Good, but I'm awfully tired of this overworked theme of heroes as playthings of the gods. ( )

The Elric saga comes to close and a very satisfying conclusion with Elric, Moonglum and Stormbringer each playing their parts. A little more thoughtful then the previous volumes and the first since volume one that felt like a regular novel not three novellas tied together. But Moorcock did a fine job of string together the pieces from Books 1 - 5 that are woven into this finale. ( )

An absolutely perfect—if perhaps slightly drawn out—end to the Elric saga.

And a note on that. There is a seventh volume, Elric at the End of Time that I read and remember being exceptionally disappointed in. I've since found out it was not written sequentially, and really isn't an official part of the series. So I won't be reading it again. I'm going to let Elric go here, the way it was intended.

We see Elric, who is surely one of the most tragic fantasy heroes ever written, stretched to his limit, and it's actually quite devastating to read. No spoilers, but the end was completely fitting.

A fantastic series. Well worth the effort. ( )

What an impressive "end"! :) Of course, I already know there are a number of books that continue on, but I have to assume they take place before this Final Battle.

The black blade always gets the final laugh. Indeed.

I need to back up. These Elric tales are epic in the purest sense of the word. Forces of Chaos and Law rage across all lands and the multiverse... all time, as well. Elric's sword, Stormbringer, was designed to destroy the gods of Chaos together its twin, a blade of Law. Both are intelligent, drinkers of souls, and bloodthirsty as hell.

Elric straddles the line between both forces, focused on revenge as everything he's ever known or loved dies before him. He's a god-killer.

You know all those epic fantasies we love so much by all the biggest names in fantasy? Robert Jordan, Neil Gaiman, or hell, all of D&D pull from this author's epic ideas. Incarnations of Chaos, elementals, incarnations of Law (order), and Men. So many huge armies live and die, the continents change, the death toll utterly immense. Think about the fourth season of Babylon 5. It's this scope. This immensity.

But realize Elric came out long before all those. This is what Tolkien COULD have been had he gotten out of the minor details of all these lives and not fought for the static continuation of everyone's lives as the greatest good. Moorcock ramped up the stakes to the same level of Melkor versus all the Illuvatar and beyond since the stakes were for all time and all worlds across the multiverse. :)

Just saying... this is some impressive stuff. :)
( )

I gave this 50 pages, but there's nothing between the covers to keep me reading, especially with so many good books waiting on my shelves.