David Eddings has passed away at 77

[basschick]

awwww, i'm so very sad to hear the news

i've been a fan since the early 80's - i still have my original copy of pawn of prophecy - and althalus is probably my favorite, as well.

btw, a lot of the books that didn't list leigh as co-author were still a collaboration between them. i remember reading in the intro of one of the books that dave said that "the secret is out" and that his wife had worked with him since belgariad books.

[sirbruce]

I know he's not a writer, so I don't want to derail this thread too much, but it's a bad week for Davids.

[JSWolf]

Of the ones I have read, I found High Hunt to be the worst. The ones I have yet to read are...

The Belgariad Companion Books (with Leigh Eddings)
Belgarath the Sorcerer (1995)
Polgara the Sorceress (1997)
The Rivan Codex (1998, non-fiction) <-- yes it is fiction

The Dreamers (with Leigh Eddings)
The Elder Gods (2003)
The Treasured One (2004)
Crystal Gorge (2005)
The Younger Gods (2006)

Stand-alone works
The Losers (1992)

[pilotbob]

Good Bye Mr. Eddings... thanks for all that you have given me. Your Belgariad series was one of the, if not the first epic fantasy that I read... even read before LotR and it was brilliant and probably one of the main reasons I love fantasy so much.

I am sure you will get a good seat in the afterlife. God speed.

BOb

[PKFFW]

I first read Eddings in 1985!!! My how time flies!

I can remember saving desperately so I could buy each of his books in hardback as they came out because I just couldn't wait until the paperback release.

He will be sadly missed. I think I might have to get them out and re-read them in tribute and rememberance.

Cheers,
PKFFW

[GeoffC]

That's a shock, definitely up there as one of our favourite authors .....

[zerospinboson]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Of the ones I have read, I found High Hunt to be the worst. The ones I have yet to read are...

The Belgariad Companion Books (with Leigh Eddings)
Belgarath the Sorcerer (1995)
Polgara the Sorceress (1997)

Rivan codex isn't fiction, but a quasi-reference work.
And I'd suggest you skip the others. They're sub-standard/derivative works. (duno about the last one, afaik it isn't fantasy either)
You've read the Sparhawk series as well?

[Mnementh]

Originally Posted by zerospinboson

Rivan codex isn't fiction, but a quasi-reference work.
And I'd suggest you skip the others. They're sub-standard/derivative works. (duno about the last one, afaik it isn't fantasy either)
You've read the Sparhawk series as well?

If by the last one you mean The Losers then no it isn't fantasy however it is a very good read. As I think I've already mentioned I agree the Dreamers are sub-standard and unfortunately far far too predictable. You could even go so far as to say each book was written from the same template and just the locations were changed

Belgarath and Polgara are fantastic companions to The Belgariad and The Malloreon in that they fill in a lot of the back story and as was common to David Eddings writing had some fantastic characters. I have to say I'm not normally a great fan of prequels but in this case I was pleasently surprised.

I've been re-reading The Belgariad again since i saw this last night I finished Pawn of Prophecy in about four hours, I still find it amazing that even though I've read these books countless times I still can't put them down once I start again

[bbusybookworm]

Groan! Another of my Favorite Authors gone.

I remember the first time I found one of is books, and how I was hooked.

I Remember it taking me weeks to get book 4 of the Belgaried as the local books stores were out of stock, waiting for a new edition.

Now, I'm going to have to go on a proper rereading bing (Especially as I just finished my Exams today) and reread his books

Speaking of his books

Originally Posted by desertgrandma

Please don't allow your own prejudices to scare off new readers.

What you don't like, others just may.

By all means, people. Try the "Dreamers" series. Decide for yourself.

The Main reason people (Including me ) discourage reading The Dreamers, or at least starting with it is that it is the weakest of his series, not in terms of story, but in terms of Editing, with large sections of each book being very repetitive and poorly formatted (Kind of like a bad Fanfic at times ).

So if someone new to his works started with it, they may not go o to read his better works which would really be a shame.

Once some is hooked, then they are more then welcome to read anything and everything he wrote.