The cycle is closed Elric long time so it was a challenge of writing a new episode of the adventures of the cursed witch. But everything is there: the style of both depressive and flamboyant, the obsession with the demonic sword Stormbringer, which is omnipresent in history, and constantly pushed to the desired time, as a sort of inverted McGuffin and whose absence during much of the story is revealed to be an almost agonizing presence. Elric is such as could be expected after the fall of Immryr: weary, fatalistic and still seeking redemption. Humiliated, annihilated by his own weakness which can supply only his sword, he bravely undergoes the trials, sometimes too distressed to rely on his own witchcraft. The dramatic tension is maintained by a host of Melnibonéans that revolve around the fallen prince each with their own objectives, which vengeance, that ambition, that greed, that madness. Well the senseless pursuit of a cure for his congenital weakness will lead albino prince from the brink, and enable him to discover that his sword is not the only drinker soul. The decors are inhabited, the jungle is scary and baroque wish.
I found all the breath epic adventures created by Michael Moorcock: this book is more than a tribute is a real success.
