'Elric of Melnibone' – Michael Moorcock (Gollancz)

Well, it's taken me far longer than I'd originally planned (I'm not going to look at exactly when I said I'd do this particular re-read, I think the answer would depress me...) but I've finally finished reading 'Elric of Melnibone' :o) I felt like I'd never get through it but I looked at the book yesterday and, somehow, I only had about fifty pages to go... Of course I knew what I had to do and it was duly done.

And it got me thinking... This is only the second time that I've read this book the whole way through, the first time was almost twenty years ago and I remembered that I'd had trouble with it then as well and hadn't gone back to it since. So, what's all that about then? I absolutely love a bit of 'Sword and Sorcery' but 'Elric of Melnibone' doesn't quite hit the spot, despite being a bit of a classic in this sub-genre. Let's see if I can tell you why...

Elric, 428^th Sorcerer-Emperor of the fading empire of Melnibone, an empire just starting to feel the predations of the neighbouring Young Kingdoms.

Elric, a brooding Emperor who asks too many questions and is lost in introspection over the eventual fate of his people, all of which leaves him blind to the ambitious nature of one of his courtiers.

Prince Yrkoon, brother of Elric's beloved, Cymoril, and harbouring ambitions to rule Melnibone himself. Yrkoon wants to take the Young Kingdoms by force and rule everything, with Cymoril at his side.

And the Chaos Lords, gods who will take Elric and Yrkoon's conflict and twist it to their own ends...

'Elric of Melnibone' has everything you need to make for a gripping Sword and Sorcery tale. Seriously, once the courtly posturing (of the opening chapters) is out of the way, the reader is treated to page after page of action and adventure. You want quests? This book is full of quests for all sorts of magical items that Elric needs in order to progress (I'm making it sound like a computer game but it's not, it feels very organically done). You want gods and elementals? 'Elric of Melnibone' has you covered, my favourite being the earth elemental who basically throws a tantrum because he can't have his toy back (Moorcock showing us, again, that the powers of the world aren't all that different from its human inhabitants, I blame Earl Aubec, naturally) And if all of that leaves you hankering for a few sword fights, to spice things up a bit, then that's covered too. There's a lot of derring do on display here ranging from one on one fights to full on battles (at sea and through a city). Moorcock has a firm hand on the plot here, keeping things moving at a brisk pace but happy to switch gear, as required, so the plot doesn't burn out. It's those slightly quieter moments that I had a problem with though but more on that in a few minutes...

On the surface then, 'Elric of Melnibone' looks like it's doing everything right. It certainly has all the ingredients for a fun and gripping read and it is... but only up to a point for me. I've been thinking about this and I wondering if Moorcock maybe did too good a job here...

One of the key themes of the book is Elric's destiny, only really hinted at here (which is fair enough for the first book in a series) but there's still enough going on for Elric, and us by extension, to know that his fate is seemingly out of his hands. Something is going to happen and it will be big.

This immediately raises an interesting question of how much of a hero Elric really is if destiny is a thing that he has no control over. Without giving too much away, Cymoril would probably have a few words of her own to say here but I think the question still stands and I can appreciate that it's actually really cool for Moorcock to be asking this in the middle of a Sword and Sorcery tale that has so much else going on.

But I think Moorcock overplays his hand a little here, laying the theme of destiny on so thick that we eventually have a situation where Elric seemingly cannot die because fate won't let him. Seriously, count the number of times that Yrkoon tries to kill Elric but something happens and he can't or he thinks he has but something happens and Elric comes back again. Now I know that this is the whole point of a story, that I'm only at the beginning of, but we are veering dangerously close to 'pre-destined stuff playing out' rather than 'the plot developing'. Again, I know this is the whole point of the book but I always prefer the latter happening to the former. So not really Moorcock's fault then, more of a general issue that I have with how certain stories can play out. Still a bit irritating though.

What's more irritating is Elric's naivety. There are at least three occasions where he could have sorted the whole thing out with his authority as Emperor and someone willing to swing a sword. Everyone else knows what's coming but Elric either can't see it or won't see it. Nope, he's going to go travelling, and 'find himself', and his worst enemy is the only person who can rule while he is gone...? Again, I can see why this happens, for Elric's development as a character, but at the very least put Yrkoon in a prison that he can escape from and keep the plot moving forwards. Don't give him your kingdom... Oh, you just have. I'm not a ruler of anything, from a long line of other non-rulers, and even I can see that this will end badly.

It had to happen but couldn't it have happened in another way?

So, is Elric a hero? He does some good deeds but he's really putting things right that he screwed up (and Arioch is playing him like a violin) so the jury is out right now. It's early days though so there's still all to play for.

Regarding the book as a whole, there are a lot of positives but those potential negatives are still giving me pause. Hopefully the next few books will cast this one in a new light, lets see shall we?