vaderbird's review against another edition
2.0
5 star - Perfect
4 star - i would recommend
3 star - good
2 star - struggled to complete
1 star - could not finish
4 star - i would recommend
3 star - good
2 star - struggled to complete
1 star - could not finish
staceylynn42's review against another edition
4.0
A great many things happen in this book as Sparhawk & friends, as well as the Atans, Trolls & the Church Knights, begin their assault on Cyrgon & his allies. There is a lot of jumping around as a result. One chapter we are with Sparhawk looking for the Well of Vigay, the next we are with Bergsten planning to surround Cynestra, then with Ulath & the Trolls attacking Zhubay, back to Sparhawk, the over to Sarabian, then to Vanion, and on and on.
This is one of my favorite of Eddings' works because I love the setting, the plots & all the action. Watching Ulath try to apologize to the troll Blokhw, when there is no word for 'sorry' in Trollish, was entertaining.
The side plot with the Empresses was good as well even though I sort of wonder what the rest of them are doing. 2 are plotting against him, while claiming to be against his first wife. 3 are on his side. So what are the other 3 wives (the Elenic ones) doing? We never see them or hear about them, which is sort of a big hole in the narrative.
I first read this 25 years ago and then read it multiple times over 15 years and it's been abut a decade since I last read it. I am now bothered by things that never bothered me before. This time it isn't the casual sexism but consent does matter. Talen's consent & Khalad's. Sparhawk, who is otherwise a decent human being, decided the best way to honor his fallen squire & long time friend, Kurik, was to make his sons knights. The sons don't want this. Kurik wouldn't have wanted it for them. Everyone knows and acknowledges this, but too freakin' bad. The Church Knights have decided that Kurik's sons will become armored killing machines and that is that. Khalad has reluctantly gone along with it, putting his fellow novices to shame with his skills & Vanion thinks he might make a good Preceptor one day. Talen is still fighting it and since this book is the last I like to imagine that in the end Talen got his way & didn't become a Knight. He's the sort that would manage to pull that off I think.
Lots of humor. I really like this one.
This is one of my favorite of Eddings' works because I love the setting, the plots & all the action. Watching Ulath try to apologize to the troll Blokhw, when there is no word for 'sorry' in Trollish, was entertaining.
The side plot with the Empresses was good as well even though I sort of wonder what the rest of them are doing. 2 are plotting against him, while claiming to be against his first wife. 3 are on his side. So what are the other 3 wives (the Elenic ones) doing? We never see them or hear about them, which is sort of a big hole in the narrative.
I first read this 25 years ago and then read it multiple times over 15 years and it's been abut a decade since I last read it. I am now bothered by things that never bothered me before. This time it isn't the casual sexism but consent does matter. Talen's consent & Khalad's. Sparhawk, who is otherwise a decent human being, decided the best way to honor his fallen squire & long time friend, Kurik, was to make his sons knights. The sons don't want this. Kurik wouldn't have wanted it for them. Everyone knows and acknowledges this, but too freakin' bad. The Church Knights have decided that Kurik's sons will become armored killing machines and that is that. Khalad has reluctantly gone along with it, putting his fellow novices to shame with his skills & Vanion thinks he might make a good Preceptor one day. Talen is still fighting it and since this book is the last I like to imagine that in the end Talen got his way & didn't become a Knight. He's the sort that would manage to pull that off I think.
Lots of humor. I really like this one.
seeinghowitgoes's review against another edition
3.0
Over the top and a bit ridiculous in that old school fantasy type of way, but I love these characters enough that I'm still sad after all these years there wasn't a follow up novel.
bowienerd_82's review against another edition
2.0
The Tamuli has nothing on the Elenium, but I love Sparhawk so much, I still have to re-read these on occasion.
pihlen76's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
sammystarbuck's review against another edition
2.0
I'm not gonna lie. I'm glad this series is over. I think it all very much deteriorated over the second trilogy, there is never any sense of peril (a must for a quest fantasy!), and the dialogue just kept getting more and more childish and awkward.
A shame, because I know Eddings was so much better than this.
A shame, because I know Eddings was so much better than this.
dragon_book_warrior's review against another edition
5.0
Epic as always . Eddings is the master of fantasy.
pihlen76's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
vera_ann's review against another edition
5.0
Sparhawk's journey comes to a close. Though the Tamuli was a trilogy it all really started in the Elenium trilogy. I enjoyed this last one. I liked how it all came together and connected. I like the humor in these Eddings books. I would laugh out loud at some parts. I found that even though there are many male characters and our main character is male the female characters shine in the story. It is nice to see many strong female roles in fantasy books. It makes it so that this can be enjoyable by both male and female readers and there are many different characters for people to identify with and love.
As far as this trilogy as a whole I felt I could have skipped book 1 and not missed anything, especially given the recap of the prologue in the next books.
As far as the 2 trilogies culminating into 1 big story it was great. You could probably read the Tamuli without reading the Elenium and not be lost but you would be missing out and may not get all the deeper connections.
As far as this trilogy as a whole I felt I could have skipped book 1 and not missed anything, especially given the recap of the prologue in the next books.
As far as the 2 trilogies culminating into 1 big story it was great. You could probably read the Tamuli without reading the Elenium and not be lost but you would be missing out and may not get all the deeper connections.
stacey42's review against another edition
4.0
A great many things happen in this book as Sparhawk & friends, as well as the Atans, Trolls & the Church Knights, begin their assault on Cyrgon & his allies. There is a lot of jumping around as a result. One chapter we are with Sparhawk looking for the Well of Vigay, the next we are with Bergsten planning to surround Cynestra, then with Ulath & the Trolls attacking Zhubay, back to Sparhawk, the over to Sarabian, then to Vanion, and on and on.
This is one of my favorite of Eddings' works because I love the setting, the plots & all the action. Watching Ulath try to apologize to the troll Blokhw, when there is no word for 'sorry' in Trollish, was entertaining.
The side plot with the Empresses was good as well even though I sort of wonder what the rest of them are doing. 2 are plotting against him, while claiming to be against his first wife. 3 are on his side. So what are the other 3 wives (the Elenic ones) doing? We never see them or hear about them, which is sort of a big hole in the narrative.
I first read this 25 years ago and then read it multiple times over 15 years and it's been abut a decade since I last read it. I am now bothered by things that never bothered me before. This time it isn't the casual sexism but consent does matter. Talen's consent & Khalad's. Sparhawk, who is otherwise a decent human being, decided the best way to honor his fallen squire & long time friend, Kurik, was to make his sons knights. The sons don't want this. Kurik wouldn't have wanted it for them. Everyone knows and acknowledges this, but too freakin' bad. The Church Knights have decided that Kurik's sons will become armored killing machines and that is that. Khalad has reluctantly gone along with it, putting his fellow novices to shame with his skills & Vanion thinks he might make a good Preceptor one day. Talen is still fighting it and since this book is the last I like to imagine that in the end Talen got his way & didn't become a Knight. He's the sort that would manage to pull that off I think.
Lots of humor. I really like this one.
This is one of my favorite of Eddings' works because I love the setting, the plots & all the action. Watching Ulath try to apologize to the troll Blokhw, when there is no word for 'sorry' in Trollish, was entertaining.
The side plot with the Empresses was good as well even though I sort of wonder what the rest of them are doing. 2 are plotting against him, while claiming to be against his first wife. 3 are on his side. So what are the other 3 wives (the Elenic ones) doing? We never see them or hear about them, which is sort of a big hole in the narrative.
I first read this 25 years ago and then read it multiple times over 15 years and it's been abut a decade since I last read it. I am now bothered by things that never bothered me before. This time it isn't the casual sexism but consent does matter. Talen's consent & Khalad's. Sparhawk, who is otherwise a decent human being, decided the best way to honor his fallen squire & long time friend, Kurik, was to make his sons knights. The sons don't want this. Kurik wouldn't have wanted it for them. Everyone knows and acknowledges this, but too freakin' bad. The Church Knights have decided that Kurik's sons will become armored killing machines and that is that. Khalad has reluctantly gone along with it, putting his fellow novices to shame with his skills & Vanion thinks he might make a good Preceptor one day. Talen is still fighting it and since this book is the last I like to imagine that in the end Talen got his way & didn't become a Knight. He's the sort that would manage to pull that off I think.
Lots of humor. I really like this one.