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Mythmakers and world builders of the first order, the Eddingses spin tales that make imaginations soar. Readers have thrilled to The Belgariad and The Malloreon, magic-filled masterworks chronicling the timeless conflict between good and evil. But with those sagas brought to their triumphant conclusions, fans were left hungry for more. Now at last the wait is over. With The Redemption of Althalus, the Eddingses have created their first-ever stand-alone epic fantasy . . .
It would be sheer folly to try to conceal the true nature of Althalus, for his flaws are the stuff of legend. He is, as all men know, a thief, a liar, an occasional murderer, an outrageous braggart, and a man devoid of even the slightest hint of honor.
Yet of all the men in the world, it is Althalus, unrepentant rogue and scoundrel, who will become the champion of humanity in its desperate struggle against the forces of an ancient god determined to return the universe to nothingness. On his way to steal The Book from the House at the End of the World, Althalus is confronted by a cat--a cat with eyes like emeralds, the voice of a woman, and the powers of a goddess.
She is Dweia, sister to The Gods and a greater thief even than Althalus. She must be: for in no time at all, she has stolen his heart. And more. She has stolen time itself. For when Althalus leaves the House at the End of the World, much wiser but not a day older than when he'd first entered it, thousands of years have gone by.
But Dweia is not the only one able to manipulate time. Her evil brother shares the power, and while Dweia has been teaching Althalus the secrets of The Book, the ancient God has been using the dark magic of his own Book to rewrite history. Yet all is not lost. But only if Althalus, still a thief at heart, can bring together a ragtag group of men, women, and children with no reason to trust him or each other.
Boldly written and brilliantly imagined, The Redemption of Althalus is an epic fantasy to be savored in the reading and returned to again and again for the wisdom, excitement, and humor that only the Eddingses can provide.
Not a good representation of the Eddings work
| Customer Rating:   | I am a big fan of David Eddings and his wife Leigh's work. He has made it clear in author notes that they collaborated on projects for a long time now.
Unfortunately, this was just painful. Too cutesy, too predictable, definitely not up to the normal standards of their work.
I do not know for sure, but to me this reads more like David was less involved and possibly more of the work was done by his wife Leigh. The writing just has a different tone and flavor to it.
If you are a fan of the Belgariad, the Mallorean, etc...I would skip this one. |
The Redemption of Althalus
| Customer Rating: | | Mystical and good, keeps you on the edge of your seat, a must read for anyone that looks fir the impossible! |
Pass it up
| Customer Rating: | I'm afraid I'm in the negative camp on this one. Read it if your'e new to Fantasy. Otherwise, pass.
I read the Belgariad and follow-ups about 10 years ago and thought they were excellent - mainly because of the mystery line in the stories but also because of consistency in the characers. You ended up knowing exactly how each of them would react in every situation and they did not disappoint. Imagine my surprise when I find them in this book again, but with other names. Other reviewers have analysed the similarities in more detail and I agree (Andine = Ce'nedra, etc). I expected new ones.
Besides this, there are sections of dialogue which were extremely irritating, e.g. two pages of conversation between two people and every sentence is ended by saying the other one's name - grates on your nerves. Then there are the modern Americanisms e.g. I guess, for sure, no way.
Something else that bothered me at times were the indefinites: not really..., sort of....., rather...., might....and so on. They seemed to be inserted in sentences that did not require uncertainty or indecision to be expressed and while those are comfy phrases that makes the reader feel at home, it does become too much when employed four, five times per page.
I also agree with other reviewers about the plot and the loopholes in various areas - e.g. the brand new child queen Andine disappears from her bed and the abducters journey on with no mention of any hue and cry, search or lamentation heard from her kingdom? Come on.
At first I was charmed by the cat, but when she became Dweia the quality of her conversation deteriorated disappointingly to one-sentence sweet nothings aimed at Althalus - eeeooowwww.
By the way, is it not interesting how CJ Cherryh and the Eddings came up with the same fictitious name - one for a man and the other for a place? |
Terrible
| Customer Rating: | Lots of reviewers have talked about the awful rehashing. Eddings even admits that when he sets out to write fantasy, he picks common elements, throws them in a blender and spews it out.
Short, half page blocks that ended in one liners, without changing the scene, left me feeling bewildered and annoyed. The antagonists are universally incompetent, and this book doesn't even have the benefit of gory action typical of the Belgariad and Tamuli series.
Athalus -> He's not witty, or funny. For wit and humor, Eddings should take a page from Terry Pratchett. If Athalus tried to "charm" me with the tripe he was spouting in the book, I'd have punched him. He just comes across as a smug git.
Gher -> Pseudo-scientific rubbish spouted as "divine insights". An illiterate boy from a pre-Renaissance culture makes the "leap" about space and time being essentially the same.
McGuffins
-> a stupid Knife that for some unknown reason causes pain to the opposing side's agents, thus guaranteeing their exposure and demise. No equivalent exists for the enemy to use against the "heroes".
-> A house (both sides have access to a similar device) with doors to anywhere and anywhen. For some mysterious reason, armies are not allowed to march through the house BEHIND enemy lines. Oh no... you have to stop IN FRONT of the enemy and dig trenches. A "teleport accurately at will" device is an invitation to destroy supplies, assassinate officers, plant disinformation, sow discontent etc. Instead, it's used to deliver armies to battles ON TIME. This smacks of lazy writing; a plot device that at best the author(s) hadn't thought through clearly, or at worst invented just to give a barely plausible reason to put enough soldiers at the correct battle at a precise time without figuring out all those troublesome distances (which the authors created).
Coupled with instant food anywhere, the protagonists basically had ZERO logistical problems. Speaking of instantaneous food creation at no cost, with the threat of the civilian population starving, instead of doing the obvious and conjuring roasts out of thin air, a good half chapter is devoted to acquiring wheat by BUYING it.
-> Windows of the house, allowing the protagonists to observe anywhere and anywhen with 100% accuracy. Earlier in the book, the doors were used for this purpose with some risk (doors opened but no one crossing through). The author(s) do not explain why suddenly the windows are used later which are 100% safe. The enemy apparently has no equivalent for unknown reasons.
-> Time does not pass in the house unless Dweia wants it to, i.e. time passes for the protagonists in the house but they can emerge as if no time has passed in the real world. Injured personnel are sent to the house to recover, but for some reason several days have passed. Again, a stupid plot device that was not properly controlled, going up against another stupid plot device of unavailable personnel and the drawing down of a time limit.
The list goes on and on, with trite dialog and "banter" that is repeated ad nauseum; apparently there are only 5 conversations in the entire world that Althalus lives in.
This piece of expletive reads like an unedited first attempt at a novel by an amateur. Could this be the work of just Leigh Eddings with David lending his name to it? Or some other abominable hack? Or just a cheap attempt to cash in with a quick and dirty book that no doubt was pounded out in a few weeks? |
It's All about the Cat!!!
| Customer Rating: | I thought this book was GREAT! Now I have noticed that many people were less than satisfied with it, and many have compared it to The Belgariad, and it seems people who enjoyed the Belgariad think that this book fell a bit short. Well personally I only thought the Belgariad was "ok." I really enjoyed the Elenium, David Eddings' other series. I think the Belgariad was a bit more 'epic.' But I like this book becasue it is not epic, it is very lighthearted and fun.
My one complaint is the characters to seem to be recycled out of some of his characters from his other series, but I LIKE those characters, so it only bothers me slightly.
My absolute favorite character is the cat! She has a certain amount of wit that I can appreciate. This is only one book, which is kind of nice becasue normally I read huge long epic fantasy series where there are 12 books and they are all the size of dictionaries, this is a nice quick book that is great to pick up again and again when I need a break from my normal reading. I especially enjoy how funny it is, Lady Luck turns her back on Althalus in the very begining of the novel and it is great to see all the bad situations one person can get themselves into when luck turns the other cheek. I like how silly this book is!
So don't expect anything to epic, if you like David Eddings' writting style and characters you should find this a fun read! |
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