The Diamond Throne: Book One of the Elenium (Hardcover)

Anyways. The story opens with an old and battered knight, Sparhawk, returning home to the kingdom of Elenia after ten years of exile. The old king who exiled him is dead, and the new Queen Ehlana, whom Sparhawk tutored as a child, has pardoned him. But when he gets home, he finds that Ehlana came down with a deathly illness shortly after her coronation, and that to save her life, Sparhawk's old teacher in magic, the Styric sorceress Sephrenia, has placed her in a state of suspended animation, frozen in a block of crystal. Before they can bring her out, they have to find a cure for whatever illness Ehlana has. Sparhawk, of course, immediately signs up for the quest to save his queen.

Along the way, he picks up various companions, including four other knights from various kingdoms, in a sort of joint effort of unity among the many orders of knights. That's the explanation given, at least, although of course the real reason is that Eddings absolutely loves creating secondary characters, and a quest story is always better the more people there are involved. There's plenty of sword-and-sorcery, a few monsters, but not so much that you feel like you're alienated from the universe he's in. (I think he does a much better job in this respect here than with the Belgariad, but again that's just me.)

Say what you will, but Eddings really is good at creating characters that you can truly like and care about. And you can never go wrong with your basic quest story, which gets wonderful treatment here. I love this series, and "Diamond Throne" is an excellent start to it.

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As with the Belgariad, there is nothing original here - a rehash of other fantasy stories. Eddings' style requires some forgiveness by older readers. It seems like every time the main character speaks, Eddings rolls a die to see which other character gets to say, "Well spoken, Sparhawk!" Eddings also expects the reader to instantly have tremendous affection for each of the heroes, but his forced banter between them doesn't cut it. Arguably the biggest shortfall is the lack of true depth. The world of The Elenium is dominated by a Church whose theology is only vaguely discussed. What an opportunity to explore issues of spirituality, piety in an organized religion, devotion and hypocrisy - an opportunity completely wasted.

But then one has to expect that from David Eddings. His books are always Fantasy Lite. There's no effort to explore deep issues, thus avoiding the pretentiousness of a Robert Jordan. There's no melodrama, either. The Diamond Throne is light entertainment, a fun read that taxes the brain cells not at all. It's rather like watching television, only without the commercials.

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