'The Sailor on the Seas of Fate' – Michael Moorcock (Grafton)

Welcome once again to the world's slowest 'Elric' re-read! All those other blogs that say they're taking their time over their 'Elric' re-reads...? They're just amateurs... I started reading back in May last year and I've only covered two books and a short story... ;o) Way, way back in the day, I used to be all 'blog first and work second'; I really can't afford to be like that anymore so had to switch the priorities around. At least this way I get paid regularly...

Actually, that reading speed is pretty bad though... Luckily, I finished 'The Sailor on the Seas of Fate' the other day so all is not lost yet. As a little aside, I'm finding it easier going reading the single books instead of feeling really guilty that I'm not getting through the longer works with all their collected essays and so on. Where I can, that's how I will be reading the rest of the series but I'm getting ahead of myself again. Lets talk about Elric and a whole book where he spends most of his time on board one boat or another...

Elric of Melniboné, last of the emperors of a once mighty land, exiled bearer of the sword called Stormbringer, found a ship waiting for him on a mist-wreathed alien seashore.

When he boarded the mysterious vessel, he learned from its shadowy captain that he was to undertake a strange quest, side by side with other heroes from other times. For this ship sailed no earthly waters. These warriors and champions fought sorcerers and demons in a journey spanning seas that seemed to connect not continents and coastlines but other eras and different worlds. For they were, all of them, sailors on the seas of fate. 

Oh Elric, the more I read about you, the more I think that you really shouldn't be let out at nights. Yrkoon should keep the throne and you? You should be sat in a corner, with a book to read, and told to wait. You'll be waiting a long time but at least stuff will get done.

I get it, the whole point of this is that Elric is basically being shown that the Young Kingdoms have moved on and that Melnibone is no longer needed. Humans can rule themselves now and that means Melnibone will inevitably fall. How he reacts to this will drive the rest of the book, that and what he does with the jade statue but I'm getting ahead of myself. There's also the fact that Elric is literally tied in to a fate that he doesn't seem to able to change. I'm not that he's aware of this at the moment but it's there (and not just in the title of this book).

What doesn't help is how Elric gets himself into such scrapes that he has no choice but to jump on the ghostly ship, that looms out of the mist, and see what happens next. I know it's early days, in terms of this series, but Elric just seems to accept his fate and gets on with it (which is fair enough, I guess, but if he didn't cock up in the first place...) If it wasn't for there being a lot more to Stormbringer than meets the eye, I suspect that Elric wouldn't have lived long enough to make it off the boat once he'd left Melnibone. There is a little bit of hero starting to peek out , which is actually less of a hero than he was in 'Fortress of the Pearl' but that was written a long time after this even though it sits before this book in the series. Elric will do the right thing now but he does have to give himself a good run at it. He doesn't particularly want to fight Agak and Gagak but lets himself be talked into it as victory is his best chance of getting home. He is a little more willing to protect a lady's honour though so there is a little movement in the right direction. I guess I just want to see more of him being the hero but indulging his Melnibonean side at the same time, just like in 'The Fortress of the Pearl'.

Stepping away from Elric for a bit, the rest of the book is as lush a journey, through alien planes, as we know that Moorcock can write, and it's filled with any manner of outlandish enemies (the fight scenes are superb). Even the regular humans, of Saxif D'an's crew, are take from across history and have a varied appearance as a result (and it's a nice little bit of incidental world building but that's beside the point).

What I find really interesting though is that a large chunk of this book is all about getting Elric into place for the events of 'Sailing to the Past' or as it's also known, 'The Jade Man's Eyes'. I remember reading this years ago and thinking, 'wow, this is where we join the road that will eventually lead us to 'Stormbringer'. And it really is, it all starts here and I suspect, this is the point where Elric starts to get more interesting as a character. I just find it really ironic that he can set the entire world on this path but always at the expense of whatever he is looking for that will inform the decisions he takes regarding the conflict within him. Fate can be boring, and a little bit of a cop-out, but it can be fun to watch it thwart our 'hero' time and time again.

'The Sailor on the Seas of Fate' was ultimately a fun read, with loads happening, but it also felt like it was holding itself back through Elric not being able to fully take charge of his own life (partly through his own mistakes but also because of what is even now ranged against him). I'm hoping that this will become less of an issue as the series progresses. I also wouldn't seeing an Otto Blendker short story or two, just see what he is up to. I liked him :o)

Next up is 'Elric at the End of Time' (a short story) followed by 'The Weird of the White Wolf' (very much not a short story...)