THE WEIRD OF THE WHITE WOLF - Michael Moorcock

WARNING - SPOILERS AHEAD

Michael Moorcock's The Weird of the White Wolf, now considered to be the fourth (or is it the 5th?) book (chronologically) in the Elric saga, is a collection of three shorter works (novellas? novelettes?).

In 'Book One' - "The Dreaming City" - Elric's actions come back to haunt him.  At the end of the first book, after Elric held on to his throne, despite the coup attempt by his cousin, Yrkoon, Elric put his cousin on the throne to watch over the kingdom while he, Elric, goes traveling. Now, on his return, Elric is upset to find that Yrkoon is claiming to be the rightful ruler of Melniboné and will not step down to let Elric back on the throne. And Elric's love, Cymoril, has been hit with a spell and placed in an unnatural sleep.

Elric goes on a rage. He has a fleet of ships (captained by an old friend from a previous book) invade and set the city on fire while he hunts down his cousin Yrkoon. When he finds Yrkoon, he also finds his love, Cymoril.

But Elric is no longer in complete control of all his actions.  His magical soul-stealing sword, Stormbringer, has its own intentions once drawn from the scabbard, and needs to take a soul at any cost. And Elric learns what that means - 'at any cost' - when it strikes down Cymoril, sending Elric into even more of a rage and depressing funk.

The second book, "While the Gods Laugh," now has Elric as a truly lost soul.  His city, burned to the ground by his order, his love killed, by his sword. He does, however, pick up a new companion (Moonglum) as he heads off on a new quest; a hero is needed to challenge Orunlu the Keeper of the Dead Gods' Book, an ancient tome that supposedly holds the answer to all life's questions.

In the third book, "The Singing Citadel," Queen Yishana of a far away land, has asked for help with an unusual problem.  A castle has appeared out of nowhere in the middle of her kingdom. An alluring music comes from the castle, drawing her citizens in like a siren, and they are never seen again. Elric takes a shine to Queen Yishana but any romance is tempered by his need to battle a trickster-like demi-god.

The Elric in The Weird of the White Wolf is the Elric that I remember from my first reading of these books in the 1970s. Tormented, driven, and not much in control of his own actions. There is also a real 'pulp-y' feel to the stories... stories that would have been right at home in the old pulp magazines of the 40's and 50's (like Robert E. Howard's Conan [which I also really loved]).

I still like the general feel of pulp-style fantasy fiction (perhaps more now than I did in the 1970's) but this book doesn't hold up quite as well as the first Elric book did to being as strong today as it was 30 or 40 years ago. The brooding, philosophical aspect of Elric feels dated.  This was very much a 1960's, early 70's, product.  Additionally, speaking of the 1960's/70's, there is a very psychedelic atmosphere around Elric. Let's not forget that he is required to take special herbs (drugs) to maintain vitality due to his weakened condition.

While this is how I remember Elric from when I first read the books some 40 years ago, I definitely prefer the more vibrant albino king from the first volume in this collection. I do look forward, however, to reading on in this classic sword & sorcery series.

Looking for a good book? The Weird of the White Wolf by Michael Moorcock is a collection of three shorter works in the Elric of Melniboné series. It has more of a classic pulp fiction feel to it and much more episodic rather than a part of the bigger story.

I own a paperback copy from the 1970's and received this digitally, from the publisher, through Netgalley, as part of a new compilation.

3 stars

* * * * * *

The Weird of the White Wolf

author: Michael Moorcock

series: The Elric Saga #3, Elric Chronological Order #5

ISBN: 0879973900 (1977); 1534445684 (2022)

paperback, 159 pages (1977);  hardcover, 752 pages (2022)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

VINYL RESTING PLACE - Olivia Blacke

Image
 Juni Jessup and her two sister, Tansy and Maggie, have gone into business together in their hometown of Cedar River, Texas, opening a combination record store and coffee shop. Vinyl LPs are making a comeback after all, despite critics thinking the medium was dead.  But speaking of 'dead' ... finding a dead body in the supply closet just as they are looking to have a grand opening is not part of the plan.  Juni's life gets more complicated when their uncle, Calvin, already a suspect in the murder, disappears. And the police officer leading the investigation is Juni's EX-boyfriend (who passive-aggressively keeps putting himself back into her life). Convinced that her uncle would never murder anyone, Juni sets out to prove his innocence - which isn't easy since he's making himself look guilty - because Calvin is family and family is EVERYthing to Juni. As readers of my blog know, I'm not a big fan of most cozy mysteries, but the setting caught my eye and my in...
Read more

THE WALLED CITY - Ryan Graudin

Image
  Jin and her sister, Mei Yee, were taken and sold and then sent to the lawless Walled City to serve as prostitutes or slaves to anyone willing to pay. Jin managed to escape her captivity, but not the Walled City and she now lurks about, disguised as a boy and is trying to track down the brothel where her sister is still captive. Jin will work odd delivery jobs to earn a small bit of money and hopefully have a legitimate means of coming in contact with her sister's captors.  This is how she meets up with Dai, a mysterious boy who has somehow managed to avoid running with any of the gangs in the city but he seems to have his own unusual connections, which Jon could desperately use if she has any hope of finding Mei Yee. But Dai has his own desperate needs.  The story is told from the different perspectives of each character and we do bounce around quite a bit as the chapters are generally short. This never bothered me, which is slightly unusual as often I find this techni...
Read more

THE RAVEN THIEF - Gigi Pandian

Image
 With Tempest Raj now a member of the company, Secret Staircase Construction (a company who, as their title suggests, builds mystery-themed, secret rooms inside homes) has finished their first job. Their client now wants to celebrate to kick off her new beginning - new home and new life now that she's divorced from her cheating ex-husband, famous mystery author Corbin Colt. First up, a mock séance to remove any trace of Corbin from the property, led by Tempest's friend, Sanjay.   But during that séance, while all those gathered sat in a dark room holding hands, Corbin's dead body crashes the party, falling across the table in front of everyone. There were eight people in the room, and they were all holding hands, but all the evidence points to one of them being the murderer.  Suspicions point to Ash, Tempest's grandfather, because he was the only one with Corbin's blood on him. Of course, as a doctor, he was also the only one who checked on the body - ...
Read more