Rating: 
Summary: Not One Of His Best
Review: I picked up this book thinking I was in for a treat. An author I enjoyed and a compact novel, without having to read through an entire series to see how thing ended. What a disappointment! The character of the gods in the stories is really a disappointment. They give humans the abilities to do all of these great things (time travel) but why do that? Why not just take care of things themselves? The evil characters are so stupid as to be totally unbelievable. The other characters are very one dimensional and very much sterotypes. About midway through the book, I simply gave up. I usually hate to do that after I had already invested so much time but I just did not see any benefit to finishing the book.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I love David Eddings - "The Belgariad" series are among the most loved books of my vast collection, and so I purchased this book with frank expectation of a good read.It starts out well - our hero is well drawn and we are interested in his experiences. The other characters are introduced and we become interested in them as well. But somehow it just runs out of steam from there, and by the end I was simply pleased to be finished (I confess I did finish because I am one of those people who perservere unless a book is truly atrocious). Overall I was very disappointed. It is evident that Edding's still has the gift as the characters are well cast and interesting, but the battles are too long, and by the end I didn't care what happened to any of them. Stick to his earlier, far superior works.
Rating: 
Summary: Cliff note style a disappointment
Review: I am a past Eddings fan and have always enjoyed his plots and characters, but this book was a disappointment. He had so many characters, plots and subplots that it read like a cliff note edition of a 6 book series. I wish I had been given a chance to know the characters better and to be in suspence before he changed subplots yet again.
Rating: 
Summary: Had to add my thoughts
Review: Mostly everything has already been said about this book. It is an insult and has seriously compromised Mr. Eddings literary legacy. Those who give this book positive reviews are simply being loyal to a once talented writer. Most of his fans feel betrayed by this horrible book and I for one will think twice about giving his work another chance.
Rating:
Summary: What is this?
Review: I have been a big David Eddings fan for awhile and I love the Belgariad and the Mallorean series. So, when this new book came out, I rushed to buy the book and after a few hundred pages, I was so disappointed and disgruntled that I could not finish it. It seems to me that the authors are rehashing their old themes, and this time they did it in a very unimaginative and terrible way. For example, the Arends in the Belgariad and Mallorean series appeared to have resurfaced in the new book as the Arums. Characters are still being led around to do various little things by god-like beings, if not by the gods themselves. The writing, while not necessarily bad, did not keep me wanting to read more. All in all, I was terribly disappointed with this book. I'm probably better off re-reading the old series a few more times.
Rating:
Summary: Starts right - soon turns wrong
Review: The first 100 odd pages of Redemption of Althalus held a lot of promise, and that's probably the only reason I stuck with it through the other 600 pages. It was just starting to build some plot and character when it all started to go down hill fast. Like other reviewers I felt there was little character development and all the characters and conversations were just a rehash from other Eddings works. The good guys were all chummy and light hearted - the bad guys came across as more crazy than evil, and because of that there was never any emotion created that the bad guys would win and the world would go to hell. What's more, evil capitulated rather too easily at times and the ending was a major anticlimax. But what really annoyed me about this book was the over-influence of the God-like character. In other works by the Eddings they have got it right - the hero fights, makes decisions and wins the day with a bit of minor advice from a higher power. In Redemption of Althalus, the busy-body God stepped in every time to turn the tide - even at the very end in the final showdown. Althalus doesn't come across as a hero because he hardly has to raise a finger in his own defence or deal with any problems - Emmy is always there with devine intervention. And the addition of time travel opens up a whole new can of worms that is too complicated for the style this book is written in. Really this story needed to be expanded into a series so that the plot, characters and action could have been developed to their potential. On the bright side, Redemption is very easy to read and it's not something you have to struggle through. I think all Eddings fans should read it just to get an idea of how good authors can screw up now and then.
Rating:
Summary: The worst of the bunch
Review: The Redemption of Althalus is one of the worst books I have ever had the misfortune to have finished. I kept hoping it would get better, but from the point where Althalus calls a cat "Emmy" it goes progressively downhill to a silly end. This book is about as formula as it gets and you can practically see where the authors cut and pasted whole paragraphs from the Tamuli and Elenium books. The only justification I can think of for this pile of conversation salad is that David and Leigh must be under contract and are trying to get out of it. I urge other readers not to take this book as any indication of what David and Leigh are capable of, it is very inferior to other books that the duo have written.
Rating:
Summary: Very disappointed
Review: Unfortunately, I am forced to agree with those who didn't like this book. I am a BIG Eddings fan and have read (and reread) the Belgariad/Malloreon and the Elenium/Talium more times than I can count and loved them all. I bought The Redemption of Althalus with a great deal of enthusiam and optimism. However, I found the book to be boring in the extreme. The characters weren't the least bit interesting, there wasn't much in the way of conflict, and it really seemed like Eddings was rushing to get everything into one book. I would definitely NOT recommend this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Sure it`s contrived, but what did you expect, EarthSea?
Review: The Redemption of Althalus was the first fantasy novel I read in years, and for new (or dormant) readers, it`s a good starting point that will beckon readers to explore Eddings`s own Belgariad. That`s not to mention exploring Middle-Earth and a vast plain of other new lands as well (take a chance)! Sure, some of us have seen these adventures before, but when did we forget the meaning of the word FUN in our fantasy literature? Hey, a Hot Goddess, A clan of soldiers that can make William Wallace proud, the two most gullible pair of secondary characters this side of Rosencrantz and Gildenstern, and to think that the baddies would have gotten away with it if it hadn`t been for "those meddling kids"! If you have not experienced this book yet, enjoy the ride. For all you pundits out there, hang down your hair every now and then. It`s no Game of Thrones, but new readers have to start somewhere, don`t they?
Rating:
Summary: Another reason to hate this book
Review: Ok, Most everything that has been said about this book already has, but I've found one more reason to hate it. Beyond the inane dialog (not only inane, but copied from previous works), the photocopied characters, and the poor description, I'd like to bring up a beef with Edding's "philosophy". He makes fun of Christianity at many points throughout the book and touts his own "philosophy" that is completely self contradictory. There is this epic battle between good and evil, bad guys and good guys and God says something along the lines of "it doesn't matter what you believe as long as you believe in something." I know that some people actually believe this, and I'm OK with that, but in said epic battle it really is just stupid. Anyway, my advice is to stay as far away from this book as possible. You would be wasting your time and money.
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