Well written (The Redemption of Althalus - David and Leigh Eddings)

Member Name: Atchoo

Product:	The Redemption of Althalus - David and Leigh Eddings
Date:	14/05/01 (18 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Only 1 book, Well written, Excellent Storyline

Disadvantages: Borrows too heavily from other books, Some parts are confusing

Not surprisingly this is one of thier (david and Leigh Eddings) best books yet. Not only do you only have to buy one book, as opposed no numerous books which leave you wanting more when you finish them but take another year to come out, it has an extremely engrossing stroline/plot..

The book starts off with you following a thief named Althalus. I felt that the way that you were introduced to this main character was much too sudden- they went into far much detail when compared to thier previous books. For example- they tell you things about his character directly- like "he was sneaky", rather then as in other books he would have performed an action that would show you that he was sneaky. The reason for this is easily explained though- they only have one book in which to tell an epic and they don't have time to gradually introduce you to new character traits as was seen with people like Garion in the Belgariad (one of thier 5-book epics).

The book goes on and you soon meet plenty of new characters and as the book mentions on the back -he can't get out of a house. Considering that this is the main point on the back I was surprised at how short it was.

The storyline progresses well, people are introduced and you learn gradually (which was a pleasing point) and the climax ends well- if rather abrubtly.

All in all I have two major complaints. The first is that it borrows amazingly heavily from previous books- ok- they are the same authors but surely they should have realised that the Goddess sounds exactly (and I do mean exactly) like Polgara at times. As well as this you soon realise that nurmerous phrases from pervious books keep cropping up- with the same reasons being given as in other books.

The other complaint was that there was one paragraph which to me made no sense, this wouldn't have been too bad excpet it was the paragraph which the entire book rested on and you need to understand it to get how
it ended- i.e.- without giving it away too much the something happends to the bad guy but I was unable to compltely understand what.

All in all though, considering that it's in one book I have to say that I enjoyed this immensly- even if I did finish it in a weekend, it was still worth the money.

If you are new to Eddings books and are after a well written and engrossing sci-fi swords and sourcery book then I would heartily recommend it. It is about the same as his other books (except that they are longer) and so it would be a good starting point for new-comers to this author.

If you aren't a new-comer and weren't too impressed with his other books then iw oudln't recommend it- it takes far too much from old book and while there are indeed some new points added they don't outweigh the old ones.

Obviously if you have enjoyed his previous books and want to read more of them then you will want to read this one. I know I enjoyed it and I would be surprised if an Eddings fan didn't.

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