noob I can say this ones's a good entry point.
Moorcock's prose is wry and sardonic, often making me laugh out loud as I read this on my morning commute. The absurdities and Big Vistas/Situations pile on so quickly, and the responses by characters are never less than turned to 11, you can't help but think a lot of this is simply a larf.
The incidents that pile on at breakneck speed ("Making of a Sorcerer" features Elric being taken in by the Sea King, learning of a Chaos Lord drinking the oceans with a big hollowed-out tree for a straw (!!!), AND he is keeping the Sea King's mermaid sister hostage in a big clam) almost make this look like The Gothic Hobbit -- but I suppose nobody should tell Moorcock that.
Well, I guess I'm down to see the, uh, downfall of Melniboné! I don't think that sword's up to any good!
urbino's review
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
bmip666's review
adventurous
dark
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
scott_scott's review
4.0
Good! I enjoyed the actual text of the novel "Elric of Melnibone" quite a bit, the start was a little slow and seemed to be already familiar from the "volume 0" script from the graphic novel explaining Elric's ancestors and their dealing with the elementals and Arioch.
But once the action really kicked in I enjoyed the main story a lot. The first 2 introductions are written by alan moore and john clute ABOUT michael moorcock, and so you can get the impression that theyre really bigging him up, but don't worry, moorcock's own essays aren't self-agrandising. he writes about the history of fantasy as a style, his aims for using it, it's historical forms, and other inspirations he had when writing, or helping with comic versions being made.
The little Earl of Aubec chapter at the start was OK, but again like the main novel, i enjoyed the second half a lot more because that's when moorcock's use of supernatural settings for describing the subconscious get more obvious.
I would recommend it, and the inside first few pages also give you the reading list for the order to read elric and his other stories in , in terms of in-story timeline as opposed to writing order, since the graphic novel script and "elric of melnibone" itself are both taking place as prequels to the first elric serialisations that later got published as novels.
I think it is a good balance of what you traditionally consider fantasy from that time in the 20th century, but also has interesting events that you didn't expect, or panned out in a way that leads on to something you can't easily predict.
I would recommend someone to read this if they want to know what exactly Moorcock aimed to do with his stories, and also the significance of Elric for future stories if they have just heard either name mentioned and want to know more without feeling like the have to buy the whole series second-hand or something just to work out what the point of it all is.
But once the action really kicked in I enjoyed the main story a lot. The first 2 introductions are written by alan moore and john clute ABOUT michael moorcock, and so you can get the impression that theyre really bigging him up, but don't worry, moorcock's own essays aren't self-agrandising. he writes about the history of fantasy as a style, his aims for using it, it's historical forms, and other inspirations he had when writing, or helping with comic versions being made.
The little Earl of Aubec chapter at the start was OK, but again like the main novel, i enjoyed the second half a lot more because that's when moorcock's use of supernatural settings for describing the subconscious get more obvious.
I would recommend it, and the inside first few pages also give you the reading list for the order to read elric and his other stories in , in terms of in-story timeline as opposed to writing order, since the graphic novel script and "elric of melnibone" itself are both taking place as prequels to the first elric serialisations that later got published as novels.
I think it is a good balance of what you traditionally consider fantasy from that time in the 20th century, but also has interesting events that you didn't expect, or panned out in a way that leads on to something you can't easily predict.
I would recommend someone to read this if they want to know what exactly Moorcock aimed to do with his stories, and also the significance of Elric for future stories if they have just heard either name mentioned and want to know more without feeling like the have to buy the whole series second-hand or something just to work out what the point of it all is.
sexton_blake's review
3.0
My journey through Moorcock—revisiting old favourites for the first time in many years while also discovering new material—now arrives at Elric. Despite being the author's most acclaimed fantasy creation, Elric was never my favourite. I always preferred Corum and Hawkmoon. It's not that I don't like Elric, but I always felt that, after the early stories, which ended with Elric killed, Moorcock saw that he'd murdered a money spinner, so resurrected him in a sequence of tales that, in my view, don't possess the same degree of audacity. However, here the saga begins, with a mixed bag of stories hung about the original debut tale. The central story is as great as it ever was. The rest are nice to have collected together but fail to make the grade.