Before I start this review, I would like to record that my friend (Ee Lin, who's also a fan of Eddings' books) & I are deeply saddened that our favourite author - David Eddings has passed away. Though it was already a few months back, but since I'm reviewing his books.... I thought it was only appropriate to mention it here.
Now, about this book.... where do I start?.... I think so far this has to be the longest 1-book story that I have ever read from Eddings (913 pages!). Maybe because the story is completed in 1 book, while most of his other books are in series (The Belgariad - 5 books, The Elenium - 3 books, The Mallorean - 5 books etc). If you're not familiar to Eddings' works & are wondering what's all this funny names about - well, just imagine Tolkiens & his work for Lord of The Rings, they are the same genre.
Anyway, back to Althalus. The story is about a young, skillful & "lucky" thief called Althalus, who 1 day ran out of luck & on several occasions barely escaped with his body intact. Depressed & with light pockets, he went into hiding at his favourite campsite "tavern" (of sort). There he met a strange character called Ghend, who tasked him to steal a book for him from the house at the edge of the world (at tht time, people thought that the earth was flat) in return for gold equivalent to the weight of the book.
Ghend is actually the follower of Daeva - God of Darkness, pro-creation, nothingness. Deiwos is the God of Creation & Light. Dweia is a Goddess of Life (birth & death, fertility, tending to the creatures created by Deiwos). While Althalus, after meeting Dweia at the house on the edge of the world (at tht time he doesn't know she's a Goddess) & learn to read / utilize the white book of Deiwos, ended up being the defender of all creations.
To cut a long story short, Ghend & his minions with his black book of Daeva vs Althalus, the white book of Deiwos & his assortment of followers - each with their own special characteristics / powers do battle in their bit to (1) destroy the world into nothingness (Ghend / Daeva) or (2) maintain the world & its creatures (Althalus / Dweia - lastly Deiwos). Of course in the end, good managed to overcome evil & the world is saved. Althalus ended up "married" to Dweia (oh.... I forgot to mention tht Althalus is in a way immortal because he lived to 3000-4000 years while in the house at the edge of the world / Deiwos' hse).
Ah..... how satisfying.... A true Eddings work... witty characters, thick plots & keep you on your toes from start to finish. Wonder if they'll do something similar like LOTR for Eddings' works? Would also love it if Raymond E. Feist books are turned to movies (hopefully of the same quality as LOTR). Now who's Feist? I'll write about his books sometime.....
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment