2010年12月1日 星期三

"The Redemption of Althalus" by David and Leah Eddings


Both of the people who wrote this book are deceased. David Eddings was from Spokane, Washington, and he and his wife both ended their days living in Carson City, Nevada. It is worth noting that somewhere between Spokane and Carson City Mr. Eddings accidentally burned all of his old manuscripts - and the garage of his house - after he unwisely tested the flammability of a pool within said garage by using a lighted match.

I'd like to thank him for that, wherever he is. This has surely limited the number of "lost" manuscripts that are bound to resurface in the wake of his passing.

The Redemption of Althalus is one of the worst books I have ever read. The plot makes no sense. The characters are irritating. Nothing about the book encourages a suspension of disbelief or any kind of emotional response. To make things even worse, the book is really, really long.

It might be considered disrespectful on my part to criticize the work of two dead people. I, for my part, consider their ever having written this book to be an act of disrespect. The more I read about Mr. and Mrs. Eddings, the more apparent it became that they only wrote fantasy books for the money. This, combined with the overwhelmingly derivative nature of this book makes for some excruciating reading.

I would give this book 1 star out of 10. It only gets that single star because it wasn't longer. For that, at least, I thank Mr. and Mrs. Eddings.

6 則留言:

  1. 「任何人都能自稱快樂—我們怎能知道口頭說的快樂是真是假?『感覺』快樂和『表現』快樂是否不同?」
    為什麼我會對這個問題感興趣,因為我有外國朋友常問人:「你今天快樂嗎?」這聽起來是很簡單的問題, 但真的很難回答,我在想,他一定也很納悶為什麼這麼簡單的問題都要思考那麼久,更不解為什麼等待別人思考那麼久後,還是得不到答案. 別跟我說,認為很難回答的人就是不快樂的人,那如果我「同時」感覺憂愁和喜悅呢?
    我覺得台灣人的問候語很實在:「你吃飽了嗎?」這,容易多了吧!

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  2. So... are you happy? Heh heh heh.

    I like to know if other people are happy. If my friends are happy, I feel happy. If my friends are not happy, I don't feel so happy.

    I don't like people to say 你吃飽了嗎 so much. Why do they want to know if I ate food? Why does this matter?

    Sometimes it is better to be hungry.

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  3. 嗯!我隨時都可以表現快樂.
    那麼,你吃飽了嗎?(入境隨俗,你必須習慣)

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  4. 真正的朋友在你面前是不會隱藏喜怒哀樂的,所以如果你也是真正的朋友,你會直接問:「你看起來很開心,可以分享嗎?」或者是「你怎麼了?」
    原來不是只有我的朋友會這麼問,你也會呀!不過幸好我們不是現實中的朋友,否則你會一年365天都不快樂,因為我超憂鬱(M.L.S.)的.

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  5. You're funny. Even if you had a bad mood 365 days a year, I could still try to be happy for both of us!

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