The Worm Ouroboros in Sword & Sorcery: "An earthier sort of fantasy"

Jan 31, 2016 Markus rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy, 2016, pillars-of-fantasy

So strong in properties of ill is this serpent which the ancient Enemy that dwelleth in darkness hath placed upon this earth, to be a bane unto the children of men, but an instrument of might in the hand of enchanters and sorcerers.

A messenger arrives at Krothering Castle with a demand to the gathered lords of Demonland from the king of Witchland. They are to come to his court at Carcë and swear him fealty as his loyal subjects, or he will enforce his demands by force of arms. Thus begins a So strong in properties of ill is this serpent which the ancient Enemy that dwelleth in darkness hath placed upon this earth, to be a bane unto the children of men, but an instrument of might in the hand of enchanters and sorcerers.

A messenger arrives at Krothering Castle with a demand to the gathered lords of Demonland from the king of Witchland. They are to come to his court at Carcë and swear him fealty as his loyal subjects, or he will enforce his demands by force of arms. Thus begins a grand tale of war that inspired several gargantuan fantasy epics.

E. R. Eddison has now been largely forgotten by the world of fantasy writing, but he remains back there in the shadows as another of the founding fathers of the modern genre. He inspired Tolkien and Lewis (and even attended meetings of the Inklings) and a whole bunch of others. And while this book unfortunately is horribly dated, even for a lover of the archaic like myself, there are plenty of examples of sentences and plot points where Eddison remains an important source of inspiration.

Part of The Worm Ouroboros is a mess. The frame story serves no purpose; the plot, while often interesting, is poorly organised; and the setting is unremarkable. I must admit to some annoyance at the naming practices (Demonland, Witchland, Impland, Goblinland etc.), but I learnt to get used to it eventually.

I am always a fan of flowery writing, and it has the potential to make me instantly fall in love with a story. However, I personally found the general writing style of E. R. Eddison to be tediously boring, with little of the grace and eloquence found in the works of authors he has inspired. On the other hand, Eddison has one big strength when it comes to the writing, and that is that many of his descriptions are positively gorgeous. Like dark Carcë, capital of Witchland…

Dismal and fearsome to view was this strong place of Carcë, most like to the embodied soul of dreadful night brooding on the waters of that sluggish river: by day a shadow in broad sunshine, the likeness of pitiless violence sitting in the place of power, darkening the desolation of the mournful fen; by night, a blackness more black than night herself.

Actually, the entirety of Chapter 4 (Conjuring in the Iron Tower) was absodamnlutely amazing. Which explains why all the quotes in this review can be found in that chapter. Which, unfortunately, also says something about the rest of the book.

That should prove that I can actually say something positive too. And beyond my complaints, I am happy to have read this classic. It is a dated, flawed book, but it is enjoyable in its own way. It is one of the first examples of modern fantasy, and of moving away from the land of fairytales and into the territory of grand stories on an epic scale.

I would also like to give it extra praise for this last quote, which reminded me why I feel so strongly about fantasy…

”And for thirty days and thirty nights wandered I alone on the face of the Moruna in Upper Impland, where scarce a living soul hath been: and there the evil wights that people the air of that desert dogged my steps and gibbered at me in darkness. Yet was I unafraid; and came in due time to Morna Moruna, and thence, standing on the lip of the escarpment as it were on the edge of the world, looked southaway where never mortal eye had gazed aforetime, across the untrodden forests of the Bhavinan. And in that skyey distance, pre-eminent beyond range on range of ice-robed mountains, I beheld two peaks throned for ever between firm land and heaven in unearthly loveliness: the spires and airy ridges of Koshtra Pivrarcha, and the wild precipices that soar upward from the abysses to the queenly silent snow-dome of Koshtra Belorn."
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Nov 07, 2018 Clint rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: studies-in-fantasy, sword-sorcery, fantasy, ballantine-adult-fantasy-series, fantasy-worth-reading, classics, 2018, ebook

I wanted to love this book. There are those that are not in-love with JRRT’s The Lord of the Rings, that wish to find that one piece of literature that can be raised upon a pedestal, and fans can chant “THIS! This is the one!”

For many, this is that book; however, not for me.

Two things:
1. I do not hate JRRT, or The Lord of the Rings; actually, The Hobbit is one of my all time favorites. I do not think tLotR is the gold standard. For me, it takes itself too seriously, something The Hobbit did not ...more

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