Customer Reviews

The Losers / High Hunt: Two Complete Novels

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"The Losers" is a contemporary novel that stars a man named Rapheal. Rapheal has all the positive aspects of life; good looks, intelligence, and athleticism. However, when he goes to college, he rooms with a man named Damon who represents all the negatives of society. Shortly after this meeting, Raphael has a severe accident that will forever change his life. Raphael moves away, and thinks nothing of his old life until Damon finds him again. This novel contains the classical motif of good versus evil.

In "The High Hunt", the reader is introduced to a pair of brothers coming from a disfunctional family. Dan, who is the younger brother, has just been discharged from the Vietnam war. With nothing to do, Dan looks for his older brother Jack, who he has not seen in years. Dan is quickly taken in by Jack and Jack's friends. However, Jack's friends are not the most "politically correct" friends. A hatred grows between some of these friends, which culminates in a hunting trip high in the mountains. What happens when guns and hatred mix? Find out...it is an entertaining novel that does slip down into the decadence of society.

These two novels are David Eddings' first successes as an author. High Hunt was his first published novel, and The Losers was written in the '70s but wasn't published until 1992. I've ended up liking these works more than any of Eddings' other works.

They're darker and richer in tone and content than most of his other works, and have none of the things I've come to actively dislike about his other novels; the group that, between them, can do almost anything, God-characters, stupid bad guys who don't even present a challenge to the protagonists, and very little suspense or feelings of danger. Instead, there is actual tragedy, struggle, and soulsearching. The characters actually interact and develop relationships, instead of merely quipping at each other all the time. They even experience pain and uncertainty without the overarching feeling that everything's happening as it should. The endings are ambiguous, with almost a bittersweet feel to them, instead of the overly-sugary endings of Eddings' other works. They are vastly different from what I had come to expect from David Eddings.

I've taken more away from reading these two novels than I had with all Eddings' other works combined.

Honestly, as far as these books go, they are not David Eddings. They are wonderful books, truly, and any real Eddings Fan should read them AFTER reading all of his other books. His other books are very very different in style, and manner.

It is great to see where it all started. Even if David hated these books, found them embarrassing even, they are excellent pieces of writing.

Well known for characters such as King Belgarion and Sir Sparhawk, David Eddings takes a step back away from fantasy into the world of non-fiction, revealing his commanding mastery of the English language in his two novels: The High Hunt and The Losers. At times hilarious, offensive, but always introspective and thought-provoking, the two novels lead the reader into an ever spiraling path of self-reflection. With witty commentary on the social customs of modern society and their affects on an individual, Eddings creates tales which are a must for those who consider themselves hardcore Eddings fan - allowing exposure to a side of the author that is merely hinted at in his fictional writings.