Elric of Melniboné is a requisite title in the hard fantasy canon, a book no fantasy fan should leave unread. Author Michael Moorcock, already a major player in science fiction, cemented his position in the fantasy pantheon with the Elric saga, of which Elric of Melniboné is the first installment. The book's namesake, the brooding albino emperor of the dying nation of Melniboné, is a sort of Superman for Goths, truly an archetype of the genre. The youthful Elric is a cynical and melancholy king, heir to a nation whose 100,000-year rule of the world ended less than 500 years hence. More interested in brooding contemplation than holding the throne, Elric is a reluctant ruler, but he also realizes that no other worthy successor exists and the survival of his once-powerful, decadent nation depends on him alone. Elric's nefarious, brutish cousin Yyrkoon has no patience for his physically weak kinsman, and he plots constantly to seize Elric's throne, usually over his dead body. Elric of Melniboné followsYrkoon's scheming, reaching its climax in a battle between Elric and Yyrkoon with the demonic runeblades Stormbringer and Mournblade. In this battle, Elric gains control of the soul-stealing Stormbringer, an event that proves pivotal to the Elric saga

 The fifth of the six classic Elric novels picks up, as is usual with these books, where the fourth leaves off. Moorcock sets the last pieces of the puzzle into place, introducing us to Zarozinia, the love of Elric's life. Once again, Moorcock takes his already intriguing concepts that he's built up throughout the series and adds a few more twists and turns, to make them even more intriguing than they already were. The book is good, it's readable, and the payoff, in Stormbringer, is astounding

 Forced to flee his city of Melnibone, Elric and his sorcerous blade Stormbringer journey through barren hills to the edge of a black sea. Elric finds a dark ship and begins a voyage that will bring him face-to-face with all the champions Time can summon--and more

 The Vanishing Tower is where the divergent pieces of Elric's saga are weaved into a single tale; the saga of Elric's dealings with Melniboné, his homeland, related in books one and three, and the saga of his journeys through the Young Kingdoms (as Melnibonéans call the rest of the world), related in book two, come together in book four. Elric and his surviving countrymen are stateless wanderers, mercenaries hated and feared by those in the Young Kingdoms whom they dominated for ten thousand years. Elric is apart from the others (a rogue mercenary band led by Elric's childhood friend, Dyvim Tvar); he and his companion Moonglum are occupied by their own problems, most of the time. One of those problems is the desire if the rest of the surviving Melnibonлans to see Elric's head on a spear. But aside from that, Elric's patron deity, Arioch, is becoming more and more loath to help Elric, his actorios ring, his last link to the ancient dynasty of Melniboné, has been stolen by the king of Nadsokor, city of beggars, and Elric, unused to life as a regular wanderer, has no concept of fiduciary responsibility. (That one tends to be a minor worry, as Moonglum is quite an accomplished thief, and there are no lack of people willing to employ the most powerful sorceror on the planet as a mercenary.) All of these factors weave in and out of the fourth book in the novel, coupled with all the usual strengths and weaknesses of Moorcock's writing in this series, culminating in Elric finally getting to the tower of the title and discovering yet another piece of his fate. It is here that Moorcock throws the series' most intriguing twist into play, but to mention the nature of that twist would be quite the spoiler; you'll just have to read the series for yourself

 The third book in the Elric series introduces the reader to Moonglum, Elric's longtime companion. Much of the second novel moved away from the events of the first, and concentrated Elric's character on other adventures. The Weird of the White Wolf brings Elric back to Melniboné along with Moonglum, their friend Smiorgan Baldhead, and an army of raiders bent on overthrowing Yyrkoon, who stole the throne when Elric left Melnibonл for a year to travel the world. For those wondering, whether you've read the book or not: the “weird” of the title is an archaic definition of the term, given by Merriam Webster as “One's assigned lot or fortune, especially when evil.” And when he finds it, he's not all that happy about it. But that's to be expected when one's antihero has a crisis of conscience. Certainly not a slow book by any means, nor a weak one in the context of the series. And it's definitely a necessity as a prelude to what comes after it

Moorcock is off at full throttle. Every scene has ironic meaning. A couple of minor stories, and we're into the lush, manic rush to Armageddon that is STORMBRINGER! Still the greatest plot on the planet, build and build until the final, cataclysmic - and said to be the best in all fantasy fiction - ending, which is completely stunning. Long before Pullman won the Whitbread Moorcock was offering this mad, bad and thoroughly humane fantasy to the world. He remains a giant