The Worm Ouroboros

About This Book

Published in 1922, The Worm Ouroboros is a heroic fantasy novel by E. R. Eddison (1882–1945). Set on a version of the planet Mercury (used purely as an exotic stage), it tells of the epic war between the warrior-lords of Demonland and the scheming King Gorice of Witchland, through battles, sorcery, mountain quests, and political intrigue rendered in an extravagant, deliberately archaic prose modeled on Jacobean drama and Norse saga. The novel influenced J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, and later fantasy writers, though its dense style and moral ambiguity set it apart from their work. Ursula K. Le Guin called it the greatest single work of heroic fantasy before Tolkien. The work is in the public domain.

Excerpt

There was a man named Donn Lessingham dwelt in an old low house in Wastdale, set in a gray old garden where yew-trees flourished that had seen Vikings in Copeland in their seedling time.— Opening of The Worm Ouroboros

What Critics Say

The greatest and most convincing writer of invented worlds that I have read.— J.R.R. Tolkien

No writer can be said to remind us of Eddison.— C.S. Lewis

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