The Elenium by David Eddings Review
For my last book of the year, I chose to return to an old favorite. I have read this series many times (ten? Maybe 15? Maybe more, I really don’t know). The first time was somewhere around early 1996, but the last time I remember reading it was when my oldest was just a baby. It’s been over a decade now, maybe even a full 14 years since I’ve picked it up. So it was time. And since my old trusty paperbacks are SO old and a little overused I got the spiffy new 3-in-1 trade paperback, which takes up a lot less shelf space and doesn’t look quite as well loved. It was fun, but carrying the huge book around was definitely less convenient than the small mass market editions from the late 90’s were.
Most people, if they have read anything by Eddings, start and possibly end with the Belgariad (and maybe the Mallorean). After he finished these, he went into an entirely new world. As a young teen I loved reading the story of Sparhawk, the slightly grizzled and almost middle aged Knight and his knightly friends. They journeyed all over their world on a knightly quest to save the young and beautiful Queen from a deadly illness. They of course take their magic tutor Sephrenia along to help with the scary magic and deep thinking required, a Squire and a novice knight to help with the manual labor, and a thieving kid to help out as required. After many trials of knightly skill and some logic they learn the queen was poisoned and eventually find the cure by the end of book 2, taking it from a Troll with the help of the goddess Aphrael. Which leaves all of book 3 for curing Queen Ehlana and doing in the bad guys who tried to off her. Add in a bit of politics, Church (medieval Catholic-esqe) politics, and godlike powers on both sides and it leads to great and fairly light hearted story with a mostly happy ending. At least, this is the story I remembered reading.
In the years since I first read and loved this story I have done a considerable amount of reading. I still enjoyed the basics of the story. The bro squad of knights includingSparhawk, Kalten, Tynian, Ulath, and Bevier was fun, especially with Kurik, Berit, and Talen for them to bounce off. The “who’s turn is it to do the cooking?” “Yours” is still one of my favorite running jokes that I wish I could use more often IRL. The ranks of Kings and Patriarchs and Preceptors added some good layers. Having only Sephrenia, Flute, and (in book 3) Ehlana as female characters with any depth was pretty sad for me this time though. As much as they were good and strong characters this story is VERY male-dominated. It fit the setting of the brave knights off to save the world, but it doesn’t pass well on today’s standards of gender equality. Also a sign of its age, the characters were very much all black or white. The shades of grey that we see in more modern fantasy was not at all present here. Probably the most dislikable part of the series was how the discipline of Talen was handled though. So much threatening with whipping/thrashing was really off putting, most likely because of what came to light about the Eddings in the last year or two in regards to child abuse. Perhaps after learning that though I was more conditioned to look for it in the books.
In all, it was still a ...fine… read. I enjoyed the nostalgia of going back to something so familiar even though it had been a long time. I have and probably will recommend these books to younger teens, as they’re overall enjoyable and it’s easy to see and therefore discuss the tropes that are used. If you’re an experienced Fantasy reader though, the plot will seem overly simplistic and travelogue-ish.
