Rating: 
Summary: Book review of "The redemption of Althalus"
Review: It's about the thief, liar and occasional murderer Althalus. When his luck deserts him he take on a mission from a stranger. The mission is to steal a book at the End of the World. There he meets Dweia, a seductive goddess who just happens to be a cat. At that point anyway... She tells Althalus about her evil brother and soon they are, together with a selected group of unlike individuals, to fight for the existence of Earth. Althalus will become the champion of humanity in its struggle against an ancient god determined to return the universe to nothingness. I didn't like this book very much. Anyone who've seen "Singin' in the rain" recognise the phrase "If you've seen one, you've seen them all". Well, if you've read one Eddings, you've read them all. It's a shame but they are only repeating themselves, the characters, the plot, the journeys, the ends, everything is the same. Boring I must say. The plot in this book is weaker than it usually is. The dialog is poor and most of
the time is used to describe tactics. The only positive thing you can say about the
language is that it's quite simple. You don't have to fight with it. If you've never read an Eddings before, I suggest that you start with another one. He has written far better ones. The only reason why you should read this one is as a pastime. It can be quite comical in certain places and sometimes it's nice to read something that doesn't require much effort. But if you would like to read good fantasy, I suggest that you read something else.
Rating: 
Summary: Potboiler
Review: Once again, the Eddings' create a deep, logical, fully realized primary fantasy world in which the cultures and institutions are unique and well-developed. Once again, they populate this world with the same characters acting the same way and saying the same things. Maybe it's just me, but it seems that any culture nominally at a medieval level would not allow its entire system of interpersonal communication to depend so heavily on the phrase "sort of." I keep hoping that the Eddings' will recapture whatever flair allowed them to breathe fresh life into the epic fantasy genre with the Belgariad...but it seems that's what their agent is expecting of me too. There's nothing new here.
Rating:
Summary: Caricatures rather than characters... avoid this book!
Review: I used to like some of David Eddings' books, he had some interesting ideas and some amusing dialogue, although it did begin to grate after a while. However, this book is so terrible I wonder why it ever got published, perhaps to milk the Eddings cash cow. Where to begin with this atrocious piece of fiction...
Well, as far as characters go, this collection are about as deep as a small puddle. They have absolutley no development and don't experience any exploration of their motivations. In typical Eddings fashion, there is a corrupt thief who is about as nasty as a girl scout who becomes the hero. There is nothing dark or corrupt about Althalus. He kills a few people, but they are always baddies, and he immediately gives up a life of crime to save the world, only limited thoughts of using the powers he gains from a religious book for his own benefit. Don't get me started on the rest of them.... Leitha supposedly had a highly traumatic life, given that she can hear the thoughts of others and is accused of being a witch. Well, whatever traumas she experienced are forgotten within minutes of joining the party that have to save the world. The dialogue is cringe-worthy. If there have ever been a group of people more smarmy, supercilious and down-right engrossed in their own 'wit', I would be most surprised. The 'clever' and 'funny' dialogue is nauseating. And as per usual, Eddings can't stand to see any of his characters remain unwed by the end of the book, so there is a suspicious ammount of falling in love at first sight in this story. As another reviewer has stated, there is even less development of the evil characters, they provide brief distractions from the good guys being so impressed with their own cleverness and the speed of their put-downs. I have no idea what the world these one dimensional characters inhabit is like, as Eddings seems to have lost even his limited ability to create a world in this book. Aside from a brief description of landscape from time to time, there is no other scene-setting, making one feel even less interested in the goings on the book is concerned with. As you can no doubt tell, I don't think much of this book, or the style of writing it is told with. I would recommed that if you feel you must read it, you should check it out of the library and see what you think. If you are big Eddings fan, read the Elenium or the Tamuli first, or even the Belgariad and the Malloren. They are far superior, although still full of the ridiculously inane dialogue and characterisation. I honestly think Harry Potter has more thematic and character depth, and I would recommend that or anything by Robert Jordan or Raymond E. Fiest ahead of this rubbish!
Rating: 
Summary: Redemption of Althalus
Review: This is a great book! David Eddings usually has a series or two worked out for each new twist on fantasy. Not this time though. It's too bad, but it is still a must read book if you like his style.
Rating:
Summary: One star is TOO good for this thing.
Review: I can't believe I spent money and time on this. I should get some sort of reward for even finishing it. The dialog was too embarrassing to even read. Funny? Not at all. All the characters speak like smart mouthed 8 year olds. The same poor attempts at jokes are used in each chapter by each character. Sadly, they were not even funny the first time they were used. Plot summary: The good guys can go anywhere in time and space and accomplish anything by saying magic words. The bad guys have exactly the same powers but are stupid.
Rating:
Summary: Rehash
Review: You can pick out the characters from Eddings' other novels in this one. He does the same gathering-of-group, the same group dynamics, the same jokes, the same words. (I'm amazed at the number of times his editors let him use "peculiar" in one paragraph, or repeat the formula "Tom says something off-the-wall. Joe looks at Tom 'helpless' and laughs, shaking his head.") It's worth a weekend read, but certainly not worth buying. And it will probably leave you feeling unfulfilled and cold. Stick with the Belgariad, where his ideas were fresh and creative; this is just rehash of rehash. He tells a good story, but his writing craft isn't very strong, and when he lacks original plot elements, it shows.
Rating:
Summary: Not best, but great
Review: If you don't have time to read around 4,000 pages of the Belgariad, Mallorean series, then check out Eddings' "Althalus". The wit and clever writing are, as always, omnipresent.
Rating:
Summary: Predictable
Review: I was a always a great fan of David Eddings and have read every one of his books. From the middle of the Mallorean series onwards, David Eddings started devoting more space to the actual romantic relationships between characters. To me, the redemption of Althalus is something between Belgariad and a cheap Mills and Boon novel. The story is sometimes tedious: the main characters continuously moving around the same house until the story becomes very predictable. The relationships between the characters is entirely on a romantic level and no importance is given to actual companionship. On the plus side, Eddings managed to merge time travel : a sci fi topic , with a classical fantasy which made the book quite interesting. In short, only buy this book if you are an ardous David Eddings fan, otherwise try Belgariad, which is definitely his greatest masterpiece.
Rating: 
Summary: Redemption of Althalus
Review: This is an enjoyable book. It is a fun read though can be a little tedious at times. Though, the character developement lacks a little, watching the interplay between characters opens them up. It seemed like a lot was crammed into the book, would have like to seen it in trilogy form, but it is enjoyable none the less. If you need the characters painted out for you; well you might have a little troule with this book. If you don't mind connecting the dots(which line up pretty straight), and understand people through thier interactions, you will enjoy the story. I found it an excellent book to fill the days between other books or coffee breaks.
Rating: 
Summary: Middle of the Road
Review: I'm impressed by the fact that the Eddings got their typical story into one volume. But in doing so, they sacrificed a lot of things that make their work so good -- most especially the details of complex and interwoven plots, and quite a bit of the snappy character interaction. It's not an awful book, by any means, and any reader who likes the Eddings's other work should read it. It's a good beginner's book as well. However, if you're looking for the best work by this pair, skip this one for now, because it definitely doesn't fall in that category.
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