Belgariad / Elenium
Aug. 3rd, 2006 02:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jazzfishDavid Eddings, Pawn of Prophecy
Queen of Sorcery
Magician's Gambit
Castle of Wizardry
Enchanters' Endgame
Still regressing, this time to about a sixth-grade level. I'm pretty sure that was when I discovered Eddings, at least.
The dialog has definitely held up; clever counts for a lot, and Eddings's fantasies have clever in spades.
The characterizations aren't quite as weak as I remembered, either. He's got an annoying habit of substituting racism for character differentiation in the minor characters ("Thulls are all stupid, but good-hearted." "Chereks are all bloodthirsty." Etc.) His female characters are almost exclusively obnoxious, but they're at least differently obnoxious from each other. Garion's constant whining grated on my nerves, though. I don't remember him being nearly such a bloody irritating teenager the last time I read these. Perhaps because I was a bloody irritating teenager myself at the time.
The plot is only so-so. The theft and recovery of the Orb are handled well, but that only takes us up through the beginning of book four. After that it turns into a rehash of LotR, with the Giant Diversionary Battle occurring while the Intrepid Band travel Into The Darkness. Plus, when your every action is Dictated By Prophecy there's only so much you can do with it before the deus ex machina becomes overpowering. The Voice of Prophecy is a nifty conceit, though.
Worth reading once, if you've got a week to kill.
David Eddings, The Diamond Throne
The Ruby Knight
The Sapphire Rose
Sparhawk's a far more pleasant character to read about than Garion, so The Elenium and I got started off on the right foot. Kurik's a fine fellow, Ulath and Talen made me chuckle, and Sephrenia is far and away the least bloody irritating of Eddings's female characters.
The world's slightly more interesting, as well. There's a homogeneity to the cultures that feels more realistic than the Belgariad's sharp cultural and geographic demarcations. Of course there are differences, but they aren't so pronounced. (This has the advantage of lessening Eddings's race-is-character tendency as well.)
On the other hand, for "Styric" read "Jew" throughout.
The Gods of Styricum are an intriguing bunch, far more so than the Big Eight from the Belgariad. The Troll-Gods are a lot of fun as well. As for the Elene God . . . if you want to write about the medieval Church you'd be better served by bloody well writing about the medieval Church instead of transplanting it to a fantasy world.
On to the plot. It's reminiscent of the Belgariad's, although substantially compressed. In the first book, everyone is running around trying to figure out what they're doing. In the second, they go after the blue rock. The third book is one-third political maneuvering, one-third big battle, and one-third Intrepid Band Into The Darkness. Bleh to that, but yay to having enough nift to distract me from the genericness of the plot.
Yeah. The Elene Church aside, I think the Elenium is a better series than the Belgariad.
Queen of Sorcery
Magician's Gambit
Castle of Wizardry
Enchanters' Endgame
Still regressing, this time to about a sixth-grade level. I'm pretty sure that was when I discovered Eddings, at least.
The dialog has definitely held up; clever counts for a lot, and Eddings's fantasies have clever in spades.
The characterizations aren't quite as weak as I remembered, either. He's got an annoying habit of substituting racism for character differentiation in the minor characters ("Thulls are all stupid, but good-hearted." "Chereks are all bloodthirsty." Etc.) His female characters are almost exclusively obnoxious, but they're at least differently obnoxious from each other. Garion's constant whining grated on my nerves, though. I don't remember him being nearly such a bloody irritating teenager the last time I read these. Perhaps because I was a bloody irritating teenager myself at the time.
The plot is only so-so. The theft and recovery of the Orb are handled well, but that only takes us up through the beginning of book four. After that it turns into a rehash of LotR, with the Giant Diversionary Battle occurring while the Intrepid Band travel Into The Darkness. Plus, when your every action is Dictated By Prophecy there's only so much you can do with it before the deus ex machina becomes overpowering. The Voice of Prophecy is a nifty conceit, though.
Worth reading once, if you've got a week to kill.
David Eddings, The Diamond Throne
The Ruby Knight
The Sapphire Rose
Sparhawk's a far more pleasant character to read about than Garion, so The Elenium and I got started off on the right foot. Kurik's a fine fellow, Ulath and Talen made me chuckle, and Sephrenia is far and away the least bloody irritating of Eddings's female characters.
The world's slightly more interesting, as well. There's a homogeneity to the cultures that feels more realistic than the Belgariad's sharp cultural and geographic demarcations. Of course there are differences, but they aren't so pronounced. (This has the advantage of lessening Eddings's race-is-character tendency as well.)
On the other hand, for "Styric" read "Jew" throughout.
The Gods of Styricum are an intriguing bunch, far more so than the Big Eight from the Belgariad. The Troll-Gods are a lot of fun as well. As for the Elene God . . . if you want to write about the medieval Church you'd be better served by bloody well writing about the medieval Church instead of transplanting it to a fantasy world.
On to the plot. It's reminiscent of the Belgariad's, although substantially compressed. In the first book, everyone is running around trying to figure out what they're doing. In the second, they go after the blue rock. The third book is one-third political maneuvering, one-third big battle, and one-third Intrepid Band Into The Darkness. Bleh to that, but yay to having enough nift to distract me from the genericness of the plot.
Yeah. The Elene Church aside, I think the Elenium is a better series than the Belgariad.