I feel like making an entry, so I’m doing it now. Surprised? Not as much as I was. In fact, parts of this entry have been in planning for several weeks, ever since I visited a bookstore the time-before-last (counting yesterday) and other parts are liable to be me just ranting.

Right, let’s begin now. ^_^

First things first, I have spent a rather substantial sum of other people’s money recently - but what are credit unions for, if not credit? Seriously though, I’ve picked up a new toy, and have ordered another new one that should be coming through shortly. One is a new toy named Belldandy. The other will be named Elinoré. I have this thing with chick names for electronics, I guess. ;) More later.

Now for the part I’ve been planning - in my previous-except-one trip to Angus & Robertson, I picked up Treasured One, by David Eddings, which I was mildly surprised to see there, in fact. First impression - I like the cover, but I had to search the pile for one that the silver lettering wasn’t fading off… God I’m a snob in that respect, must have perfect covers on new books. Oh well.

Anyway, Treasured One is Book 2 of The Dreamers - the series that began with Elder Gods. Now, I’m quite the Eddings fan - have each and every one of his books (except his two ‘reality fiction’ books) but I must say that Elder Gods left me rather unimpressed when I did read it, oh… a year or two ago. The plot was kind of interesting, but the characters…

Well, let’s say that I’ve vented about this before, but it has been an increasing trend for Eddings (and partner ;) ) to be a bit of a character recycler. Now, we all know that plastics and papers should be recycled for environmental reasons, but there is really no real grounds for having characters that are instantly recognisable and behave almost exactly the same fashion - but just have different names and sometimes clothes.

The Redemption of Althalus had that kind of vibe to it, but it didn’t drown out the relative ‘newness’ of some of the characters as well - they weren’t total photocopies, they were just similar people. Which I got over, after a bit. Elder Gods, however, effectively lifted it’s entire cast of main characters from the Elenium/Tamuli and from Redemption of Althalus (and to a very lesser extent, Belgariad/Malloreon) and threw them into a kinda sorta new plotline. Result? A mediocre book. Very mediocre - one of those books that I read and thought, ‘Well, it’s a new Eddings, but I feel no real urges to get the next book. I probably will, since it is David Eddings, but I’m not anticipating wonderment.’

Well, I was wrong.

First off, Treasured One opened up the new world in an incredible way, compared with Elder Gods. The characters, although still strikingly similar, were expanded incredibly. If anyone reading this has read Crossroads of Twilight, by Robert Jordan, the structure of Treasured One is similar - spend about half the book telling character history that happend both before and during Elder Gods, from different characters perspectives, and then get to the new stuff both through the backstory (as set up) and the new as resolution.

Bottom line - it worked. And it worked well. As well a cast of new and improved characters who bear almost no resemblance to recycled characters, the actually recycled ones (at least the few that bugged me the most) were either not particularly present, due to the continually shifted perspective, or (and, in most cases, this was true) they were extended and evolved to such an extent that they were more of a Redemption of Althalus recycle, as opposed to an Elder Gods recycle.

Now, couple that to a far more intriguing plot line - in part due to the huge amount of backstory and character buildup - and we have a ripper of a novel.

If you’ve read Elder Gods, you know the premise - if you don’t, I’m not going to spoil it for you here. But basically, Treasured One picks up after Elder Gods has left off, switching to another Domain and another facet of the War against the Vlagh - but this time I actually cared, which makes the book far more readable. Anyway, one of the main focusses of this particular installment is, of course, the Treasured One - but who that person is is kinda fluid for a lot of the book. And, at the end of the story, you know the identity of the Treasured One, but you have no idea who they really are - and with an attention to plot hook similar to Pawn of Prophecy, I am now hooked on The Dreamers. Yes, Jon. I know. But I am.

So yeah. If you’re an Eddings fan, get the book, it’s really good - it’s worth reading Elder Gods just to get to read this one. What do I give it? Oh, four stars. Best thing he’s written since Hidden City. You’ll like it. Trust me. ;)

And now… I was going to rant. But I need to take Andrew to a tennis comp tomorrow early, so I might skip that bit for the moment… I’ll post some stuff in the next day or two. I mean it. ^_^

Alcata’riel!

-Andiyar