This review originally appeared on Goodreads on March 17, 2013.

Elric at the End of Time

By Michael Moorcock – DAW – May 7, 1985

Review by Robin Marx

I enjoy Moorcock and his Elric stories a great deal, but despite the “Seventh Book of Elric of Melnibone” billing on the cover this particular collection is pretty random and weak. It includes the title story, “The Last Enchantment,” a pair of Elric-related essays, a pair of Jerry Cornelius essays, the Sojan the Swordsman stories, and a short short called “The Stone Thing.”

Elric at the End of Time is a crossover between Elric and Moorcock's Second Aether stories. The pseudo-Victorian Second Aether stuff has never done anything for me, and the team-up here struck me as kind of clumsy. Not an essential work.

“The Last Enchantment” is much better, however, one of the better late Elric stories. Unlike some of the more out-there and psychedelic tales, it fits in well with the earlier Elric canon. Elric's dealings with the Gods of Chaos are intriguing, and the premise is original.

The essays were brief and not particularly essential. It also seemed odd having two essays devoted to the Jerry Cornelius character when no Cornelius stories appear in the book.

The Sojan the Swordsman stories were the highlight of the book for me. They represent Moorcock's earliest published writing and were featured in a Tarzan fanzine. The stories themselves are pretty generic sword & planet. Moorcock was probably influenced by Burroughs' Barsoom stories, but they read more like Lin Carter's Thongar the Barbarian tales. They're pretty poor, to be honest. The plotting is pretty simplistic, the dialogue laughable, and with no major setbacks Sojan's adventures tend to be tension-free cakewalks. Still, the goofy enthusiasm in the writing was fun, and it was also fascinating from a historical perspective seeing these stories. If one of the greatest living fantasists started out writing stories this silly, maybe I've got a chance, too.

“The Stone Thing” is an extremely brief joke story. It's funny, but kind of a weird note to end a book on.

This book seems like a bit of a cash grab, a way to make some extra money on a mix of lesser work. It's worth a read for hardcore Moorcock fans, but only half the book is Elric-related and all the good stuff has been re-released in Del Rey's collections. Sojan the Swordsman was fun, but not something casual fans would be incredibly interested in. Far from essential Moorcock.

★★☆☆☆

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This review originally appeared on Goodreads on July 14, 2012.

Wizardry and Wild Romance: A Study of Epic Fantasy

By Michael Moorcock – UNKNO – March 16, 2004

Review by Robin Marx

This is an interesting and erudite overview of epic fantasy by one of the genre's living masters. The breadth of Moorcock's knowledge is impressive, particularly when it comes to pre-Tolkien fantasy and it's roots in gothic literature. It's also incredibly opinionated; there's something in here to irritate any serious fantasy fan. I delighted in his notorious portrayal of Lord of the Rings as safe and bland “Epic Pooh,” but I thought he gave Robert E. Howard short shrift in places, especially since he appeared to be working from one of the inferior products resulting from L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter's tampering. For the most part everything is well-argued, however. This is a worthwhile read for serious fantasy fans.

★★★★☆

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This review originally appeared on Goodreads on August 2, 2012.

Michael Moorcock's Multiverse

By Michael Moorcock (Writer), Walter Simonson (Artist), Mark Reeve (Artist), John Ridgway (Artist) – DC Comics – November 1, 1999

Review by Robin Marx

Beautiful art, but this comic is for the hardest of hardcore Moorcock fans only. I've read about two dozen Moorcock books and have a decent grounding in his Eternal Champion mythos, and this series was still largely incomprehensible.

The idea of three parallel plot lines linking at the end of the story is an interesting one, but things never quite mesh, and the various threads don't seem to share equal relevance to the overall story. In the end the reader is left with a host of mostly cipher-like characters shouting about how “destruction of the multiverse is imminent” without gaining any real sense of the how and the why behind the threat.

Moorcock has written many of my favorite books, but this is him at his most impenetrable.

★★☆☆☆

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This review originally appeared on Goodreads on August 25, 2016.

Gloriana

By Michael Moorcock – Allison & Busby – April 1, 1978

Review by Robin Marx

This is an incredibly lush story about an idealized England. Albion has emerged from tyranny and into a Golden Age, brought about by its perfect queen, the titular Gloriana. As with most empires, there's corruption behind the scenes, however: the queen's advisor, Montfalcon, breaks quite a few eggs making the omelets necessary to keep Albion running while protecting her from his scheming. A careless mistake leads to hurt feelings and a growing sense of enmity that threatens to topple the whole kingdom.

The novel is tightly-plotted and evocative. Everything ties together and the twists and turns keep the reader guessing until the satisfying end. Even more than the plot, the richly described world is the main draw for this book, however. Moorcock crafts a world that I enjoyed visiting immensely. And although there are a few allusions to his Eternal Champion series, this novel stands alone, serving as an approachable introduction to his work. Highly recommended.

★★★★☆

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