Rating: 
Summary: Sorry, it sucks
Review: Although it has the makings of a good story, I found this book almost painful to read. It starts strong, with an intresting charecter, and an interesting situation, but just ruins every little bit of pleasure in reading this book once it introduces the other charecters. Even worse than the predictable story, is the horribly redundant and annoying dialogue. Although I started out liking these characters, by half way through the book I wanted them dead just so I wouldn't have to read their inane chatter. I really think it could have been a fun book to read, if some time had been spent to develop the characters, and to improve their dialogue.
Rating: 
Summary: Once more ...
Review: I loved the Belgariad. Still do. The rest of the books start to repeat the characters and themes. And this is just more of the same old, same old. Still a nice read, especially if you enjoy daja vu! At least this one has some new names (unlike the recent Polgara, etc). I'd love to see these folks try something new (maybe something without any anthropomorphic godlets?)
Rating:
Summary: A good book! For a first time writer with no talent...
Review: Ladies and gentlemen, these other reviewers are lying to you through their teeth! "Eddings does it again!" "A brilliant new Eddings!" "Great work by Eddings!" All of it is LIES. Even the cautious ones, the ones who give three stars, and say "Good but nothing new" or "Could be better" are not going as far as they should. I'm going to tell you the hard truth: The book is awful. I am an Eddings fan, do not get me wrong! His Belgariad/Malloreon series are two of the best EVER fantasy series ever published. The Tamuli series were excellent. But this book is far FAR below the high standard of those works. So far below, it is out of sight. I have a theory. You won't like it, but I think it's true. I think it's Leigh Eddings's fault. I think she is ruining her husband. I know, I KNOW, that David Eddings says he has ALWAYS cowritten with his wife, and he is only now giving her the credit. He is telling, quite obviously, a half-truth. Before, I am convinced, he occassionally asked her for advice. That was it. Now that she is actually REALLY cowriting, it REALLY shows. How? Polgara the Sorceress, the first REAL collaboration, was a sorry, average-quality disappointment after Belgareth. And now THIS. THIS... travesty. THIS... disgrace. THIS... tripe. Why am I being so hard on it? Because it is badly written, poorly conceived, and utterly ridiculous. Let's look at some key points, shall we? 1) Flat characters who never step outside a rigid, cliched definition. Our characters are as follows: A thief, a priest, a princess, a barbarian warrior, a surprising urchin, and a witch. Oooh, how amazingly far from the dull norm Eddings is treading with THIS selection! The dullness extends to the action: They spend more time falling in love - stupid, pointless love - than anything else. 2) The empty landscape. Hey, a whole new world from Eddings! Well folks, don't get your hopes up. It's the size of Maine. It can't be any bigger, because it doesn't take any more than three days for them to get ANYWHERE. Here is my summary of every travel account: "They left. Some tiny random event occurs. They arrive." And nothing is described. Here is my summary of every description of a city: "The city was big. It had walls. And people in it." Am I making a joke? I wish I was, but that's as deep as it ever gets, folks. Badly done, Eddings. How are we supposed to CARE about this world if you don't even tell us what it looks like. 3) Utter lack of action. Remember the grand action sequences from the earlier series? Forget 'em, because they are GONE. In their place is a series of stupid random encounters resolved in idiotic manners. For example, when a villain is encountered, it takes then less than a page, EVER, to defeat them. 4) Completely stupid timeline. Okay, get this. Althalus, our main character, a thief, enters a house and spend 2500 years studying the BOOK OF GOD. After 2500 he emerges to find that NOTHING has changed. Oh, it claims things have changed, but all the cities have the same name, all the customs are the same, all the same gods are worshipped. Not convinced? It's these dumb details that tear this book apart. 5) Lame magic system. Excuse my juvenile language, but that is what it is: Lame. Althalus spends 2500 years learning magic from the BOOK OF GOD. What is this magic system? He SAYS A MAGIC WORDS AND THINGS HAPPEN? So, basically, an "abbra-caddabra" sort of thing, huh? 6) Incorrect title. The title is "The Redemption of Althalus", but there is NO REDEMPTION. Repeat: None. Althalus, and I am begining to repeat myself here, spend 2500 YEARS studying the BOOK OF GOD. Sound grand? Sound mystical? Sound like something that would change a person? Well... IT DOESN'T. Althalus is the SAME person he was went he started reading the book. I'd like to think Eddings wasn't too lazy to change the character any, but I can find no other excuse for this kind of sloppy writing. 7) Inane INANE conversations. Okay, what happened to Eddings? Suddenly he is writing like a 10th grader! FIRST RULE OF WRITING: Take out the words that don't matter. Instead, Eddings takes joy in mercilessly pounding home the most inconsequential of points. Here is my summary of every conversation that takes place: "Is that true?" "Yes, it is true. True, it is. It is not false, let me tell you that. Nope, all true. True true true. The opposite of true is the opposite truth. False... no! I must conclude that without a single shadow of a doubt, with both legs to stand upon, with all my honor and pride, that it is TRUE." IS ALL THAT NECESSARY, EDDINGS?! AND, this is so awful, AND, Eddings REPEATS the point again! Remember how Althalus defeated the mindreader, like I told you about before? Guess what, Althalus TELLS OTHER PEOPLE ABOUT IT AT LEAST TWICE! He repeats the WHOLE BLASTED STORY AGAIN! All I could do when things like this happened was pound my head against a wall. 8) OOh, I haven't even BEGUN... BUT, 1000 word limit. In conclusion: Eddings should be ASHAMED. He is using his good name to sell a piece of rubbish. AND, he may be letting a woman who has no business NEAR a pen actually WRITE a book with him! I'm not telling you not to buy this book, although I wish you wouldn't. I simply want you to WAIT, WAIT for goodness sake, until it reaches mass market paperback and you can get it for 6 bucks. Don't buy it now, for 20. You will SEVERLY regret it, as long as you TAKE A STEP BACK, forget Eddings the Great is writing this, and see it for what it is. A bad, BAD book.
Rating: 
Summary: Return of Eddings
Review: Let me start off by saying that I've been a fan of the Eddings' work for years. My uncle got me into them three of four years ago, and I've been reading and re-reading his series' ever since. I loved Redemption, and read it all in one weekend. Some parts of it were fairly predictable, but nonetheless enjoyable. There have been enough fantasy books written that almost nothing is totally original, but I appreciated both the unique and the "rehashes" in Redemption. As far as I'm concerned he's the best fantasy author out there, and you can see that Redemption is the true culmination of all his years of style development. This book did try to cram a bit, but all things considered, it came out a masterpiece
Rating:
Summary: Loved This Book. . .but. . .
Review: As much as I loved this book and it's characters, personally I don't think it's up to par with Mr. & Mrs. Eddings' previous work. I completely respect their decision not keep writing books about the same characters over and over again. I also think that was the right decision. So I am not lamenting that is was not another Garion or Sparhawk novel. I got the feeling this book was "hurried" that it could have been more than one volume and they simply "made" it one. Perhaps I am being too harsh, I have only read it once and I will again soon to be double sure, but those were my first reactions.
Rating:
Summary: Poor substitute for Eddings at his best.
Review: This is an epic novel - but hardly up to the past standards of characterization that the Eddings have had in the past. I found Althalus a poor stand in for the complexity of Eddings most famous thief - Silk. He does not capture your sense of humor, nor does he exude the urbane humanity that Eddings has done with such skill in the past. Because I came to this novel with the expectations of their first novels, I was sadly disappointed and as a reader remained aloof from what transpired during the story. The plot itself gets muddled down by Eddings most famous theme - Fate. The characters are once again drawn together by a means other than their own and the final relationships are finished up with neat little wedding bows. (Events that were predictable from the first moment you meet each character.) While the time plot is interesting, it gets lost underneath the simplistic use of magic. The world that Eddings creates is actually devoid of magic users (with the exception of a witch or two.) and when Althalus starts throwing people up in the air - his talents are simply accepted by those around him. Within moments of revealing his powers, his companions are "lulled" into a type of obedience that might make the plot simpler to move along - but hardly gives the characters a chance to be individuals. In essence, this creates a certain one dimensional simplicity that flaws all the characters. Even Althalus' love for Em is hardly more than a child expressing affection for it's mother. Yes, for me, certain elements were lacking that left the characters and their relationships flat. This was Eddings greatest gift, but it is not captured within this "stand-alone epic" at all.
Rating:
Summary: Average because it's been done before.
Review: I like David Eddings. I really do. I read the Belgariad until the covers fell off because it had people in it that I enjoyed meeting again and again. The writing was witty and the voices were fairly individualistic. Unfortunately, those voices have not changed appreciably in 12+ books. And that's what makes this book so average. There is nothing new here. Just as the Mallorean was essentially the Belgariad all over again, so is this book. The characters, recognizable despite their plastic surgery and name changes, are largely retreads and are less "characters" than "types". The storyline is nothing new, which leaves the whole story somewhat flat. There is little expectation because you know exactly what *to* expect. When I read a book by a favorite author, I want something - just a little twist - to make me sit up and take notice whether it's in the world-building (CJ Cherryh), introducing the characters (Mervyn Peake) or the sometimes complex, perferably not-easily-resolvable situations the characters are faced with (Robin Hobb). With Eddings, you really don't get any of that anymore. Not even the trumpeted "two special covers" would induce me to spend the money for this in hardback and it would be a draw in paperback only if I could find a decent copy at a used store. Rote characters, rote snappy comebacks/one-liners and rote situations add up to one rote response: visit your local library.
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyed this very much
Review: As alluded below, this covers some of the same ground philosophically as some of the Eddings' other works, but I loved it. The true genius of the Eddings works are the characters and these characters are a true joy. Althalus is sort of merging of Belgariad and Silk with whole new elements of wisdom involved. I read it cover to almost cover in the British Edition and accidentally lost it on a flight before finishing the last fifty pages. Finally got the American edition and no difference except I liked the cover art on the British version better. Do buy this book, whether you have ready anything of theirs before or not. You will still enjoy the other books they have done as well given you read it for the characters and the wonderful things they do and say.
Rating:
Summary: Same old same old
Review: I read the British version and I don't hold out much hope that the US version will be different. David and Leigh found a winning formula with The Belgariad and then repeated it for everything they have written since. If you are a fan then buy this book as it will take you through the familiar storyline again, but if you are a first time buyer of these authors, then start with Pawn of Prophesy. If you buy this one first, it will spoil the 12 books about Garion, Polgara and the irrepressible Belgarath. You will go back to them time and time again.
Rating:
Summary: And outstanding stand-alone new Eddings!
Review: I had read and loved all fantasy books by David and Leigh so far, and I was thrilled when I heard a complete new story was in making. "The Redemption of Althalus" is a stand-alone novel, and it's also a outstanding book! I will not go into any details, since I don't wish to spoil any surprises for people who haven't yet read it, but I will say that it once more truly captures that traditional niceness and character warmth that we have come to love so much in the authors' other work. The story was gripping, exciting and the humour was sharp and witty. I really liked the characters and the touches of philosophy were in one word brilliant! I webmaster a site (The Eddings Codex) dedicated to the books of David and Leigh Eddings, and after reading "Althalus", I immediately updated it with information and illustrations about the new book. Meanwhile, enjoy reading, for if you loved the Belgariad-Malloreon and Elenium-Tamuli books, I'm sure you'll love Althalus!
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