From archive (archive) Subject: Re: Reviews/Opinions on new Eddings: "Guardian of the West"? Keywords: Well, has anyone read it? From: b2@faline.UUCP Date: 28 Apr 87 14:17:55 GMT I posted this a couple of weeks ago, but I don't think it made it out since no other Eddings article has mentioned this one. Apologies to those who have seen this before. b2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ** WARNING WARNING SPOILERS ** Capsule Review: A disappointing mix of cardboard characters, obvious plot twists, trite dialog, and nostalgic sentiment. There is no excuse for buying this turkey in hardcover; get it from the library or wait till one of your less fortunate frieds throws their copy into the trash. Longer (but not too long) Review: The Belgariad series by David Eddings was good enough to garner a small following of not-to-picky admirers, including myself. The first two books were the best, by the 5th and last Eddings' weaknesses with characterization and dialogue were becoming apparant, as well as a tendency to throw in new concepts and characters, such as the fenlings and magic (vs. sorcery), with little justification or benefit. Guardian of the West, unfortuately, picks up where the Belgariad left off. All the main characters from the series have at least two opportunities to mouth the exact same phrases they used time and time again in the earlier series. Eddings does reuse dialog by having other characters say something or assume some expression usually reserved for someone else. Character growth? Possibly some in Errand, after all, where can you go with a boy that speaks only one word? Some in Belgarion, none in anyone else, not even the 4000+ year old ex-virgin Polgara. Getting laid didn't change her a bit. Oh yeah, almost all living (and non-living-but-not-exactly-dead) minor characters have at least one scene. Hence the nostalgia that one is supposed to feel. Errand is undoubtedly the focus of this new series, but he gets lost in the shuffle since Eddings is forced to keep track of the comings and goings of all the old characters as they wander around from place to place. Instead of tight group of characters all traveling together you have all sorts of little groups off on their own. It's not very cohesive. As for the plot, it's weak. Very weak. Very Very weak. Full of holes too. Errand has these incredible powers, and everyone knows about them, but do they use them intelligently? NO. Do the sorcerors demonstrate new abilities commensurate with those shown before? Do they make statements and show abilities consistent with the earlier books? NO. One example will suffice: Ce-Nedra informs Belgarion their son has been kidnapped through her amulet. What does he do? Turns himself into a falcon, for the first time, and FLIES hundreds of miles to Riva. Why didn't he use the shadow trick to return immediately and capture the kidnappers before they left the island? That would have been too easy. I could go on, but you get the point. This book isn't worth the $16.95 or so it costs. Wait till it's out in paperback, then wait until you can find it for .50 at a used bookstore. Then you will be getting what you pay for. b2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Since I posted this someone challenged critics to predict what would happen during the series. A couple of items are rather obvious: Silk will fall in love with the female spy, Beldin and the Nadrak woman will come to some sort of agreement. I will put myself out on a limb and predict that Beldin will turn out to be a bad guy, or at least a double agent -- there are clues that he is not totally what he seems. But all in all, I am not particularly interested in this series or the author any more. From archive (archive) Subject: New Eddings From: pae@cos.com (Paul A. Ebersman) Organization: Corporation for Open Systems, McLean, VA Date: 3 May 89 14:50:25 GMT I haven't seen anyone else mention it, so here goes. Eddings, David: "The Diamond Throne" #1 of new trilogy I have only read 350 of 450 pages, but I like it. Character development is somewhat weak (stock characterizations on minor characters, slow development of major characters) and you will undoubtedly recognize certain characters (Errand, for instance), but the tone is different than the previous two series. Also, new theory of how magic works. Overall, definite must for Eddings fans; more worth reading than the second series for others. -- Paul A. Ebersman @ Corporation for Open Systems pae@cos.COM or pae%cos.com@uunet.uu.net or {uunet, sundc, hadron}!cos!pae ( The difference between practice and theory in practice is always greater than the difference between practice and theory in theory. ) From rec.arts.sf.written Mon Feb 15 15:37:27 1993 Path: lysator.liu.se!isy!liuida!sunic!lunic!eru.mt.luth.se!enterpoop.mit.edu!gatech!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!darwin.sura.net!sgiblab!rpal.rockwell.com!news.cs.indiana.edu!umn.edu!csus.edu!netcom.com!dani From: dani@netcom.com (Dani Zweig) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written Subject: Eddings: Domes of Fire -- Speculation (minor spoilers) Message-ID: <1993Feb14.171642.4399@netcom.com> Date: 14 Feb 93 17:16:42 GMT Organization: Netcom Online Communications Services (408-241-9760 login: guest) Lines: 61 I read Eddings's "Domes of Fire" -- the first novel in his 'Tamuli' trilogy. (Don't look at me like that. I knew what I was doing. I found myself in desperate need of some good fluff to read, and Lord knows, this qualifies!) Reading a new Eddings novel is a lot like rereading an old one -- something I've done often enough. Domes of Fire opens a few years after the end of the Ellenium. There is considerable unrest in the land. Social unrest is being stirred up, and there seems to be some unsavory magic at work. Then an envoy arrives from the next continent over (think of it as 'boundless Malloria' and you'll get the general idea) to ask for help: The same troubles are at work there. The rest, as they say (or, if they don't, they ought to), is travelogue, as our party of heroes sight-sees and banters its way across that continent, to the court of the Tamuli emperor. Sure enough, some force -- the evidence suggests that both mortals and divinities are at work -- is stirring up trouble. The first book ends with a decision to recover Bhelliom -- the sapphire rose they went to all that trouble to ditch at the end of the Ellenium. Speculation time. Pulling together the following observations: -- It was the Styric wizard Zalasta who suggesting asking Sparhawk for help -- Zalasta virtually threw a fit when he found out that Sparhawk no longer had Bhelliom -- I'm reasonably sure that the 'h' in 'Bhelliom' is silent -- The decision to retrieve Bhelliom is made against Aphrael's better judgment -- Ehlana takes an instant dislike to Zalasta -- I'm inclined to consider the 'h' in Ehlana silent as well -- Aphrael decides, on intuition, not to trust Zalasta with her secret -- Zalasta's magic is theurgic -- he calls upon a God or Goddess -- It is a Styric peculiarity that different Styrics worship different Gods or Goddesses from among the thousand Younger Gods, and it seems to be poor manners to ask which -- At the end of Domes of Fire, Sparhawk's latest nemesis makes an apparently unmotivated appearance to tell himwhat God he is facing, and to tell him that all he has encountered so far has been meant only to test him -- There is evidence that there is a traitor in their midst ===> As you've doubtlessly gathered, my conclusion is that Zalasta is their traitor, that he worked to bring Sparhawk over because he wanted to get his hands on Bhelliom, and that there is a good chance that it's not one of the Styric Gods that he's calling upon to work his spells. ----- Dani Zweig dani@netcom.com God helpe the man so wrapt in Errours endless traine -- Edmund Spenser Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed2.news.luth.se!luth.se!uio.no!newsfeedZ.netscum.dQ!netscum.int!cpk-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!nycmny1-snh1.gtei.net!news.gtei.net!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!dreaderd!not-for-mail Sender: wex@deepspace.media.mit.edu From: arenn@urbanophile.com Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Approved: wex@media.mit.edu Subject: Review: The Belgariad and The Mallorean by David Eddings Organization: GNU's Not Unix! Date: 05 Aug 2000 17:02:28 -0400 Message-ID: X-Newsreader: Gnus v5.7/Emacs 20.4 Lines: 196 NNTP-Posting-Host: deepspace.media.mit.edu X-Trace: dreaderd 965509351 9434 18.85.23.65 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.sf.reviews:2775 The Belgariad and the Mallorean series by David Eddings Review Copyright (c) 2000 Aaron M. Renn Conclusion: Worth Reading I suppose these are books that could be held up as cannoncial examples of Bad Fantasy. Both five volume series contain utterly predictable epic quests that are so full of bad cliches it isn't funny. I won't even bother telling you what they are about. They seemed to be big sellers though and obviously since I bought the second series in hardcover, I must have liked them pretty well at the time. I attribute my lack of disgust at these books to a couple of factors. First, this is the ultimate mind candy. You simply do not have to engage a single brain cell to read these books, even if you haven't read them before. Thus they are perfect for when you are suffering from exactly the sort of malaise I've been in. Despite being two five volume series, they are very fast reading. I think I re-read the first five books in two days without really trying. Another thing I sort of like are the characters. Not all of them, mind you, but some of them. Silk for one, the Drasnian spy who is the ultimate smooth operator. I've always liked such characters, I think because secretly that's what I wanted to be. When I was a kid, I loved those "Great Brain" books by John D. Fitzgerald because I imagined myself a smooth operator like young blackmailer Tom. Heck, I still like those books! I like the Stainless Steel Rat books for the same reason. This is pure escapism, imagining yourself the ultra-competent hero, but one who is a smartass and rogue at the same time. Other characters struck me for similar reasons. Eddings is able to use the differences among his stereotypical motley crew to some humorous effect. There are a few things in these books that are so bad it is almost funny. Before ending this review, I can't resist mentioning a few of them to give you a flavor. These could be considered SPOILERS, so beware. . . . . . . . In the first series, there is a character called Durnik who is supposed to be "The Man with Two Lives." Everybody knows this, yet at the end when he dies - thus ending his first life - everybody is sad and acts like it is the end of the world. Hello!? Of course he is going to get resurrected. There are the Good Guys and the Bad Guys. The chief good guy is called "The Child of Light" and the chief bad guy "The Child of Dark." The interesting thing is that the bad guy calls himself (or herself as the case may be) the Child of Dark. I don't know too many real life evil overlords who basically went around admitting they were evil. This is particularly amusing at the end of the second series, when a woman is forced to choose between the two side, yet agonizes over which one is really good or evil. Hello!? Just ask! The bad guys will tell you who they are. A lot of the good guys enjoy activities that are, well, not very wholesome. They love to get drunk, steal, kill people in fights, etc. To avoid any unpleasant moral dilemmas here, Eddings makes sure that the bad guys are super-duper-evil, going around performing human sacrificies and worshipping demons and such. The two series have the exact same plot. Eddings basically admits this and tries to account for it in the story by saying that when the good side and the dark side split up way back when, history got caught in an infinite loop. This does not, however, account for the two other series Eddings wrote set in a different universe that also have the exact same plot. The super-nice god of the good guys spends his days like a Buddist monk contemplating things too lofty for mortal man. He does this because way back when he and his buddies created the world, he decided not to choose any people for his own, and so didn't have any god-like duties such as watching over them to occupy his time. This left one of the groups of people that got created without a god, and all sorts of nasty stuff happened to them. Hello!? How can this be the good god? I think he's a prick! Why did he create a group of people for himself if he wasn't going to watch over them? There's lots more good stuff where this came from, and these books are almost worth reading for the cornball elements alone. %A Eddings, David %T Pawn of Prophecy %S The Belgariad %V Book 1 %I Del Rey %D 1982-04 %G ISBN 0-345-30997-9 %P 258 pp. %O mass market paperback, US$2.95 %A Eddings, David %T Queen of Sorcery %S The Belgariad %V Book 2 %I Del Rey %D 1982-11 %G ISBN 0-345-30079-3 %P 327 pp. %O mass market paperback, US$2.95 %A Eddings, David %T Magician's Gambit %S The Belgariad %V Book 3 %I Del Rey %D 1983-06 %G ISBN 0-345-30077-7 %P 305 pp. %O mass market paperback, US$2.95 %A Eddings, David %T Castle of Wizardry %S The Belgariad %V Book 4 %I Del Rey %D 1984-05 %G ISBN 0-345-30080-7 %P 374 pp. %O mass market paperback, US$3.50 %A Eddings, David %T Enchanters' End Game %S The Belgariad %V Book 5 %I Del Rey %D 1984-12 %G ISBN 0-345-30078-5 %P 373 pp. %O mass market paperback, US$3.50 %A Eddings, David %T Guardians of the West %S The Mallorean %V Book 1 %I Del Rey %D 1987 %G ISBN N/A (book club edition %P 369 pp. %O hardcover, US$N/A %A Eddings, David %T The King of the Murgos %S The Mallorean %V Book 2 %I Del Rey %D 1987 %G ISBN N/A (book club edition %P 369 pp. %O hardcover, US$N/A %A Eddings, David %T Demon Lord of Karanda %S The Mallorean %V Book 3 %I Del Rey %D 1988 %G ISBN 0-345-33004-8 %P 423 pp. %O hardcover, US$18.95 %A Eddings, David %T Sorceress of Darshiva %S The Mallorean %V Book 4 %I Del Rey %D 1989 %G ISBN 0-345-33005-6 %P 406 pp. %O hardcover, US$19.95 %A Eddings, David %T The Seeress of Kell %S The Mallorean %V Book 5 %I Del Rey %D 1919 (original publication 1991) %G ISBN 0-345-33006-4 %P 399 pp. %O hardcover, US$20.00 Reviewed on 2000-07-30 Aaron M. Renn (arenn@urbanophile.com) http://www.urbanophile.com/arenn/