Preview
  • Elric of Melniboné

  • Volume 1: Elric of Melnibone, The Fortress of the Pearl, The Sailor on the Seas of Fate, and The Weird of the White Wolf
  • By: Michael Moorcock, Neil Gaiman
  • Narrated by: Samuel Roukin
  • Length: 24 hrs and 12 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (1,339 ratings)

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Elric of Melniboné

By: Michael Moorcock, Neil Gaiman
Narrated by: Samuel Roukin
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Publisher's summary

When Michael Moorcock began chronicling the adventures of the albino sorcerer Elric, last king of decadent Melniboné, and his sentient vampiric sword, Stormbringer, he set out to create a new kind of fantasy adventure, one that broke with tradition and reflected a more up-to-date sophistication of theme and style. The result was a bold and unique hero - weak in body, subtle in mind, dependent on drugs for the vitality to sustain himself - with great crimes behind him and a greater destiny ahead: a rock-and-roll antihero who would channel all the violent excesses of the '60s into one enduring archetype.

Now, presented in the author's preferred story order, the classic Elric saga.

©2021 Michael Moorcock and Neil Gaiman (P)2021 Recorded Books
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What listeners say about Elric of Melniboné

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Dark and Tragic Fantasy At Its Best!

I love these stories of Elric; multi-layered, morally conflicted, complex, the quintessential doomed champion of a doomed world.

Michael Moorcock's literary prose is as good as I remember and doesn't feel dated like some of my other favorite authors from the 70's and 80's. The narration was very well done. Neil Gaiman's short story at the beginning felt a little out of place, as his style of writing doesn't blend well with the original books, but its a very minor complaint. An introduction and/or context might have been helpful, or perhaps placing the short story at the end of the audio book, not the beginning. But, again, not a big deal at all.

Highly recommended!

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Definitive audiobook treatment at last

Been a fan of Moorcock since junior high. Thrilled to have a high-quality audiobook...

... but I really need the narrator to stop slipping up and calling our hero "Eric."

For those complaining about Neil Gaiman's contribution, were you not paying attention to the Elric stories? Melniboné gets more disturbing things done before breakfast than British schoolboys do all day.

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4 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Blood And Souls for Lord Moorcock!

The Thine White Duke has RETURNED! In a GORGEOUS new hardcover that collects the Pale Prince's 4 GREATEST stories! This compilation is an absolute dream come true for me, a chronological collection of the ultimate origin story, Elric of Melnibone. My 4 favorite books in the series bundled together nicely, The Elric Saga is a MUST read for anyone curious of the origins of Grim/Dark Fantasy!

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Great stories and reading.

After listening to this book it explains to me where so much of dungeons and dragons was inspired. Tales of frost and fire! The Neil Gaiman book excerpt at the beginning was totally useless and off putting. Besides that, worth the money and wait!

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Strange Beginning Segment, Redeemed by Great Elric Stories

The Beginning Segment I could have done without, why was it even included…??? The Elric Stories themselves were Great!!!

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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the classic dark fantasy series

Pithy and imaginative short stories, mostly about Elric flailing about trying to figure out how to behave as a powerful being in an immoral world. Probably best appreciated as a moody adolescent.

"The Fortress of the Pearl" was written later, and is a bit out of place stylistically in its use of dream worlds, presenting the desert people as unambiguously good, and general lack of moody introspection on the part of Elric.

The reading is not bad overall, but the exclusive use of various regional UK accents for exotic people from across the multiverse was a bit unconvincing.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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A classic, yet avoid the forward at all costs.

Be it a staple for the fantasy fan, or an escape from the weary woke-ness of the time... Elric is now and will always be a must for those who savor the craft of good storytelling .

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Imaginative Dark Fantasy Odyssey Vol 1

A solid introduction to Elric and Michael’s incredible imagination. Despite the 2nd half of The Weird of the White Wolf not being much of a standout, the rest I enjoyed very much. Great narration and performances. The Dreaming City is absolutely fantastic

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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how different it was from your typical Fantasy!

really enjoyed this read. it's not your typical troupe. dark and light. written really well. you love Elric so much and there are times you want to say WTF Elric. Can't wait to read the next book.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Preachy but fun

I wish I could give a 4.5/5

These stories are fun. The intro by Gaiman is a load of crap, but it can be skipped. The books manage to be light and adventurous (most of the time) while maintaining a gloomy dark fantasy mood that is enjoyable in its own right. The settings and challenges are creative and fun, and Elric is easy to root for, most of the time.

Unfortunately, while these stories are supposed to be imaginative for imagination's sake, unpolluted by a hidden message or religious suggestion, they are absolutely filled to bursting with sermons in soliloquy. Elric is brooding, that's in the very foundation of his character, but all of the deep-thinking observations are childish attempts at humanism, existentialism, relativsim, and dualism. I know Moorcock was young and heavily inebriated when he wrote the early Elric stuff, but it's still pretty absurd to hear the intro insult C. S. Lewis for hiding Christianity in Narnia, then to listen to prolonged pitches from the dead and rotting first principles of New Age thought, outdated psychology, and Eastern mysticism. But, without the intro, I would not have been alerted to Moorcock's hypocrisy toward hidden messages and teaching through story, so I guess that irritation can be chalked up to Gaiman's interference as well. At least, on a surface level.

The narrator, Roukin, is passable. He makes the action scenes really fun and punchy. That's important, when the action is central to most of the enjoyment in the books. He stumbles here and there, and I can say honestly that this is the first book I've heard where the narrator cleared his throat while reading, but I guess that's an editing slip. In the neutral category, sometimes you can hear him turn the page as he reads. I like that, but some might be annoyed by it. Sometimes, Roukin missunderstands the structure or intent of a sentence and delivers it very oddly, but these things happen to most narrators. No big deal, don't worry about his quality.

4.5/5, fun but occasionally annoying and childish.

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5 people found this helpful