|
Publisher:
Aspect / Time Warner |
Release
Date: October 14, 2003 |
ISBN:
0446532215 |
Awards:
|
Format
Reviewed: Hardcover |
Buy
it at Amazon |
Read
an Excerpt |
Genre:
Fantasy |
Reviewed:
2004 |
Reviewer:
Lane Cohen |
Reviewer
Notes: |
Copyright
MyShelf.com |
|
The
Elder Gods
(The Dreamers,
Book 1)
By David & Leigh
Eddings
We
now live in a Tolkeinesque world. Epic fantasy is the current vogue,
vast magical worlds, heroes and villains, and frequent battles between
good and evil. The new popularity of the Lord of the Rings
(LOR) film trilogy has brought hordes of fantasy non-readers into
the fold, and LOR books are now being read for the first time by
a new audience raised on MTV and nothing more challenging than Freddie
vs. Jason. There is a good reason for this.
LOR
is filled with more than action scenes: it contains a fantasy realm
full of characters that readers/filmgoers care about. Would the
new films be as successful if the audience didn’t care about
Frodo and Sam? In fact, there was a reported high stress level in
the film audience before the release of the last film in the trilogy,
due to severe worries about the fate of several characters. Would
Frodo make it out alive? What about his companions, and the various
warriors, kings, and wizards?
It
is exactly this factor that is lacking in The Elder Gods.
Certainly, the Eddings have displayed a great effort in the creation
of yet another fantasy world filled with the typical kings, gods,
and mortals, each with varied aims and talents, who all must interact
until a final and deciding battle between (see above) good and evil.
This large work, if nothing else, must be applauded. But the narrative
simply did not draw me in.
In
addition, the authors’ style seemed a bit over-trivialized,
to the point of being obsessive. Detail after minute detail is explained,
listed, cataloged, and explored. Characters, who inevitably lacked
any emotional depth, retold the “story so far” to each
other, over and over, until it became tedious and somewhat abrasive.
I found myself beginning to skim; that is almost always a bad sign.
A
positive note: the story revolves around four children, called Dreamers,
who might be able to foretell the outcome of future battles with
the Ultimate Bad-Guy of the story (he is king of and controls an
area called The Wasteland). The concept is interesting, to a point,
but each Dreamer needs an influx of humanity to make the reader
care enough to spend $26.00 and plow through four hundred and four
pages. Something to think about before buying any of the following
titles in this projected four-volume series. |