Book Review: ‘The Vanishing Tower: Book Four of the Elric Saga’ by Michael Moorcock

I have to say, I liked this one a bit more than the previous volume. However, it still falls below the first two books.

Moorcock writes this one in his patented style and I’ve stated how much I love his prose, previously. In this one, he just feels like he really found his grove with this character and the universe Elric inhabits.

I liked seeing Elric have Moonglum as his companion. I also liked that this featured Elric seeking vengeance against Theleb K’aarna, a villain worthy of Elric’s and the reader’s disdain.

Like the previous books, this has three parts that have been collected into one larger body. Also like the previous books, it does a fine job at fleshing out the series’ mythos and making it richer for future stories.

This is simply good old fashioned sword and sorcery and while Moorcock didn’t invent the genre, he certainly deserves to be alongside the best writers that have added to it for nearly a century.

The Vanishing Tower is just a really cool book and a solid volume in this solid series.

Rating: 7.75/10

Vids I Dig 858: Razörfist: The Shadowcast No. 4 – ‘The Shadow Strikes’ & ‘Death House Resecue’

Book Review: ‘The Weird of the White Wolf: Book Three of the Elric Saga’ by Michael Moorcock

Where the second book in The Elric Saga was a trio of side quests through time and space, this one was more of a return to form of the first book.

The tales here expanded on the mythos of the lived in world of Elric.

The biggest takeaway from this is the section that deals with Elric finally taking down his cousin, who is ruling in his place. In doing so, however, he also takes down what is left of the civilization he should be ruling over. Additionally, the woman he loves is killed by his own sword.

What’s interesting about this book, even though it’s the third in the saga, is that it is comprised of Michael Moorcock’s earliest Elric writings. Chronologically, however, this is where they fit into the big scheme of things. Well, not until Moorcock wrote additional works after releasing the original six-part saga.

The other two stories are, honestly, almost forgetful. That’s not to say that they weren’t enjoyable in their own way but, by this point in the series, I’m realizing that these books don’t seem to be going anywhere specific and they feel more like small little peeks into portions of the character’s life.

While I love the hell out of Moorcock’s prose, as stated in earlier reviews, I found this to be a bit repetitive. I can somewhat excuse that based off of these being the earliest Elric stories written but I really hope that the fourth book doesn’t just feel like more of the same.

I don’t want these to just be small dose experiments with this cool character, I want there to be some sort of larger narrative and purpose that makes these tales come together in a worthwhile way.

Rating: 7.25/10

Vids I Dig 850: Razörfist: The Shadowcast No. 3 – ‘Lingo’ and ‘Death to the Shadow’

Book Review: ‘The Sailor On the Seas of Fate: Book Two of the Elric Saga’ by Michael Moorcock

This book was very different than the first one. On one hand, I didn’t expect it to be a vastly different sort of tale (or trio of tales), while on the other hand, it was kind of neat and refreshing and showed that Moorcock’s Elric stories were not going to be formulaic or just mirror what was typical in the sword and sorcery genre.

The three stories here revolve around Elric being on a magical ship that travels through time and space. One story takes place in the future, one in the present and one in the past. However, these tales are all very important to the development of this character and the grander mythos of the universe he inhabits.

The first tale is where Moorcock debuts his concept of the Eternal Champion. It’s a really cool story that sees different versions of Elric become one.

The second tale features Elric and an ally, as they are pursued by a mysterious riderless horse.

The third, also features Elric with the same ally where they meet another character and go on a journey with him to find two mysterious gems.

I don’t want to spoil too much, as all these stories are rather short and deserve to be experienced for those interested in delving into the Elric series.

Overall, this was a quick, thoroughly entertaining read with three very different adventures.

Like I said with the previous book, you just become captivated with Moorcock’s prose and how he says things and paints the world around his characters.

Rating: 8.5/10

Book Review: ‘Elric of Melniboné: Book One of the Elric Saga’ by Michael Moorcock

Holy shit, I was pretty blown away by this from the get go!

Now, after all these years, I know why my Elric homies have pushed Michael Moorcock’s top character on me so damn hard.

Due to how many feel that The Witcher, among other things, have plagiarized Moorcock’s beloved Elric character and his stories, I wanted to finally check his books out after I got through the mountain of Robert E. Howard collections that I worked through over the past year.

However, let’s be honest, Elric, as a character, also isn’t wholly original and all sword and sorcery tales really owe their existence to Robert E. Howard’s work, specifically his character Conan, and even more so, his character Kull, which served as a template for what the more popular Conan would become.

All I really care about, though, is whether or not a story is good and entertaining and the first Elric novel definitely is.

Elric of Melniboné starts off with a bang and by the end of the first act, I found myself glued to the book and ended up reading it in under 24 hours. Although, I also love the novella size, as this was under 200 pages, was fast-paced and flew by. This also solidified my desire to make my upcoming sword and sorcery story in the same format, making more of a quick, fast-paced pulp novella than some epic, over-bloated brick like a Game of Thrones book.

One thing that really struck me with this book was Moorcock’s prose. He just writes things in such and interesting and fresh way, compared to all the other fantasy books I’ve read over the years.

All in all, this series is off to a great start and I look forward to reading the other five original novels.

Rating: 9/10

Vids I Dig 843: Razörfist: The Shadowcast No. 2 – The Shadow & The Green Hornet: Dark Nights

Vids I Dig 835: Razörfist: The Shadowcast No. 1 – The Living Shadow

From the mists of mystery emerges The Shadowcast! In this first episode, we explore the origins of the Dark Avenger with the very first pulp story: THE LIVING SHADOW, and review The Knight of Darkness’s first film appearance in the rare 1931 DETECTIVE STORY MAGAZINE Film Shorts!

“Your life,” said the stranger’s voice slowly, “is no longer your own. It belongs to me now. But you are still free to destroy it. Shall we return to the bridge?”

“I don’t know,” blurted Vincent. “This is all like a dream; I don’t understand it. Perhaps I did fall from the bridge, and this is death that I am now experiencing. Yet it seems real, after all. What good is my life to anyone? What will you do with it?”

“I shall improve it,” replied the voice form the darkness. “I shall make it useful. But I shall risk it, too. Perhaps I shall lose it, for I have lost lives, just as I have saved them. This is my promise; like, with enjoyment, with danger, with excitement, and— with money. Life, above all, with honor. If I give it, I demand obedience. Absolute obedience. You may accept my terms, or your may refuse. I shall wait for you to choose.”

“I accept,” he said.

-‘The Living Shadow’ (Walter B. Gibson, 1931)

Vids I Dig 819: Razörfist: Reject Modernity; Embrace Pulp Heroism

Book Review: ‘The Horror Stories of Robert E. Howard’

Well, I have reached the final book in this great looking Robert E. Howard collection by Del Ray. These Del Ray editions are my favorite Robert E. Howard collections, aesthetically, physically and in the way they’re organized and decorated with incredible art, giving the stories more life and some visual flourish that fits exceptionally well with Howard’s incredible and beautiful prose.

Since this book doesn’t focus on a specific character, a lot of the stories here are also in some of the other Del Ray volumes for Conan the Barbarian and Solomon Kane. Also, this shares a lot of stories with another similar book I reviewed about a year ago, The Cthulhu Stories of Robert E. Howard (see here), which tied many of Howard’s famous characters with the work of one of his best friends, horror maestro H.P. Lovecraft.

All in all, this is really f’n solid and it’s just a good collection of Howard’s more horror-centric tales.

The thing with this installment is that some of the stories are recycled from other Howard collections. However, even though I had already read much of what’s here, I was still captivated enough by it to read those stories again in an effort to really embrace this volume for what its theme is.

Honestly, more than anything else, these various Del Ray collections just showed me how easy it is to revisit and re-read Howard’s short stories.

If you want to get into the man’s work, this is one of the books that is a good starting point. That is, unless you want to jump into a specific character first like Conan, Solomon Kane or Kull.

Rating: 9/10