Publication History |
"The Bane of the Black Sword" is the penultimate installment of Michael
Moorcock's classic of high fantasy, dark fantasy, and sword & sorcery, "The
Elric Saga." Like many other of Elric stories, these were originally written as
pulp serials – thus, some of these adventures are more closely connected
than others. The book is divided into three sections.
"The Stealer of Souls" continues Elric's combat with Theleb K'aarna, whose
powers of sorcery increase at every turn. The ever-present Moonglum
returns, as do Queen Yishana of Jharkor and Elric’s cousin Dyvim Tvar, a
dragon master of Melniboné. Four years have passed since Elric's destruction
of Imrryr and Elric must join forces with Dyvim Tvar and a roaming band of
mercenary Imrryrian warriors to fight his enemy once again.
This is the first the reader sees of the effect of Elric's destruction of his
empire on his fellow Melnibonéans. This story, like many of the Elric tales,
goes well beyond the usual sword & sorcery both in creativity and emotion.
Battles are both personal and epic; sorcery is powerful and haunting;
vengeance is costly and unfulfilling; Stormbringer's control of Elric and his
dependence upon it ever grows.
"Kings in Darkness" is another ghost tale. Elric and Moonglum are forced to
detour where they meet Zarozinia, the sole survivor of an attack upon her
family's caravan. A series of additional detours leads the trio to entanglement
the strange politics of a local noble family.
"The Flamebringers" finds Elric living in wedding bliss with Zarozinia in her
home city, Karlaak, which adopted Elric despite his well-deserved reputation.
The runeblade Stormbringer hangs in an attic and, though Elric promises he
has retired, Zarozinia harbors doubts. As she predicts, Moonglum appears
with news of danger approaching Karlaak and Elric is forced to break his
promise. He reclaims Stormbringer, to his horror and the sword's delight, and
sets off with Moonglum in a desperate plan to save Karlaak.
The epilogue is "To Rescue Tanelorn...," a story of Rackhir the Red Archer, a
comrade of Elric. Elric does not appear in this short tale, as it takes places
during "The Flamebringers". However, the story is very much in the same
spirit.
Critics of Elric will find all the usual faults: Moorcock glosses over some of the
more interesting features of his world, and Elric too often relies on others to
extricate him from danger. More, this volume has some of the repetitiveness
that creeps into Book 4 of "The Elric Saga," and Moorcock is forced into
increasingly obvious excuses to jump-start Elric's adventures. Still, the book
improves over the previous volume.
For its importance in the genre and creativity, I rate it a 9 out of 10.
Moorcock's classic of high fantasy, dark fantasy, and sword & sorcery, "The
Elric Saga." Like many other of Elric stories, these were originally written as
pulp serials – thus, some of these adventures are more closely connected
than others. The book is divided into three sections.
"The Stealer of Souls" continues Elric's combat with Theleb K'aarna, whose
powers of sorcery increase at every turn. The ever-present Moonglum
returns, as do Queen Yishana of Jharkor and Elric’s cousin Dyvim Tvar, a
dragon master of Melniboné. Four years have passed since Elric's destruction
of Imrryr and Elric must join forces with Dyvim Tvar and a roaming band of
mercenary Imrryrian warriors to fight his enemy once again.
This is the first the reader sees of the effect of Elric's destruction of his
empire on his fellow Melnibonéans. This story, like many of the Elric tales,
goes well beyond the usual sword & sorcery both in creativity and emotion.
Battles are both personal and epic; sorcery is powerful and haunting;
vengeance is costly and unfulfilling; Stormbringer's control of Elric and his
dependence upon it ever grows.
"Kings in Darkness" is another ghost tale. Elric and Moonglum are forced to
detour where they meet Zarozinia, the sole survivor of an attack upon her
family's caravan. A series of additional detours leads the trio to entanglement
the strange politics of a local noble family.
"The Flamebringers" finds Elric living in wedding bliss with Zarozinia in her
home city, Karlaak, which adopted Elric despite his well-deserved reputation.
The runeblade Stormbringer hangs in an attic and, though Elric promises he
has retired, Zarozinia harbors doubts. As she predicts, Moonglum appears
with news of danger approaching Karlaak and Elric is forced to break his
promise. He reclaims Stormbringer, to his horror and the sword's delight, and
sets off with Moonglum in a desperate plan to save Karlaak.
The epilogue is "To Rescue Tanelorn...," a story of Rackhir the Red Archer, a
comrade of Elric. Elric does not appear in this short tale, as it takes places
during "The Flamebringers". However, the story is very much in the same
spirit.
Critics of Elric will find all the usual faults: Moorcock glosses over some of the
more interesting features of his world, and Elric too often relies on others to
extricate him from danger. More, this volume has some of the repetitiveness
that creeps into Book 4 of "The Elric Saga," and Moorcock is forced into
increasingly obvious excuses to jump-start Elric's adventures. Still, the book
improves over the previous volume.
For its importance in the genre and creativity, I rate it a 9 out of 10.
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| The Bane of the Black Sword (Michael Moorcock) By SC Bryce *Due to this age of this book, this review contains spoilers. |
First Printing:
SCBryce.com (Sept. 10, 2005).
SCBryce.com (Sept. 10, 2005).
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