The flawed yet poetic prose masterpiece of the twentieth century… This is one of those books’s that either ensnares a reader completely or deters them within the space of 50 pages. For the persistent among us the rewards are of magnificent splendour, as in the course of 578 pages the reader is taken on a sublime literary trip. This is a book I hold in great esteem, not only for the pleasure it gave while I read it, but for the lasting contortion of vivid imagery it left within me.
Written in 1922, it was considered by many to be the only work comparable to Lord of the Rings when that work was published. Yet instead of drawing from past myths, the Worm Ouroboros was crafted in an entirely different way. This is a book like no other; it does however have a very unconventional beginning, as we witness a normal man Lessingham being whisked off to the planet Mercury, with this being the setting for the rest of the book. After that we hear nothing of this initial character, this nonsensical act aside, the book swiftly becomes a masterpiece of literature, through the author E.R.Eddison essentially being completely drunk on the English language as well as fantasy.
The world into which we are submerged is an incredible creation, made even more so by Eddison’s use of language, which is such an archaic style, it’s at once rich and melodious, epic and subtle. You will often spot within the text famous speeches from Shakespearean or Elizabethan poetry, and the way they are woven makes it all so incredible. It’s as an epic literary transformation, to use the language and words of a previous era, and so artfully incorporate them, it simply adds up to being the best prose I’ve read, and that’s when there all speaking poetry, madness I tell you!
The central plot is one of a feud that occurs between the noble demon lord’s Juss, Brandoch Daha, Goldry Bluszco and Spitfire and the witches represented by King Gorice XI along with his various rowdy henchmen. When challenged to an wrestling contest with Goldry, the present king of Witchland is killed, his successor takes power, and the new King, Gorice XII, promptly uses his magic to imprison Goldry, thus a war begins between Demons and Witches.
It has its flaws though, in addition to the bizarre Lessingham start, there is a huge amount of Ye olde words being spoken (Thou, thee etc etc) which may put off some, the Witches and Demons don’t actually conform to their names, being as they are all of human stature, and the ending leaves you slightly annoyed to say the least. These flaws aside it has some of most powerful images ever devised, vast gritty battles conceived on a very personnel level, intense nefarious magic, and some sparkling characterisation combine to hold you enthralled.
Noble and beautiful, this is a book full of a weaving poetic prose, a literary masterpiece that everyone needs to at least sample once.
The Worm Ouroboros - 10/10
The flawed yet poetic prose masterpiece of the twentieth century…
It has its flaws though, in addition to the bizarre Lessingham start, there is a huge amount of Ye olde words being spoken (Thou, thee etc etc) which may put off some, the Witches and Demons don’t actually conform to their names, being as they are all of human stature, and the ending leaves you slightly annoyed to say the least. These flaws aside it has some of most powerful images ever devised, vast gritty battles conceived on a very personnel level, intense nefarious magic, and some sparkling characterisation combine to hold you enthralled. 
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