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A review by luana420
Elric: The Sleeping Sorceress by Michael Moorcock
4.0
When we finally catch up with Actual Elric again (about 25ish % into this collection), he is hot on the trail of Theleb Kaarna, a sorcerer he developed a beef with in Sailor on the Seas of Fate. Why? I had forgotten, but throughout the story my memories were vaguely kindled that the dude felt cucked by Elric as they both served the same queen for some dealie-o. Okay sure, whatever, I get the general gist.
The futility of this feud is (perhaps unintentionally?) illustrated by the larger context of the stories presented in this collection: the Eternal Champion exists in many different realities, and has many different preoccupations, many of them slightly more pressing than Kaarna's masculinity.
Indeed, one might be a bit thrown off by the rather large amount of technically-not-quite-Elric stories in this volume: we start off with a novella version of The Eternal Champion, later expanded into a full-blown trilogy. Then we get a... historical fantasy adventure? About... demon-possessed Alexander The Great...??? I think Arimahn, the demon who has the king under his influence is likely this world's version of Arioch, which was the rather tenuous connection to Elric, but I later found out that this story was included in the 70s collection "The Singing Citadel," making it a case of "Well, we threw it under the Elric banner once..."
"The Sleeping Sorceress" (at one point also "The Vanishing Tower") itself is a fine enough Elric adventure book, seemingly cobbled together from three different novellas, not unlike "Sailor." The friendship between Elric and Moonglum is getting to be a rather touching one, and I like how Moorcock gives zero fucks about anthropomorphizing animals, like the well-spoken mechanical bird our heroes use as a flying mount.
The most exciting tease of things to come, however, was "The Flaneur des Arcades de l'Opera," a novelette revealed to be one of Elric's dream couch sessions by the end, a true opening up of the Multiverse beyond other versions of the Champions appearing in the Young Kingdoms (speaking of which, they are getting to be funny, whenever they occur, as they are always a variation on "bro... you're me bro..."). The dieselpunk atmosphere Moorcock conjures here is most pleasing to me, and I can't help but simp for Una as I make the connection that I'd already met her as Oone in "Fortress of the Pearl."
Let us take a nap now and see... what other adventures await...
The futility of this feud is (perhaps unintentionally?) illustrated by the larger context of the stories presented in this collection: the Eternal Champion exists in many different realities, and has many different preoccupations, many of them slightly more pressing than Kaarna's masculinity.
Indeed, one might be a bit thrown off by the rather large amount of technically-not-quite-Elric stories in this volume: we start off with a novella version of The Eternal Champion, later expanded into a full-blown trilogy. Then we get a... historical fantasy adventure? About... demon-possessed Alexander The Great...??? I think Arimahn, the demon who has the king under his influence is likely this world's version of Arioch, which was the rather tenuous connection to Elric, but I later found out that this story was included in the 70s collection "The Singing Citadel," making it a case of "Well, we threw it under the Elric banner once..."
"The Sleeping Sorceress" (at one point also "The Vanishing Tower") itself is a fine enough Elric adventure book, seemingly cobbled together from three different novellas, not unlike "Sailor." The friendship between Elric and Moonglum is getting to be a rather touching one, and I like how Moorcock gives zero fucks about anthropomorphizing animals, like the well-spoken mechanical bird our heroes use as a flying mount.
The most exciting tease of things to come, however, was "The Flaneur des Arcades de l'Opera," a novelette revealed to be one of Elric's dream couch sessions by the end, a true opening up of the Multiverse beyond other versions of the Champions appearing in the Young Kingdoms (speaking of which, they are getting to be funny, whenever they occur, as they are always a variation on "bro... you're me bro..."). The dieselpunk atmosphere Moorcock conjures here is most pleasing to me, and I can't help but simp for Una as I make the connection that I'd already met her as Oone in "Fortress of the Pearl."
Let us take a nap now and see... what other adventures await...