Customer Reviews

The Hidden City (Tamuli Series)

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

AmazonFox: For assistance in this review, I'm joined by my esteemed colleague, Bhelliom.
Bhelliom: It hath always been mine pleasure to lend mine opinion to any literary criticism.
AF: Uh, yeah. We're here today to review "The Hidden City", the conclusion to David Eddings' Tamuli series. Here's my assessment: It's a mess.
B: It doth displease me that thou hath dismissed this tome so curtly.
AF: Suck it up, Big Blue. I stick by my opinion. This book is literally a mess, cluttered with extraneous subplots, nonsensical plot twists, deus ex machinas, and irrelevant characters. Including you, buddy.
B: Be nice.
AF: No, I don't think I will. See, I LOVED the Elenium, the first trilogy in this series. I was so excited when the second trilogy, the Tamuli, came out. And then what does Eddings do? He proceeds to spend the next three books systematically undermining, negating, or otherwise rewriting the events of the Elenium
B: Yet doth not the plot, which doth pit the very forces of good against the wicked and foul forces of evil, somewhat redeem this over-complicated tale?
AF: Don't I wish. There's no real suspense! It's pretty much a foregone conclusion that Sparhawk and his friends will win this battle, and not only do we know it, but they all know it too. It's very, very boring to read about people saving the world when they're not even worried about it. And part of the reason they're not worried about it is that Eddings is frantically rewriting the rules in their favor at every turn. There's almost no struggle that's not solved by someone - or something - producing some mysterious new power or ability. Let's see, Xanetia glows, kills people with a touch, and reads minds. Hey, why not give her invisibility and the ability to turn into mist and float through windows, too? Why? *Because we can!* It reaches the point where you almost start to feel sorry for the bad guys. Come on, couldn't we at least give them *one* cool power that doesn't have a counter-spell or a solution Khalad can figure out in his sleep?
B: Thy simple speech and uncouth manner disturbeth me.
AF: Hey, let's not even get into how annoying all those `thees' and `thous' of yours are! I fell asleep every time you piped up for more than a paragraph. I mean, for the love of God...!
[Aphrael pops into existence]
Aphrael: Yes? You rang?
AF: Aaagh! STOP IT! Stop being cutesy! Stop the God puns! We get it, OK? It's not funny anymore!
[Aphrael vanishes in a huff.]
B: Ahem. It seemeth to me that a more deliberate examination of yon plot would serve better than this continued stylistic quibbling.
AF: Oh, you want to know about the plot? Fair enough - but which one? Here's Sparhawk desperately trying to save the kidnapped Ehlana - no, wait, he's plotting strategy with the Atans - no, hang on, he's talking philosophy with Bhelliom - wait, now he's battling other-worldly monster soldiers summoned by Bhelliom's archrival, Klael. You didn't know about Klael? Silly, of course Bhelliom has an opposite! Didn't you read the Mallorean?
B: Well, really!
AF: Oh, stop it, we all know you're just a prettier Orb of Aldur, enough with the vain protests.
B: Then it is thy contention then that Eddings hath, as they say, jumped the shark with this volume?
AF: You could say that. You could also say that he grabbed the shark by the nose and tail and proceeded to skip rope with it, and you wouldn't hear any argument from me.

The last in the installment of the "Sparhawk" adventures is just like the rest. It is full of gods, humor, and magic... with fighting. Suprises abound, some you can see coming, but many you can't. This book has a good ending to the whole series (no real loose ends), but leaves open several doors for a next series with this crew. I hope there is one...

The entirety of the Tamuli series is basically a rehash of its predecessor, which is generally regarded as being the far superior of the two. This is especially true of The Hidden City, which performs the incredible feat of being both glacially slow and pathetically rushed at various points in the novel. Cyrgon also fails miserably to make a credible enemy. He is arrogant, reviles intelligence, lacks subtly, and is, indeed, a blob of goop, at least most of the time. Klael is slightly more intimidating, but the god-rock still renders him rather unimportant. Indeed, Eddings struggles to come up with a credible reason disallowing Sparhawk from simply zapping around and annihilating most of his enemies with Bhelliom. Aside from these serious issues, the trademark banter between Eddings hero's (and I use this term loosely) is decidedly average, such that those who have extensively read his books before will be able to predict the use of certain popular one-liners far in advance. All in all, your time would be better spent reading (or re-reading) some of David's earlier books.

Fantasy readers are very amusing. When they (once in a lifetime!) get a series with witty oneliners and genuinely sharp humour, they think it sucks. When they (once in a lifetime!) get an ending that doesn't drag on for 50 pages, they think it sucks.

It seems to me that some people here are really missing the point. When I was 100 pages into Tamuli, I had a perfect grasp of what Eddings was doing; not a breathtaking, bone-crunching, millennial epic of some kitchen boy or other saving the world, but an elegant and well-crafted parody of the most ridiculous cliches of the genre. No wonder the vast majority of teenage fans didn't get it - and so Eddings had to go back to writing about Belgarath and some other old friends.

I'm not saying this series is a masterwork. It started well, kept its pace well into the second volume, even most of this third one was very readable. What sucked was, yes, the end. Eddings made (again) himself to stop laughing, and this time he substituted it with sugary tears of sweet happiness. Not exactly my idea of a good time, but I can't altogether bash a book with a six-year-old goddess expressing her wish to eat somebody's heart. And the Trolls were especially hilarious.

What can I say? I liked the Hidden City. The Eddings' style of storytelling draws me into their books. The characters' conversations and relationships keep me fascinated, like stepping into a room and listening to people talk as if they didn't know you were there. While some readers apparently find this style boring, I find that I fall into it comfortably. Rather than a lull between the all-out action parts of the books, the discussions and witty fencing of the characters offer the reader a chance to analyse these people by what they say and do to one another, so that when something happens to disturb their lives, you feel for them. Although some of the characters are near cliches (the cultured,misunderstood thief, the Amazon, the wise teacher), Eddings breathes life into them with little details and light words. Read the series. (Plus, I got 50 points playing Scrabble with a group of friends using the word "defenestrate." Thanks Stragen!)

Having read some of the reviews prior to typing my 2 cents worth, I must confess to being a little surprised at some of the reviews. Having read the Belgariad and the Malloreon, I thought that both the Elenium and the Tamuli series were superior. Once I had started reading, it was always a shame to stop. The one reservation about the series was the ease with which Sparhawk's enemies are destroyed at the end. Having had Sparhawk and his friends running around madly for 3 novels, Cyrgon bites the dust in just 3 pages once the main event begins! Also, I have to agree with the comments about Caalador's accent - it really was annoying. What's worse, he was faking it! Aside from that (and it really is a very small issue), both of the Sparhawk series were great reads, with good characters, and I would like to see another seies. There has to be someone on the other side of their world that doesn't like them.

There's some sort of sense of accomplishment in reading sixteen books by one author one right after another. Either that ot it's a measure of sheer power of will. Will David Eddings, both statements are true. There are moments in his booths where he has repeated his plot for the umpteenth time when you just want to throw the book out the window. And then there are those times when he pulls something off perfectly and you have to admit to his talent.

The Hidden City is the last volume of the Tamuli, which is the second series about Sparhawk and Ehlana, and Eddings fourth series over all. After foiling several of Cyrgon and Zalasta's plans the bad guys kidnap Ehlana triggering a manhunt where every one of the home team is traveling under at least one layer of disquise. The must neutralize Cyrgon's plans for world conquest and find the road to the Hidden City, where Ehlana is being held hostage for Sparhawks good behavior.

This story shifts back and forth among the various players as they sneak, pose, fight, and steal their way across the lands of Berit. The make friends of enemies, stand of alien attacks and create general havoc, drawing steadily closer to the final conflict, where Bhelliom faces Klael and Sparhawk has one last fight with Cyrgon. This is a complicated story at this stage and Eddings' efforts to geep the threads in synch will occasionally leave the reader shaking his head.

Technically, this is Eddings best writing, but not his best plot (the Elenium owns that honor) or his most innovative (the Belgariad has that prize). But it never bogs down, although it takes a long time to unfold. Eddings is best at the interplay between his characters although they develop very slowly if at all. But at least they are strong and original characters that can last for a trilogy or two.

Fantasy has come a ways since the days of these volumes but they still display an ability to entertain and their occasionally wry humor brought a new vigor to a genre that was always in danger of slipping into overblown language or pure hack and slashery. Eddings is no Tolkein, nor does he use the tortured heroes of Michael Moorcock, but repetitive that he might be, it is himself that he repeats, not someone he is imitating. I like him (in small doses, so it may be a decade before I read these again) and I think most fantasy buffs will as well..

David eddings is an extremely talented author in my opinion. I mean, the Belgariad was fantastic, being highly original and with a great plot.

Sadly, i cannot say the same with the Tamuli series. There were a few main problems that i just can't come to terms with. 1) the plot. Its basically a regurgitated version of the Mallorean, with the Bhelliom the Orb, and with the counterparts evil.

2) the antigonists. i suppose the author at one point was thinking "well, we just happen to have all these evil guys around. what can sparrowhawk do against all of them? Well, why not make them all stupid?" I mean, come on. the "evil god" is so outdated he loses to Sparrowhawk in swordfighting. Plus, his "evil minions" are bred for their stupidity. Their whole entire race is impossibly stupid. its like backwards evolution. To create warriors for his army, what does he do? he brings in armies from the past! what a wonderful idea, yes? Its just the fact that they're all outdated and are still wearing bronze armor. kind of unfair, don't you think. Okay. the protaganists come up against some minor hitch which they can't go across. No worries! Just give them a new power! I mean, every single detail in the plot is all there to help the protanganists. How senseless is that? You know from the start that Sparrowhawk will win, and even he knows it. He just calmly slaughters everyone in his way. Oh, did I mention? He's a god! (or something close to it anyway) So he can just blast everything in his path out of the way.

so, you see, everything falls perfectly into place for the good guys. It actually made me feel sorry for the bad guys. I'm serious.

3) the characters. A problem with Eddings is that his characters are too extreme. Do you ever meet anyone in your real life like any character in his books? Take for example Silk. I mean I love that character, with his personality and all, but its overdone. At first, I enjoyed his antics and all, but after the nineth book, I was utterly exasperated at him. Same goes for Sparrowhawk and his companions.

I didn't mind the overcomplicated plot, like some people. It seemed okay to me, actually.

So, you see, David Eddings can only write in one type of style. he never changes. Characters, plot, everything is duplicates. If you've read one series, you've read them all. Mallorean is an exact copy of Belgariad. Tamuli is carbon copy of Elenium. (with a few tweaks) Oh, and Elenium and Belgariad aren't all that different, either. In the end, you read the books just to see what happens to the characters, as you love them, but as soon as you realize they're fake and artificial, the game is over.

The Hidden City (Tamuli, Book 3) is the 3rd book of the Tamuli series by David Eddings. The whole series is outstanding but the Hidden City is packed with adventure, battles with powerful beings, entertaining situations, and some surprises. This book will keep you engrosed for hours. Highly recommended.

Whether the book is trash or excellent reading material is very much dependant on individuality. The Elenium and the Tamuli series have been captivating and I look forward to another series, if any.