Genres
Description
Fantasy. Fiction. Science Fiction. Thriller. HTML:David and Leigh Eddings were mythmakers and world builders of the first order. With The Redemption of Althalus, the authors of the Belgariad and Malloreon sagas created a thrilling stand-alone epic�??boldly written and brilliantly imagined. It would be sheer folly to try to conceal the true nature of Althalus, for his flaws are the stuff of legend. He is, as all men know, a thief, a liar, an occasional murderer, an outrageous braggart, and a man devoid of even the slightest hint of honor. Yet of all the men in the world, it is Althalus, unrepentant rogue and scoundrel, who will become the champion of humanity in its desperate struggle against the forces of an ancient god determined to return the universe to nothingness. On his way to steal The Book from the House at the End of the World, Althalus is confronted by a cat�??a cat with eyes like emeralds, the voice of a woman, and the powers of a goddess. She is Dweia, sister… (more)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2000
Physical description
792 p.; 18 cm
Publication
New York : Ballantine Books, 2001.
Pages
792
ISBN
0345443985 / 9780345443984
Similar in this library
User reviews
LibraryThing member benfulton
David Eddings wrote roughly three books in his life. Unfortunately, he convinced people to publish them, over and over, with minor changes in wording and characters, and must have turned them into quite a gold mine. This book is a shorter version of the Belgariad (unlike the Mallorean, which is a
Here's what makes this book difficult to rate: If you don't know it's the same book as the Belgariad, it's pretty good. Probably 3.5 or 4 stars. But why give that many stars for ripping off another book?
So, I rate it low. Read the Belgariad instead, for the same experience with a fuller story.
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version of the Belgariad with an identical length).Here's what makes this book difficult to rate: If you don't know it's the same book as the Belgariad, it's pretty good. Probably 3.5 or 4 stars. But why give that many stars for ripping off another book?
So, I rate it low. Read the Belgariad instead, for the same experience with a fuller story.
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LibraryThing member Karlstar
For Eddings fans, this book will be very familiar. A typical Eddings contest between good and evil, with gods on both sides actively involved, mainly through their somewhat more than human surrogates. A number of archetypes are involved, though with Edding's usual take on them, making it a bit
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different. There's also some overly convenient time travel involved. Basically, this is a mini-Belgariad. Its not a bad book, I enjoyed it, but I really wanted it to be more. Show Less
LibraryThing member Flamika
I disliked this book so much that I couldn't even finish it. They skimped on descriptions, and the writing style was an utter mismatch with the world.
LibraryThing member soliloquies
Abandoned. The general idea for this book was good, thief teams up with Goddess and they try to stop the minions of evil. But, the execution was poor. There were 47583 characters and the book may as well have been a play because it was so dialogue heavy. It also got very tedious them jumping to
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various battles through the House. And don't get me started on Emmy saying "pet" nearly every line. Show Less
LibraryThing member jimmaclachlan
My wife, kids & myself all really liked the Belgariad, but none of us liked this new series. It seemed quite pointless & boring. None of us liked the hero at all.
LibraryThing member richardgarside
The first fantasy novel I have read, It may be the last. Terribly repetitive and 500 pages too long. I lost the will to live at one point.
LibraryThing member felius
Formulaic fantasy. It's still a good formula, though I confess to tiring a bit of the sameness of the Eddings' books.
This is a single-volume epic - a fat novel with the standard quest for a remarkably "human" deity. It had the usual Eddings' treatment and stereotyping of gender
Perhaps I was in a bad mood when I wrote this review.. It's not a *bad* book, but not a brilliant one either.
This is a single-volume epic - a fat novel with the standard quest for a remarkably "human" deity. It had the usual Eddings' treatment and stereotyping of gender
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relationships.Perhaps I was in a bad mood when I wrote this review.. It's not a *bad* book, but not a brilliant one either.
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LibraryThing member thecyberwolfe
I got the impression that Eddings wanted to write another 5-book saga, but didn't want to put that kind of time into it. The whole thing feels rushed, sort of crammed together.
LibraryThing member Soulhaven
I had rated this one star, but that is unfair, as I never actually finished it... I may have another go some day. Basically, I read the first page in the store and thought it was wonderful! I bought it and took it home to read. And after the first chapter, things went downhill. I was a big Eddings
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fan prior to picking up this book. I read my brother's copies of The Elenium and Tamuli, and I bought my own editions of The Belgariad and The Malloreon, and The Rivan Codex, and all the supporting books... I LOVED those characters. But, when I started to read Althalus, his cat companion (sorry, it's been a while and I can't be bothered digging up the book to check her name) reminded me all too much of Polgara and, I'm afraid, that just didn't work for me. I already knew Polgara. And I had been on many adventures with her, and would gladly go on more... but not in the guise of a "different" character. It kind of reminds me of my old Furby. I played with it for a while and it was cute. Then, when I was over that, I took the batteries out. When I restarted it a few months later, it loaded a different character (but in the same body... just too weird!). I never touched the thing again... OK, so this is a reverse situation, but the point is, I couldn't deal with "Polgara" being played by some cat. Maybe, with a little more distance between me and my beloved characters, I wil be able to have a go at this one again, and give a fair rating. Show Less
LibraryThing member egonzalez111
An amazing book. It created such an shockingly loveable character in Althalus, a thief and killer! You want so much to hate him for the actions he takes, but you can't, because he is the portagonist of th book. Although not the typical knight in shining armor he soon becomes the savior of the
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world. The book illustrates how it takes evil to fight an even greater evil. Good is not always the best way to fight evil, and Althalus proves that with great style. Show Less
LibraryThing member ds_61_12
The godess Dweia hires the masterthief Althalus to help her in the battle against her brother Daeva. They strike a deal: she will learn him morality, honesty etc. and he will learn how to lie, cheat and steal.
Fun read, but it is possible to get an overdose of Eddings (especially since his series
Fun read, but it is possible to get an overdose of Eddings (especially since his series
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are often very alike). Show Less
LibraryThing member Alliebadger
This is epic fantasy. I'm not very used to reading such epic tales, so as much as I love fantasy, I was a little overwhelmed at times. But as an epic fantasy it was good. It was funny at times and very well-written. I got sort of annoyed at points when Althalus would retell a story from his life to
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another character that I had already read 500 pages ago. I got nervous when they started messing with time, because every other time travel related book requires everything remain exactly the same to have the same present, but it was a different kind of linearity (which was a little confusing, but it confused the characters sometimes too, which helped keep me from feeling like an idiot). Good read, but not a favorite. Show Less
LibraryThing member gac53
Excellent!
LibraryThing member AshleyMiller
The Redeption of Althalus is the first book I read by the Eddingses. Supposedly their books are good, but I found this one to be boring.This is over a 700 page book, and by page 520 I decided I just couldn’t read it anymore.
I found that the story was predictable and formulaic, which usually
The plot really did have potential and their were some interesting aspects to the book, but it was just poorly executed.
The characters were also one-dimensional and uninteresting. What I didn’t like were the descriptions of the characters. All the women on the good side were beautiful, the one woman on the bad side was ugly, and this seemed to be the same for the men. The fat characters were slow and lazy and the skinny characters were athletic. There wasn’t any variation. I didn’t really come to like any of them or think of them people. None of the characters had any difficulty completing their tasks or coming up with and executing ideas. They just weren’t real. I also did not particularly like some of the dialog between the characters. Calling someone “pet” is just a little strange. There was also a bit of repetition with the dialog and storytelling.
What I did like about the book was the lack of detailed violence. I would recommend this book for young adults because its not as graphic as many other adult fantasy novels. The writing was also good with few to no errors. As previously mentioned, the plot did have some interesting aspects and their was definitely potential for a better story.
I would recommend the book to young adults who haven’t read much fantasy or to people who really like reading about battles. Otherwise, I wouldn’t waste any time reading this book.
I found that the story was predictable and formulaic, which usually
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doesn’t bother me, but in this case it became really boring with the addition of long, drawn out, detailed explanations of battle tactics. I like reading about battles and such, but I don’t need this much detail behind it. The battles were also uninteresting and you have a pretty good idea who is going to win within a page or two. Additionally, throughout the novel there weren’t any surprises or twists in the story, so there was nothing to keep me intrigued. I don’t know why I even read as much as I did. I guess I figured it would get better.The plot really did have potential and their were some interesting aspects to the book, but it was just poorly executed.
The characters were also one-dimensional and uninteresting. What I didn’t like were the descriptions of the characters. All the women on the good side were beautiful, the one woman on the bad side was ugly, and this seemed to be the same for the men. The fat characters were slow and lazy and the skinny characters were athletic. There wasn’t any variation. I didn’t really come to like any of them or think of them people. None of the characters had any difficulty completing their tasks or coming up with and executing ideas. They just weren’t real. I also did not particularly like some of the dialog between the characters. Calling someone “pet” is just a little strange. There was also a bit of repetition with the dialog and storytelling.
What I did like about the book was the lack of detailed violence. I would recommend this book for young adults because its not as graphic as many other adult fantasy novels. The writing was also good with few to no errors. As previously mentioned, the plot did have some interesting aspects and their was definitely potential for a better story.
I would recommend the book to young adults who haven’t read much fantasy or to people who really like reading about battles. Otherwise, I wouldn’t waste any time reading this book.
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LibraryThing member wyvernfriend
Fairly obvious readable eddings standalone novel. Characters are par for eddings and situations fairly telegraphed.
LibraryThing member JohnFair
Unlike most of Eddings' previous works, 'The Redemption of Althalus' takes place in its own world, though the basic plot isn't dissimilar to the various books featuring Garion and his companions.
Althalus is definitely *not* a nice man, brought up to be a liar and thief until the time when he's
Again, there is no way that this could be described as a sophisticated book but it's fun and interesting in its own fashion and it is a bit more sophisticated than his earlier series books.
Althalus is definitely *not* a nice man, brought up to be a liar and thief until the time when he's
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approached by a stranger who wanted him to steal a book. No problem Althalus thought, well, except - what's a book? the untutored Althalus wanted to know. A box contained bits of paper, he's told and he didn't see a problem with taking that, especially as the book was supposed to be in an empty house. The location was a bit strange: The House at the End of the World! But there was a lot of money involved and Althalus was always interested in money, especially if there was lots of it involved.. Althalus' source's information was a bit out of date though; the House was not deserted; there was a cat with the voice of a woman, and the powers of a goddess. Over time, Althalus is educated in the way of the Book and of the conflict he has been promoted to lead.Again, there is no way that this could be described as a sophisticated book but it's fun and interesting in its own fashion and it is a bit more sophisticated than his earlier series books.
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LibraryThing member jaygheiser
Mediocre literature, OK read
LibraryThing member Andy_DiMartino
Seemed as if the cast of The Belgariad and The Malorean got dumped into this book. The dialogue and style were identical. lacking in originality
LibraryThing member LeslieHolm
Eddings is one of my favorite fantasy authors, and the Redemption of Athalus is, in my opinion, his greatest work. While I love his series, they tend towards repetitiveness. Athalus, the anti-hero, is a fresh breeze.
Media reviews
Seit dem großen Erfolg seiner fünfbändigen Belgariad-Saga gehört David Eddings zu den beliebtesten Autoren der modernen Fantasy. Galt es bisher als sein Markenzeichen, keine Serie unter drei bis fünf Bänden zu schreiben, überrascht er seine Fans jetzt mit einem in sich abgeschlossenen Roman
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aus einer neuen Welt mit einer ungewöhnlichen Hauptfigur.
Althalus ist ein Dieb und Schurke, der zu allem bereit ist. Als er einmal wieder dringend Geld benötigt, nimmt er den Auftrag an, ein Buch zu stehlen -- ein Buch, das so selten ist, dass er zuvor noch nie etwas von ihm gehört hat. Er findet es im Haus am Ende der Welt und muss sich von einer sprechenden Katze erklären lassen, wovon es handelt: von der Schöpfung aller Dinge. Als Althalus das Haus schließlich verlässt, hat er seine Meinung hinsichtlich seiner ursprünglichen Auftraggeber geändert. Mit grimmiger Entschlossenheit versammelt er eine Reihe von Gefährten um sich, um den Kampf zur Rettung der Welt aufzunehmen.
Wie die bisherigen Romane von David Eddings handelt Althalus in erster Linie von zwischenmenschlichen Beziehungen. Dabei erinnern Althalus und seine Kampfgenossen etwas zu sehr an die Figuren der Belgariad-Saga. Der theologische Rahmen ist nicht ganz so differenziert ausgearbeitet, wie man es gewohnt ist. Statt der Vielzahl von Göttern in früheren Werken müssen die Leser jetzt mit nur dreien Vorlieb nehmen. Dem entspricht auch der Mangel an ernsthaften Konflikten: Allzu leicht überwinden die Helden auch die schwierigsten Hindernisse, die Schurken scheinen von geradezu peinlicher Einfallslosigkeit.
Wer bisher noch nichts von David Eddings gelesen hat, sollte es auf jeden Fall erst einmal mit Kind der Prophezeiung probieren. Seine Fans sollten ihm Althalus nicht allzu übel nehmen und auf den Beginn einer neuen Serie hoffen. Show Less