Elric of Melniboné cover art

Elric of Melniboné

Volume 1: Elric of Melnibone, The Fortress of the Pearl, The Sailor on the Seas of Fate, and The Weird of the White Wolf

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Elric of Melniboné

By: Michael Moorcock, Neil Gaiman - Foreword
Narrated by: Samuel Roukin
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About this listen

From World Fantasy Lifetime Achievement Award winner Michael Moorcock comes the first volume in his Elric of Melniboné series.

It is one of the most well-known and well-loved fantasy epics of the twentieth century: the story of Elric, emperor of the dying kingdom of Melniboné. For a hundred centuries the Melnibonéans have ruled from the Dragon Isle of Imrryr.

Now, after years of corruption and decadence, Elric’s amoral cousin Prince Yyrkoon, the brother of his beloved Cymoril, sets his eyes on the Ruby Throne.

Elric must face his treacherous cousin not as a warrior but as a sorcerer king once again in league with the ancient gods of Melniboné, the Chaos Lords, and thus sealing his inexorable fate.

Elric of Melniboné is the first volume in Michael Moorcock’s incredible chronicle, which created fantasy archetypes that have echoed through the genre for generations.

Volume one of the Elric Saga contains the first novels in the series: Elric of Melniboné, The Fortress of the Pearl, The Sailor on the Seas of Fate, and The Weird of the White Wolf.

©2021 Michael Moorcock and Neil Gaiman (P)2021 Recorded Books Action & Adventure Anthologies & Short Stories Dark Fantasy Fantasy
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I remember reading this as a teen and to this day it still has a heavy influence on my taste in Fantasy.

This was a good listen, some mispronunciations here and there, and a few moments where tone and character gets lost, but overall nothing too bad.

The stories themselves range from okay to great with some stand outs and stand out moments. Coming back to Elric was like catching up with an old friend you grew apart from, there is still that initial bond there for sure, but you're different - sometimes both of you.

Classic if not a bit dated.

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Well read but the accents interpreted leave a lot to be desired. Why Welsh?And why a voice like a used car dealer fir a god?

good fantasy but shame about the interpretation

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Could have done without the 30 minute introductory piece featuring school boys playing with themselves, but the Moorcock stories are as good as I remembered them... if narrated poorly. The narration was scarcely different than if I'd put the contents of the book through text-to-speech and had Microsoft Sam read it to me. Very little emotion. I am glad to have Moorcock's stories in a medium that I actually have the time for, however.

Ehhhh

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These stories are as riveting and exciting as I remember them. Couldn't wait to hear what happens next. I love them. There's some reviews criticising the narrator but he is excellent, great voices and effective pauses when you need to hear the details. I wish more audiobooks were as good as these.

Timeless High Fantasy at its Best

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Excellent stories, well read. I only wish AUDIBLE would get the remaining volumes online in Australia.

Excellent Books. AUDIBLE Australia need to get the other volumes online in Australia ASAP.

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The hero and the premise were unique and unusual. The tales were captivating but later grew tedious because it seemed to me to be endless fighting with monster after monster without much points.

A tragic hero who brought tragedies to others.

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An interesting enough collection of stories but I found it very difficult to follow due to the dull narration. The narration was technically very good, but it sounded like it was read by a newsreader or a narrator from those old documentaries you used to watch in school. Some of the character voices were quite good but overall I found it very easy to lose focus. They could have saved some money and just used text to speech software.

Shame about the narration

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Moorcock stories are incredible and brilliant. And the Eternal Champion is so underrated and are truly captivating. With this series I can enjoy Elric everywhere I go…

Elric stories are always incredible

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I've read all of the stories contained in this volume several times over the past 40 odd years. I've been watching this release and I was really looking to finally listening to it. But it's awful. Apart from the narrator occasionally calling Elric, Eric my main gripe is that other than Elric and Yrkoon all the other members of the noble, Melnibonean race sound like either East End London bouncers or Yorkshiremen. It's really bloody awful.
There's also the pronunciation of Arioch which the narrator pronounces Eery-uk. Which, as a long time fan of Moorcock, I find to be really annoying.
I returned the book. Not because of the writing but because of the lazy and lousy performance by the narrator.

Horrible Narration

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