Elric of Melnibone (Tale of the Eternal Champion) - Hardcover

Michael Moorcock

4.12

732 ratings by Goodreads

9781857980370: Elric of Melnibone (Tale of the Eternal Champion)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1857980379 ISBN 13: 9781857980370

Publisher: Gollancz, 1993

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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. 5 CDs, almost 6 hours of AudioBooksPlus entertainment! Read by Jeff West. Included is a dramatic introduction read by Michael Moorcock over 10 mins in length.

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Review:

Elric of Melnibon� is a requisite title in the hard fantasy canon, a book no fantasy fan should leave unread. Author Michael Moorcock, already a major player in science fiction, cemented his position in the fantasy pantheon with the five-book Elric saga, of which Elric of Melnibon� is the first installment. The book's namesake, the brooding albino emperor of the dying nation of Melnibon�, is a sort of Superman for Goths, truly an archetype of the genre.

The youthful Elric is a cynical and melancholy king, heir to a nation whose 100,000-year rule of the world ended less than 500 years hence. More interested in brooding contemplation than holding the throne, Elric is a reluctant ruler, but he also realizes that no other worthy successor exists and the survival of his once-powerful, decadent nation depends on him alone. Elric's nefarious, brutish cousin Yrkoon has no patience for his physically weak kinsman, and he plots constantly to seize Elric's throne, usually over his dead body. Elric of Melnibon� follows Yrkoon's scheming, reaching its climax in a battle between Elric and Yrkoon with the demonic runeblades Stormbringer and Mournblade. In this battle, Elric gains control of the soul-stealing Stormbringer, an event that proves pivotal to the Elric saga. --Paul Hughes

About the Author:

Born in London in 1939, Michael Moorcock now lives in Texas. A prolific and award-winning writer with more than eighty works of fiction and non-fiction to his name, he is the creator of Elric, Jerry Cornelius and Colonel Pyat, amon

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