The Redemption of Althalus

Rating:
Summary: Humorus, Witty, and Exciting
Review: This is the only Eddings book I have read and I can only hope for a sequel of this book. It tells about a theif named Althalus who is sent to steal the book of Deiwos from the house at the end of the world. As soon as he gets there a cat approches him and tells him that he has to learn to read and " use" the book. After 2,500 years they go out and prepare against the demon Deava. They have to recruit 4 peole with the help of a sacred Knife which only the chosen can read. They are, a soilder named Eliar,a Arya(queen)named Andie, a priest named Bhiend, a theif named Gher and a mind reader named Leightha. All the characters play a important role in the story. With twists and turnes this book is not one you want to miss if you are a si-fi/fantasy/science fiction fan.

Rating:
Summary: David Eddings, Lite Version
Review: This might be a good book to introduce someone to Edding's writing style, it's all there, little bits of humor and all. It's not as intimidating as four volumes, and it spins along at a good clip. A "seasoned" Edding's fan will be disappointed though. To shorten the long travel times, a device is used. I call it a "T.A.R.D.I.S." which is what the famous time traveler "Dr. Who" rode around in. It looks like a blue phone booth, but "it's bigger on the inside than on the outside". The TARDIS flies through time and space, as does Edding's version, which is simply called "the House". Speaking of time: Two thousand years pass and the kingdoms are still the same kingdoms as before. The general language hasn't shifted, and Althalus can fit right in without any troubles. He doesn't even get lost on roads that weren't around when he was around two thousand years earlier! There are other, quibbling things, but enough's enough. Pick this one up for a quick, light read.

Rating:
Summary: Single Book epic
Review: I have not been reading Eddings for a long time. I have only read a couple books and have not read the early works. I have heard a lot about them and my good friend has explained how they go and how good they are. I plan on reading them. The reason I have this review of Athalus is for the fact that it is getting slammed. It is not a bad book. It is not wondering, but it is a good story and a relatively wuick read. It is trying to be a epic story in one book. Something new for David and Leah to try and I think we need to cut them a little slack on it. They were trying to get a spic story into one book and I think one of the major problems that was enountered is that the the previous epics of Belgariad and Mallorean were written so well that this attempt at a condensing is not being well recieved. People are saying it does not get into enough detail in every aspect because they are basing this on the previous books but they are forgetting that this is intended as a single book and not 4 more coming along so it has got to have a lot less detail. I enjoy it very much. It might not have the indepth epicness of previous works but it is also not trying too either. It is a single story, single book.

Rating:
Summary: Loved it.
Review: I loved it. I bought this book awhile ago, mostly because it was 25% off. I loved it. David and Leigh Eddings write such marvoulous books. You should definitly read this. I couldn't put it down.

Rating:
Summary: Oh my GOD!!!!
Review: I have NEVER quit reading a fantasy book but this is an exception. My first ever fantasy author was Eddings and I lived in the great worlds that he created but many years (and authors)
on I can't believe he could/would write such childism [junk]!.
The book starts off well, good plot/characters but it slowly goes downhill. I wanted to like this book so much 'cause of Eddings other great books but it was like wadding knee deep in thick mud.
Anyone who thought this book was even moderatly good is very very sad.

Rating:
Summary: Subpar Eddings
Review: I am an avid Eddings fan, and I was disappointed with this book. It appeared to me that maybe the book was released a bit prematurely. The magic involved was too easy for the good guys, and the bad guys could not do anything right. It was also predictable. The plot was still good, typical Eddings, but the writing was not up to standard. Eddings is a master, I just get the impression that the publisher rushed him on this one.

Rating:
Summary: Cool
Review: Yeah.. it's a cool book... if u r a fan of deddings,
sure... its great, but ifur not, may seem a little...
strange... but overall.. pretty good...
personally, i think d belgariad series are much
much better

Rating:
Summary: Simple, Yet Addictively Written. An Eddings' Fan Must.
Review: What's nice about the Eddings' stories is that they are more like reading prose. Dean Koontz simple they are not. Their syle of writing is compelling enough that the [subjectively] thin, simple storylines become secondary to the well fleshed-out characters. If you liked the Belgariad/Mallorean series, then this is well worth the read.

Rating:
Summary: Being boring
Review: I don't want to base my critisism of this book on it being to similar to previous books by D.E. It's many faults can stand up for themselves pretty good. The first problem is we don't really get to know the charachters until the book is nearly over. Instead, we are just presented with them, a priest, a boy, a thief and so on, and then we're supposed to figure out what kind of persons they are based on our knowledge of Eddings-stereotypes. The second problem is that there is nothing but dialouge for the most part, and it get's extremely boring after a couple of hundred pages or so.
The third problem is that there's just too many people involved. All the chiefs, Exarchs, dukes and shepherds is just too much, there's no way that the reader can separate them.
In his first series, The Belgariad, David Eddings, actually had a story to tell. He did it in a quite original way. The books were filled with humour, something most fantasy seem to lack. In the case of The Belgariad, this was good. Since then, the Eddingses series have just gotten worse by the book, and this new one lacks everything but the humour, and that's pretty horrible.

Rating:
Summary: A decent read, but...
Review: Unfortunatly, this book did not really live up to my expectations. I picked it up hoping for something of Belgariad/Mallorean quality, and, honestly, didn't get it. I didn't really get to know or like the characters, and after the first section, the plot went from interesting to disappointing. This book did have the benefit of having very talented authors, but even they do not have the ability to cram what could be a series as long as the Belgariad into one book.