Later plot details do not specifically state, but leave open the possibility, that Elric’s condition could possibly be the result of centuries of inbreeding – the Melnibone empire desires little contact with the outside world. Elric himself is an albino, with pale white skin, red eyes, and less-than-average strength that requires drugs to sustain him and give him energy. I might have been lost reading this book had I not read the latter books first, because those books included a map of Elric’s world. Not long after I read books four and five, I was able to track down the rest of the books and start from the beginning – and what a beginning it is.Įlric is the ruler of a nation called Melnibone, the Dragon Isle, in a place where we are not really sure of but is later revealed to be one of many planes of existence in the Multiverse (with Earth being one such plane).
It was literally a time when the world felt open and unscripted to me, as if anything were possible, and my mind openly embraced the Elric novels. This was a time when I was standing in line to see The Empire Strikes Back, discovering Dungeons and Dragons, and playing my Intellivision game console. Both books functioned well as stand-alone stories, and both immediately captured my imagination.
It was those great Michael Whelan covers that sucked me in. My library had the fourth and fifth books in the series: The Vanishing Tower, with a giant bug on the cover, and Bane of the Black Sword, with a cool-looking, giant lich on the cover. Classic Review is a feature where I pull a book that is over 20 years old from my collection and re-read it, then review it…įormat: paperback, first Daw printing, 1976Īs I stated in my review of Nine Princes in Amber, the other major influence on my reading during my teen years was Moorcock’s Elric series.
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