The Sword and Laser discussion

No spoilers here.

I accidentally finished the entire book very quickly and am several chapters into the next one: The Fortress of the Pearl (since the version I bought has four books).

I agree with Tom that this book has well-travelled themes and may not seem particularly original to 21st Century fantasy readers. Having been forewarned, however, I found this quick read to be quite delightful and fun.

I’m finding the characters and style to be similar to the Witcher books, almost “Witcher light” without the depth of character development and not nearly as many orgies (at least not as many as the TV show lol).

Considering that these books were written a couple decades before the Witcher books, I’m wondering if our dear ol’ Elric may have served as a major inspiration for Geralt of Rivia (white hair, pale skin, brooding, lots of side-quests…) Did anyone else get similar vibes?

Definitely continuing on to finish this Volume 1.

Haven’t read Witcher yet, but I too sped through Elric of Melniboné! Loved it and will continue the series.

I agree that it's a quick and fun read! It's not really challenging, and has some fun ideas. Like a lot of the stories in that era, because of the way they were being published, I think you kind of had to slowly dribble out some of the more detailed world building, or else risk boring your audience with too much infodump.

WRT Elric vs Geralt, I think any story that leans Sword and Sorcery (and I think Witcher qualifies there) couldn't help but draw inspiration from the classics of the genre in the same way that most high fantasy draws inspiration from Tolkien and his successors. There's certainly more than a passing similarity between the two characters, but I haven't read enough of either to really make an informed argument unfortunately.

I think I'll get around to reading more, especially since they are pretty quick reads, but the thing this book has mainly provoked in me is a desire to go back and read the Fafhrd & Gray Mouser books again!

Tim wrote: "...the thing this book has mainly provoked in me is a desire to go back and read the Fafhrd & Gray Mouser books again!"

I had never actually heard of Fafhrd & Gray Mouser before. Thanks for mentioning - I will have to check them out!

Stephanie wrote: "Haven’t read Witcher yet, but I too sped through Elric of Melniboné! Loved it and will continue the series."

My son and I loved the first season of Witcher on Netflix so we decided to read the books before season two came out. We loved the books for the most part but were disappointed with season two of the show...

Anyway, Elric reminds me of Witcher a lot.

Buzz wrote: "Tim wrote: "...the thing this book has mainly provoked in me is a desire to go back and read the Fafhrd & Gray Mouser books again!"

I had never actually heard of Fafhrd & Gray Mouser before. Thank..."

Fafhrd and Gray Mouser we really foundational to fantasy. These books are great with some real moral complexity without making the protagonists real a-holes. They make a guest appearance in Clour of Magic.

Theft of Swords borrows heavily from the, as well.