Books

[annwfyn]

*yawns*

I'm feeling slow and sleepy this morning. This weekend became somewhat hectic, with bento in Camden on Saturday, followed up by people visiting, then more people visiting on Sunday (including wildrogue who I haven't seen properly in ages), then a mass of ZG stuff that I think I promised to run ages ago and then forgot, then moving helping ksirafai with the

Comments

[suave_steve]

I was forced to read the Belgariad cycle by an former girlfriend. I found them quite dull overall really. Haven't read any more Eddings since and don't intend to.

[twicedead]

The Mallorean watered down every character, except for Silk who became the UberDude. Ce'Nedra stopped being red-haired princess of cool and became a washed out version of Mrs Eddings. Polgara also followed shortly afterwards.

Ce'Nedra could have been toughened up by becoming a mother, given more focus and become even more impressive. Instead she just became flat.

But this is the series where they had a prophecy that someone would die, and introduced a character with zero development, that no one cared about and had no page time to kill just so no one's favourite had to die.

I have never heard of Storyteller magazine.

[annwfyn]

The death of the mute was a massive cop out. That was another of my pet hates. It seemed like a stretch for Durnik to care.

[twicedead]

They might as well have called him "Toth the Red Shirt".

What happened to Eddings after the Belgariad? I wonder if there were drugs or a cult involved...

[annwfyn]

I believe David got sick, and Leigh started doing a lot more of the writing.

He may be able to write. She can't.

I also think he got really arrogant. Have you read any interviews with him? He's actually fairly obnoxious He 'doesn't take orders from readers', and doesn't actually like fantasy. He started writing it because he thought it was an easier market than the serious fiction he was trying to write at the time, so I think it was easy for him to get complacent.

[lilitufire]

Don't read The Redemption of Althalus. I paid 4 Singapore dollars (about 1.30) in sheer desperation for something to read and was robbed!

The Mallorean just had cash cow written all over it to me, though I liked some of the new characters (Urvon, Zakath, the seeress binty).

But then Eddings' view of sex and love just turns my stomach. Everyone has to be matched up at the end, and you have Polgara, the 7000 virgin until the end of the Belgariad. FFS.

[twicedead]

Althalus = Silk + Belgarath + Sparhawk

There are few books that are so bad that I stop reading them - I've completed entire trilogies by Kevin J. Anderson - but I couldn't finish that giant dung-heap of a book.

[annwfyn]

But then Eddings' view of sex and love just turns my stomach.

Oh my yes! I'd forgotten about the icky horror that was the Silk/Velvet love story in the Malloreon. Silk's pure and perfect and unrequited love for Porenn bites the dust as soon as he meets that blonde that he's known since she was six.

So creepy on so many levels.

[headinclouds]

No, you are most definitely not the only one who got StoryTeller magazines - they are the reason I know all the words to the Lobster Quadrille, which I am assured is not normal. :s

As for the whole Belgariad/Mallorean thing, what mostly annoyed me about the Mallorean is that it didn't feel like there was really anything new there - just a mercenary desire to make anyone who liked the Belgariad fork out for another five books in the foolish hope that there might be something worth reading in there.

[annwfyn]

*sighs*

And sadly, I did fork out for the five books. And I never stopped feeling dirty for doing it, even as I so did.

[headinclouds]

Thankfully, when I read them I borrowed them from secretsloth, so I never wasted any money on them. I still feel slightly dirty all the same. :s

Unfortunately, various replies to your post are now reminding me of all the smaller things I disliked about those books as well - the Ce'Nedra thing, Silk/Velvet and dear god, don't get me started about that @%!*ing prophecy!

[annwfyn]

The 'everything will happening in the same way, over and over again, until a new McGuffin is found. Or something' prophecy?

It was awful! As were the multiple child of light nonsense things.

[lanfykins]

I loved Story Teller. I didn't bother listening to the cassettes, mind, I just read the stories.

Wasn't Gobolino Story Teller? And the thing with the golden ogre? And all sorts of other cool stuff?

As for the Mallorean - I quite enjoyed it. Though largely 'cos it had a huge plague in the middle :)

[annwfyn]

Grogre the Golden Ogre! He's the reason I remember the entire series. I had him stuck in my head for days! Thank god it isn't just me!