'Elric: Stormbringer!' - Michael Moorcock (Gollancz)

It has taken far too long (the 'Elric Re-Read' kicked off way back in May 2020...) and that is why I had a bit of a brain snap, the other day, and told myself that I had to finish 'Stormbringer!' before I could read anything else. A deckchair in the sun turned out to be the missing ingredient and once I was there, gently crisping in the heat, the book more or less finished itself. I've still got a few more 'Elric' books that I've never read but the 'Re-Read' part of my 'Elric' reading is done. Well, not quite. I need to tell you all about it ;o) Lets go...

The epic tale of Elric moves towards it's inevitable conclusion as the lonely albino discovers the true power of his magical blade, Stormbringer, and must return to the shattered ruins of his homeland before facing his greatest test.

The massed ranks of Law and Chaos are coming together for their final battle, and Elric will be faced with a decision only he can make – will he usher in a new world at the cost of everything he holds dear, or can he dare to dream that balance will be restored without a sacrifice...?

If you're going to look for work in the Young Kingdoms, whatever you do, don't be a hero. Just look what happened to the last guy who took the job. It all goes back to that man Earl Aubec and his idea of heroism being to stride into the mist and bring some kind of order to chaos. That's pretty much what Elric has to do here, only he is finishing what Aubec began. So yep, definitely all Aubec's fault, just like I said ;o)

But we're talking about Elric and what I found interesting here was the struggle between the hero that Elric wants to be and the hero that Moorcock has said that he must become. Elric isn't the naïve young traveller of earlier books, he's not only wiser but he has friends and family to whom he feels a responsibility. And this is what drives him throughout most of the book, despite Sepiriz literally showing him the picture and spelling out what Elric needs to do to bring it about. It can make for some frustrating reading as Elric and Sepiriz keep going through the motions but then you take a step back and realise that it's just another layer of the tragedy that is Elric's life. To want to do the right thing by your friends and family and then to find out that not only your 'right thing' the 'wrong thing' but the 'real right thing' will still rob you of the people you want to protect. That's a mighty burden and a gloomy picture of what heroism means for Moorcock. But then you look at it again and find yourself thinking that maybe Moorcock was right. Can you really be a hero if the demands of your quest aren't too much and your losses too much to bear (poor Zarozinia...)? And should it be up to you how to be a hero? Maybe up to a point but a hero shouldn't get to decide where that heroism is best spent, the 'hero narrative' is too strong to allow that. Yep, I'm with Moorcock here.

And if that wasn't enough... Against a background of a world that has quite literally gone mad, Elric's relationship with his sword is in it's final stages. As Elric's tasks grow bigger, Stormbringer's demands grow in turn. Elric is slowly stripped of all his friends, a deliberate move that is designed to bring the focus directly on him and Stormbringer at just the moment it is needed. The ending is inevitable and not just because we're dealing with a 'Moorcock Hero'. A blank slate is required and that is what we are given, more or less ;o) I knew what was coming but still got caught up in what is one of the most powerful scenes in fantasy. An unhappy end for one of fantasy's most unhappy characters but once a hero's job is done, there's no reason for them to hang around. At least, not if you're Michael Moorcock. It makes sense, if you want humanity to live without gods, you have to get rid of those people who do their dirty work for them.

Yes, there are epic battles over land, sea and chaos stuff, deliciously alien landscapes and all the best bits of 'Sword and Sorcery'. That on it's own would make 'Stormbringer!' a very entertaining read but it's the treatment of it's lead that elevates the book into 'must read' territory. If you haven't then you really should, it's that simple.