Rating: 
Summary: Stupenddous epic fantasy
Review: In a choice that only proves the Gods work in mysterious ways, the Goddess Dweia selects a thief, who has committed murder, as humanity's champion. ALTHALUS is proud to be one of the top ten thieves, a top five liar, and an occasional killer when the need is there. His latest client, Ghend, a servant of the destroyer God Daeva, hires ALTHALUS to steal a book in a house at the edge of the world. He arrives at his destination, finds the book, and meets Dweio disguised as a cat. Dweio teaches ALTHALUS to read and use the book before the pair ventures back into the realm of mankind. The latest battle has just begun between good and evil with many dying on both sides, but the final victory resides with THE REDEMPTION OF ALTHALUS. David and Leigh Eddings have been writing exciting epic fantasy for years, but THE REDEMPTION OF ALTHALUS is their finest hour. Readers will liken the work to that of Tolkien and Brooks yet see much originality in the fast-moving story line. Fans will believe in chattering cats speaking "humanese", magical houses, and goddess manifestations as everyday occurrences. This acceptance allows the audience to concentrate on the interpersonal relationships that turn this epic fantasy into quite an achievement for this writing duet. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Eddings does it again!!
Review: David and Leigh Eddings invites us back into their wonderful imagination. Although this is not a continuation of their previous novels its stands happily on its own. The title character Althulas draws you in right from the beginning, how could you not be drawn with an opening discription like this. "It would be sheer folly to try to conceal the true nature of Althalus for his flaws are the sruff of legend. He is, as all men know, a thief, a liar, an occasional murder, an outrageous braggert, and a man devoid of even the slightest hint of honour. He is, moreover, a frequent drundard, a glutton, and a patron of ladies who are no better than they should be." One of the strongest elements in all Eddings novels, is the strong character developments of the secondry characters, there are no two dimmensional just to support the plot characters here!! All of the characters seem to leap of the page and demand to be considered in their own right. bravo again can't recommend this book high enough! Now if only they would write another Elenium-Tamuli novel I would be totally happy!
Rating: 
Summary: My first and last taste of Eddings
Review: I regret having to set this one down after 100 pages. The protagonist, a thief, was an interesting enough character. The world in which he capers was also interesting and the story was ticking over nicely until Mrs. Eddings took over and ruined it. It was when the thief met a goddess embodied as a talking cat that things went pear shaped. The whole story just degraded beyond saving; the cat was far too cutesy-pooh and the whole book took on a distinct flavour of frivolous, girly silliness. The thief was instantly turned into a pussified mummy's boy by this cat. It felt like I was reading an instruction manual on how to crush a man's spirit, or reading the wish list of a love starved airhead, freshly escaped from the pages of mills and boon, or reading a barbie doll catalogue.
Sickening. A sorry premature end to what seemed like a promising fantasy epic. Hope Mr. Eddings keeps the pen to himself from here on. Tell the wife to go bake cookies.
Rating:
Summary: An Eye-Opening Story
Review: I've read this book countless times. I've also read the other Eddings' books. Personally, I think this is their best. The Eddings' have a knack for outdoing themselves, but this one was outstanding!
I've read several of the reviews that this book has gotten here and I can't believe some of the stuff they say against it! The only two main points that are continuously repeated lead me to believe that they simply didn't understand the complexity of what the Eddings' were doing and that they were simply looking for one long bloody battle.
1) It is much easier to write a bunch of descriptive lines about someone's battle prowess then it is to find a way to sneak around a fight.
Point: The main (hero) characters in this book wouldn't stand a one-on-one fight.
2) The depths of reality and thought that the Eddings' explore create a fanciful world that seems probable.
Point: Really *think* about some of the stuff that the kid comes up with, don't just read through it to get on with the story.
3) Redemption is "the act of delivering from sin or saving from evil". So the title is correct. This can be interpreted two ways:
A) Althalus, while not being `evil' in the normal sense, only does for himself. This is still considered `evil'.
B) Althalus is the reason and cause for the `redemption' of the world.
4) People seem to not like the way the magic is used. I don't understand this because the same people *praised* how they used magic in the other Eddings books.
Point: The only difference is that they use the Book as the source of it all.
5) Althalus spends 2,500 years with the Book. This isn't anything new to the Eddings', they did it for both Polgara and Belgareth.
Point: The more things change, the more they stay the same. Who cares if some of the cities didn't change their name? Someone pointed out that there was no change in the religious system, that is wrong. They must have been skimming though the book to have not noticed the countless differences the author's pointed out from when Althalus entered the House to when he left.
6) This book is *filled* with action of all kinds, including war. Althalus is a thief, not a fighter. He's not going to have detailed scenes where he twirls, strikes, and parries.
Point: This doesn't mean there isn't any action, it just means that he's a different type of `hero' then the standard `beat to a bloody pulp-ask questions later' kind.
7) The characters start out as 2D and grow as they learn more about themselves. They break their own molds. Yes, most of them fall in love. It's a part of life and it enhances the story rather then taking away from it.
Point: People need to stop comparing The Redemption of Althalus to the series that lasted through 12 books! This is a stand-alone, it's not going to get anywhere near as in-depth with characterization as those did! Give it a rest and realize just how well done it is to other stand-alone fantasy novels.
This is a great book, but that's my opinion. Why don't you go to your local library and check it out for yourself? If you think it's "tripe" then fine, but make the decision for yourself. I have recommended this book to quite a few people and have been thanked repeatedly for it.
Rating: 
Summary: should be 2.5 stars...
Review: I'm gonna be honest with you . . . this could have been a lot better. This book has been ripped to shreds by some and touted by others, so I know this review won't mean much, but I like to write reviews, so here we go.
If you have never read Eddings, you are still in a position to read this novel. In fact, if you don't have the patience to read a full set, you are better off here. The characters are basically clones of the Belgariad stars, i.e. Dweia is Polgara, Althalus is Belgarath only younger, or silk only older (not a TON of difference there), and we see Ce'Nedra too, and so on and so forth. So, if you want to get a feel for Eddings's CHARACTERS, this book is fine.
There are a few major problems, though, that not JUST the old Eddings fans (like me) will notice. For those of us that HAVE read the Belgariad, though, suffice it to say that this book is exactly the same, only much worse.
Alright now, about those problems.
1. As nearly EVERYBODY has said, where is the conflict? It's, um.... oh! look, there it goes! *dashes out the back door while we aren't looking*
2. Are we supposed to see Althalus as a character who starts out evil, and is then redeemed? The title and jacket sure indicate that, but, not only is there no real "Redemption", Althalus really doesn't come across as an evil villain even at the beginning of the novel.
3. Ok, maybe this is just me, but MY biggest problem was with the kid. I can't remember his name, but if you've read it, you know who I'm talking about. Anybody notice that, not only is he the ONLY character in the whole novel who EVER gets to have a good idea, but also, every time he has an idea, ANY idea, no matter how good or bad it is, everybody has to go on a ten minute tangent about how "brilliant" he is. Was it just me, or was that annoying to anybody else?
4. Other problems, but I'm in a hurry . . .
Ok, so, why don't I just give this book a 1 star and be done with it? And WHY would I recommend it to new Eddings readers? Well, for one thing, Eddings is still, as always, fun to read. Not as fun as he was, but still not "bad". Another reason is that, given how slow the first novel is, the Belgariad turns some readers off. If you have no patience, try this one. It gets moving a LITTLE quicker, and it won't tie you down to a set (although Belgariad/Mallorean is a WONDERFUL set). Finally, this is a book that didn't sound as bad at the time I read it as it does in retrospect. Many of the problems, though not all of them, seemed less obvious at the time. Now that I think about it, I see them, but since they were hidden at the time, it is clear that Eddings at least did a reasonable job of putting this one together.
Rating:
Summary: Tedious and unimaginative
Review: I think the other bad reviews kinda sum up my feelings of this book. But here's some things that really bother me:
1) There is no real conflict in this story. There is one incident that comes across as problematic with potential hazard to one character, but of course that character comes back in perfect condition. But THAT'S IT!
2) It has that happily ever after ultra-sweet ending. (Pardon me as I choke back the cheese factor that I had to swallow from this story.) I don't usually have a problem with these sorts of endings, but when everyone gets what they want in the end without too much effort, what's the point?
3) A really stupid, almost mentally challenged representation of evil. A band of evil that really has no clue what the good guys are doing. A band of evil that has the same abilities as the good guys, but doesn't really put them to use. Not to mention this very fact: since when did evil play by the rules??
Rating:
Summary: This book rocks!!!
Review: I have never read any of Eddings previous books. I was given the book by a friend who I am very grateful to now. Redemption of Althalus has become one of my favorite books. Once I began, I couldn't put it down. I read while I was at work and befoe I went to bed. I will eventualy read it again =)This book is awesome and you won't be disappointed by it. Enjoy!
Rating: 
Summary: you miss the big picture
Review: i have read over 600 different reviews and i would likr to say to the people that enjoyed his work regardless of whether it was his best or worse good on you, but the professional critics would not know what they are on about they are paid to do just that critise now these are peoiple who cant write their own work without trying to be to descriptive they are wannabe writers who need to take a look at themselves and grow up. redmemption of althalus my friends and i have read numerous times over the book has been worn out and had to be restitched evreyone keeps talking about his stereo types get over it the big picture is what the deal is it took him 2500 years to get out of the house but she was doing what we all need to get rid of the rubbish that we are told everyday ,his views on magic are a litle more beliveable than most other fantasy stories, basically this was also designed to be a book for younger first time readers as well to pull him into his work notice andine and eliar they are ordinary teenagers just like his target audience us older generation read them cause we know what to expecr and thrive on it twenty to one odds that if it weren't predictable then we would have our backs up over that "" he has changed his genre and in so failing to meet with the demands of his fans "" as one idiotic critic wrote about someone he endorsed a previous book for so in closing do not break down everything do not look for suspense it is merely just an enjoyable read for relaxing so good on ya eddings you have my full support
Rating:
Summary: Bad start here...
Review: Well, most of the people who have made comments on this book happen to be old-Edding's afficionados who either have lost their faith on the author or still continue to like his work.So I guessed that I should put my opinion more to the use of the reader who,like me, has no connection with the writer and will begin his contact with him from here ignoring his previous works.
The basic problem of the book is that it has no imminent threats for the heroes.Why can we state for example that Tolkin so thrilling? Because the heroes are not just wandering around they are facing a big threat which is imminent.Putting it down to our dimention telling a man that something might cause a death today is more threatening for him than a comet that could hit the earth in a billion years.Althalus spends 2500 before begining to set into action and the threat of the evil is not presented untill we reach the end of the book.The heroes have indeed more time than anyone could wish to face the threat.
Also,the heroes do not fail.The failure of a hero is what fascinates us while facing threats all the time and winning easily tends to make things cold.Even Arsen Lupin or Sherlock Holms heroes noted for their mental qualities fail.Here the heroes just speak themselves out of trouble and the suspence is over.
Moreover they are stereotypes that lack motivation.Althalus for instance.What is so great about this man who gets all the luck and has even the right to argue with the Goddess he worships?He is nothing but a show-off anyway...
So why the 2 stars?Mostly because I liked the motivation of evil to fix what is wrong (reminded me of the late Green Lantern series)and because of some rather well put dialogue sequences.But having a great experience in fantasy I expect that Belgariad to be much better than this hard to read book.A great pitty since a stand-alone book should be the place to start liking a writer before you start reading his works more regularly...
If however you come to enjoy the book I suggest to read the Elminister saga.For the rest of us there is still Moorcock or Tad Williams anyway...
Rating:
Summary: Better review than some of the garbage others post
Review: Simply put, if you are a David Eddings fan then you will of course enjoy his book. It is a good story, just like all his others. I don't see why people are complaining so much. The old saying goes: "If it ain't broke don't fix it." I don't see why so many people complain about his books. If they don't like it, then don't read it. But fans of the genre will find everything to like here in this story.
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