The Worm Ouroboros

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.


The Worm Ouroboros is a wonder; a charm; rich with delight   June 5, 2005
John C. Wright (Centreville, VA)
7 out of 7 found this review helpful

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.


Tolkein or Eddison   December 3, 2003
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

On the back of almost every modern edition of the Worm ouroborous you'll see that the book is compared to Lord of the Rings. The comparison is inevitable and understandable but unfair. The Worm Ouroborous is fueled by a deeper philosophical intellect, an intellect pagan and mystic rather than christian. Yet like Lord of the Rings it will draw you in to a world so authentic and insular that you will not want return to your own. Everything will seem drab after you have followed the adventurers of the Demon Lord Juss and Brandoch Daha seeking their brother hero Goldry across the widest fantastical world ever imagined.

If you consider Sauron the ultimate evil you may well be right. But Sauron is an abstraction - you will meet the wicked face to face in this wonderful book and you will be forced to do one of two things - give up baffled and bored or come to believe that Eddison is the greatest author of fantasy the world has produced.

If you like Tolkein, Lindsay, Morris and Dunsany you will not want to die without reading The Worm Ouroborous.


A fantasy novel of epic proportions   February 6, 2003
Kurt A. Johnson (Marseilles, IL USA)
7 out of 7 found this review helpful

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.