Elric Volume 2: The Sailor On The Seas Of Fate
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Elric Volume 2: The Sailor On The Seas Of Fate (The Elric Saga #2)

3.86 of 5 stars 3.86  ·  rating details  ·  1,907 ratings  ·  43 reviews
Leaving his cousin Yrkoon sitting as regent upon the Ruby Throne of Melnibone, leaving his cousin Cymoril weeping for him and despairing of his ever returning, Elric sailed from Imrryr, the Dreaming City, and went to seek an unknown goal in the world of the Young Kingdoms where Melniboneans were at best, disliked. Read by Jeff West. Included is a dramatic introduction over...more
Audio CD, 0 pages
Published February 7th 2007 by AudioRealms (first published January 1st 1976)
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Keely
Too few fantasy authors ask what 'magic' means, which is a problem, since, with a few notable exceptions, magic is what makes fantasy fantastical. When reading Moorcock, it becomes clear you have found an author who is very interested in exploring what 'magic' is, and who has made very deliberate decisions about what his magic means.

Magic is a conceptual space. It was created, inadvertently, as a representation of the inner reality of human thought, as opposed to the external reality...more
Stephen
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4.0 stars. Aaaaaaaaahhhh!!!.....A wonderful and deeply satisfying dose of that lush, rich Moorcockian prose is delivered directly into the fanboy-center of the brain in this second injection of the Elric of Melnibone series. In this treatment we are introduced to the mythos of the “Eternal Champion” as Elric hooks up with 3 of the EC’s other primary avatars: Corum Jhaelen Irsei, Dorian Hawkmoon and Erekose. The four component badasses agree to undertake a mission to unleash a torrent...more
Michael
These books are silly in memory, but for a while there I was a huge fan of Mr. Moorcock's, and read everything I could get my hands on back when I was thirteen and fourteen.

Had to seek out British editions of the second Count Brass trilogy and in doing so earned the derisive laughter of the guys in Wahrenbrock's Books in downtown San Diego because I asked after matching editions. I explained why, and Yon shouted out, "Hey, Chuck! The kid wants his SPINES to be UNIFORM!" And t...more
Red Siegfried
Proto-Goth Elric and his soul sucking sword Stormslayer are taken on a magical mystery tour in a magic boat to smite evil. As is his wont, Elric summons demons to do this then broods.

As usual, Moorcock has a way of keeping the story short and sweet, typically by sparing us unnecessary dialogue. Normally this wouldn't be the perferred method of "showing, not telling" in a story, but Moorcock's narration is pleasing enough to read that you won't mind, and he always keeps th...more
Siskoid Siskoid
In Elric Book 2, The Sailor on the Seas of Fate, Michael Moorcock does the very thing that made me give up on fantasy novels years ago. I got turned off by books that were essentially a collection of set pieces strung together on some kind of voyage or quest. After Book 1, I wasn't expecting him to slip into this format. Book 2 is in reality three short novellas, each with their setting, goal and accompanying characters. Moorcock does something interesting with the format though, which is to exp...more
Πέτρος
Notice: I have made a review for every book of this series and they need to be read in order since they are supposed to feel like an on-going impression. So if you read the second without reading the first will feel rather off.

I am mostly focusing on the style of storytelling and a lot less on if it reads well or something sophisticated like that. For the same reason I tend to have lots of SPOILERS which means that if you read this text you will know THE OVERALL PLOT and how much I DI...more
Kat  Hooper
Michael Moorcock’s Sailor on the Seas of Fate continues the adventures of Elric the albino emperor of Melniboné. While his ambitious cousin Yyrkoon sits as regent, and his consort Cymoril doesn’t know if he’s dead or alive, Elric is in self-exile, exploring other lands so that he can better understand his subjects. He hopes to become a more worthy emperor and, perhaps, to discover why his own race has lost what he calls its “humanity.” For his ancestors are said to have been noble people, but th...more
Sath
The second book in the Elric series.
Elric decides he needs some self improvement, and that he should take a year out from being Emperor and travel the lesser kingdoms. I think his idea is that he could better understand the younger human races by living amongst them, but hatred of melniboneans is so rife that Elric has little luck, and instead ends up wandering despondently on some random lonely shoreline. When up rolls the mist and a mysterious boat! And this boat travels the seas bet...more
Jan-Maat
I don't recall which stories are in which volumes of the earlier parts of the Elric cycle. There is one story in which an event occurs that does at the end of the series turn out to be hugely significant.

All of these stories were I think written as a reaction to barbarian hero types stories. As a result, Elric is physically weak. When he kills people with the black sword he absorbs some of their strength, but unfortunately this is a side effect of the sword drinking their soul. As ...more
Александър Драганов
Weird and fast-paced adventure, second in the Elric series. The thoughtful Emperor of Melnibone decides to learn more about the world outside his Empire and is invited on the board of a strange ship, which can travel between worlds. A cataclismic confrontation with sorcerous beings from a different plane of reality awaits; yet this is only the first of three dangerous journeys. At times the book is so bizzare that it is difficult to read it, as the author was not capable of translating his ideas...more
Mike (the Paladin)
I looked over some of the reviews and was surprised at the number of negative attitudes toward the Eleric books. To me these (and most of the other Eternal Champion series) hold a special place in the "annals" of Epic fantasy. I reviewed the Omnibus edition of these books but my first experince was with the paperback single editions.

In this volume several "incarnations" of the Champion meet and the book can actually be seen to have several places in the Eternal Ch...more
Pauline
Michael Moorcock's Elric series is a multiverse saga. This guy was using quantum mechanics principles in his stories of Elric of Meldibone (an albino of royal lineage who travels from one adventure to the next accompanied by a dark sword that sometimes has a mind of its own, and often scares the vittles out of everyone with a howl it shrieks on occasion). I began reading the tales of Elric in the 1990s and haven't been disappointed once. If you like fantasy-scifi, morally tormented heroes, th...more
Bertrand
Le tome trois des aventures d’Elric ne sont pas aussi palpitantes qu’on l’espérait. Toujours chargées d’un symbolisme lourd et un peu gauche, le temps et le destin sont maintenant au cœur. Le bon point c’est que l’on a un aperçu de la quête du champion éternel qui va être la pierre angulaire de l’œuvre de Moorcock.
On a ici trois histoires différentes qui se suivent. Des intrigues basiques puisque tout cela se veut hautement philosophique et inspiré. Finalement il n’en émerge pas grand-cho...more
Rita
Rita rated it 2 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition
Shelves: own
Este, foi o primeiro livro que li da saga e posso afirmar que todas as informações necessárias à compreensão da história nos são fornecidas ao longo da narrativa, sem a necessidade de recorrer aos livros anteriores. Contudo, penso que seria mais interessante seguir a ordem de publicação: Elric – O Principe dos Dragões, Elric – A Fortaleza da Pérola e por fim, Elric – Os Mares do Destino.

Presenciamos uma narrativa repleta de perigos e aventuras, mitos e lendas, magia e batalhas em que...more
K. Axel
The Story...
This is an Elric story which means classic sword and sorcery. Elric has escaped the clutches of fate who seeks (as always) to destroy him. He finds himself on some unknown shore pondering his few possibilities. However, fate is never far away and soon a ship appears...

This ship is not your average ship and soon Elric of Melnibone finds himself sailing on the seas of fate, between the worlds. He has even encountered three of his kindred spirits who all make up the Etern...more
Robert Beveridge
Michael Moorcock, The Sailor on the Seas of Fate (DAW, 1974)

The second novel of the Elric series picks up where the first left off. (There is one major detail regarding Elric's betrothed, Cymoril, that seems to have shifted back in time, but Moorcock resolves it later; still, it seems to have been something of a gaffe.) Here we are introduced, for those who have never read any of Moorcock's other fantasy series, to the idea of the Eternal Champion, and that many of Moorcock's heroes an...more
Rod
Book 2 in the Elric saga, this did not disappoint. I am a sucker for the way Moorcock weaves adventure with existentialist musings (never heavy-handed). Guess I prefer melancholic fantasy to the triumphant "good against evil" type that seems to be such the rage. I missed these when they came out (when I was a teen sf enthusiast who thought fantasy was somehow "lesser than" the "speculative fiction" I was reading.) Glad to be reading these now...glad there are man...more
David
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Matt
This second book of the series already brings in other "Eternal Champion" characters from his other novels, making it very confusing for someone who is not familiar with his "multiverse". Or as I like to call shameless self-promotion in one's own writing. Now you've got buy and read all of his other "Eternal Champion" novels to really understand what's going on, I guess.
Ben Loory
the second book in the elric series... every bit as shitty as the first one was great. embarrassingly overwritten; cobbled together mish-mash of silly named people; characters with no desires wandering through meaningless episodes that make no sense... the last five pages are kind of cool, but by then who really cares.

stopping here for now.
Kevin
Of the three books that make up volume two of the Elric saga my favorite's were book one and three, two has a good a story but book one ties ties together protagonists of Moorcock's multiverse. While book three sets up the doom that Elric has inadvertently called up his plane of existence as he strives to help another has he doomed his whole world.
Michael Hanscom
I enjoyed this one more than I did the first -- perhaps I'm getting used to the style, perhaps Elric's growing on me, or perhaps I just had to get past the introductory bits to where things really start to get interesting. Whatever the reason, I'm looking forward to moving on to the third book.
Steve Blanchette
Another great volume in the story of Elric! He triggers changes in the past, present, and future that will have repercussions though all the planes of all the worlds! Is his path his own or is he destined to perform these actions? Is his story one of tragedy that is guided by powers outside his control? These questions are raised but far from answered, time for the next book!
Neil Ikerd
I enjoyed this one more than the first book in the saga. The Four Who Became One was an excellent story. I'm looking forward to picking up the third and fourth books (I already have 5 and 6).
Paul
I am currently re-reading this series. It is one of my all time favorite form my youth. I really liked the first book but I thought this was a little weaker but still a fun read.
Jake Forbes
Whereas the first Elric was pretty straight forward high-fantasy, this one reminds me a bit of Gene Wolfe. It's a brisk read, but the dominance of fate left me a little detached from the proceedings.
Eden Celeste
This book was enjoyable as a fluff read, which means that I liked it but probably won't remember much about it a month from now.
Mike
Mike rated it 3 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition
Recommends it for: dorks
I needed a page turner, so I resumed rereading some of these old Moorcocks in the collected White Wolf editions. Wow, there's some bad writing in there. But there are cool things as well. In general, I remember not liking the "crossover" stories with his characters of different series meeting up and teaming up, but maybe something has changed my opinions in 20 years. 20 years... holy heck.

Additional: I finished. Wasn't as bad as I worried it would be. Generally, there is an...more
James
Okay, but not great. Other "eternal champions" appear and do wacky stuff in the first book of the story.
Joe Stamber
Elric goes on a voyage in this unusual fantasy adventure. I enjoyed this many years ago.
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The Sailor on the Seas of Fate (Elric, #2)
The Sailor on the Seas of Fate (Book Two of the Elric Saga)
The Sailor on the Seas of Fate (Elric, #2)
The Sailor on the Seas of Fate (Elric, #2)
The Sailor on the Seas of Fate (Mass Market Paperbound)

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Michael John Moorcock is an English writer primarily of science fiction and fantasy who has also published a number of literary novels.
Moorcock has mentioned The Gods of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Apple Cart by George Bernard Shaw and The Constable of St. Nicholas by Edward Lester Arnold as the first three books which captured his imagination. He became editor of Tarzan Adventures in...more
More about Michael Moorcock...
Elric of Melniboné (Elric, #1) Stormbringer (Elric, #6) The Weird of the White Wolf (Elric, #3) The Vanishing Tower (Elric, #4) The Bane of the Black Sword (Elric, #5)

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