The Bane of the Black Sword by Michael Moorcock
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Definitely the pinnacle of Sword and Sworcery. Elric, the mage of legend, is a transformed warrior descending from lofty ideals into the realm of chaos and back again, casting off his allegiance to the goddess of chaos itself to battle... um... just about everything. :)

I can say this is less strange and less idealistic and mysterious and archetypal than the previous volumes, focusing more on the quest and the battle and retaining a core of his idealism, as corrupted as that has become.

Mister anti-hero Elric. :)

It isn't so challenging anymore. It IS pretty wonderful, however. Epic, even, for being so short. :)

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