emberling Posted March 22, 2006 Share Posted March 22, 2006 I actually thought Althalus was okay when it came out , if you took it on its own and ignored how derivative it was. Tried to read it as part of my recent nostalgia kick, which included multiple Piers Anthony books and even the Tamuli (though all enjoyment was gone from that after the second book at least), and couldn't get past the first chapter, it was so bad. Funny how tastes change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HimOfTwoFaces Posted April 10, 2006 Share Posted April 10, 2006 The Lord of the Rings was the first fantasy series I'd ever read. The Belgariad was, I think, the second. I would have been 13 or 14 at the time. All I can say is, if this was supposed to be Eddings when he was still "good," I shudder to think what his writing is like now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seventh Pup Posted April 10, 2006 Share Posted April 10, 2006 Eddings was a good author for me when I was 11. I like that some before me called his writings warm and cozy. He uses nothing particularly original, but his reads are genuinely fun for a young reader new to the genre. Though I also have no desire to read them as an adult By the way the worst fantasy author ever is Goodkind it is known.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vercint Posted April 10, 2006 Share Posted April 10, 2006 I didn't think Althalus was so bad... but then I was still only fifteen when it came out. At least it was different from the Belgariad and that stuff. His latest series 'the Dreamers' though... now that truly is the worst series ever written... possibly excepting Feist's latest. At least Eddings doesn't pretend to be serious anymore, the way Feist does. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolf Girl Posted April 10, 2006 Share Posted April 10, 2006 Ha....this just came to me. What would happen if Ce'Nedra and Cersei were to meet. Now there would be a match....I can see the sparks now. Yeah, the sparks of the slow fire Cersei roasts Ce'Nedra over while mixing up the dipping sauce. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derfel Cadarn Posted April 10, 2006 Share Posted April 10, 2006 I love the Belgariad and the Mallorean, other than C.S Lewis, Lloyd Alexander and The Hobbit I didn't start fantasy until I was 19 (almost 8 years ago). Eddings was my seconf fantasy author (my first was Feist, this was just when he started to write crap). I've read the Belgariad and Mallorean about 10 times and still enjoy it as light entertainment and prefer it to LotR. The characters are fun, especially Silk. I liked how Zakath starts off as a genocidal maniac in The Belgariad but becomes one of the good guys in Mallorean. I really liked book 1 of the Elenium and liked the rest of the series. I can tolerate The Tamuli. But The Redemption of Althalus... It starts off semi-promising, I liked the idea of a thief being the main character. And then he becomes a Belgarath clone. And then Eddings takes all the crap aspects from his earlier books and turnes it into the Redemption of Althalus. He takes bits and pieces of characters from his earlier books and pastes them in, making them even duller than they were in the Tamuli. He clearly couldn't be bothered writing much dialogue so he just copied and pasted "Be nice, dear" every four sentences. The bad guys, never really Eddings' strong suit in terms of actually threatening the characters are so inept they barely make the heroes break a sweat. I tthink the only reason they are in the book is to allow Eddings the chance to make his characters even more smug and self-congratulatory than they would be without villains in it. You could remove the villains and barely notice the difference. I've not read anything he's written since and probably never will. Redemption of Althalus? When are we getting the Redemption of Eddings? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crates of Thebes Posted April 10, 2006 Share Posted April 10, 2006 Never read Althalus and never will. After having spent much of my youth reading his Belgariad/Mallorean (essentially the same story told twice) and the Elenium/Tamuli (again, the same story told twice, with basically the same cardboard characters of the first two series) and the prequel Sorcerer/Sorceress novels I was fed up. Perhaps it is because LotR is the first fantasy series I ever read, but while enjoyable when I was young, Eddings is just too repetitive and formulaic; even worse than Brooks (who I've read all but the newer Shannara books, even First King). Certainly, when Althalus came out, I thought it looked even worse than his regulard drivel. I don't hate him, I just don't think he's worth reading. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stonehelm Posted April 10, 2006 Author Share Posted April 10, 2006 Never read Althalus and never will. After having spent much of my youth reading his Belgariad/Mallorean (essentially the same story told twice) and the Elenium/Tamuli (again, the same story told twice, with basically the same cardboard characters of the first two series) and the prequel Sorcerer/Sorceress novels I was fed up. Perhaps it is because LotR is the first fantasy series I ever read, but while enjoyable when I was young, Eddings is just too repetitive and formulaic; even worse than Brooks (who I've read all but the newer Shannara books, even First King). Certainly, when Althalus came out, I thought it looked even worse than his regulard drivel. I don't hate him, I just don't think he's worth reading. You mentioned the two prequels; Belgarath the Sorcerer and Polgara the Sorceress....I actually liked these two books more than any other Eddings book. They were novels that dealt with the history of that world and they covered a lot of ground. They were novels and not drug out plots, that kept repeating themselves. Not sure if I would be able to explain my thoughts on these two books, but I actually might read them again someday. This thread almost died but I am glad it didnt....because now I want to talk about these two books. Come one and all and share your thoughts about the two prequel books that Eddings did. (and the Rivan Codex, if you want) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derfel Cadarn Posted April 10, 2006 Share Posted April 10, 2006 Belgarath the Sorceror was the first Eddings book I read and couldn't put it down. I lvoed the scale of it, covering 7000 years of history. The next day I bought the Belgariad. I quite like Polgara the Sorceress but not as much as Belgarath. For one thing it not only starts 4000 years later, it also covers much of the same ground as Belgarath. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted April 10, 2006 Share Posted April 10, 2006 I think enjoyment of both Brooks and Eddings is dependent on whether you read them before or after Lord of the Rings. I read Sword of Shannara and Belgariad before LotR and enjoyed them. However, afterwards, they just seemed so inane and, in Brooks' case, blatantly ripped-off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazzlebane Posted April 10, 2006 Share Posted April 10, 2006 Blatantly ripped off? Allanon was a druid, not a wizard/maia, that's completely different! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HimOfTwoFaces Posted April 10, 2006 Share Posted April 10, 2006 Eddings was a good author for me when I was 11. I like that some before me called his writings warm and cozy. He uses nothing particularly original, but his reads are genuinely fun for a young reader new to the genre. Did nobody else find them a bit racist? You mentioned the two prequels; Belgarath the Sorcerer and Polgara the Sorceress....I actually liked these two books more than any other Eddings book. These two were disappointing to me. I was hoping to see them actually learn the stuff they knew in the main series, and gradually develop over time. Instead, it seemed like one minute they were Garath/Young Polgara and the next they were Ancient Belgarath/Holy Polgara, equipped with full knowledge. Maybe it's just because I read LotR first, like Werthead said, but I really can't see how anyone could defend these books while bashing, say, Harry Potter or the Wheel of Time series. (Not that I consider either of those works masterpieces. They're just two series subject to a great deal of bashing on these forums that I consider far superior to the Belgariad, which isn't saying much.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faceless Man Posted April 10, 2006 Share Posted April 10, 2006 The Belgariad and Mallorean were the first books that got me into fantasy as a young kid. I never really liked any of his other books though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seventh Pup Posted April 10, 2006 Share Posted April 10, 2006 I think enjoyment of both Brooks and Eddings is dependent on whether you read them before or after Lord of the Rings. I read Sword of Shannara and Belgariad before LotR and enjoyed them. However, afterwards, they just seemed so inane and, in Brooks' case, blatantly ripped-off. I not sure about that. I had the Hobbit and LotR read to me when I was 9-10. After that I read the Lloyd Alexander's work, and then I found Brooks and Eddings. I enjoyed both. But then I was about 10-11 at the time. While I have reread The Pryden series as an adult as well as LotR and enjoyed them both; I have never had a huge desire to reread Eddings or Brooks. I think they are books for a younger audience who isn't overly critical. As a kid authors like Eddings and Brooks can entertain because they have swords and magic; as an adult you really start pay more attention to the story and characters and so they fall from grace. Where as Pryden and LotR still satisfy because they more then just glamour to them. At least that's how I see it. Did nobody else find them a bit racist? Can't say that I did. But it's been over ten years since I read Eddings. What parts did you find racist? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faceless Man Posted April 10, 2006 Share Posted April 10, 2006 It's not like we want junior-high kids reading Martin!!! I read AGoT in 6th grade... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faceless Man Posted April 10, 2006 Share Posted April 10, 2006 And you weren't permanently scarred by the incest, the attempted murder of a child, or the random violence? I think it's a bit much for the average 12 year old to feel comfortable with, that's all. I loved it. Best books I've ever read. I'm still only 14. Love 'em. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vagrancy Posted April 11, 2006 Share Posted April 11, 2006 Did nobody else find them a bit racist? Yeah actually; it always bothered me how strictly characterized (stereotyped?) each of the nationalities were, and the fact that it was rare to find exceptions to the rules; Algars all loved horses, Arends were all idiots, Tolnedrans all love money, and people from Cherek all love bashing each other's heads in. I can't recall at the moment, but was there even one decent Murgo in either the Belgariad or Malloreon? I have to admit that when I read these books for the first time (I was twelve), though all that did register somewhat, it didn't interfere unduly with my enjoyment of the books; they were exciting and funny, and they were my 'gateway' books to the world of grown-up fantasy. Althalus I thought was okay, but I read it with a certain sense of nostalgia; from almost the first page I knew that this book would follow the same pattern that every Eddings book has ever followed, so it was more like a re-read. It still took me at least ten tries to get through it though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galactus Posted April 11, 2006 Share Posted April 11, 2006 King Urgit's mother and steward were portrayed as decent people, IIRC, as did his wife-to-be. But yeah, they're terrible racist in that regard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oneeye Posted April 11, 2006 Share Posted April 11, 2006 I liked B/M and E/T. I even liked the redemption. Haven't read any of his new stuff. Silk is one of my favorite characters ever, kinda like LF but with a heart. The main problem though is once you got past king of the murgos in mallorean.... a certain formula was followed, every time. Kinda sad because I thought belgeriad and first 2 in mallorean were brilliant. But then it was always the same.. But definitely warm cozy childhood feelings... I wonder what new readers of today think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stonehelm Posted April 12, 2006 Author Share Posted April 12, 2006 Silk is one of my favorite characters ever, kinda like LF but with a heart. Haha...you know what, I think I agree with you. I had never really thought about it, but Silk does kind of remind me of LF. Although, I dont think Silk really has that big of a heart, he just keeps good company. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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