Customer Reviews

The Ruby Knight, Book Two of the Elenium

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Unfortunately, the "middle child" syndrome continues its time-honored tradition here. Although there is some action, for the most part "Ruby Knight" is a place-keeper, marking the time between when Sparhawk figures out what he has to do and finally does it.
At the end of "Diamond Throne", it was revealed that the only thing that would save Queen Ehlana was the Bhelliom, a legendary sapphire of enormous power. Once it was a part of the Royal Crown of Thalesia, but was lost during the monumental Zemoch War several centuries earlier. Now Sparhawk has to track it down, dig it up, learn how to control it, and get it back to Ehlana, before the spell preserving her life fails, and those of his friends who are supporting the spell die with it.
So Sparhawk and Co. trek across the continent, fighting a few battles, meeting a few characters (some of whom will become important later, so pay attention), avoiding the Bad Guys (as led by Annias, the churchman who's seized control of Ehlana's kingdom and is looking to take over the Church as well, and Martel, Sparhawk's nemesis) and learning much more than they planned about the REAL history of their world. We finally find out what the heck is the deal with Flute, the Styric orphan Sephrenia adopts, but as I said, this book mostly exists to keep Books 1 and 3 from bumping into each other.

In his sequel to The Diamond Throne, Eddings spends more time developing the characters as well as taking the reader on a whirlwind quest for Bhelliom. This book was one that I couldn't put down. I took it everywhere with me and read it until it was DONE. It left me wanting more. I recommend it to all you fantasy readers out there. I liked it much more than The Diamond Throne!

I have read the two first books, The Diamond Throne and Ruby Knight, they are both very good. However, I will focus on the ruby knight.

I give this book five stars for an excellent story, short and good environmental descriptions and a great character build-up.

Sparhawk is the main character of the book, he is a Pandion knight, which is a religious knight order of the church. He and his fellow knights goes on a mission to find a magical stone whom can save the young life of their queen. On their journey in the Ruby knight they encounter magical beings and other evil creatures, they use different tactics and methods to get away from them, and solve the mystery of the since long missing stone, lost in the old battle by the Randera Lake. Azash, the evil god, sends out his spies to find and eliminate the Fellowship.

This is the second book of three, it brings an extra touch to the whole story, the first one mostly brings one detail about the land the live in (Elenium) and some character based story, completed with some background information. I love David Eddings books since they are so full of life, they are both romantic as well as exciting. He uses a quite simple language compared to some other authors, like Brian Craig - Plague Daemon, I never finished that book, it was great fun, when you could read a full sentence without checking the vocabulary.

Back to Eddings, this is the 14th book I have read, written by David and Leigh Eddings.

After some innovative medical research (use violence when in doubt), some help from a nine year old, flute-playing sorceress, and a visitation from a dead king, Sparhawk finally knows what is wrong with Ehlana and how to cure it. Now all that remains is finding the cure (Bhelliom, the sapphire rose). Not only must Sparhawk retrace his steps, but he is due for a confrontation with some deadly sendings from Azash, and an argument with an extremely ugly troll. One can only hope that Ehlana will live up to expectations and put a stop to Annias's efforts to become head of the Elene church.

And so Sparhawk, Sephrenia, Kurik, and a small crowd of other knights set about a quest that in all likelihood will kill them all. Of course, 'supposed to' and 'does' are two very different words, but they definitely have their work cut out for them. Have not fear with enough enemy hacking, enemy magicking, and a bit of divine intervention hope will spring eternal. After all, how else would Eddings be able to write the next volume of this story.

Sarcasm aside, The Ruby Knight continues to prove that the Malloreon was just sophmore slump. This time the story, filled with detail and personality, continues to be entertaining throughout. More characters, honest and not will appear, and new friends increase the complexity of the novel without bogging it down. Eddings is an up and down author, so there is always a hitch somewhere, but thus far nothing serious has materialized. I wouldn't call The Elenium innovative writing, but the series is good fantasy, and very pleasant writing.

The way Eddings brings the characters to life is superb. He has an enthralling way of keeping you up late with his 'can't put this book down' style of writing. Highly recommend this book and the whole series by Eddings. I will be reading any Eddings material I can get my hands on.

This book is everything a good fantasy novel should be. It is fast-paced, has great characters, and a good solid background. The writing style is smooth and powerful. The plot is very involving. All in all, a great read for any lover of fantasy.

This book was so good, I had to read it again. It's less confusing than the first book, and there is still plenty of mystery to solve. The book is REALLY funny, too!

Loved it. Eddings keeps his plot moving along @ a good pace. Invested in 1st bk. & had to continue w/all bks. in this series. Recommend this Eddings series to all.

I thought this book was beyond words. I hated books and hadn't picked one up since I was 7! But when i hit 8th grade, my English teacher forced us to read and I'm glad he did because this book is spectacular. The characters are so real! The adjectives the author uses almost lets you see the Knights! The plot keeps you guessing till the very end! If you love sci-fi or knights then i immensely recommend this book! Thanks David Eddings!

When I first buy this book (I didn't even know it was the second part), I felt transported to that magical age where magic, knights and religion is a common thing. Since this book I statarted to buy a lot Edding's books and I should say I'm full of happyness with his way of writting and the way he tolds stories. There is no other way to explain his wonderful work.