Ellenium by David Eddings

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Submitted by Anonymous 
(Sep 03, 2005)

As one of Eddings' series (for want of a better word) this trilogy is one of the finest. Whereas Belgariad and Malloreon are still excellent reads, they are slightly lengthy. They do involve a good deal more character development than Ellenium but they lack the type of imagination that makes Ellenium so unique.
The Gods in particular are given intriguing and ingenious characteristics and Sparhawk's adventures are filled with both the clever sarcasm of all Eddings' books but also with unusual encounters with unusual creatures. Finally, Sparhawk's relationship with Ehlana is most unique; the sexual tension between them runs from the books to prickle hairs on the back of one's neck. Superb! This trilogy keeps you on the edge of your seat for first to last.

This series was pretty good, but it's very similar to Eddings series "The Belgariad" and "The Mallorean". It's a good filler book, for if you are waiting for other books or something. I found though, that Eddings uses the same phrases over again in this series. For example,"You have a point," and "He may have a point there," or "You may have a point there, Sparhawk." and he does that with one or two other phrases. It begins to grate on your nerves. Overall it's an average fantasy novel.

Let me preface this by saying that I love this series. I love it. In honest fact, it's my favorite fantasy series.

Eddings does have faults, though. He has a tendency to use similar devices time and again throughout various books, and it's easy to tell an Eddings character from any other author's character. That said, his characters actually ring more true than any other fantasy author's ever have for me. Too often, fantasy is driven by either the world the author has created or some plot that he has set up. Eddings lets the characters drive his books, and this is why they are so great. They have a very gritty sense of realism to them, as you can hear the characters talking and laughing with each other, hear the swords clanging in battle, smell all the outdoor smells, etc.

This is all drawn more from character than from the world around them. The world is important, and one needs to believe in it wholeheartedly before one will believe the people in it. That world, though is just the beginning -- "serious" writers use the one we live in, and need only to populate it with believable characters, and often fail at that. Eddings creates a world that seems real to us, and then populates it with characters SO real that we forget that it's a made-up place to begin with.

I first read these books when I was fairly young (12 years old) and just getting into Fantasy and Sci-Fi. I remebered these books being great! I read all of his books in the span of three months and loved every one of them. If only I had never tried to re-read them this last year, I would have been left with good memories. The prose in these books is horrible, the plots are repetitive and dull. I wish I still had my pleasant memories this series...

Anyway, I would only recommend these books to young readers that can't tell the difference between good and bad writing.

This book is the best. It is interesting, not only because of the battles and quests, but because of the philosophical views on things like racism and religion, specifically christianity.