Ellenium by David Eddings

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Submitted by Nick 
(Aug 20, 2001)

I realize that the majority of Eddings fans will disagree with me on this but I feel that the Elenium is Eddings best work. As many others have pointed out the characters from the Belgariad and the Mallorean are fairly one dimensional in that they are either extremely good or extremely evil. Eddings grows out of this when it comes to the Elenium. There is no doubt for the reader that Sparhawk and friends are the "good guys" and that Annias and Martel are the "bad guys" but they aren't quite as extreme about as the characters where in the Belgariad. When Bevier gets confronted his first instinct is to slice the person' head off with his Lochaber axe. Kurik admittedly cheated on his wife and while in Rendor he feels compelled to with a naked woman on a roof top. What I'm trying to get at here is that this is a much more mature series that is geared more towards adult readers. Even the style is more mature and because of it the books don't feel like they were written for a child like the Belgariad does. All in all I really enjoy Eddings work, especially the books with Sparhawk, but I'll also be the first to admit that his work is not comparable to the like of Jordan. However this is not a bad thing and trust me I really like the fact that I can read the entire Belgariad or Elenium in the time it takes me to read ANY book from the Wheel of Time series.

I've read this series non-stop. And now I'm reading it all over again. The people has become my family and David Eddings my hero. I would give anything to be able to live in his created world. I'm just very worried about what's going to happen when I've read the books so many times that I know every word, like some men know the bible... My life will be over.

This series is the best fantasy series I have ever read. In my opinion it is better than any other book ever written. I stayed up all night for a couple of nights reading his books. I've finished all the books that Robert Jordan has written in "The Wheel of Time" and David Eddings is still the best.

The first fantasy book I ever read was by Piers Anthony. Then I read the Elenium/Tamuli, and I havn't stopped reading them. The words flow, and one of my favourite passages is the opening of the Elenium. Sparhawk is almost real to me, and I envy Ehlana. They light up my afternoons, reading about knights, gods and godesses and magic all the things that make up a good story. I cried the first time I read the end of the Ruby Knight (I won't spoil anything by giving away what happens). I know the storyline by heart and can quote numerous sections of all the books.
Life without these books is like life without any friends.

Although there are many who think that Edding's best work is the Belgariad series, personally I think that the Elenium is par with it. While there are many similarities between the tow worlds and many of the characters, he still creates a unique story that is different from Belgariad, but also juust as good. It shows that he can invent worlds that are both alike and different in many ways, and still keep the reader entertained and wanting to read more until the very end. While the series dosen't conclude as well as I would have wiched, it is still very good to read!