The Pastel City by M John Harrison

That The Pastel City has been considered a classic by so many for so long may be its greatest failing. The one thing apparent in the negative reviews is disappointment: they didn't get the be-all & end-all of fantasy they anticipated. But here's the rub; a book can be a classic for more than one reason.

The Pastel City is, from a plot standpoint, a typical epic fantasy. If you've read Moorcock, Leiber etc., you've a basic idea of what's going to go on here. Love, death, betrayal, lots of nonhuman baddies, lots of human baddies, a brooding hero-type & his overly sanguine friend, a crazy dwarf or two, & lots of stuff blowing up. This is nothing out of the ordinary in epic fantasy. Those who read it looking for a classic of plot will be most disappointed.

What elevates it from its peers is its style. This is a fantasy as written by a true lexiphile, Elric through the lens of John Dryden, or Fafhrd & the Grey Mouser as written by Chaucer. As with most true prose stylists (Cormac McCarthy