Customer Reviews

The Elder Gods (The Dreamers, Book 1)

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(22)
2 star:		(29)
1 star:		(70)

 

 

Ghost written? That was my first thought as I passed the halfway point through this book. Surely this did not come from the hand (or wordprocessor) of what has always been one of my favorite pairs of authors? I have read and enjoyed everything else they've done, including their non-fantasy books, but this one just didn't cut it for me.

The characters lack any depth, are overly agreeable with each other and with new situations, and generally fail to draw you in. The attempt to add some depth and minor internal conflict to Rabbit seemed very forced and just didn't work.

The plot is predictable, plodding and has no real subplots of interest. The book is only as thick as it is because Eddings found it necessary to have characters repeat things over and over verbatim when explaining to other characters.

The only character that really seems to be typical Eddings is Eleria, and her overt cuteness and personality sticks out like a sore thumb among the other flat characters, making her more than a bit contrived.

I can only hope that the second book is better written. I'll definitely wait to find out before buying a copy, though. If it's anything like this one, this will be one of the only times I drop a trilogy after the first book.

Overall, this is just not compare with any of Eddings duo's previous work. If you buy this book based on the authors' reputation, you will be as disappointed as I was.

First: I own all 12 of the "Garion" books. The Belgariad was the series that got me googoo-gaga over fantasy, and I've read the entire series enough to have to replace all the books twice. The Belgariad and Mallorean are examples of a saga gone right: fleshed-out and compelling characters you grow to love (or hate), a genius writing style that places you in the world without you even noticing, and of course, a bunch of Gods!

I made the mistake of buying The Redemption of Althalus and found that the writing style had changed completely: excessive use of "There is" and "There are", too many filler words, and the narrative told me what to think of these characters rather than showing me what they were like. Either David (who I believe has a masters degree in English) got hit hard on the head, or Leigh took over writing (and it's not her strong suit!)

Now onto this drivel. Unfortunately, my fiancee bought the hardcover for me at full price, knowing I love Eddings. I can't read this crap. The grammar errors alone are so distracting I can hardly get involved in the story. When I do, I find the first main character to be a very pale and annoying shadow of Polgara. I got to the second "mini-book" within the book and gave up, angry that I spent my hard-earned money on this book, bewildered that no editor turned it red and sent it back, and dumbfounded that it was published.

The overarching story is a great idea. The execution is horrendous. And as an avid reader, I consider the mechanics of writing to be most important... otherwise, anybody with a good idea should be published.

PLEASE: don't waste your money. We must somehow send a message to the Eddingses that their name alone won't make them money.

To preface, I've been a Eddings fan since his (their?) first foray into fantasy with the Belgariad (I still have the first printings of some of the books). Eddings soon moved into the rather short list of my favorite authors who I just read without bothering to even check the plot or the jacket notes.

Without getting into too much detail, I approached this book with a bit of trepidation: recent Eddings books had started to become pale imitations of his earlier works. The characters all seem to have the same character traits, the same speech patterns, etc. The only thing different is the name of the character from book to book. Maybe it's just me, but it seems like every Eddings series has the one woman who knows everything, who repeatedly says either "don't worry I'll explain later" or "see I told you so," and generally runs around putting everyone else into their cute little places.

Unfortunately, this book is no different. I even caught one character who's name starts with "Bel" - reminiscent of the tell-tale from the Belgariad for "important person who knows everything." I finished the book, but I admit I lost real interest around the second or third chapter.

If you've never read Eddings before, do yourself a favor and go read something else of his first. Preferrably the Belgariad series.

...a lot. I have loved David Eddings for a long time, first reading "Pawn of Prophecy" in 1986. I look at his last two books and can only think, "What happened?"

Gone are characters so real that closing the book is like their deaths. Gone is an adaptive storyline with promises and possiblities. Gone is the depth that created two magical worlds and fleshed them with Gods, Goddesses, and countries, each rich with their own histories and traditions.

Instead we have characters one page in depth. No sardonic witticisms from Silk. No sage advice from Kurik or Khalad. We aren't given the chance to watch an innocent character grow to his birthright as we did with Garion, or see the iron discipline of the Church Knights as they confront the evil of an Elder God.

Instead we are given a story in which the "good guys" suddenly start preparing for a war in which there are no indications of hostilities from the "bad guys". We are shown the (apparently) carefully laid plans of the bad guys thwarted at every turn by a run of incredible, and incredibly BORING, good luck for the good guys.

Much as "The Redemption of Althalus" did, this book stagnates. Characters tell and retell things that don't need retelling. The storyline is a rehash of things we have seen before.

The saddest part of this series is the knowledge that the Eddingses have forgotten the first rule of creative storytelling: stories are about PEOPLE. The "Belgariad" was about young Garion's maturation and growth into the boots of the Rivan King-- not about the "War of the Gods". The "Mallorean" was about Garion's realization of his responsibilities to his destiny, and the growth that made two bitter enemies (Angarak and Alorn) realize their common ground, as seen in 'Zakath's acceptance of his own destiny and friendship with Garion.

After reading "The Elder Gods", there isn't a single character in the book that feels even remotely 'real' to me. Not one character has the depth and scope of Sephrenia or Barak. Not one character has the wit of Prince Kheldar or Talin. Not one character has the nobility of purpose that led Immortal Belgarath to shed his ways of dissipation and lead the war between gods.

Not one character was even likable. Why are Stephen King's books so powerful? Because his characters are real to the reader. So were, in fact, the first four series by the Eddingses: Belgariad, Mallorean, Elenium, and Tamuli. Why then, have the Eddings forgotten how to write good fiction? What HAPPENED?

This book is a bunch of random names, doing random things, to further a random plot.

And you have no idea how much that saddens me.

I am extremely disappointed in this book, as I have been in the Eddings' last few books. David Eddings was once an Epic Writer (note caps) who had a gift for adding the more mundane things, such as eating or bathing, that really make a book seem real. his characters were well developed, and he usually avoided "cut-out characters" whithout any real personality. however, in recent years, that gift for little details has become a major flaw, with monotony on every page. also, his characters and their interactions have become painfully cutesey, with lots of love and kisses and little girls throwing tantrums; all of it is generally sickening drivel. now, it seems to me that Eddings is writing the kind of books that give "fantasy" a bad name: escapist novels that show little talent and have no grounding in reality. and this is a terrinble thing indeed, since, to the contrary, the Eddings' are one of the most talented writing teams I have ever found, and their early work (credited solely to David Eddings) contains some of my favorite and most "real" characters ever.
in this book, the first section is about an airheaded goddess' disdain for humanity and her subsequent retreat to the land of pink dolphins. another god spent millenia contemplating the color blue. (what is up with Eddings and the colors blue and red?) neither of these is interesting. and relationships between people are playful, even when they hate each other: you know that if they just got to know each other, they could be the best of friends. it almost hurts to read.

in the end, reading this book and comparing it to the Eddings' earlier work is like comparing Mother goose stories to those of the brothers grimm: latter is the TRUE stuff, with all the details that, later, so offended the modern sensibilities that someone felt the need to cut out all the interesting bits and water them down to a story where everyone vaguely ends up happy. even evil is not Really punished, but instead it just sort of goes away and doesn't come back.

if you want my advice, read eddings' earlier work, like the belgariad. you wont be disappionted. otherwise, read another book, perhaps one by George R.R. Martin. and hey, there's always Tolkien, right?

The title of the review succinctly states my feelings. The most annoying thing about this book (and their last several) is that they are slowly grinding their earlier works of genius into insignificance. As brilliant as the Belgariad was, it simply cannot outweigh the tripe that these two have been subjecting us to.

I've always been slightly amused by Eddings' note about the Belgariad - that it was a project to "test out" and "refine" certain ideas about the fantasy genre.

Well - I'd recommend scrapping the "real" work, and get back to some serious testing. Please.

POSTSCRIPT: Rest in peace, David. While I regret that our author/reader relationship ended on this sadder note, I cannot thank you enough for the wonder you infused into my life with your work. If you had not been so truly great earlier, I would not have felt such harsh disappointment later.

I have always been a self-titled die-hard Eddings fan but I cannot in good conscience reccomend this book, especially to someone who has never read anything by David Eddings. It actually makes me want to cry that he would put out something that seems so sloppily constructed. I have always had a great respect for his characters but the ones featured in this book are, as everyone before me has pointed out, copies of his other characters. I did finish this book but it was with no sense of joy or desire for the next series to come out. I would almost rather Eddings ressurect my beloved Sparhawk than put out a book like this. My hope is that word of our discontent will reach Eddings' ears and he will be beholden to create a better work than has recently reached us. I beg of you, my favorite writer!! Don't let me down!

If there was a rating less than 1 star i would have given it for this book. I am definitely a fan of Eddings, the belgariad, mallorean, and tamuli were all great series and worthy of reading and re-reading. When the redemption of althalus came out i thought, good another great read by a great author, i could not have been more wrong.That book is extremely long and before i was halfway through, i realized the plot was overly simplified, the characters extremely flat and the dialogue very trite. For example we need to travel quickly, suprise they suddenly have a door that will lead them anywhere, just an atrocious book that i couldnt even finish. So when The elder gods came out i was very hesitant about trying it out, but i had a christmas gift certificate and figured i would give Eddings another try. What a colossal error on my part, 1/3 of the way through, it was the same trite dialogue with characters repeatedly repeating the same things over and over again. The plot was extremely juvenile and made me feel that they are writing for a really slow 8 year old. I once read a quote by a famous author that said," When a reader lays down their hard earned money for a writers work, they are entering into a contract with each other, the buyer is agreeing to pay for entertainment and the writer is supposed to entertain" Well the eddings have failed too many times, i can only imagine how bad the rest of the trilogy will be, because i will never buy any more of their books.

I was so disappointed in this book. I have reread the Belgariad and Mallorean series more than once and enjoyed the style and humor of the books. However, this series seems to me like the Eddings are just capitalizing on their name. The writing style is annoying and the plot juvenile. Don't waste your time.

Don't make the same mistake I did and buy this book. The fact that hardcover editions are available for mass paperback edition prices should be just one indicator that this IS NOT a rewarding read.
I have never been so disappointed by a major writer in this genre. The only reason I think they dared to publish this material is because a certain amount of people are almost certain to buy in to any series with the Eddings name on it. I am looking in the mirror as I write this and I see one of them!!!
If you haven't read earlier Eddings works (Belgariad/Malloreon or Elenium/Tamuli) then you are well advised to use your hard earned money and purchase those for some good light-hearted fantasy reading. If you have read those then you are not only in for a MASSIVE disappointment here as I was, but also some fairly strong feelings of anger and resentment over the fact that this series is pretty much a complete rip off of those earlier volumes.
Quite obviously I am fairly disgusted with what seems to me to be an obvious attempt by The Eddings and their publishers to capitalize on their loyal fan base. Please don't encourage them by purchasing this book-you will regret it. I know that firsthand as I actually wasted my money on the second and third books in this series and simply don't have it in me to waste my money or time on the final volume. It doesn't really matter as the characters and plotlines are all just rehashed from earlier series and the plot is SO mundane and predictable there is really NOTHING in it for the reader at all.