Citadel of Forgotten Myths

This Elric of Melniboné book is in three parts, with the first two self-contained short stories which feature a good amount of action and get to the point quickly, the third a large novella set in the city of Kirinmoir with a society based on magical honey, of all things. This last part plodded for me, with much manufactured conflict expressed in long sections of dialogue making it feel like the weakest part of the book. The setup was adequate, with the priestesses of Kirinmoir guarding the secret of the bees as they produce their honey with one magical additional component, with gods and goddesses fighting over the territory for reasons I thought hard to fathom, and with Elric coming back from a low point until he can pull things together and start wielding his cursed blade. He's not exactly a one-trick pony, but that runeblade does account for an oversized portion of his character compared to other Moorcock heroes. The trouble with the novella was the execution, and if it were the only story in the book I might have rated it at just two stars. Despite its shortcomings, the ornate and slightly overwrought prose used to convey the fantastic settings and characters is worth experiencing as a contrast to other swords and sorcery tales which focus their energies in other directions. It was not quite as hard to get through as the Conan book I read three years ago ([b:The Bloody Crown of Conan|21063|The Bloody Crown of Conan (Conan the Cimmerian, #2)|Robert E. Howard|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1330203466l/21063.SY75.jpg|2355685]) but I did have to work at it harder than I would have preferred.

I received an advance reader's copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for sharing this review.