Fantasy Book Club discussion

Tell us if you're planning to read this one. Give us your first impressions, etc.

This used to be one of my favorite series that I forgot about. And I very recently (a few days ago) bought it again. Looking forward to seeing if its as good as I remember. Though, I don't remember much about it.

actually never finished this book. I started it many many years ago when I was younger. It will be good to see if I can finish it this time.

I have this book, and the rest as well.
I read them many years ago.
Must have liked them, or I would not have bought them all.
For the life of me, I can not remember anything about the series.

For some reason I only remember one character and a couple of scenes with that character. But I remember I liked it a lot.

A great introduction to Fantasy.
People used to fast paced grittier fantasy may not enjoy it though.
This series is mainly meant for teenagers, and often laced with humor.

I never got why David Eddings had an audience. He bored me to death. No suspense. I bought a couple of them and couldn't figure out why so many of them sold.

JohnViril wrote: "I never got why David Eddings had an audience. He bored me to death. No suspense. I bought a couple of them and couldn't figure out why so many of them sold."

I'm the exact opposite. I love this series quite a bit. I re-read at least 11/13 every year.

MrsJoseph (taking back my data & giving GR the middle finger) wrote: "JohnViril wrote: "I never got why David Eddings had an audience. He bored me to death. No suspense. I bought a couple of them and couldn't figure out why so many of them sold."

I'm the exact oppos..."

I read a ton of fantasy. But, Eddings worlds seemed so cliche and his characters seemed to be walking stereotypes of where they were from. I've heard people liked his characters. I couldn't get past the no surprises plots and his nation-building.

JohnViril wrote: "I read a ton of fantasy. But, Eddings worlds seemed so cliche and his characters seemed to be walking stereotypes of where they were from. I've heard people liked his characters. I couldn't get past the no surprises plots and his nation-building. "

Well, that would depend on when you read the books.

At the time I [first] read, the characters weren't "fresh" but they were much less annoying than, say...Roberts' WoT women. With the swishing of skirts and the tugging of braids.

Or Shannara. God I hated that series.

Silk was enjoyable and reminded me of a nicer Shadowspawn. I love Belgarath but Garion is the typical Farm boy orphan that saves the world.

Now, if I were to read Eddings for the first time, maybe I would feel the same way. I've read much more since that time.

MrsJoseph (taking back my data & giving GR the middle finger) wrote: " I love Belgarath but Garion is the typical Farm boy orphan that saves the world."

I remember when I first attempted this book, I hated the main character, but I liked the others. I will see if that proves true this time as well.

As big of a fan I am of gritty fantasy, there comes a need to have 'someone normal saves world' every once in a while. I think this book fits into that.

note: I never minded Shannara, when I am in the mood for it :P

Daniel wrote: "MrsJoseph (taking back my data & giving GR the middle finger) wrote: " I love Belgarath but Garion is the typical Farm boy orphan that saves the world."

I remember when I first attempted this book..."

LOLOL. I'm writing an epic fantasy parody of the Shannara books. I'm about half finished, which, since it's comedy, is only about 20K words.

My basic idea is that the Ohmsfords have been asked to save the world so many times that their descendants are sick of it and need to be blackmailed into going on the Quest.

I think these books were of their time and some readers may find them cliched but when I read them way back when I was a nipper they were unusual and I loved them. Still do but probably would find them simplistic to re read.

Bev wrote: "I think these books were of their time and some readers may find them cliched but when I read them way back when I was a nipper they were unusual and I loved them. Still do but probably would find ..."

Nipper. So cute!

They are simplistic but simple can be fufilling, too. Sometimes I get tired of the rigamarole. I just want a straight forward fantasy where the good guys are good and the bad guys are bad.

Now, Eddings does have a major problem: he's very formulaic. If you've read one of his series, you've read them all. So I like the Belgaraid but my father prefers Sparhawk. Guess who read what first? LOL!

Bev wrote: "I think these books were of their time and some readers may find them cliched but when I read them way back when I was a nipper they were unusual and I loved them. Still do but probably would find ..."

Perhaps. But, Tolkien isn't stale with time, and his books are older than most anything in the genre.

About the only think "dated" about Tolkien is the info dump he does in Fellowship of the Ring right at the beginning.

MrsJoseph (taking back my data & giving GR the middle finger) wrote: " Sometimes I get tired of the rigamarole. I just want a straight forward fantasy where the good guys are good and the bad guys are bad"

*yes

Was this the first major 'farmboy' novel, or is the Shannara protagonist from a farm as well?

Anyway, it's worth remembering that when this book came out, pretty much the only epic fantasy that was succesfull was Tolkien, Narnia, Covenant, and Shannara. Eddings realised that fantasy was popular with a YA audience, so he wrote YA books, stripping out a lot of the deeper rumination and opaque language of Tolkien, Lewis and Donaldson, and producing simplistic but clear and accessible characters, a fresh-feeling and varied world (yes, the travelogue elements feel a bit dull now, but Eddings is showing off that he has a world with a lot of variety in it, not just one small country - Donaldson, Brooks, to some extent even Tolkien, often feel like people wandering around a small English shire, popping over the nearby hills to see the horrid city being the limit of their adventure, whereas Eddings really gave the impression of a whole vast world. And it's a surprisingly deep world, too, with much more detailed and robust worldbuilding than most fantasy of its era.

I also think he doesn't get enough credit for the Elenium. It's been a long time since I reread it and I can't speak for its prose quality - I suspect it's very poor - but in conception it was actually very ambitious and innovative. It had an unusually unlikeable protagonist (Sparhawk is clearly a good guy, but, particularly early on, he's a taciturn, unfriendly and aggressive guy with few friends - and later on the 'good guys' rely heavily on thieves and murderers), it was really very dark in places (lots of brutal deaths, persecution of minorities, orgies, child abuse, incest, people going mad, almost a horror film feel at times), it had a setting unusually close to real history (there was WAY more rust than in most epic fantasy of the time), and it had a very unusual set of plot concerns ("so, what's the main plot of this trilogy you want to sell us?" - "well, the primary focus is on possible vote-rigging in ecclesiastical elections, and there'll be a variety of dramatic legislative shenanigans, points of order, surprise votes, fillibusters, and so on" - "ooh...kayy... next author, please?").

I remember enough of Eddings to know that he probably wasn't a very good author. But I think people may be underestimating the extent to which he could sometimes be a surprisingly interesting author. And, of course, an incredibly effective one in terms of turning people on to the genre.

Oh, wait, I forgot, Earthsea was around at that point too. But even so, the point stands: remember that these books came out in a much sparser genre environment; also, to the extent that it's formulaic and cliché, remember that these formulas and clichés are at the very least a lot more obvious after three decades of imitators in a field he did as much as almost anyone to popularise.

ok, cant wait to get started again, now that there is so much conversation about it.

That is exactly why I said it was of its time. When I started reading fantasy as a young kid and teen there was lots of old school sci fi but fantasy was fairly sparse on the ground. Eddings does do good old fashioned good/bad guys and you cannot fault his ideas even if the writing may not appeal to everyone. I have seen fantasy change and evolve over the last few decades but Eddings played an important part in that.

Bev wrote: "That is exactly why I said it was of its time. When I started reading fantasy as a young kid and teen there was lots of old school sci fi but fantasy was fairly sparse on the ground. Eddings does d..."

Agreed

Wastrel wrote: "Was this the first major 'farmboy' novel, or is the Shannara protagonist from a farm as well?

Anyway, it's worth remembering that when this book came out, pretty much the only epic fantasy that wa..."

I love this post.

JohnViril wrote: "Daniel wrote: "MrsJoseph (taking back my data & giving GR the middle finger) wrote: " I love Belgarath but Garion is the typical Farm boy orphan that saves the world."

I remember when I first atte..."

Please read the rules regarding writers talking about their writing.

for those who are interested. Read the first ten pages of Tales of Lola the Black http://ajmartinezauthor.com/read-ten-...

A.J. wrote: "for those who are interested. Read the first ten pages of Tales of Lola the Black http://ajm"

Is that related to PoP?