The Sapphire Rose: (#3) [Hardcover]

I enjoyed book I+II of the Elenium saga, but this volume is very boring. The heroes have changed and the only aim of Sparhawk's team is to slaughter and assassinate church soldiers. The book is so boring that you read the first twenty pages and then switch over to the last twenty page with the result that you don't miss a single thing. Sparhawk and his party travel around...fight battles...talk to strangers...fight battles....walk around. That is really boring and I am really disappointed. I don't think that I am going to read the Tamuli saga.

The "Sapphire Rose", of course, is the Bhelliom, an object of such enormous power that worlds literally revolve around it and Gods have fought wars for it. All Sparhawk cares about, though, is that it is the one thing that can save the life of his poisoned Queen, Ehlana.
Ehlana's healed pretty early in, which leaves the rest of the book for Sparhawk to vanquish evil, destroy the Bad Guys, etc etc. See, once the Bhelliom resurfaces, Azash, the evil God of the Zemochs, knows who's got it. Since Bhelliom is the one thing Azash needs to free himself from his prison and take over the world, he's a little interested in getting Sparhawk to give it to him - or wresting it from his cold, dead hands, whichever's easiest. To that extent, there's a long, protracted section of the book devoted to the election of the Archprelate (the equivalent of the Pope) in the Holy City. If Annias, who secretly worships Azash, can buy enough votes, he wins, and Azash gets Bhelliom. So before Sparhawk can go off and kick immortal butt, he and his buddies have to head off this impending disaster first. It's political, it's complicated, and there are long sections where nothing happens but debate and voting. But it's also intelligent, witty, and gives several characters (including Ehlana) a chance to shine. Put it this way - if you think the political stuff in "Star Wars" is too complicated, you'll hate this part of the book. But if you enjoy that stuff, as I do, and seeing how wars are won by more than sword-waving, this book is fantastic.
Of course, there's real action, too - Sparhawk does face down Azash, with some help (of course). Ehlana and Sparhawk get married - their love story is both awkward and romantic, and quite cute. And someone dies - I can't say who, but I cried when I read it. (And there's no "Man-with-two-lives" business as in the Belgariad.)
The best book in a great series!

Since I was first introduced to the writings of David Eddings, through the best selling series, The Belgariad, at the age of 11, I have had a real affection for the seemingly realistic characters and simple yet exciting writing style that Eddings had so cleverly utilised to draw the reader into his fantasy world. Since then, I have come to think of Eddings as the king of modern fantasy writing, and I feel that the final book, The Sapphire Rose, in his series The Elenium, has upheld his title.

The world that Eddings has created in the series The Elenium, has a complex series of religions and races that are spherically different yet are interactive with each other. The religious zealots that are inherent with any religions, be they fantasy or in the real world, are the story keys and can simply described as good and evil, dependent on the religions and their role in the aiding or thwarting of the heroes journey.

The Sapphire Rose continues from the first two books in the trilogy, The Diamond Throne and The Ruby Knight telling the story of the short-tempered, Sparhawk, the Queens Champion and member of legendary Pandion Knights. The trilogy follows Sparhawk and his quest to find the magical jewel Bhelliom to cure his poisoned queen, along with the help of his band of companions, including, the powerful and wise Sephrenia of the Styric religion, her goddess Aphrael.

The medium paced and predictable plot of the first two books is spiced up quiet a bit in The Sapphire Rose. Eddings simple writing style enables the reader to keep track of the action and the characters, yet creates many twists and turns, adding surprises, that even the most critical fantasy reader would not anticipate. This is demonstrated in the plot intrigue when Sparhawk, having managed to retrieve the Bhelliom and cure his queen, the logical end to the trilogy, finds that he now must wage a war on the evil Styric god Azash and his followers, and must demonstrate his faith, which he is sceptical of, by taking the Bhelliom right into Azashs' hands.

One of the main things that I have enjoyed about David Eddings' writing is that all readers will find a character that they identify with. Each of the characters, although written very simply and perhaps a little two dimensional in the first of the series, are fully developed near the end of the second book. It is a pity that in the third book the characters, having been well developed in the second of the trilogy appear to have changed in The Sapphire Rose, suddenly presenting with different values. This is demonstrated particularly in Eddings need to make his descriptions more violent then I would consider necessary. Even though I understand that the characters were fighting a war, did everyone have to be constantly dripping with blood?

The impact of the violence in the story line is minimal, and it leaves one wondering why the change of the characterisation was seen as necessary for the author, and if the author was writing to a new formula to attract new readers to his slow selling trilogy. Compared to the Belgariad series, the Elenium series was not as quick to move off the shelves, and this is a possible reason for the change in the authors' direction. The slow development of the characters throughout the trilogy leaves one with a lack of empathy for the characters and their motives, and the new direction of the writing style makes this writer wonder if Eddings was attempting to hang on to the die hard fans, and attract new ones to his series.

It is interesting to note that two prequels to the Belgariad series were released after the slower selling Elenium series, thus demonstrating an attempt to recapture the audience that might have been lost to the author from the change of formula and the unneeded violence of The Sapphire Rose.

Even though the book was slow moving at times, and certain characters were not developed to their best, and with the added element of the incongruous violence, The Sapphire Rose maintains Eddings wit and offbeat humour that has made many readers addicts to his style of writing. The book is written specifically for lovers of the fantasy genre, however it does relate to many aspects of the real world, particularly in the areas of diversity of religion and culture. It does not match Eddings previous submissions, and is a bit of a disappointment, to those anticipating a revisit to the Belgariad world. Sparhawks world is darker, and a little more mature than the gentle and innocent world of Begariad, yet, Eddings still maintains his ability to spin a good story, and in this writers opinion maintains his regal position in the world of fantasy writers.