Elric Swords and Roses (Chronicles of the Last Emperor of Melnibone) Paperback – December 28, 2010

The author has a powerful imagination which is most helpful to all of us in this current world of blurred differences with abuse of so called rights which are gained by eroding and expropriating cultural ways and living standards of dominant civilizations. Michael Moorcock is unto something very big and threatening in our modern day world. There is a huge cultural war taking place and the first requirement from the civilizations being destroyed is "not to say anything about it as we do not want to offend". Michael bares the issues by using allegories and metaphors and draws from true life energies and conflicts to bring a powerful reality to what he has created and kicked into high speed breath taking action. Few writers have the multiverse scope of Michael's imagination.

At last, the end of the road. The final volume of what is possibly the definitive, most comprehensive collection of tales concerning Elric of Melnibone, his world and associates. The words of a wise man come to mind: what a long, strange trip it's been. 😉This entry in the series contains "The Revenge of the Rose", a screenplay titled "Urlick", the short story "Black Petals", and a brief outline of chronological publishing order for the dedicated enthusiast or collector.It also includes the fourth part of his essay on fantasy, where Moorcock continues to use his literary background and acumen to offer critiques of several noteworthy contributors to the fantasy genre (REH and Tolkien among them). It seems he is willing to offer himself up as a sacrifice on the same altar, if these passages from "The Revenge of the Rose" are any indicator. They bear particular attention, as the character who offers these quotes is himself a poet:"Say what you will, sir, no poet ever did his best work starving, though he may have starved himself whilst doing the work, that I’ll grant. They are different things, however.”"Still, plagiarism’s only dishonourable if the coin you earn with it is worth less than the coin you stole.”Like many Elric tales, "The Revenge of the Rose" is part literary exposition itself. That makes for slow going at times, and the tone of the tale (specifically the ending) seem somewhat at odds with some of the usual themes. In part, that is to be expected; after all, Moorcock no doubt wants Elric to grow, given that he'd been writing about the albino sorcerer for 30 years when this story was first penned. Even so, it still came across as a bit strange."Revenge" clashes nicely with "Black Petals", as "Petals" is more typical Elric fare. Even though "Petals" makes use of more familiar tropes, characters and themes, it is apparent that Moorcock had less interest in telling this kind of story. The tale never feels 'phoned in', but it lacks something of the signature energy often found in many pieces concerning Elric. Again, this is understandable; how many stories of this same style has Moorcock written in the Elric cannon, let alone in the entire Eternal Champion cycle? "Black Petals" remains an excellent choice to close the series, however; a fit reminder of the blessings and curses of the world, and how each person must accept who they are for what they are.So ends the sequence of the rock star anti-hero that is the Last Emperor of Melnibone, a character as distinct, influential and memorable as the age in which he first appeared. May he remain an inspiration and a warning for many generations to come.

If you are new to the Elric saga, I strongly recommend doing a quick search online for the chronological order of the stories, as they are presented in publishing order here.

Michael Moorcock mas popular creación en una magnifica y económica edicion de seis volumenes que reunen TODO ELRIC. No hay pierde aqui, tenemos ensayos sesudos, ilustraciones originales por grandes artistas actuales, dibujos de ediciones pasadas, mapas detallados,y las historias en si tal como fueron originalmente publicadas. Lo maximo de veras. Solo espero que hagan los mismo con los demás personajes del multiverso, como CORUM, EKEROSE, o HAWKMOON por decir algunos. Ojala se animen.

This is a review for the series “Chronicles of the Last Emperor of Melniboné”. For the vast body of Elric literature, both Elric and Michael Moorcock get 5 stars. This incarnation, however, does not.If I had to recommend an Elric collection for a novice to read, this would not be it for several reasons.The first is the exorbitant cost of these paperbacks – a $15 book printed a mere 10 years ago now commands a price of $200 and above! These books went out of print before the ink was dry! Even the Kindle editions are disappearing! It is apparent that this series was meant to be a collector’s item and was not intended for the mass market.The second is the reading order of the stories. Should the reading order match the publication order, or should the stories be arranged according to a chronology? Arguments could be made for either – for example, Star Wars is best enjoyed by watching the theatrical versions in their release order to preserve the surprise reveals. This collection respects neither publication order nor chronological order. This could be confusing the new Elric reader.The third is that this collection has a lot of non-Elric content. If one is familiar with this character and these stories, this content adds a lot to the understanding of the development and ideology of this series. To the novice, this content is just confusing.The forth is that this collection is incomplete, omitting the three later novels listed below.There is no complete collection of the Elric Saga currently printed. Historically, there have been a few, but most of these are outdated as Mr. Moorcock has significantly added to the canon over the years.Initially, the Daw paperbacks (6 volumes with “Elric at the End of Time” being the seventh)with beautiful Robert Gould artwork could serve as a reasonable collection. These were assembled into a hardcover collection by the Science Fiction Book Club as the “Elric Saga”, initially as a two volume set, then expanded with a third and forth volume. These latter two volumes tend to be expensive, but the four volumes provide a complete collection.A better way to collect these stories would be to consider the Dark Fantasy “Eternal Champion” series – Elric appears in two of the fifteen volumes. These books may be purchased used at very reasonable prices. The collection could be completed with the purchase of the three books “The Dreamthief’s Daughter”, “The Skrayling Tree” and “The White Wolf’s Son” or alternatively with the "Elric Saga Part IV". For some odd reason, the original hardcover versions of these books tend to sell almost at cover price, whilst the paperbacks command a fortune!Finally, Centipede Press is in the process of printing a sumptuous limited, numbered, autographed hardcover series of Elric books if you really want to spend a lot of money for this Hero!

Great book! Different world and storyline! Sword & sorcery to the extreme!

very good

Been a fan for 30 years.