The Redemption of Althalus

This book was not like the David Eddings stories that I grew up with. To me the story line, and the characters were not up to par with his classic works. I found it kinda corny and boring. Not true fantasy, not a lot of magic the way it should be.

This was interesting to start, but after the first section was over it turned into a plodding storyline that didn't hold any surprises. I ended up skipping several pages at a time and didn't miss any of the plot. However, there were too many time line conflicts at the end that did not get resolved.

This is my all time favorite book, my paper copy is being held together by duct tape and isnt really safe to re read with the kids in the house. When the ebook went on sale I was so excited I screamed and woke my husband up. So worth it.Althalus is a lovable sass filled bad boy, full of funny one liners and love for his eventual companions.

This novel is cotton candy. After the veritable feasts of literary wit and a truly entertaining saga in both David's Belgariad and Malloreon series there are certain expectations about Mr Eddings' writing that the reader sort of holds in mind when reading a new novel from him.But this book is a redux of Belgariad's characters such as Silk (Althalus), Garion (Gher), C'Nedra (Andine), and so on. I do adore David's elastic banter between characters and his strong ability to make them lively and engaging, but the baby talk and repetitive smart alecky comments between Emmy/Dweia the goddess and Althalus which generalizes to conversations between the rest of the characters (except the bad guys) is just too "precious" for palatability. I am massively bummed out about this.He uses strong metaphors in an engaging way to put forth his opinions and insights. I enjoyed his light hearted smacking around of various combustible topics like religion, politics, and other esoteric spiritual practices. The plot lines of this novel were well planned and could have become a really terrific story had he expended his considerable talent in a more substantive effort.Basically, I was left with the feeling that he was dialoging with his wife and their house cat and together they came up with this cutsey ball of yarn. If you enjoy reading sugary confections then this one is guaranteed to please.

[I can see from the other reviews that I am in a minority!]Why did I like it?- It is a complete fairy tale. It is done in one book (compare and contrast with Robert Jordan...). It is not realistic. It is canonical.- Two very difficult concepts are dealt with as well as I've ever seen: God and time travel.- God: The Gods seem credible. The reasons they hang with humans seem believable. Their omniscience and omnipotence seem believably limited. The main God is a groovy female whom you'd love to meet. ... And she's a sweetheart and babe - just what a guy would want in a God...- Time travel: I have been reading sf for 40 years, and I can count on one hand the number of believable time travel books I've read. In fact, I've given up and won't reat t.t. books anymore. But here the Eddingses (what a word!) do it just right, with limited mucking around, changing everybody's memory (handy to have a God around, eh?), and danger involved.- I loved the banter. But then I like Spider Robinson's puns, too.- The theivery is pretty intricate and well-worked out. Being a crook myself (I consult on software), I appreciated some of the scams immensely.- I don't understand the complaint about no characters. It's not Dostoyevsky, but I could tell them apart and watched them develop.- Sure it's smarmy and happy - it's a fairy tale! I liked the fact that the Good Guys get along and the Bad Guys bicker and plot. Isn't that the way it is supposed to work? Just because Robert Jordan's got it turned around doesn't mean other authors must follow suit.I guess it comes down to that you either like it or you don't. If you thought Prince Kheldar was about the coolest character that you've ever met, and you love Polgara as a woman, then you'll probably like it. If you think that the Belgariad and the Malloreon kind of dragged on, you probably won't.

Fantastic, fantastic read. The characters were lovable and memorable. You found yourself struggling right alongside them and rejoicing when they did as well. The book moved seamlessly through the timeframe without the hiccup I would've anticipated with the concept of the book. I'm not usually a fan of Hollywood tinkering with books I love but with the success of semi success of the Tolkien booms, I wouldn't mind seeing what Hollywood could do with this! I'd eagerly await the release date!

The book in itself is a good enough read. What really lets it down and loses stars on the rating is the transfer onto kindle. Someone obviously hasn't read the translation since so many words are wrong and make you read a sentence over and over again because it just doesn't make sense. I'm really disappointed with the kindle version and whoever did the proof reading for kindle, for this book should really look for another job. I get angry just thinking about the obvious laziness.

Another wonderful story from David Eddings (who now admits his wife's part in the creative process). A standalone story from the author of the Belgariad, Malloreon and Dreamers series'. An unsurprisingly well written tale taking in an entire continent and several thousand years, with well rounded characters and little 'in jokes' to keep the prose flowing. Highly recommended as a true escape novel in the best of fantasy styles

Five stars for originality, humour and a well rounded story. It became a bit repetitive at times, but this was more than balanced by the characters and the world building. I have read a few of the other books, but this has given me the incentive to start from the first books and to start over. Thank you for Avery entertaining read.

I first read this book quite a few years ago, and as so often happens when you move house or even country, as in my case, good things very often get lost. I was therefore delighted to renew my acquaintance with cheeky chappie Althalus. I shall make sure this remains safely on my Kindle. Eddings is a brilliant writer and I am now waiting to renew my acquaintance with Polgara and Belgarath. Just one complaint which is not only related to this book but to many others on Kindle is the large quantity of spelling errors - how someone proof reading can mistake 'trunk' for 'think' is beyond me. Such a shame and it does rather spoil the pleasure of a good read.

I have been reading Eddings for over two decades now, since my wife bought me Pawn of prophecy for my 23rd Birthday I proceeded to read the entire belgariad series in a little over a week. The malorean took a little longer, Ihad to wait for the books to be published, then it was the elder gods series finally Althalus which I read first on Holiday on France with my Family, a holiday ntable for three things, the wonderful wine, the amazing food and my reluctance for the first week to do anything but read Athalus. I have to admit it took a bit of getting used to his charachters seem to me to be fairly similar in all of his books/series kind of like a good friend you have not seen for several years come back to visit the same but not. Having said that another marvelous tale fromtone of the masters of the Genre, thoroughly enjoyed it this time as well.