The Elder Gods (2003)

This review is for the entire series, because all four books suffer from the same flaws.

Ye gods, this was a pile of rubbish. The Eddingses must have been writing on autopilot, because all the elements from previous series were here, but none of the enjoyment. The one-trick "races", the "precocious" child-goddess, the "warfare" between the "races" whose individual representatives all get along famously, the "clever" plans after a "setback" that always work, the "witty" sardonic sense of captain-obvious-humour that a few characters default to, ... it goes on. The previous series by this duo had all of these -- but in moderation! They worked because there were different characters, plans and plot devices strewn in between the Eddingses' favourite tropes. Here, the clichés are all that's left, and the text is just filler, inserted to move the readers soullessly from one eddingsian trope to the next. It's as if no prior thought or planning went into this series, and these books are really a first draft with minimal editing.

The trick of following one (set of) character(s) for a couple of chapters before turning to another set is another reason why these books are so godawfully boring! It could have worked as a way of creating tension (it did for Robert Jordan), but the technique is not put to any use -- say, switching between fast-moving and slow-moving storylines, or heightening the tension by cutting between several climaxes. None of it works because the groups reunite every so often, and then the Eddingses treat us to painful sequences where the characters retell everything that happened to them to the others, and it goes on for a couple of pages. And what's worse, they do so in the most annoying way possible: faux-humble and pretend-cool, with only one sense of humour and one voice to go around a fairly large cast. Entire sequences of these books are dull repetition of events that happened two or three chapters ago, where characters stand around congratulating each other on how clever and brave and witty they are. So whenever a character is off having adventures on their own, you can be certain to be reading the Cliff's notes version in a couple of chapters' time. Ugh.

At this point most other reviewers here have warned you not to buy these books and to spend your time and money on something else. I can only agree with that sentiment, because I couldn't recommend this lazy excuse for a book to anyone. ( )

I have read every single one of David Eddings' books, and thus are quite familiar with his style. There is no doubt that David's involvement with this series stretches only as far as his name on the cover. THE AUTHOR IS NOT DAVID EDDINGS!
It is probably the work of his wife, to which only his name was added as publisher's trick to sell copies.
I wasn't disappointed, I was disgusted! I forced myself to finish the series, not as easy job.
The storytelling is truly awful. Every book in the series has the same plot, it is repetitive and predictable.
The characters are stereotypical and the language is one cliche after another. The attempts at humor... well maybe if I were four years old I would have appreciated it.
If you were planning to read this book, good luck - you have been warned - this is NOT DAVID EDDINGS! ( )

This review covers all four of the "Dreamers" series. I don't even know where to start. I am a big fan of David Eddings. His Belgariad/Malloreon and Elenium/Tamuli series are just great fun fantasy, and if there are some characters from one world that remind you characters from the other world, that's only natural.

"The Dreamers" series is a completely different matter. Eddings' fans who are yet to get their hands on that series - keep your hands where they are, and avoid touching it. The word "Dissapointment" doesn't get close enough. "Insolence" is closer to the mark, but I'm yet to locate the exact word in the English language to describe these books.
I have some theories that could explain the sudden plummeting of quality. I hope that one of them is true, as I'm a big fan of Eddings' earlier work.
1.The meddling wife: While his earlier work is signed by David Eddings alone, although he kept thanking his wife, Leigh, for her help, that series is signed by both of them. The first time they had both names on a book was at "Polgara the Sorceress". That book, while it is moderately fun to read for the freaks of the Belgariad/Malloreon, is quite repetitive, if not redundant, after you'd read "Belgarath the Sorcerer". However, it seems that it kept a decent level of humor and witticism, David Eddings' trademark. "The Redemption of Althalus", again signed by both David & Leigh, has started down the slippery slope of repetition. It seemed rather forced at times (I never felt anything forced at the Belgariad/Malloreon or the Elenium/Tamuli), but it was a single book and was quite fun for the most part. The Dreamers series is at the bottom of that above-mentioned slippery slope. Not only it is repetitive, it seems that whole parts of it are just copy/paste from the previous chapter. If the blame lies with the "meddling wife", I'll say that Leigh wrote the whole series and just added David's name on the cover in order to boost revenue.

2."Getting even with the bastard publisher": Well, first of all, it is clear that the publisher shares the responsibility of ever publishing the "Dreamers" abomination. My theory here is double pronged: Either the publisher forced an extremely tight schedule, and the Eddings couple thought "You know what, you bastard? We told you there's no way we'll get past the initial draft in such a short time, so that's exactly what you'll get!" and handed over their initial draft. They probably thought there's no way the publisher will even consider publishing such a pile of goat droppings. Well, I guess that the publisher gave them quite the nasty surprise... The other alternative is that they some financial disagreement, so David and Leigh threw their hands in the air and announced "That's what you paid us for, so that's what you gonna get!" This "Bastard publisher" theory has some merit, but it does not explain the "Redemption of Althalus".
3. The "writing Class" theory: Maybe the "Dreamers" series was meant only for wannabe fantasy writers in order to: a) show them how an initial draft might look like; b)provide an exemplary badly written fantasy.
4. The medical condition theory: I truly hope that both David and Leigh are in perfect condition, but it is possible that whoever wrote that document, known as the "dreamers", had gone through some brain damaging condition. I hope not.

All in all, unless you're a wannabe fantasy writer, keep away from that toxic dump site of the "Dreamers". It tarnishes Eddings' reputation no end, and it is just a horrible series of books that make even "Trash novels" look good.

This book promised a good, medium-paced read and delivered it was a literal 'bang' at the end. The direct involvement of Gods worried me for a while before the laws or what they could and couldn't do was set. Full of good characters as I've come to expect from Eddings books, and an added bonus of being set against creepy bad guys who have the upper hand. ( )

This series starts out with a bit of promise, being a slightly different version of Edding's usual theme. The good gods select champions, and oppose the plans of the evil gods, who mostly have hordes of brainless followers and a few champions. As usual, good triumphs over evil, mostl because good is exceptionally clever and devoted, and evil is pretty stupid. An entertaining book, but pretty shallow. ( )