Losers by David Eddings

I was amazed that this book was so impressive. Being a fan of Eddings's fantasy, I sought this book out to complete my collection of his works. Though I have known since reading "Pawn of Prophecy" that Eddings is a wonderful storyteller with a knack for developing strong characters, "The Losers" really opens up his mastrful writig style and versatility. Most definately not a fantasy, "The Losers" is an amazing religious allegory, a touching tale with facinating characters, and a social commentary. By all means, everyone must read this book!

Being a fan and serious reader of fantasy, I was caught on first glance at the paperback cover of this novel. Knowing Eddings from his other work, I bought the book. I was mildly surprised to find the plot taking me in an entirely different direction. However, it took only a few pages to convince me I had stumbled onto something quite good. I'm not sure exactly how to best describe the novel, but if pressed, I would be forced to call it something of a cross between a fairy-tale, a modern-day morality play, and a treatise on the ills and insanity of our social services system. The book is GOOD!!! Eddings very quickly develops characters with whom we find ourselves fascinated. There is good vs. evil here, and some hard-to-miss undercurrents of Eddings' fantasy heritage, but for me, the best part of the novel was the detailed and highly accurate way he dissects the inane social services complex we have built up around ourselves. Brilliant insight and excellent writing. This is one you will not want to put down until you finish it. This was at least as good as any fantasy Eddings has done. Highly recommended.

Well, I knew Eddings as the greatest FANTASY-author and I was quite surprised when I saw his book, which is not fantasy. However, I thought: "Oh, come on, this is Eddings, you must read it" so I bought it.
And I'm proud of myself. This is probably the best non-fantasy book I've ever read and I enjoyed greatly-more than even some fantasy-books, including "The Redemption of Althalus" or "Belgarath-the Sorcerer".
The story is both sad and funny, the characters are extremely real.
It's a must read. A must read for Eddings-fans, who will discover that David is not just the best fantasist, but a brilliant author overall. And for the people who think that Eddings is for kids- read this book and we will talk again.
Masterpiece!