The Redemption of Althalus

The Redemption of Althalus

3.75 of 5 stars 3.75  ·  rating details  ·  7,318 ratings  ·  252 reviews
The Redemption of Althalus is the first stand-alone, single-volume high fantasy saga written by the bestselling husband and wife team of David and Leigh Eddings. Their previous beloved series include the Belgariad, the Malloreon, and the Elenium, and although Althalus is bursting with all the daring escapades their multitude of fans expect, it is also an engaging departure...more
Paperback, 800 pages
Published October 30th 2001 by Del Rey (first published 2000)
more details... edit details

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.
A Game of Thrones by George R.R. MartinThe Hobbit & The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. TolkienThe Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. LewisThe Name of the Wind by Patrick RothfussThe Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
The Best Epic Fantasy
92nd out of 1,559 books — 10,544 voters
The Book Thief by Markus ZusakThe Thief by Megan Whalen TurnerThe Hobbit by J.R.R. TolkienThe Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott LynchThe Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke
Thieves
30th out of 332 books — 527 voters


More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 3,000)
filter  |  sort: default (?)  |  rating details
Eric
Nov 02, 2012 Eric rated it 2 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition Recommends it for: David Eddings fanatics only
Shelves: fantasy
Let me start by saying I am a huge David Eddings fan. His Belgariad series is one of my favorite fantasy series -- in some ways more so than even the holy The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

That being said, I couldn't stand this book. He reused, recycled and regurgitated his characters and story-lines from his more successful works and threw it together into the altogether uninspired Redemption of Althalus.

If you want to read something good -- no, fantastic -- from Eddings, read the Belgariad, a fiv...more
Adam Reinwald
Sep 26, 2007 Adam Reinwald rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: no one
I read fantasy stories because I like to see epic stories of love and evil played out. I like to think that the evil may win, and that the good sometimes doesn't have a chance against overwhelming odds. I like to read grand battles where things...you know...happen. I like the evil side to be just as intelligent as the good side; an even match so you question the ending.

If you like these things, don't read this book.

It's predictable from start to finish. The "bad guys" as they so often refer to t...more
Lexis
Redemption of Althalus is not something I can compare to other fantasy books. This is because, generally speaking, I don't read these kind of books. The epic fantasies.

For the pure and simple reason that I have nothing to compare it to, I'm going to say that Redemption of Althalus is a good, clean, fun book. There are a sea of characters for readers to choose from, including the self-proclaimed best thief in the world, Althalus, and Gher, the eight-year-old with the brightest ideas on the planet...more
Smcleish
Originally published on my blog here in August 2001.

Although this stand alone epic fantasy has all the familiar ingredients that have characterised the Eddings' writing in the genre since Pawn of Prophecy, it does have some differences; the most obvious is of course that it is in a single, if lengthy, volume.

Althalus is a thief, hired to steal a book - an item rare enough that he doesn't know what it is - from the House at the End of the World. When he gets there, he doesn't expect what he finds...more
Lucinda
This single-volume epic fantasy tale will delight all fans of Eddings, being totally fantastic as to blow you away!

As an already devoted aficionado of David Eddings and his lengthy collection of magnificent works within the fantasy genre (the Belgariad, the malloreon, the elenium and the tamuli), I was naturally extremely excited upon hearing the news of ‘The redemption of Athalus’. This slab of a book has such a striking, spellbinding cover that is really beautiful, magical which brings the fa...more
Rachel Macwhirter
Originally posted at my blog here!
And since this is being posted on Goodreads, I'd like to clarify that its wonderful beginning is what saved it from the dreaded one-star rating.

On to the review!

For someone who has built their career and reputation on being the world's luckiest thief, a seemingly endless string of misfortune is a devastating blow. Just as things couldn't be looking worse for Althalus, he is offered a high-paying job to steal a book from a house at the end of the world. Though he...more
Seth Swanson
I just read this again after getting the Kindle edition. Full of fond memories I tried to get back into it making it close to my forth or fifth reading of this book. In the end though, I ended up giving up. I'm not quite sure what it was, that made me take another look at this but I started getting annoyed by the characters and the plot line.

My main complaint the last time around was that it was becoming difficult to tell one character from another. All the women were given to say just about the...more
Sergei Moska
Pretty crappy.

This is the 3rd fantasy book I've read in my life, and I did so at the recommendation of a friend who said that he loved it in high school. I don't know enough about the genre to be able to determine the target audience for this book, so I'm reviewing it from the perspective of a 30 year old guy who asked for a suggestion for some light reading.

There are a lot of problems with the book, but I'll list three.

First, the dialogue is awful. At one point the word "fairly" was used at lea...more
Aphd
Jun 01, 2010 Aphd rated it 1 of 5 stars
Shelves: 2010
Wow, this was a big disappointment. I read it several years ago and remembered enjoying it quite a lot. Apparently my tastes have changed. But this was just painful to read. Between the terrible (and repetitive, and explain-y) dialogue, the lack of any sort of tension, the lack of internal plot coherence, ridiculous situations which were supposed to seem severe but were solved within a page or two, and the supposed 'god' who couldn't be bothered to think up the most simplistic ideas until after...more
Sara Werne
It is a really good book. A few years ago I would've given it five stars. But well... Let's start with the good things anyway.
I like the characters, I know them. Some I like less, but that's the way it should be. Just have to say that it must have been awfully fun to write Gher, he's like my thoughts. Fast, without any pauses for breath, kind of logic, thinks too much. If he'd lived now, he'd been doing exactly what I'm doing: learning how to type correctly, to type faster to be able to capture...more
Aimee
Apr 28, 2012 Aimee rated it 4 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition Recommends it for: Any Eddings Fans
Redemption of Althalus is brillinant. Althalus is the worlds greatest theif who believes that Lady Luck always shines on him, so when things start to go wrong he becomes increaingly aggravted, when he is offered a deal to steal something from the house at the end of the world he feels that he has nothing to lose and that is where everything changes and things start to get really interesting, with the help of a mismatched group of different character and a charming cat called Emerald, it becomes...more
Josie
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Matthew Harrington
Cheesy, but fantastic.

The Redemption of Althalus is, to me, David Eddings summed up in a single book. His characters are witty and lovable, the plot is engaging and epic in scale whilst still being simple and easygoing. This book was one of a few that got me into fantasy when I was younger, and while it's probably not the greatest book of all time- it's still a good story well told, if slightly lacking in depth.

As a standalone novel, it's perfect for the job- everything is all tidied up and reso...more
Natalien
Dec 15, 2011 Natalien rated it 3 of 5 stars
Recommended to Natalien by: Dean
Ticks off all the details for fantasy book and I liked it but it felt too familiar maybe because of it. It was epic in terms of time, distance, war, characters, world but it lack in the marvelousness of things ;) I don't get why the same story had to be repeated so many times over and over, it was boring - it was overdone. Seemed like every character was a cynic and the cynicism alone was well executed but the same formula was repeated throught the whole book. Seriously, I don't think the author...more
Daniele
Questo libro si potrebbe chiamare anche il ritorno degli Eddings :)<br />La storia di per se non è niente di che, il classico scontro fra il bene ed il male dove lo sfigato di turno dovrà salvare il mondo, ma quello che fa meritare al libro 3 stelline sono gli elementi che in un romanzo fantasy normale fanno da contorno.<br />In questo libro gli autori si concentrano di più sul lato umano e psicologico dei personaggi.<br />Alcune volte mi sono domandato "ma chi è veramente il c...more
Izlinda
I read this book years ago. My sisters and I were big fans of David Eddings and when this book came out, we were excited. While the characters are very much archetypes, I did enjoy it back then. Rereading it now, I may get a little frustrated at repetitions, but it's still an enjoyable read. I have favorite scenes I reread.
Peter Gorman II
Eddings comes through in this lengthy fantasy stand alone novel. Sometimes your just not into reading a trilogy, or 10 book series. As an avid fantasy reader, this can be a difficult proposition, because most of these writers have lavish countrysides to describe, entire cultures, etc etc. The one novel approach from a fantasy writer is a breath of fresh air, and well executed. Sharing some similarities to the Talisman by King, you will be rooting for an imperfect hero, as he juggles his past wit...more
'chrys
I loved this when I first read it, and then it started to bug me in the days thereafter. I've read it multiple times, even owned it at one point but it never was a favorite. I have always felt that this would have been better had the time been taken to make it into a trilogy at the least to give a chance to actually develop the characters rather than have them "taste" like leftovers being whipped into something new to clean out the fridge. Not a -bad- read, but not a great one either. I blew thr...more
Tom Weaver
If I had never read David Eddings before, I suspect I would have found this immensely enjoyable. I loved the last four series, they were excellent and the characters had superb depth.
With Althalus, the story was fine, and the characters....... but I found myself getting very frustrated because they were identical characters to previous ones (or some sort of subtle combination).

It was more the in jokes and language they use, little asides and retorts to each other that are pretty repetative.

Its a...more
Ralf
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Joy-Aisling
This was the first Eddings that I read, so I quite liked it, because I wasn't used to their style or the books' dry humour. Of course, if you read one Eddings, you've read them all; his superior-goddess, endearing-thief, bewitching-girl and war-as-chess tropes are in full flower here, but this seems to be the book that breaks Eddings' mould the most. The recycled motifs are at least explored more than in other books, and as a standalone it avoids the ponderous predictability of the trilogy forma...more
Cole
I got this at a bookstore/coffee shop because it looked interesting. It is interesting, and it is a fun read, but David Eddings seems to be more concerned with having a bunch of little parts of the book be funny or cool than making the overall book a good read. The world Eddings created for The Redemption of Althalus is an interesting one, and Althalus is an interesting character. In fact, most characters are pretty interesting. The plot seems pretty run-of-the-mill however. There are plenty of...more
Suzanne
I'm not sure why they chose to make this one super long book instead of breaking it up into a trilogy. At times, some of the motives and plans of the characters were inadequately explained or rushed through, and the way the good guys 'won' made no logical sense, even taking into account that this is fantasy.

I think the Eddings have a very high quality of writing, but after The Belgariad and Mallorian, it just feels like they're recycling all the character traits and quirks, plot devices, and dia...more
Schwana
I really enjoyed RE-reading this book. It was just as good the 4th time around as it was the 1st. The characters were entertaining in themselves, but when you added them together it really made a complete "family". It was entertaining to watch how Althalus was "encouraged" to take up the journey to the House at the Edge of the World and once there how Dweia "sunk" her claws into him. lol The way the story moved from one character to the other and made sure you did not become confused by jumping...more
Arthur
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Will Wight
David Eddings' Belgariad cycle ranks among my favorite series of all time, and the only one of his other works that compares is the stand-alone novel "The Redemption of Althalus."

Althalus is a thief in an ancient fantasy world hired to steal a book from a goddess. She steals him instead, teaching him magic and leading him on a time-hopping journey to gather a team of extraordinary disciples, with whom they will stop the end of the world. The action never stops, the characters are unique and lova...more
KC Anton
Jan 06, 2009 KC Anton rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Fantasy and End Twist lovers
I love David Eddings WHEN he writes with his wife Leigh. This is a one off book which does a good job of taking a miscreant thief and making him the saviour of the world. Yeah other people are involved which add to the humor and allow epic wars to rage across the centuries and lands Athalus doesn't really care about. But hey, its Eddings, that means a down to earth epic.

When Eddings writes well, like in the Belgariad series, the characters have depth and real world difficulties to over come. "R...more
Shane
This is a great single volume piece that holds all the usual Eddings-isms one came to expect from this fantasy stalwart. And I love that! With that being said, there was nothing revelatory or new about the story-telling. They had an excellent formula for fantasy, and this work stuck to that formula. It's that alone that stop me from giving the book a full 5-stars, as I've seen it before in his other work. I just think that it would have been nice to see something a bit different! Nevertheless, i...more
Ashley
I usually hate Sci-Fi, but Jake made me read this one because it is one of his favorites. I have to admit, I loved it.
Simon Turney
Having been an Eddings fan throughout the Belgariad, Mallorean, Elenium and Tamuli, I was a little disappointed with the cash-in prequels Belgarath the sorcerer etc. I was so pleased when I discovered that he'd stopped the endless cash-ins on his early work and written an entirely new work.

In all fairness, I never finished Redemption. I have just given up on my fourth attempt at the book. I find it dull and long-winded with 2 dimensionl characters and a protagonist I just couldn't find it in my...more
« previous 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 99 100 next »
There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »
The Redemption of Althalus (Paperback)
The Redemption of Althalus (Hardcover)
The Redemption of Althalus (Hardcover)
The Redemption Of Althalus
The Redemption of Althalus the Redemption of Althalus the Redemption of Althalus (Unbound)

8732
David Eddings is an American author who has written several best-selling series of epic fantasy novels. David Eddings' wife, Leigh Eddings, is uncredited as co-author on many of his early books, but he has lately acknowledged that she contributed to them all.

David Eddings' first books (which were general fiction) sold moderately well. He later switched to writing epic fantasy, a field in which he...more
More about David Eddings...
Magician's Gambit (The Belgariad, #3) Enchanters' End Game (The Belgariad, #5) Castle of Wizardry (The Belgariad, #4) Belgarath the Sorcerer Pawn of Prophecy (The Belgariad, #1)

Share This Book

Your website