Re-Read Review: The Diamond Throne by David Eddings

" Slowly Sparhawk raised his eyes to his Queen.  She was beautiful.  There was almost luminous perfection about her countenance.  Her pale blonde hair was long and loosely framed her face.  She wore stately robes and the heavy gold crown of Elenia.  Her slender hands lay upon the arms of her throne, and her eyes were closed.  But now she was locked in the semblance of death, embedded in a transparent crystal hexahedron, like a bug frozen in amber.

Then he heard and felt it, a regular thudding sound, growing louder by the moment as it announced to any who might enter the throne room that her heart was still beating.

Sparhawk sank to one knee in a move of profound respect, his eyes suddenly filling with tears. "I'm here now, Ehlana," he murmured.  "Somehow, I'll make everything right again."

The heart beat grew louder, almost as if she had heard."

Title: The Diamond Throne
Author: David Eddings
Publisher: Del Rey
Publication Date: June 13, 1990

Synopsis: Sparhawk, Pandion Knight, and Queen's Champion have returned to Elenia after ten years of exile, only to find young Queen Ehlana trapped in a block of ensorcelled crystal. As Sparhawk sets out to find a cure for Ehlana, he discovers that only he can defeat the evil plots that threaten her rule....

Stand Alone or Series: Book 1 of the Elenium Trilogy

Why I originally picked this book up: In my early twenties, a friend of a friend found out that I was a fan of fantasy books and lent me a couple of series by an author I had never heard of.  This was one of the books.  While I had been reading fantasy since my early teens, I had not read many that would be considered "High Fantasy".  Tolkien's Lord of the Rings is probably the most famous "high fantasy" series in the world and as blasphemous as this may sound, I have never been able to make my way past the mid point of the first book.  "High fantasy" usually focuses on a quest of some kind and grapples with the idea of good versus evil.  Because of my lack of experience with the genre, I was leery to try again, but agreed to give it a shot.

Why I kept reading it:  David Eddings is a wonderful world builder!  While his characters could be considered "types' and his story elements "cliches", his characters are very relatable and I find his dialog to be engaging.  But mostly, I am a sucker for a well crafted world.  While the world in this one is not as finely detailed as the one in his other major series (which I will probably review when I get around to re-reading it) it is interesting and has several cultures, which is always a bonus.  I also liked the characters a great deal and enjoyed spending time with them.

As the first in a trilogy, it does not have a huge pay off in the end and would never be able to a stand alone, it is obvious that it was always intended to be a trilogy and has enough of a small pay off to not feel cheated.  If you decide to read this book, do yourself a favor and make sure you have them all on hand for ease.  Since this book is over 20 years old, that is not hard.  Del Rey even combined them into a single omni edition, but the writing is VERY tiny.

Why I am re-reading it:  In the 20 years since I first picked up this book, I can't even tell you how many times I have read it, but I do re-read the entire series every two years or so.  It is usually my bedtime reading while I am reading something else during the day.  Picking this book up is kind of like spending time with old friends.  I have read it enough times that I can read it in fits and spurts (depending on how tired I am when I get into bed) and not lose the thread of the story.  I can just spend time with the characters and relive what I love best about them.

4 1/2 Stars

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Review : Old Man's War by John Scalzi

 

I did two things on my seventy-fifth birthday. I visited my wife's grave. Then I joined the army

This is the first line of Old Man's War by John Scalzi. How can you not be intrigued by this?   In the future, people go into space one of two ways ~ as colonists (which are chosen exclusively from Third World countries) and joining the Colonial Defense Force, which can only be done after your 75th birthday.  With his wife 7 years gone, John Perry has nothing else tying him to Earth, so he decides to join up.

First stop ~ youth.  How can you protect the Earth's interests against the scum of the Universe with a bad back and weak bladder?  After being transferred to a better than new young body, John and his fellow recruits begin to bond and create a family.  But in a war with a 75% mortality rate, what hope do the front line fighters have?

WHY I PICKED UP THIS BOOK ~ I have been reading John Scalzi's blog, Whatever, for about a year and thought that since I enjoyed his writing so much, I should probably actually read one of his books.  He  announced recently that Old Man's War has been optioned for a movie and this also intrigued me.

WHY I KEPT READING IT ~ The first third of the book, I was absolutely entranced.  John Perry, the main character, is a wonderful first person narrator!  He is intelligent and interesting.  He asks all the questions that the reader wants answered, but does it in such a way that there is no sense of overly long exposition.  Sometimes his humor is appreciated by those around him and sometimes, not so much.  I can relate to that.  The supporting characters are well established, without distracting from the story flow.

I got to a point in the book that I realized I wasn't enjoying it as much as I had been, but it is really my own fault.  When I started to get into the battle scenes, what did I expect from a book with war in the title?  But I did enjoy it more than any was story I had ever read.  Some of the science was a little over my head, but stretching my scientific knowledge is one of the things I like about reading hard sci-fi, and Scalzi does a really good job of it.  There were two big plot twists, one I expected pretty early on but had a really nice pay-off and one that I never saw coming and loved!

All in all, I really loved this book and I look forward to reading more of John Scalzi's work.  (I am already reading another one)  He is articulate and crafts a really good tale.

5 STARS

WHO I WOULD RECOMMEND THIS BOOK TO ~ My dad, who likes war stories, though not so much Sci-Fi; people who like Robert Heinlein, who is a big influence of John Scalzi

FORMAT ~ I bought and read this book on my Kindle

BOOK INFORMATION ~

• Publisher: Tor Books; 4th edition (December 27, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765315246
• ISBN-13: 978-0765315243