Product Description

When J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings was published, reviewers saw that there was only one book with which it could legitimately be compared: E.R. Eddison's classic fantasy adventure The Worm Ouroboros. Set on a distant planet of spectacular beauty and peopled by Lords and Kings, mighty warriors and raven-haired temptresses, Eddison's extravagant story, of a great war for total domination, is an unforgettable work of splendour.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #283696 in Books
• Published on: 2000-04-13
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 544 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
In 1922, Eddison published his first novel The Worm Ourobouros, a novel of daring adventures and dastardly treachery set in a never-never-land on Mercury; his four novels channelled the evolution of genre fantasy, not least by being much admired by both Lewis and Tolkien. The gallant and noble lords of Demonland are threatened by an assortment of villains--the various kings Gorice of Witchland and the thuggish generals of their court, aided and abetted by the compulsively treacherous Lord Gro; Gro is one of the more fascinating villains in fantasy: charismatic, intelligent, sensitive and flawed. Eddison was obsessed with the poetry and prose of the Elizabethan era--not trusting his own poetic skills, he simply has his characters quote sonnets and epigrams and ballads, some of them famous; when his characters deliver heroic defiance or counsel betrayal, it is always in a rhetoric that for once sounds like what the characters of a heroic age might say. What makes The Worm Ourobouros a classic fantasy is, quite simply, that it has some of the best battle scenes, some of the more terrifying scenes of magic and some of the most tender love scenes that the genre has ever achieved--it is nice to have it back again. --Roz Kaveney

About the Author
SALES POINTS * #3 in the Millennium Fantasy Masterworks series, a library of the most original and influential fantasy ever written * 'It is very rarely that a middle-aged man finds an author who gives him the sense of having opened a door on wonder. Eddison's heroic romances are works, first and foremost, of art' C.S. Lewis * 'A masterpiece of hedonism . . . can still shock an audience' The Encyclopedia of Fantasy

Customer Reviews

A fantasy novel of epic proportions
On far off Mercury, there lie many nations. Paramount among these is the kingdom of Witchland, which is ruled by the terrible King Gorice. Standing proud against Witchland is Demonland, wherein lives a race of heroes. Among their leaders are the lords Juss, Spitfire, Goldry Bluszco, and Brandoch Daha. With great valor, these Demons wage a war of heroic proportions against Gorice, a war equal to that which the Greeks fought at Troy. This is a story of dark magic and great valor.

This was a rather flowery summation for me, but this book rather brought it out in me. The book is written using archaic words and phrases, which means that it is not for the faint of heart, but the gist of the meaning is always easy to determine. The use of the man Lessingham in the first few chapters is poorly done, but is quickly forgotten in the reading of the book.

Overall, let me say that this book does not read like any other fantasy book I have ever read, not even Lord of the Rings. The author's use of the language, combined with style of telling, gives the story the feel of an epic, such as the Iliad. This book is quite rightly considered one of the classics of fantasy literature, and it is something that every fantasy-lover should read.

One of the best fantasy books ever written
The Lord of the Rings has had such an effect upon Fantasy, particularily Epic Fantasy, that a lot of people consider it to have been invented then. The existence of authors such as Eddison, Dunsany and others refutes that and yet they have never been as popular as Tolkein or even Lewis with his insipidly bland Narnia series and so are often unread. The Fantasy Masterworks series aims to change that and a good thing too.

I first was directed to this book by a throwaway remark by Fritz Leiber in the introduction to his "Swords and Deviltry", the first book in his Lankhmar series (reprinted in the Fantasy Masterwork series as "The First Book of Lankhmar", and well worth getting, another 5 star book but Sword and Sorcery, not Epic Fantasy, so different in tone.) Because Leiber referred to it, I assumed it must be good and so I tracked it down and read it, c. 20 years ago. I was immediately impressed by how good a book it was.

It can be criticised. The book is written in Old (thou, thee, spake unto him, etc) the putative setting on Mercury is ridiculous given modern knowledge, the names of the Nations as Witches, Demons, Imps, Pixies, etc, names drawn from myth and legend yet having no connection at all to their legendary source - all these are faults, and there are others. Tolkein criticised Eddison's naming schemes as being ridiculous and having no structure (read LOTR to see how it's possible to go a little too far the other way) and he is right. And the ending is terrible.

So why the 5 stars? Because if ever a book was greater than the sum of its parts, was able to transcend its flaws and become literature, this is it. It is quite simply one of the most magnificent works of Epic Fantasy ever written. The archaic language is not too clumsy to stop the flow of the story, perhaps even enhances it (and I don't usually like archaic language, I'm trying to modernise "The Faerie Queeen"), we can ignore or suspend modern knowledge of Mercury, the Nations' names are a minor irritant as are the people's. And we don't get to the ending until the end (obviously) and so there is the whole story to get through first. Eddison takes us on a wild journey, a magical quest, a war between two great nations and a tale of unrequited love all in one volume. It leaves you breathless and overcome and ready even to forgive him the ending. I don't often give books five stars and the fact that I've given this one five despite all the flaws should tell you about the power of the story. Everyone should read this book.

The Worm Ouroboros is a wonder; a charm; rich with delight
Mr. E.R.Eddison's master-work, the Worm Ouroboros, is without peer; but the heady and voluptuous beauty of his rich prose, alas, shall find few readers able to admire it. In a word, this book is for the few to whom fantasy means phantasmagorical, noble, ornamental, awe-striking, wondrous. His book is all this, and is like no other. The main action of the book takes place on Mercury, where and Earthly visitor, in a dream, witnesses the titanic war between two mighty kingdoms of that planet. There were never villains so black and pure of quill as the tyrannous King Gorice XII of Carce and his crew. Lord Gro, his henchman, cannot rest from intrigue and treason; the Lords Corsus, Corund and Corinius are tipplers, drunks, gamblers, lechers, and yet stern fighting-men and deadly both on battle-field and sea-fight.

In contrast, the Lords Juss, Spitfire, Gouldry Blazsco and Brandoch Daha are great and noble in a way never seen these days, and rarely seen erenow. They are men of honor, bold in emprise, valiant and fierce as hawks, but well-spoken, gentlemen first and last. To climb the unclimbed mountain at the end of the world, or to wrestle unto death a King for possession of a kingdom, or to rescue a brother from the pale regions of the dead, were all one matter to them; they flinch at nothing. Great wars, opulent prose, women of beauty without compare, bold princes, splendor, horrors stirred up from the pit by unlawful grammery, treasons, escapes, sword-fights, beauties to pierce the heart, all are here in this book: but this book is not meant for all.