Oh, and talking about Kill Bill (elsewhere) am I the only one that thinks
that they found Uma Thurman at Innsmouth?
-Kevin (Thread hijacker)
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jim Campbell" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "CF-Community" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Monday, November 03, 2003 9:25 AM
Subject: The Elder Gods
> I'm a guy in my late 20's so it goes without saying that I grew up with
> Star Wars, and it was, not surprisingly, my favorite movie for a while.
> I can watch it now and get past the rotten acting and stilted dialog and
> Greedo shooting first (damn you, Lucas!), but I still appreciate the
> effect it had on me as a child.
>
> As a kid, I was also a big, no, HUGE fan of David Eddings - I read the
> Belgariad over and over again, all five books in only a few days. The
> followup series - the Mallorean - was equally welcome. I knew the
> characters inside and out, I could get lost in that world in a
> heartbeat. Two followup "autobiographies" of main characters from the
> series "Belgarath" and "Polgara" are in my book collection as well,
> along with the "Rivan Codex", something of a "behind the scenes" wrap-up
> of the minutae and process of developing what, at that point was
> essentially a duodecology.
>
> So, the last statement is that I've been growing steadily more
> disappointed with the Eddings' (he writes with his wife, Leigh), from
> the second Sparhawk trilogy (The Tamuli), to the Redemption of Althalus
> to the execrable Regina's Song - a non-fantasy set in Washington State,
> filled with amalgams of every character they've ever written, put into
> impossibly frustrating characters, in a plot with all the surprises of a
> bowl of tomato soup.
>
> So, I approached the most recent work from them - "The Elder Gods" with
> some trepidation. On one hand, their writing had become routine and
> extremely predictable. On the other, the prospect of another fantasy
> series had potential - maybe they were going to clean the slate and
> start over with new ideas, and strong characters and... no, it sucks.
>
> Sucks is the best way to put it, as well. Eddings makes so much of his
> knowledge of epic fantasy and classical literature, yet can't come up
> with a unique idea anymore that's not wholly derivitave of his own
> originally interesting characters. Oh, look, it's the snippy girl-god.
> Oh look, it's the witty banter. Oh, look, a rag-tag cast of mismatched
> characters. Oh, look, it's the good guys overcoming adversity and
> suffering almost no casualties... on and on and on.
>
> Eddings, like Lucas, can't be faulted for a lack of imagination.
> They've both created rollicking, evocative, fantastic worlds that you'd
> want to be lost in forever if you had the chance. However, the other
> shared aspect of their personality is that they just don't know when to
> throw in the towel and call it quits. Eddings will trundle out the next
> three books in what will likely be the worst series he's ever written
> over the next few years. The world waits, nauseously, for Lucas' last
> Star Wars movie, knowing, despite so much optimism, we all know how it
> will turn out.
>
> Oh well. I'll always have Faldor's Farm to keep me company.
>
> - Jim
>
>
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