LAST UPDATE
6/29/20
Polgara the
Sorceress by David & Leigh Eddings, Del Rey, 1997
Having
read 17 of the 23 fantasy novels this husband and wife team produced, I
felt obligated to finish. But this one almost stopped me. It’s another
massive retelling of the story they have already told twice already, and
imitated a few more times as well. It strikes me as particularly sad
that even after having nearly seven hundred pages devoted to describing
her life, Polgara is no less of a caricature than she had been
previously. The authors seem to have no grasp at all of the nuances of
personality, and after the previous book, I would have thought most
readers would have realized that they had nothing new to say. 6/29/20
Belgarath
the Sorcerer by David & Leigh Eddings, Del Rey, 1995
And
I thought the earlier books were bloated. This 700 page monstrosity –
the first to credit Leigh as collaborator – recapitulates a story that
we already know if we have read the earlier books, contradicting it as
much as embellishing it. The rules of magic make no sense, the heroes
constantly forget their own powers in order to advance the plot, such as
it is. I can’t imagine even fans of the earlier books finding this
worthwhile. And if that wasn’t bad enough, their next book repeats the
same sequence of events from yet another uninteresting viewpoint. A
wizard battles an evil god for control of the world. That’s the whole
plot. I had to put this down three times and read something else before
finally making it to the end. 6/25/20
The Hidden City
by David Eddings, Del Rey, 1994
Very
long, mostly boring, conclusion to the Tamuli trilogy. Eddings gets the
cosmology all tangled up here. In the previous book we were told that
the Christian Devil exists in this world, but now we meet a hundred foot
tall monster who is the King of Hell. As usual, our heroes forget about
the powers they have when they are in situations which they could easily
escape. They continue to make long, overland journeys even though they
can teleport. The cosmology is inconsistent and occasionally
unintelligible. There are so many characters that it is impossible to
keep them straight without taking notes. The heroes rescue the kidnapped
queen and defeat the evil gods with disappointing ease. 6/16/20
The Shining Ones
by David Eddings, Del Rey, 1993
Boring
middle book of a trilogy. I’m tempted to stop right there. The plot
involves lots of people wandering around with magical gems and a
childlike goddess, some of them refusing to explain things to each other
in order to provide some trivial conflicts, the discovery that a
supposed ally is actually part of the evil conspiracy, random political
lectures and additions to the world’s cosmology – some of which are
outright contradictions. The conversations sometimes seem to go on
forever. This was a 450 page place holder that does nothing to advance
the plot or enhance the characters. 6/12/20
Domes of Fire
by David Eddings, Del Rey, 1992
First
in the Tamuli trilogy, which directly follows the Elenium trilogy. A
variety of supernatural events in a far away land causes our heroes to
journey there, defeating trolls and other dangers along the way. There
is a young female goddess who pops up to intervene whenever they are in
trouble. When they finally arrive, they uncover a conspiracy involving
troll gods and others. The only way to restore order is to retrieve the
cursed jewel which they threw into the ocean at the end of the previous
trilogy. So for the fourth time in the fourth series, the plot is about
the search for a magical artifact that is the only thing powerful enough
to prevent an evil god from taking over the world. Did the Eddings not
realize that they could use a different plot now and then? 6/9/20
The Sapphire Rose
by David Eddings, Del Rey, 1991
Final
volume of the Elenium trilogy. Thank heaven. This was a really bad
series of books. Our heroes have secured the magic gem that will cure
their queen, although the gem itself is sentient and evil. The queen is
in fact cured early on, but the villains are not yet defeated. They must
be pursued into enemy territory, which our heroes manage with minimal
difficulty and the aid of a goddess who appears whenever needed. There
are some plot twists that appear to have been thought up on the fly as
they retroactively render earlier incidents senseless or inexplicable.
The characters are virtually all interchangeable and the plot makes use
of scenes almost identical to ones Eddings has used in previous books,
more than once. 6/1/20
The Ruby Knight
by David Eddings, Del Rey, 1990
Our
heroes have to track down a fabulous gem which is the only way to lift a
curse on their queen. They are opposed by the usual cast of villains,
including the minions of yet another evil god served by inhuman
creatures. The good guys manifest new magical talents whenever the need
arises, and the bad guys continue to discuss confidential information in
public where there just happens to be one of the heroes eager to listen.
Eddings’ novels have steadily grown more contrived and the writing is
increasingly lazy. One of the characters reveals a new magic power every
time they are faced with some challenge they assume is insurmountable.
She can even home on the gem they are seeking, but refrains from
mentioning this until quite late in the book. I struggled to get through
this one. 5/28/20
The Diamond Throne
by David Eddings, Del Rey, 1989
First
volume of the Elenium trilogy. The queen of Elenia has been magically
thrown into a coma. An exiled knight returns to prevent an ambitious
priest from placing his puppet on the throne in her place. The setting
is very similar to that of the Belgariad series and there are several
parallels among the characters as well. Alas, there are also
replications of the bad things - like magic abilities that we don’t know
about until they are needed, fortuitous coincidences to keep the plot
moving, and characters so shallow that they are interchangeable and
difficult to keep straight. By the end of the book they have discovered
a possible cure but have also learned that an evil god has particularly
targeted our hero for murder and that a major war is imminent.
5/22/20
The Seeress of Kell
by David Eddings, Del Rey, 1989
Final
volume of the Malloreon, which is basically a five volume retelling of
the five volume Belgariad by the same author. More journeying and
anecdotal adventures, a few more contradictions and instances where the
sorcerers forget that they have powers that could have avoided their
problems, lots of enigmatic prophecies and rules prohibiting telling
them anything useful, and now a new problem – an indication that free
will does not exist in this reality, that everything is pre-ordained. I
was pretty sick of this world by the time the book ended. The internal
contradictions are irritating and some of the sequences are clearly just
padding. 5/18/20
The Shimmer
by Carsten Stroud, Mira, 2018
Although
this has elements of horror and science fiction, I'm calling it a
fantasy because the time travel aspect is pretty much magic. This is a
Stephen King inspired novel – there is even an allusion to him – in
which a police officer is trying to run down a female serial killer who
seems to be quite spry for someone more than a century old. She can
somehow make use of the life force released when people die to keep
herself young and is also able to travel back and forth through time.
Somehow – the rules are never explained – the protagonist is drawn
through time with her and he continues his pursuit during the 1950s. The
first half is excellent, but I started to lose interest after that
because it was so hard to figure out what was going on and what
capabilities were possessed by which characters. 5/17/20
Sorceress of
Darshiva by David Eddings, Del Rey, 1989
Fourth
in the series. Multiple armies clash, mostly off stage. Demons ravage
the world, mostly off stage. The characters dither and argue about what
course of action to take, mostly onstage. A brilliant tactician proposes
an incredibly stupid military strategy until told that it is “lunacy”.
The sorcerers – who can all teleport anywhere in the world – spend
months traveling by land and sea while constantly bewailing the fact
that time is short. Various prophets deliver completely unhelpful
messages. Conversations are repeated among characters who can barely be
told apart because they have so little personality. 5/14/20
Severed Wings
by Steven-Elliot Altman, Wordfire, 2020
The
protagonist of this comparatively short fantasy novel has retreated into
self pity after an accident torpedoes his hope of an acting career.
Although somewhat reclusive, he becomes interested in a couple who have
recently moved into his building. They entertain strange guests who
appear to have been changed somehow after their visits. Once he has
convinced himself that they have magical powers, the logical next
conclusion is that they might be able to restore him physically so that
he can resume his foreshortened career. But there is a price for
everything, and he might not be willing to pay this one, no matter how
desperate he is. Very nicely written with a simple, straightforward plot
that is actually more complex by implication than it seems. 5/10/20
Demon Lord of
Karanda by David Eddings, Del Rey, 1988
Middle
volume of a five book sequence. As you might expect, the story moves
ponderously. Our heroes were captured by the Malloreans at the end of
the last book. They more or less make friends with the Mallorean
emperor, who reluctantly gives up his foreign war to return to his
homeland. Not only are his vassals restive but a mystery man has
summoned a horde of demons and even the immortal sorcerers are worried
about the consequences. There are several new elements that don’t fit
into the established mythos, and a bit of repetition. The chief
protagonist’s personality is incredibly naïve considering that he has
ruled a kingdom for a decade, fathered a child, and killed a god.
5/9/20
Rainbow Brigade
by J.A. Pitts, Wordfire, 2020
This
is the first urban fantasy I’ve read in well over a year, although the
definition of urban fantasy seems to have expanded to encompass just
about all contemporary fantasy. It’s part of the Sarah Beauhall series.
The city of Bellingham is suffering from a wave of suicides whose cause
is paranormal. Her investigation involves many of the familiar elements
of fantasy – she is after all a dragon slayer. This time, however, she
has to deal with elves, a rampaging giant, She also has to deal with
some troublesome romantic entanglements of her own. The plot is
straightforward and involves what I think of as second level revelations
– that is, they may not be exactly what you expected but they’re in the
ballpark. There are no “I didn’t see that coming” moments. But as was
the case with earlier books I’ve read by this author, I was entertained
throughout. 5/7/20
King of the
Murgos by David Eddings, Del Rey, 1988
Second
in the series, and with several internal contradictions, plus new powers
for our heroes when they need them. Since they can teleport thousands of
miles, one wonders why they bother to walk and ride all the way. In any
case they make friends with the king of the title, whose country was
formerly an enemy, and end up getting captured by new enemy at the
cliffhanger climax. There is actually virtually no progress of the plot.
They just spend four hundred pages traveling, fighting dragons and
ghouls, observing court intrigues, and making wisecracks to one another.
A place holder rather than a story. 5/4/20
Unbecoming by
Leslie Wheeler, Aqueduct, 2020, $18, ISBN 978-1-61976-167-4
This
is an unusual debut fantasy set in a world of academic which feels a lot
like another reality. The protagonist is used to working with metaphors
as part of the college’s curriculum, but she and her problems are
metaphors in their own right. There is conflict in her world – academia
is notorious for its infighting – but there is magic as well.
Traditional fantasy readers may feel somewhat out of place here because
we’re not talking about evil wizards in the usual sense, although there
is a kind of witchcraft. The novel reads more like what is often called
“magic realism” and its pace is slow and measured. It rewards attention,
but don’t expect a dragon to pop up for the climax. This reminded me a
bit of Fritz Leiber’s Conjure Wife. 5/2/20
Guardians of
the West by David Eddings, Del Rey, 1987
First
volume of the Malloreon, sequel to the Belgariad. It takes almost two
hundred pages before anything really happens. Eddings has to bring us up
to date on all of the major characters and how their lives have changed
over the course of ten years, and then shows us how the political
situation has changed in each of almost a dozen kingdoms. There are
hints of trouble to come – a mysterious name, a concealed passage in the
prophecies, a psychic attempt to kill the hero’s baby son, an offstage
assassination, rumors of a rebellion in one of the allied kingdoms. But
it all moves very ponderously and the long novel feels even longer than
it is. Presumably this was just meant to set the stage for events which
will be unleashed in volume two. 4/25/20
Enchanters End
Game by David Eddings, Del Rey, 1984
Final
volume of the Belgariad. There are two main story lines in this one.
Garion and the Gandalf figure travel to a distant land to confront the
evil god. Garion's wife to be leads an army against the more or less
evil kingdoms who are planning an invasion, although they are split into
factions. The stories converge for a climax that cheats enormously. All
through the five books, we have been told that no mortal can resist the
direct will of a god. And in the climax, two separate mortals do exactly
that, which is how they win the battle. The series started reasonably
well and just went steadily downhill. 4/18/20
Castle of
Wizardry by David Eddings, Del Rey, 1984
Fourth
volume of the Belgariad. The Orb has been recovered from the evil empire
and our adventurers recover at a friendly castle. After some brief
adventure, Garion is crowned king and gets engaged. A lengthy comedy of
manners follows – and Eddings was not very good at creating characters
on more than a superficial level, so this section is awkward, boring,
and unrealistic. Then they are off again to confront Torak, the evil
god, in a distant land, which presumably will happen in the final
volume. There are several internal contradictions in this one. Eddings
ignores things he has established as fact when a contradictory position
is easier. Talking animals is against nature and has never been done –
except that birds have been talking since book two in the series.
Mistakes are undercutting what could have been an unremarkable but
entertaining series. 4/14/20
Magician’s Gambit
by David Eddings, Del Rey, 1983
Third
in a series of five. This completes the grand tour of all the nations in
the world as Belgarath and company finally track down the Orb, an
artifact that could revive the evil comatose god Torak. A couple of the
chief villains get killed along the way and the composition of the
fellowship changes somewhat. It is very frustrating that the elders keep
reprimanding young Garion for not knowing something, but the same people
inevitably refuse to answer his questions even when it would be to their
mutual benefit. This is a rather awkward authorial device to withhold
information from the reader. 4/11/20
Queen of Sorcery
by David Eddings, Del Rey, 1982
Second
volume of the Belgariad. Most of this is just the heroes traveling
across country and having minor adventures. Some of the tension between
the young protagonist and his sorceress guardian results from an
artlessly contrived situation – she refuses to tell him things that are
essential to his well being because he is “not ready.” Clearly he is,
since his uncontrolled power has already killed a man. The parallels
with Tolkien continue as the ancient sorcerer goes off on a side quest
of his own, in the tradition of Gandalf. Certainly entertaining, but it
does not stand on its own.
Servant of the
Crown by Duncan Hamilton, Tor, 2020, $17.99, ISBN
978-1-250-3-685-2
Third
and final volume of a trilogy set in a familiar fantasy setting, with a
contested throne, a reluctant hero, and recently revived dragons. There
really aren't any surprises but the story is solid and well told. Just
once I'd like to see things resolved through reason and negotiation
rather than a violent confrontation, but primitive warfare and personal
combat are requirements of the genre and Hamilton does an entertaining
job of serving them up. The closing chapters feel more like military
fiction than fantasy at times. The villain is suitably villainous
and the dragons act like dragons. I was indifferent to the heroes. I
believe at least some of his other books are set in the same universe
but have not seen them.
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