David Eddings
Mass Market Paperback | Pages: 435 pages Rating: 3.95 | 31638 Users | 512 Reviews
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| Original Title: | The Diamond Throne |
| ISBN: | 0345367693 (ISBN13: 9780345367693) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Series: | The Elenium #1, Sparhawk Universe #1 |
| Characters: | Francis Flute, Sparhawk, Ehlana, Kurik, Sephrenia, Vanion, Kalten, Bevier, Tynian, Ulath |
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'You'd better get ready to ride, Sparhawk.' Meet Sparhawk: Pandion Knight and Queen’s Champion. If this were D&D his character class would likely be Paladin; he can cast spells, but mostly prefers to just chop off heads with his considerable broadsword. Sparhawk is a bit of a bad-ass. So is his horse, Faran. 'It's the Queen's Champion. Don't ever stand in his way.' I fairly devoured this novel in short order. Sparhawk has a zero tolerance approach to BS which is immensely refreshing and enjoyable. The Diamond Throne is a no-nonsense tale. The writing style on display here is sometimes a bit workmanlike and without literary flourish, but it seems to suit the story (and especially the protagonist) rather well. 'It's going to be dangerous.' And thus our hero sets out on a quest to save the kingdom, accompanied by a few companions. Ah, the tried and tested recipe for a fantasy story. Fortunately it’s hardly possible to make a mess of a book when it has such an endearing protagonist. Eddings seems to have struck gold with Sparhawk, because I was willing to forgive all kinds of faults. It’s an old school story that (in my opinion) leans slightly more toward the heroic fantasy of Gemmell than it does the high fantasy of Tolkien, and yet it still sits somewhere in between. I haven’t read The Belgariad yet, so I’m unable to draw any comparison. Eddings, it seems, was somewhat hot property in the 1980s, alongside the likes of Raymond E. Feist. Just don’t expect dragons or elves. 'What are you planning, Sparhawk?' 'Chastisement.’ One of the major selling points of this story is the dialogue. It’s rather good, what. In fact, it’s absolutely delightful more often than not. The bantering between the characters, and especially the knights of the different orders, is deftly dealt with. It’s remarkable that, for all the humour in this novel, it never stoops to being silly or a parody. 'It should be almost like a cheese grater when we start to grind them up against your walls.' 'And I can drop some interesting things on them from my battlements as well. Arrows, large rocks, burning pitch - that sort of thing.' 'We're going to get on splendidly, my Lord,' The story won me over with its simple charm. It’s not as complicated and reality-ridden as the modern fantasy, but it does have a bit of dirt under its fingernails. There are some religious and philosophical leanings, but for the most part these serve to underscore elements of the story. 'Has he ever bitten you?' 'Once. Then I explained to him that I'd rather he didn't do it any more.' 'Explained?' 'I used a stout stick. He got the idea almost immediately.' In short: it’s a fantasy adventure that should appeal to readers that don’t have a very straight literary stick wedged somewhere tight. For literary merit, cleverness and all that jazz: 3.5 stars For pure unadulterated entertainment value: 4.5 starsPoint Epithetical Books The Diamond Throne (The Elenium #1)
| Title | : | The Diamond Throne (The Elenium #1) |
| Author | : | David Eddings |
| Book Format | : | Mass Market Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Special Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 435 pages |
| Published | : | June 13th 1990 by Del Rey Books (first published 1989) |
| Categories | : | Fantasy. Fiction. Epic Fantasy |
Rating Epithetical Books The Diamond Throne (The Elenium #1)
Ratings: 3.95 From 31638 Users | 512 ReviewsPiece Epithetical Books The Diamond Throne (The Elenium #1)
On the one hand, I want to give credit to Eddings for trying to write this. He went from family-friendly bestselling non-Tolkien epic fantasy author of all time (at the time) to, immediately, a dark and brutal semi-noir proto-grimdark story about church politics, drenched in sex (albeit off-screen) and blood and elder gods and incest and pederasty and fountains of blood and ethnic cleansing and blood. And when I was eight, I loved it, although given his massive decline in sales apparently a lotTHIS. WAS. ALL. SETUP. AND. NO. ONE. WARNED. ME.
The Diamond Throne kicks off with a bang with the main character returning after a ten year unjust exile at the behest of the new Queen with only one little snag in that the queen has taken seriously ill and had had to put into a form of stasis and this begins a quest to find a cure for the young Queen! :D Though there are also the parties responsible for poisoning intent on causing trouble which of course leads to all sorts of attempted upsets, daring do's, plenty of clenched teeth and grim
Very nice classic fantasy. Sparhawk seems an interesting pov character and the supporting cast does well also. Interesting premise that i think has more to it then we are told at this point. magic system is interesting but i want to know more about it:) Curious as to how this will unravel in the next book. For me it had everything apart from the"wow" factor that for me turns a book into a 5 star rating:)Will be continuing this series
4.5 stars. That ending is great! Eddings writes spectacular characters as always and finally the plot is thickening. Sparhawk is a really likeable character. Although there are still shades of Belgariad/Malloreon characters in all of the other characters, it might just be because I've missed them all.
lillias rocks the denouement
Read this many years ago, and ended up skimming the second half. I could see why Eddings has such a poor reputation: the writing was boring and the characters were caricatures, with flat dialog and a generic Epic Fantasy Quest plot. I've never been tempted to read anything by Eddings since.
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