Elric at the End of Time

This volume consists of several Elric short stories. The first, eponymous one, took me completely by surprise. It was an all-out spoof of the fantasy genre in general, and of Elric in particular. Tongue planted oh-so-firmly in cheek, Moorcock spends almost 70 pages skewering his own melancholic albino prince. How can any true Elric fan resist lines like these: [To Elric] "You are very welcome here," said Werther. "I cannot tell you how glad I am to meet one as essentially morbid and self-pitying as myself!" Or Werther's first assessment of Elric: "What a marvellous scowl! What a noble sneer!" Up until this book, I had been reading the Elric novels because they are often held up as classics of the fantasy genre, and because my brother said they were good books. But, while I (mostly) admired the writing ability displayed by Moorcock in the previous novels, I found them repetitious at times, the main character nearly always unlikable, and the situations often incomprehensible. After having read this short story, I am ready for an all-out Moorcock assault. I plan to read some of the other "eternal champion" books, but mostly, I am determined to find Moorcock's other comedies, for which he displays an even greater ability than he does for fantasy. In the forward to this book, Moorcock states: " . . . though I do prefer my comedies to my melodramas and personally would put a greater value on books such as Gloriana, The Condition of Muzak, Byzantium Endures or The Brothel in Rosenstrasse." I can't wait for my next experience rolling-on-the-floor laughing with Michael Moorcock.

To keep it short the whole series was outstandind. It was one of the first fantasy books that read and I'd have to say it is one of my all time favs. A must read series!

The Lords of Chaos asked Elric to weild there powers of chaos and create for them the most chaotic thing he could think of. He created an image of himself................HE CREATED HIMSELF! Ponder it!!!!!