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Title: The Worm Ouroboros by E.R. Eddison ISBN: 0-89968-396-7 Publisher: Buccaneer Books Pub. Date: December, 1993 Format: Hardcover List Price(USD): $12.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.59 (29 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Elizabethan English at its best
Comment: I first read this book in High School, and found it hard going. But I've read it probably twenty times since, and each time it gets better. Eddison was a true master of Elizabethan descriptive prose. If you like herioc fantasy, you simply must read this book.
The world of the Worm is world where the most outrageously "overdone" palaces and language just seem to work naturally; they are the only fitting backdrop for the wonderful characters who inhabit it. Supposedly, the action is set on the planet Mercury, but forget all that; Eddison clearly picked Mercury for its astrological significance.
Here is a sample of his writing (I picked it because I just finished a climb on Mt. Rainier, where I saw a couple of avalanches):
"Far overhead, dazzling white in the sunshine, the broken glacier-edges and splinters jutted against the blue, and icicles greater than a man hung glittering from every ledge: a sight heavenly fair, whereof they yet had little joy, hastening as they had not hastened in their lives before to be out of the danger of that ice-swept face."
It is obvious that Eddison was a climber.
It's hard to describe everything this book has in it. Just get hold of it, put a goblet of wine at your elbow, and dive in.
Then read the "Mistress of Mistresses" trilogy, which is even better.
Rating: 5
Summary: The Highest of the "High Fantasies"
Comment: I reviewed this book some years back right here on amazon.com, though amazon seems to have washed that effort away long ago. In fact I read the book many years earlier still and so I'm a little tentative about returning here to review this book again. Can I do it justice after such a long remove? Will I even remember enough to talk about it? Still, since it's one of the great ones in the much-maligned (often deservedly so) fantasy genre, I feel I must. Readers here will certainly have heard of J. R. R. Tolkien, the father, if you will, of modern fantasy. And, presumably, those finding this page will also know something of E. R. Eddison, the author of this wonderful book. Suffice it to say that, in this book at least, Eddison outshines the estimable Professor Tolkien, despite this book's clumsy opening. Although he lacked Tolkien's comprehensive and detailed mind and was certainly not the scholar, or perhaps even the craftsman, Tolkien was, Eddison's WORM has a magnificent poetic sweep that even Tolkien's great trilogy of magic and adventure and ancient worlds decidedly lacked. Here is a tale of magical beings and high adventure set, oddly enough, on a mystical version (vision?) of the planet Mercury to which we are spirited in the form of an astral projection of one Lessingham, an adventurer and dreamer, who is taken one night on a journey by a spiritual guide in the form of a little bird. All very strange and distracting and, ultimately, unimportant. For Lessingham soon fades into the background of the narrative as the vision he sees on this strange world swells and surrounds and overpowers him and the reader both. We are soon caught up in the sweep of a tale that is a veritable medieval tapestry, never mind the awkward and almost childish nomenclature which Eddison relies on. This is the story of a Demon kingdom besieged by its enemies in Witchland and their evil ruler, King Gorice XII, who conspire to overthrow and consume the heroic Demons under the rule of heroic brothers and kinsmen. There is treachery and mighty deeds to redeem the fallen and great battles and an ending which is as surprising and strange as it is oddly satisfying. If Tolkien's trilogy is an epic fairy tale writ large, this one is a veritable medieval saga of heroic proportions. That it is ultimately magical and fantastic places it squarely in the fantasy tradition which Tolkien gave credibility and new life to. But Eddison came first (he wrote this tale in the mid-1920's I believe), though he is still little heard of today. He deserves better as does this book. (He's also the author of a straight historical novel which deserves to be read, STRYBIORN THE STRONG, based on the old Icelandic saga tradition which, to some degree, also influenced THE WORM. More, he did a translation of one of the original sagas, EGIL'S SAGA, which is one of the best of that literary tradition and among the best-known of the sagas -- though this translation is also hard to come by. For those here who are interested in the saga as novel, I've also done one of my own, though I doubt it is up to Eddison's STYRBIORN, though, of course, I certainly took my best shot! It's called THE KING OF VINLAND'S SAGA and can be found right here on amazon.com by searching its title.) -- SWM
Rating: 5
Summary: A reading experience lost & then refound!
Comment: I read this book when I was a freshman in high school and found it to be slow reading but amazing as a story. I put it back in the library and then promptly forgot the title as I then went on to read thousands (literally) of other fiction, sci-fi, fantasy, and non-fiction books over the ensuing years. But every so often I would remember the scenes, events, and language of the book and want to read it over again. But, alas, I had moved on and I didn't remember the title anymore! I knew the storyline well enough to describe it to numerous bookstore clerks and owners but no one seemed to know anything about this work of art. Every time I went into any used book store I would go through all of the books looking for this lost treasure. This went on for years. Then one day I was visiting my sister who lived in a small town in the middle of nowhere in North Dakota. When we went to rent a video at the little local market there was a small shelf of used paperbacks. Out of habit I looked through all of the titles and "Eureka!" there it was: "The Worm Ouroboros" by Eddison! Amazing.
Why do I write so much before actually reviewing the book? Because I wanted to illustrate how much the prose and storytelling of Eddison affected me and kept me searching for this book for well over 15 years! Now, to review:
As others have stated, the prose in this work is old fashioned and a bit stilted. In a way it is a little like reading Shakespeare for the first time. A little slow to start but once you really get into the story you forget all about the language and become immersed in the story. But don't be put off by any comparison to the language of Shakespeare! It is much easier to read than Romeo and Juliet! The flowery language just adds depth and character to the classic fantasy story of good vs. evil and a war between the good and the just against the evil elements of Eddisons world. To avoid being too confused, don't read the first chapter which awkwardly sets up the story as a dream of the narrator. This device was only used because the whole idea of a fantasy story as we know it did not exist and the author needed a way to "fool" the reader into accepting the unreality of the setting. Once you have read it one time you will be able to read the preface chapter with amusement. And believe me, if you like this book even a little, you will love it and it will become one of your all time Favorites.
A brief idea of the storyline is: The world is populated by many races of humanoid (and not so humanoid) beings. The Witches and Demons are the primary antagonists with the Demons the good guys and the Witches the bad guys. There are Goblins, Chimera and other assorted beings with familiar names but just take them as you find them instead of applying traditional descriptions. Eddison describes a whole new world which has, I believe, never truly been equaled. The whole story revolves around the adventures of the Demon brothers as they war against the Witch king for domination of the world (from the Witch perspective, the Demons only want to be left alone). There is no way to really describe this book in any way other than a simple outline for fear of misguiding a potential reader. Just read it!!! If you get past the first (really the second) chapter I think that you will be hooked until the end. Then you will be hooked forever as the story never really ends! LOL ~Good Luck!
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Title: The Mezentian Gate by E.R. Eddison ISBN: 0345272218 Publisher: Del Rey Pub. Date: 12 April, 1978 List Price(USD): $2.25 |
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