Elric of Melniboné: In Progress (no spoilers)

[Adelaide]

This topic is for those who wish to discuss the book in progress. No spoilers please.

[Adelaide]

This is on hold for me. Hopefully, it comes before the end of the month!

[Cheryl]

I also have this On Hold at my library. I've tried to read this book before and failed to get into it. I'm going to give it another chance, though, because maybe I just wasn't in the right mood the first time.

[Cate]

I didn’t realize that there are many of these Elric books … my library lent me a 5 book compilation. I wish that Cymoril was more developed as a character- and Elric for that matter. I had a hard time getting into this as the conflict between Yrkoon and Elric was pretty predictable

[Sarah]

Yeah, when I was sixteen and read this, I thought Elric was a cool antihero. Now he’s kind of blah.

[Adelaide]

Still waiting.

[Cheryl]

Tried it, but it's just not for me. I have trouble getting into this type of Fantasy story.

[Sarah]

It is pretty old-school fantasy.

[Kelly]

It was one of the first mixing of epic fantasy and anti-hero fantasy. True, it's really dated, but it influenced a lot of the current authors of high fantasy. I enjoy this kind of fantasy, but admit modern authors have polished the genre to a bright shine. And I prefer Elric to Thomas Covenant. lol. The Unbeliever was just so stubbornly whiney.

[Sarah]

Holy cow he WAS winey. That whole series was winey.

[Kelly]

And female characters were usually written poorly in the 70's. Even by female writers. There were a few who wrote strong and fully fleshed out female characters, but most fantasy and science fiction was considered a 'boy's genre'.

[Kelly]

And yes. Very whiney! I've read the series a second time a few years ago, and it did NOT improve the second time around. lol

[Sarah]

I read this great anthology in high school making fun of women’s depiction in High Fantasy novels: Maureen Birnbaum, Barbarian Swordsperson. The comedy is probably a bit dated at this point, but it was some hilarious dry humor.

[Adelaide]

One of my favorite series of all time is The Sun Wolf and Starhawk series by Barbara Hambly. It starts out as the typical fantasy mercenary adventure series and then ends up in a very different, much more enjoyable place. (Intentionally. This is Hambly deliberately subverting the tropes of the time.) Maybe we should read the first book The Ladies of Mandrigyn sometime. If I remember correctly, it can stand on its own.

[Kelly]

I second that idea

[Kelly]

She was one of the better female writers of that time

[Adelaide]

OK. I am officially giving up on this one. LIFE IS SHORT. I love fantasy, but this one is just not doing it for me. The new Curtis Sittenfeld book is calling me.