Stormbringer

Michael Moorcock created the character of Elric, a doomed albino prince of a dying race who carries a cursed sword called Stormbringer in his wanderings throughout the Young Kingdoms of the humans, in the mid-sixties for "Science Fantasy Magazine." Elric starred in a series of novellas, the last four of which were gathered together to create this single novel, "Stormbringer." Although Moorcock has gone on to write many more novels featuring Elric, "Stormbringer is chronologically the last of the series; the albino prince meets his destiny and the world faces its fate in the eternal battle of law and chaos.

And the saga ends on its highest note; without a doubt, "Stormbringer" is one of the best of Michael Moorcock novels. Most fans consider this finale the best in the series. Even though it was originally published as four novellas, the parts flow together in one concentrated epic of sorcerery, horror, and war. The storyline has the the Theocrat of Pan Tang, Jagreed Lern, ally himself with the Dukes of Hell to spread Chaos across the Earth, warping it in nightmarish ways. Leading the seemingly hopeless struggle against the conquerors, Elric comes to understand finally the destiny appointed him, and that the fate of the entire world -- and the one that will follow it -- rests on his own, hideous sacrifice.

Moorcock's imagination here is feverish and grotesque, the battles sequences are epic and thrilling, and the language is poetic and deeply tragic. Everything that has come before in the saga of Elric (principally in the five earlier novellas that make up "The Werid of the White Wolf" and "The Bane of the Black Sword," as well as the 1972 prequel novel "Elric of Melniboné") crashes together for the cosmic, cathartic conclusion. This stands easily amongst the best fantasy novels ever written, and fine example of dark, philosophic fantasy filled with imagery that you will never forget.