• 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
  • By: Michael Moorcock, Neil Gaiman
  • Narrated by: Samuel Roukin
  • Length: 24 hrs and 12 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (1,198 ratings)

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Elric of Melniboné  By  cover art

Elric of Melniboné

By: Michael Moorcock, Neil Gaiman
Narrated by: Samuel Roukin
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Publisher's summary

When Michael Moorcock began chronicling the adventures of the albino sorcerer Elric, last king of decadent Melniboné, and his sentient vampiric sword, Stormbringer, he set out to create a new kind of fantasy adventure, one that broke with tradition and reflected a more up-to-date sophistication of theme and style. The result was a bold and unique hero - weak in body, subtle in mind, dependent on drugs for the vitality to sustain himself - with great crimes behind him and a greater destiny ahead: a rock-and-roll antihero who would channel all the violent excesses of the '60s into one enduring archetype.

Now, presented in the author's preferred story order, the classic Elric saga.

©2021 Michael Moorcock and Neil Gaiman (P)2021 Recorded Books

What listeners say about Elric of Melniboné

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Skip the first chapter, it's not Moorcock.

Michael Moorcock's writing is some of the finest in the English language. The Elric novels are 23 1/2 hours of this book, and are some of the best fictions I have ever read. They contain lush descriptions, perfect pacing, deep moral dilemmas and stunning allegory. It is unthinkable and unforgivable then that Audible and Recorded Books chose to open this set with a half-hour fan fiction which amounts to child pornography and has only one or two references to Moorcock and the character Elric. Many people will probably purchase this, think the awful essay at the beginning is part of the compendium and decide not to listen, to their own loss and to the loss of Audible and Recorded books. This child-sexualization essay needs to be removed immediately, it has nothing to do with Moorcock's writings or characters. It would be one thing if the introduction was a biopic of Moorcock or a literary study of the Elric novels. It is not. It has no place in this compendium.

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86 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

First reviewer ignorant there's a forward. Ignore.

With this fantastic narration the brilliant writings of Moorcock come to life. Ignore the first review, reader couldn't be bothered to listen carefully enough to hear that the first chapter is a short story forward by Neil Gaiman.

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80 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Upfront : I believe the Foreword should be removed

I came for Elric, I came for Stormbringer, I came for the books. I do not come for some weird foreword by Gaiman, which is off putting in more ways than one due to focusing on a young boy and repeatedly bringing up his and his male classmates masturbation habits. If you get this skip it, if you don't please let your displeasure of that section be well known. The stories are well done though the author trips up a few times and his voices aren't varied enough at times to keep me fully enthralled, it is sufficient.
Edit: Thanks for everyone who agreed with this review/found it helpful,

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49 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Sweet nostalgia at last!

Absolutely loved the Elric series when I was young. Couldn’t wait for the audiobook to finally land. First chapter is Neil Gaiman reading his graphic novel, “One Life: Furnished in Michael Moorcock” as an intro. From there it jumps right into Elric in the throne room and we’re off! So far the narrator is on point and very listenable. Got my coffee, my headphones and Elric - life is good!

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38 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Skip the first chapter.

The tasteless and inappropriate first chapter, which has virtually nothing to do with what follows it, renders this audiobook an experience that is less than the sum of its parts. At least Moorcock has the sense to leave the depravities of the Melniboneans largely to our imaginations, and to render only their more imaginative cruelties on the page; Gaiman shows no such restraint and even less class.

The narration is excessively slow, and the narrator slips up with inconsistent character voices and character names - even the name of the main character, repeatedly!

The actual content of the volume - Moorcock's Elric stories - are fascinating, but overall I wish I'd just read the books instead.

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24 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

A new Audiobook for classic stories

The tone of these stories is gloomy and melancholy but they have a beauty to it that is captivating once you put yourself in the proper mindset. The narration style (I believe) is called third person objective where characters are mentioned by name and the reader is unable to get into the characters heads and hear their thoughts and feelings. I have not encountered this style very often but I liked it after awhile.

The foreword written by Neil Gaiman was (in my opinion) filled with disgusting and disturbing anecdotes and I would recommend skipping and just starting in chapter 2.

The narrated was fantastic. Was familiar with him from the Sun Eater books and thought he did a excellent job there as well. His regal voice was perfect for Elric.

Looking forward to the two other collections that will hopefully be coming out later this year.

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17 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

The Eternal Champion once again!

Always loved Elric ever since finding him as a young teen back in the early 80’s. He’s not your typical hero, and that always appealed to me as I wasn’t your typical teen in some ways.

The narrator does well and is enjoyable to listen to, and the story is absolutely a classic. Great for those long hauls when I don’t feel like another podcast episode, buddies are all sleeping, and I don’t feel like learning something and just want to relax, drive, and listen!

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17 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

The ORIGINAL Witcher

1. The narration is fine. Samuel Roukin does a good job overall. Only issue is that some of his voices for characters are a bit indistinct and his flow into the parts of poetry here and there are super smooth and a bit confusing. But the guy has a voice like butter so these little nitpicks are easily forgiven.

2 WTF AUDIBLE?! NONE OF CHAPTERS ARE PROPERLY LABELED! Jumping from this story to that story is nearly impossible to do easily. Hopefully they update and correct the chapter listings to ACTUAL NAMES!

3. This is what the Witcher books stole from so if you liked those, you’ll love these. Better writing here that’s fast and better paced and no drawn out.

Hoping they keep Roukin and do the entire saga not just the core books.

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15 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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Timeless

I have waited so long for this to arrive. Moorcock and his heir Gaiman are exquisite perfection.

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Dark and Tragic Fantasy At Its Best!

I love these stories of Elric; multi-layered, morally conflicted, complex, the quintessential doomed champion of a doomed world.

Michael Moorcock's literary prose is as good as I remember and doesn't feel dated like some of my other favorite authors from the 70's and 80's. The narration was very well done. Neil Gaiman's short story at the beginning felt a little out of place, as his style of writing doesn't blend well with the original books, but its a very minor complaint. An introduction and/or context might have been helpful, or perhaps placing the short story at the end of the audio book, not the beginning. But, again, not a big deal at all.

Highly recommended!

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6 people found this helpful