The Diamond Throne (The Elenium)

Okay, it drives me crazy that people read Fantasy stories--which BY DEFINITION include magic and strange lands and sorcerers and special swords and the whole nine yards--and then they complain that a FANTASY story has magic and strange lands and sorcerers and the like. Do we complain that MYSTERY stories have *gasp* MYSTERIES to solve? No! We choose the genre we like and we read it. David Eddings created a fascinating series here. Both the Elenium and the Tamuli are extremely well-written. Sparhawk is a well-defined character, and has a great supporting cast (especially Talen). The plots he created with the Gods as characters are both creative and intriguing. Ehlana and Aphrael and Sephrenia are excellent characters. It irritates me that people compare this series to the Belgariad. I liked the Belgariad; I thought it was a little rough, but well-written. People compare the 'similarities' that this series has to that one, and all of them are superficial. First, they say that Sparhawk = Garion, which is a far cry from the truth. Garion is extremely powerful, and a KID, and very hesitant to do much of anything. Sparhawk is a seasoned veteran who relies on his combat abilities and not on his magic, because until the end of the Tamuli, he really wasn't that powerful. Sephrenia is not nearly as powerful as Pol, or even close to the same personality. The Orb is just a magic stone whereas the Bhelliom actually has a personality. Someone was actually complaining that they're the same COLOR. Yeah, that makes the two series COMPLETELY the same. This book follows the path of the Belgariad in that each book in the trilogy, although having their own distinct beginning and ending point, is only a section of the main plot. Nothing is really resolved until the end of the final book in the trilogy, and so although the book is rather short, it's only a third of what you would need to read to appreciate the story. There's magic (although not nearly as much as many fantasy books contain) and sorceresses and Gods (as characters) and strange lands and everything that goes into making up a fantasy story. If you don't like those elements, read something else. If you do, however, like the story of the one guy who can save the world and his troupe of friends and followers who love him and will follow him to death, this story is for you.

Although Eddings wrote his "Belgariad" series first, the "Elenium" was the first of his series I read. Therefore, my comments will tend to be skewed in favor of the Elenium, although most readers who read the Belgariad first will be more in favor of that series. It's a direct result of the fact that Edding's major flaw is a tendency to plagiarize himself, rather obviously. Therefore, if two books or plots are all but identical, the second one will almost invariably be set in your mind as a poorer copy. Anyways. The story opens with an old and battered knight, Sparhawk, returning home to the kingdom of Elenia after ten years of exile. The old king who exiled him is dead, and the new Queen Ehlana, whom Sparhawk tutored as a child, has pardoned him. But when he gets home, he finds that Ehlana came down with a deathly illness shortly after her coronation, and that to save her life, Sparhawk's old teacher in magic, the Styric sorceress Sephrenia, has placed her in a state of suspended animation, frozen in a block of crystal. Before they can bring her out, they have to find a cure for whatever illness Ehlana has. Sparhawk, of course, immediately signs up for the quest to save his queen.Along the way, he picks up various companions, including four other knights from various kingdoms, in a sort of joint effort of unity among the many orders of knights. That's the explanation given, at least, although of course the real reason is that Eddings absolutely loves creating secondary characters, and a quest story is always better the more people there are involved. There's plenty of sword-and-sorcery, a few monsters, but not so much that you feel like you're alienated from the universe he's in. (I think he does a much better job in this respect here than with the Belgariad, but again that's just me.)Say what you will, but Eddings really is good at creating characters that you can truly like and care about. And you can never go wrong with your basic quest story, which gets wonderful treatment here. I love this series, and "Diamond Throne" is an excellent start to it.

This is what fantasy is supposed to be. Not Harry Potter, not the Hobbit, but hard-hitting, with a realistic storyline. Eddings does an excellent job of developing the politics of the land, an item often overlooked in fantasy writting. He also makes the characters deep and sincere, not two-dimensional as is so often the case. Magic is present, but is not the primary focus and the scenes of warfare are unmatched in modern fantasy writing.These books differ greatly from the Belgariad. If you liked that series, you will not necessarily enjoy this one, although I loved both. I always look forward to Edding's next book and I hope he will soon return to the land where I began my adventure all those years ago.

David Eddings is one of the most captivating authors I have ever read, and the Elenium is his best series. Unlike the Belgariad, the hero in this book is not young or particularly handsome. Sir Sparhawk, however, is my favorite Eddings character of all time. The characters in this book are vividly written, and you really get to know and love (or hate) them. The dialogue is witty and will make you laugh for hours.Once you pick up the first book of the Elenium, you can't stop reading until you get to the last book of the Tamuli. The series is wonderful and engrossing.

David Eddings can do no wrong in my eyes! Even if, when reading this book, you feel like maybe one of the characters resembles someone from Eddings' Belgariad, you get caught up in this story. The thing I loved most about this book was it's central character, Sparhawk. He's not young, he's not gorgeous (or so you're let to believe - I have my doubts!), he has a VILE temper and isn't afraid to use it and if he does a job - he does it whole-heartedly. Oh, and his horse is just as much of a character as he is!! For me though, the last half of this series, (the Tamuli) is when the people REALLY come alive for me although the journey to get there isn't a hard one, well for the reader that is! Brilliant, read it, you won't regret it.