AnyBook4Less.com	Find the Best Price on the Web Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Home  |  Store List  |  FAQ  |  Contact Us  |
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money Keyword AuthorISBN

Title: Stormbringer by Michael Moorcock ISBN: 0-425-08459-0 Publisher: Berkley Publishing Group Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $2.95

Your Country USA Canada United Kingdom Australia Austria Belgium France Germany Italy Netherlands Switzerland Currency AutoUSD CAD GBP EUR AUD CHF Delivery Only cheapest delivery All delivery options Include Used Books Are you a club member of: Barnes and Noble Books A Million Chapters.Indigo.ca

Average Customer Rating: 4.33 (15 reviews)

Rating: 5
Summary: One of the greatest fantasy books ever.
Comment: Elric of Melniboné, possibly the greatest fiction hero ever created. The Eternal Champion series is a must for any fantasy fan and Michael Moorcock must surely be one of the most creative authors of the past century.Stormbringer is one of the best novels I have ever read. Very Highly recommended. (Buy the hardback version!)

Rating: 5
Summary: Best ending to a series I have ever read
Comment: I think the ending brings out so much character and depth in Elric. It reminded me of the first book...thus reminding me of what Elric is and where he came from. Everything that you've read about Elric's history comes into focus on the last few pages. If you are trying to pick up a Moorcock book, read Elric of Melnibone' first. If you think the book says too much that the sword "drinks souls"...think about the title for one second, then think about the whole premise for Elric. I was amazed at that comment in one of the summaries, but hey, everybody is entitled to their own opinions. My two cents is this: this is one of the best series I have ever read, and it won't disappoint you. If you like fantasy and sword play, this is definitely for you. Elric helped to reconstruct all of fantasy...isn't that enough to want to make you read these books? It was for me! Enjoy.

Rating: 4
Summary: 6 of 6: The conclusion to the series maes it all worthwhile.
Comment: Michael Moorcock, Stormbringer (DAW, 1977)

Moorcock, in his acknowledgements, calls Stormbringer the first novel he ever wrote. (Much of what has come before in this series, in truth, is collections of shorter works.) It makes sense, in that Stormbringer, the last of the classic Elric novels, is a more coherent piece of work than those that have come before it, and is thus an easier read despite its being forty to seventy pages long than the other books in the series.

As the novel opens, Elric, Moonglum, and Zarozinia, with some other old friends and a large delegation from the southern and eastern continents, are trying to figure out what to do about Jagreen Lern, the sorceror king of the island nation of Pan Tang. Lern has allied himself with Elric's old masters, the Lords of Chaos, and Lern and his army are taking over the planet, piece by piece, with Chaos reshaping the planet into formless mass wherever it goes. The Lords of Law are stuck behind barriers raised by Chaos, and unable to communicate with earthbound folk; is the fate of the world sealed?

Of course not, this is fantasy literature.

Much of the pleasure of reading Stormbringer comes from seeing all the elements of the previous five books wrapped up into one neat package. I have mentioned before Moorcock's inability to foreshadow without hitting one in the face with a week-old herring with "FORESHADOWING" writ large in purple gothic script, but the effect of that is lessened greatly when the payoff is so much fun.

There are, once again, two factors which keep Stormbringer from a leap from the world of good, solid fantasy into the world of immortal literature. The first is the final battle between Elric and Jagreen Lern, which takes place over, essentially, the whole novel. The ability to draw such a thing out to almost two hundred pages is a rare quality in itself, but one cannot read of war on such an epic scale in a fantasy setting and not compare it to the final battle in Tolkein's The Return of the King; whereas much writing in any genre would be found wanting when compared to that scene, it seems more so when the subject matter is so parallel. Second, after it's all over, there is the inevitable denouement (as there must be in any classic tragedy). Again, Moorcock has set it up well, and with slight modifications it would have stood up to the rest of the novel; in fact, the rest of the series (and one of the tests of a truly great series is whether its last scene is a fitting, and well-scripted, ending to the whole schlemiel). Unfortunately, the last line of dialogue in the novel is unforgivably cheesy. All the more so because it's followed up with a perfect last sentence.

But the series ends, all is right with the world, and the reader must sit back and marvel at how well executed the whole thing is. Astounding, to say the least. ****