Regina's Song

This book is written very well. Mr. & Mrs. Eddings polished this story until it shined. I was very impressed with their prose. It was almost as if they were teaching a class in the mechanics of how to write the English language. Anyways that doesn't even begin to describe a thoroughly engaging story. The only problem I really have with it was the Catholic priest was Irish, literally. Come on, that could have been a little more original, but then again, there are reasons for stereotypes.Another aspect of this book that is of note, was that I was left with a lot of questions at the end of the story. I don't think the author's intentions were to leave you hanging. I believe what "really" happened is left to your own interpretation to make you think. There are going to be people who don't like this book because of that. Much like those people who don't like movies that actually have a point. I also got the feeling that Mrs. Eddings had a stronger influence on this book than on any other previously except of course, Polgara the Sorceress. If you are a fan of the Eddings' previous work, you will not be disappointed. If you are a new fan I recommend starting with the Belgariad or the Elenium, but this is a fine story, and is as good as anything they have written previously. I enthusiastically look forward to reading anything else they put out.I take my hat off and bow in their general direction once again.

Alright, alright, I am a David Eddings fan, but seriously this book is based on reality and bent on revenge. I thought that putting in psychology was a really neat trick for eddings cause thats what fascinates most people, and with james raising ideas at the end of renata/ regina's personality was really good that left doubts in everyone's minds. mark was a really good character for this book as he fitted all the needs in his character. also, the language is continuous and the characters somehow familiar ( if you have read the belgariad series )

In Regina's Song, twins Regina and Renata are so identical that they speak a secret language: their entwined lives end suddenly on the murder of one twin. The remaining is to traumatized she reverts to a cryptic childhood language and even her parents aren't sure which girl was the victim. She lives in an institution until a family friend's visit frees her from a dark world and begins to reawaken her past. Intense and dramatic.

I bought this book because of the author. I am a big fan of David Eddings' fantasy novels. When I heard this book was going to be released, I put in on my wish list, and then ultimately pre-ordered it. I didn't think it was going to be that great, since Eddings is pretty much a fantasy author, and his two normal "fiction" novels are usually forgotten when speaking about his bibliography. I put it aside when it arrived, figuring that I'd read it when I was done with summer school and had nothing better to do.Well, I decided to read it a few days before summer school ended, and I couldn't put it down. I spent hours reading it when I should have been doing my final project. I finally finished it this morning, my first day of true summer vacation, and I loved it.True, Eddings is a fantasy writer, and maybe shouldn't have wandered into this horror/mystery genre. Besides the witty sayings that are characteristic of Eddings' other novels ("I thought I noticed you noticing," "Be nice," etc.), I almost forgot it was Eddings writing the story. I was so caught up in the story that it didn't bother me that it was not fantasy. The story line is pretty basic: there are two identical twins that are more than best friends. They are so identical that no one could tell them apart. When one of them is raped and murdered, the surviving twin lapses into their secret language, "twin-speak," and is committed to an asylum. After six months of babbling, the twin wakes up, forgetting who she is and why she was there. She forgets her parents, but remembers Mark Austin, a family friend seven years older than she is. She begins to recover, and then convinces everyone that she is on the road to recovery, and should be allowed to audit classes at the University of Washington, where Mark is a graduate student. Everyone assumes that this twin is Renata, the less-dominant twin, and that Regina was the one murdered (conveniently, the twins' footprints taken at birth were lost, and since they have identical DNA, no one can be sure which twin survived).The story takes a different turn when Renata (who insists on being called "Twinkie," Mark's petname for the twins, and pushes the murder of her sister, or that she even had a sister, as far away from her reality as possible) arrives to take classes at U.W. She begins to have nightmares, and, finally, during the second half of the book, Mark realizes that these nightmares might be connected to a serial killer in Seattle. (All of this is described on the book, so I'm really not spoiling anything.)So, what's wrong with the book? The only thing I could complain about is how the twins conveniently cannot be told apart. I think that perfectly identical twins are pretty near impossible, and only thing that can tell them apart (their footprints) are lost. Hmm. But then again, I don't really know. The second problem is that the plot about the murderer really isn't discussed until the second half of the book, therefore mak

Just in this case, the thriller theme was rather enjoyable. If you enjoyed Eddings book series (pretty much any of them) this book would be a pretty good read for you. Eddings, while not one of the most complicated writers, is entertaining without resorting to lowballing the readers intelligence. Anyone who has read his books knows he doesn't go into explicet language very much, if at all. This can sometimes lead a reader to believe that "it's for kids". well, I'm 22. I personally don't need to read the expletitives [words] and the various other four letter words.Back to the story... sorta. Eddigns has always been able to make me feel a connection to the characters of his books, this was no exception. I had a myriad of different emotions running through me by the time I finished the book. Very few writers I have found have been able to do that to me.I highly recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of the Eddings books (The Redemption of Althalus is sort of an exection, it was a whole series of books comboined down to one, the story moved to fast to be able to really keep track of what waas going on, but I digress) While I haven't read many (by many, I mean any) thriller genre books before, I wouldn't doubt that this wouldn't stand up to the masters of that genre, but then again how well would those masters do if they wrote a fantasy series? In my eyes the Eddingsesssess wrote this book as almost a gift to his fans. It just has that feel to me.Did I mention I finished the book in a 25 hour period (I had work and sleep! sue me!) I couldn't put it down.