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Losers
Raphael Taylor was a golden boy--blond, handsome, charming, a gifted athlete and a serious student, an angel in every way. Damon Flood was a scoundrel--a smooth, smilling, cynical devil, as devious and corrupt as Raphael was open and innocent. The day Raphael met Damon was the day he began his mysterious fall from grace. And the golden boy fell very fast and very far....
295 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1992
17 people are currently reading
849 people want to read
About the author
David Eddings
220 books5,574 followersDavid Eddings was an American author who wrote several best-selling series of epic fantasy novels. David Eddings' wife,
Leigh Eddings
, was an uncredited co-author on many of his early books, but he had later acknowledged that she contributed to them all.
They adopted one boy in 1966, Scott David, then two months old. They adopted a younger girl between 1966 and 1969. In 1970 the couple lost custody of both children and were each sentenced to a year in jail in separate trials after pleading guilty to 11 counts of physical child abuse. Though the nature of the abuse, the trial, and the sentencing were all extensively reported in South Dakota newspapers at the time, these details did not resurface in media coverage of the couple during their successful joint career as authors, only returning to public attention several years after both had died.
After both served their sentences, David and Leigh Eddings moved to Denver in 1971, where David found work in a grocery store.
David Eddings' first books (which were general fiction) sold moderately well. He later switched to writing epic fantasy, a field in which he achieved great success. In a recent interview with sffworld.com, he said: "I don't take orders from readers."
On January 26, 2007 it was reported that Eddings accidentally burned about a quarter of his office, next door to his house, along with his Excalibur sports car, and the original manuscripts for most of his novels. He was flushing the fuel tank of the car with water when he lit a piece of paper and threw into the puddle to test if it was still flammable.
On February 28, 2007, David Eddings' wife, Leigh Eddings (born Judith Leigh Schall), died following a series of strokes. She was 69.
David Eddings died on June 2, 2009 at the age of 77.
They adopted one boy in 1966, Scott David, then two months old. They adopted a younger girl between 1966 and 1969. In 1970 the couple lost custody of both children and were each sentenced to a year in jail in separate trials after pleading guilty to 11 counts of physical child abuse. Though the nature of the abuse, the trial, and the sentencing were all extensively reported in South Dakota newspapers at the time, these details did not resurface in media coverage of the couple during their successful joint career as authors, only returning to public attention several years after both had died.
After both served their sentences, David and Leigh Eddings moved to Denver in 1971, where David found work in a grocery store.
David Eddings' first books (which were general fiction) sold moderately well. He later switched to writing epic fantasy, a field in which he achieved great success. In a recent interview with sffworld.com, he said: "I don't take orders from readers."
On January 26, 2007 it was reported that Eddings accidentally burned about a quarter of his office, next door to his house, along with his Excalibur sports car, and the original manuscripts for most of his novels. He was flushing the fuel tank of the car with water when he lit a piece of paper and threw into the puddle to test if it was still flammable.
On February 28, 2007, David Eddings' wife, Leigh Eddings (born Judith Leigh Schall), died following a series of strokes. She was 69.
David Eddings died on June 2, 2009 at the age of 77.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 73 reviews
January 12, 2008
Okay, I know this is fiction, and it's by an author who write mostly fantasy, so I'm a little embarrassed by how much this book meant to me.
I was a third-year social work major in college when this book was recommended to me by a friend who thought I was making a terrible mistake with my life (I'd started out as a Chemistry major and always intended to end up in research but got a wild hair stuck somewhere and changed to the social sciences). While this book didn't have much, if anything to do with my decision to change majors again, it had a lot to do with my change of perspective. Through the character of Raphael, Eddings talks a lot about the trappings of poverty and why it persists through generations. He's not condemning the poor, but he's critical of the system that's designed to keep them that way. I was pretty soft-hearted and wanted to help everyone in the world before I read this book, and became a solid behaviorist after. Now I spend my energy giving extra help to the people who are already trying to make their own changes instead of wasting all of my time on those who are content to wallow in their current situation.
That probably came out much harsher than I meant it to. Still, I recommend this book to anyone who thinks they want to be a social worker.
I was a third-year social work major in college when this book was recommended to me by a friend who thought I was making a terrible mistake with my life (I'd started out as a Chemistry major and always intended to end up in research but got a wild hair stuck somewhere and changed to the social sciences). While this book didn't have much, if anything to do with my decision to change majors again, it had a lot to do with my change of perspective. Through the character of Raphael, Eddings talks a lot about the trappings of poverty and why it persists through generations. He's not condemning the poor, but he's critical of the system that's designed to keep them that way. I was pretty soft-hearted and wanted to help everyone in the world before I read this book, and became a solid behaviorist after. Now I spend my energy giving extra help to the people who are already trying to make their own changes instead of wasting all of my time on those who are content to wallow in their current situation.
That probably came out much harsher than I meant it to. Still, I recommend this book to anyone who thinks they want to be a social worker.
March 27, 2023
David Eddings may have been best known as a fantasy author, but he also wrote a couple of wonderful genre novels. His first and debut novel, ”High Hunt”, is probably the best book I’ve ever read and his second, some twenty years later and after he already had three successful fantasy series behind him, was nearly as good.
“The Losers” follows Raphael Taylor from small town beginnings in which he becomes a successful high school football player, coping with everything life throws at him, on the field and off after the sudden death of his father. He eventually moves away to college, where he meets Damon Flood and later has a serious accident which results in him losing one of his legs. Moving to Spokane in Washington State to get himself together while he recovers, Raphael becomes fascinated with the lives of his welfare dependent neighbours, who he dubs “The Losers”. Life is approaching something of an even keel again when Flood tracks him down and makes sure neither the lives of Raphael nor his losers are quite the same.
Whilst I don’t find “The Losers” to be as good a novel as “High Hunt”, it has a strength in that it is written in largely the same way. Eddings presented the story with a third person narrative which works very well, as he passes little comment on the status of the welfare poor and, indeed, is slightly more disparaging about the social workers who feed off them. This slight comment apart, the story is written without bias and with a simple presentation that often makes the reader feel as if they are alongside Raphael, particularly in his more observational moments.
Part of the problem with the novel is that whilst the middle section is very strong, it tails off and little and starts a touch floridly, as if Eddings had a great idea, but wasn’t entirely sure how to fit it into a novel and had to add a beginning and end to make it into something that could be published. Part of me wonders whether the whole novel was written in one go, or whether a large part of it was written around the same time as “High Hunt” and he later grafted bits on to turn it into a novel.
Another issue I had with “The Losers” was that it doesn’t feel quite as realistic as “High Hunt”. Whereas the earlier novel was very realistic, this one had a slightly sensationalist edge that took the edge off things a little. Whilst many of the characters and situations were relatively normal and could have happened, it didn’t seem likely that they would all happen in one place and in such a short space of time. Some of the conversations seem a little too pat to be realistic as well, particularly the ones between Flood and Raphael and the financial situation Raphael finds himself in after the accident also seems a little too coincidental to be realistic.
Admittedly, the story wouldn’t have worked any other way and “The Losers” is still a great novel, but it suffers from comparison with “High Hunt” due to the same authorship and because that was such a great book. As with “High Hunt”, I find myself frequently re-reading “The Losers”, but without the same compulsion as I do the earlier novel, but I enjoy it every single time and keep returning to it, even knowing exactly what is going to happen at every turn and there’s no higher praise for any book than that.
“The Losers” follows Raphael Taylor from small town beginnings in which he becomes a successful high school football player, coping with everything life throws at him, on the field and off after the sudden death of his father. He eventually moves away to college, where he meets Damon Flood and later has a serious accident which results in him losing one of his legs. Moving to Spokane in Washington State to get himself together while he recovers, Raphael becomes fascinated with the lives of his welfare dependent neighbours, who he dubs “The Losers”. Life is approaching something of an even keel again when Flood tracks him down and makes sure neither the lives of Raphael nor his losers are quite the same.
Whilst I don’t find “The Losers” to be as good a novel as “High Hunt”, it has a strength in that it is written in largely the same way. Eddings presented the story with a third person narrative which works very well, as he passes little comment on the status of the welfare poor and, indeed, is slightly more disparaging about the social workers who feed off them. This slight comment apart, the story is written without bias and with a simple presentation that often makes the reader feel as if they are alongside Raphael, particularly in his more observational moments.
Part of the problem with the novel is that whilst the middle section is very strong, it tails off and little and starts a touch floridly, as if Eddings had a great idea, but wasn’t entirely sure how to fit it into a novel and had to add a beginning and end to make it into something that could be published. Part of me wonders whether the whole novel was written in one go, or whether a large part of it was written around the same time as “High Hunt” and he later grafted bits on to turn it into a novel.
Another issue I had with “The Losers” was that it doesn’t feel quite as realistic as “High Hunt”. Whereas the earlier novel was very realistic, this one had a slightly sensationalist edge that took the edge off things a little. Whilst many of the characters and situations were relatively normal and could have happened, it didn’t seem likely that they would all happen in one place and in such a short space of time. Some of the conversations seem a little too pat to be realistic as well, particularly the ones between Flood and Raphael and the financial situation Raphael finds himself in after the accident also seems a little too coincidental to be realistic.
Admittedly, the story wouldn’t have worked any other way and “The Losers” is still a great novel, but it suffers from comparison with “High Hunt” due to the same authorship and because that was such a great book. As with “High Hunt”, I find myself frequently re-reading “The Losers”, but without the same compulsion as I do the earlier novel, but I enjoy it every single time and keep returning to it, even knowing exactly what is going to happen at every turn and there’s no higher praise for any book than that.
December 10, 2013
When I'd read a third of the book, I found it decelerating to a point, that it became hard to continue to read it, but I soon realized that there was a a good reason for it. The author makes the reader understand the characters in a great details, which makes a lot of sense later on. The book picks up pace soon and its hard to stop reading it after that :).
The story is an excellent narrative about two friends, who are very different from one another. Nothing is predictable about the story ,and realizations later in the book leaves the reader yearning for more. One can feel emotions of the characters as if they were their own.
Apart from the main story there is a strong message that makes the reader ponder about the evils of our social security organisations and its detrimental effects on certain sections of our society.
The story is an excellent narrative about two friends, who are very different from one another. Nothing is predictable about the story ,and realizations later in the book leaves the reader yearning for more. One can feel emotions of the characters as if they were their own.
Apart from the main story there is a strong message that makes the reader ponder about the evils of our social security organisations and its detrimental effects on certain sections of our society.
September 14, 2007
One of Edding's best efforts. The dialog and characters here are much deeper then in his Fantasy novels. A much more adult story.
March 28, 2019
there are typos on my copy that are quite consistent, like rime for time
p152: "he seen a couple of 'em come in flyin' their colon...."
p152: "he seen a couple of 'em come in flyin' their colon...."
Read
February 21, 2021I’m in grad school and needed something mindless so I’m on an absolute completionism mission out of a weird nostalgia for an old fantasy author. This is bad. Don’t read this. 0 stars.
Read
August 7, 2022This 1992 novel is starkly different from the many multi-volume fantasy series with which Eddings shot to the top of the scifi/fantasy pantheon late in the last century. It is a gripping tale of a young man, whose seemingly perfect life trajectory is violently derailed, largely through the quite sinister machinations of a school colleague. His ‘recovery’ brings him to a much lower social strata than any he’d previously encountered, and living among them in quite a seedy environment, he finally manages to achieve some sort of psychic peace and personal atonement.
A biker gang, a man with a missing leg, a woman with a withered arm, the omnipresent and quite unwelcome presence of social workers, alcoholics and welfare cases populate the majority of the novel which is a far cry from the magicians, swords, supernatural powers and ominous curses of Eddings’ fantasy works.
Quite interesting, and such that I wish it had not been such a one-off effort on his part.
A biker gang, a man with a missing leg, a woman with a withered arm, the omnipresent and quite unwelcome presence of social workers, alcoholics and welfare cases populate the majority of the novel which is a far cry from the magicians, swords, supernatural powers and ominous curses of Eddings’ fantasy works.
Quite interesting, and such that I wish it had not been such a one-off effort on his part.
May 2, 2011
Pretty awful book--an uninteresting vehicle for the author's philosophy.
October 11, 2025
Meaningless people have to be sophisticated, because they have nothing else.
Беспощадность данной повести (или новеллы, поиск различий между каковыми, Естью и Эллой, часто заслуживает особого внимания и даже своеобразных усилий политических эмигрантов?) может ошарашить персону, провозглашающую себя имеющей все основания полагать, что полит_корректность и толерантность могут [при заостряющейся в критических условиях необходимости] в одностороннем порядке сокращать словоизмещение всего толстенного и толкового, что, возможно, единственно обладает счастьем быть обнаруженным на полках и лишённых своей компетенции к концу прошлого века журнальных столиках зенки, теоретически бессильно наблюдающей за обстрелами демократической столицы с высоты IX коммунистического этажа третий год подряд.
'Неудачники', во всей их душещипательной поголовности, без сомнения, возмутятся изображением себя с чрезмерной (лишённой пошлости и не вызывающей чувства омерзения, в чём die Blendung Канетти, к примеру, преуспело) натуралистичностью; можно предположить, для некоторого числа их фатальную роль сыграет [врождённая] склонность к депрессивному, нигилистическому, негативистскому, декадентскому, одним претенциозным словцом, восприятию событий и реакций жизни, имеющей к ими избранной сугубо научно-популярное отношение. Вместе с тем, зенка данной зии (опускающая грамматическое "рецен" с видом, достойным кисти и Караваджо и Шагала) не имеет намерения давать Пулитцеровский отчёт о всех предполагаемых обобществлённым мнением связях между отдельными элементами квартета ДНДН («ДекНигиДеНег»), так как не считает необходимым выступать в качестве исто верующей в триединство психической подавленности, инфантильного противодействия и истерической экспансивности.
For most of the losers crisis is the answer.
Без мироточащих обид, но если взглянуть на количество волонтёров и социальных служащих (caseworkers) в сферах, заслуживающих особого внимания в обществах, полагающих себя более цивилизованными, чем те, Другие, считающие себя более цивилизованными, чем они, общества особого внимания к прибывающим из Третьих, о которых можно поговорить после, и Четвёртых, о каковых предпочтительнее промолчать после разговора о Третьих (по дороге домой): число стремящихся оказать посильную помощь в бесконечно скором времени может превысить число в помощи нуждающихся – и пока не успевших записаться в ряды стремящихся им оказанную помощь ретранслировать на чьё-либо органическое и экономическое подобие (со временем - на способное к ретрансляции естество, объект), что, несомненно, заслуживает соответствующей интонации и восклицательного знака!
В повести, разумеется, события сводятся к ограниченному району миловидного городка, названного (поверим) в честь индейского племени, чьё самоназвание можно перевести c салишского на колониалистский как "Дети (сыны) Солнца", - однако такая локализация, увы №1, не может воспрепятствовать абстрактной (и социокультурной) вместимости концепции. Как из квартиры, на веки вечные оставленной бабулей, один за другим выпроваживаются доселе "немыслимые" 120-литровые мешки откровеннейшего барахла, лежавшего неимоверным психогенным грузом на ней, Козерожице моей Сердешной, – так и целые суверенные политические образования могут рано или поздно обнаружить себя во вневременных мехах с выгравированным на подсолнечной стороне хостел-готическим шрифтом “SPOHKan”. Give those bastards a few years, and ninety percent of the people in the United States will be social workers. They’ll have to start branching out then – spread the joy to other species. Eventually they’ll probably have to start exhuming the dead just to have enough customers to keep them all working.
Разве насущные, заоконные, сплошь-бульварные, избранные демократическим путём и со швахчеловеческим усердием обороняемые, аналоги не могут ошеломить никого, хотя бы в той мере, какая позволит отказаться от сотрудничества и участия?
Every rented room in the world painted green.
После неожиданного раскрытия некоторых биографических, мягко говоря, нелицеприятных деталей, зенка сознательно не спешит обнаруживать связующие «Неудачников» с семейным опытом автора элементы. Детки Вэлфэр-Спок не менее и не более кошмарны, чем дети Кукурузы. Пренебрежительного отношения к представительницам противоположного (гендерно на тот момент чуть менее нейтрального) пола не идентифицировано более, чем это было бы примечательно, к примеру, у Бернарда Шоу или Максима Горького. Репетативность смыслов и образов составляет, в случае «Неудачников», подразумевающийся концепт, а примитивность онтологически оправдана самим наименованием.
Однако: именно эта повесть могла бы позволить, при наличии прижизненного желания, мистеру Эддингсу преследовать [присвоенных] читателей - не столько в роли таланта, заслуживающего преклонения, сколько в качестве призрака личностной реализации, несвоевременно свернувшей с проторенной тропы рядового фэнтезийного сочинительства. Дэвид, не кривя душой, признаю – подобен шоколадным монеткам, оригинал которых посвящён был замыкающей, увы №2, свои двери Ческе-Будеёвицкой Ложей [неповторимому, но претворимому] Густаву Майринку.
Беспощадность данной повести (или новеллы, поиск различий между каковыми, Естью и Эллой, часто заслуживает особого внимания и даже своеобразных усилий политических эмигрантов?) может ошарашить персону, провозглашающую себя имеющей все основания полагать, что полит_корректность и толерантность могут [при заостряющейся в критических условиях необходимости] в одностороннем порядке сокращать словоизмещение всего толстенного и толкового, что, возможно, единственно обладает счастьем быть обнаруженным на полках и лишённых своей компетенции к концу прошлого века журнальных столиках зенки, теоретически бессильно наблюдающей за обстрелами демократической столицы с высоты IX коммунистического этажа третий год подряд.
'Неудачники', во всей их душещипательной поголовности, без сомнения, возмутятся изображением себя с чрезмерной (лишённой пошлости и не вызывающей чувства омерзения, в чём die Blendung Канетти, к примеру, преуспело) натуралистичностью; можно предположить, для некоторого числа их фатальную роль сыграет [врождённая] склонность к депрессивному, нигилистическому, негативистскому, декадентскому, одним претенциозным словцом, восприятию событий и реакций жизни, имеющей к ими избранной сугубо научно-популярное отношение. Вместе с тем, зенка данной зии (опускающая грамматическое "рецен" с видом, достойным кисти и Караваджо и Шагала) не имеет намерения давать Пулитцеровский отчёт о всех предполагаемых обобществлённым мнением связях между отдельными элементами квартета ДНДН («ДекНигиДеНег»), так как не считает необходимым выступать в качестве исто верующей в триединство психической подавленности, инфантильного противодействия и истерической экспансивности.
For most of the losers crisis is the answer.
Без мироточащих обид, но если взглянуть на количество волонтёров и социальных служащих (caseworkers) в сферах, заслуживающих особого внимания в обществах, полагающих себя более цивилизованными, чем те, Другие, считающие себя более цивилизованными, чем они, общества особого внимания к прибывающим из Третьих, о которых можно поговорить после, и Четвёртых, о каковых предпочтительнее промолчать после разговора о Третьих (по дороге домой): число стремящихся оказать посильную помощь в бесконечно скором времени может превысить число в помощи нуждающихся – и пока не успевших записаться в ряды стремящихся им оказанную помощь ретранслировать на чьё-либо органическое и экономическое подобие (со временем - на способное к ретрансляции естество, объект), что, несомненно, заслуживает соответствующей интонации и восклицательного знака!
В повести, разумеется, события сводятся к ограниченному району миловидного городка, названного (поверим) в честь индейского племени, чьё самоназвание можно перевести c салишского на колониалистский как "Дети (сыны) Солнца", - однако такая локализация, увы №1, не может воспрепятствовать абстрактной (и социокультурной) вместимости концепции. Как из квартиры, на веки вечные оставленной бабулей, один за другим выпроваживаются доселе "немыслимые" 120-литровые мешки откровеннейшего барахла, лежавшего неимоверным психогенным грузом на ней, Козерожице моей Сердешной, – так и целые суверенные политические образования могут рано или поздно обнаружить себя во вневременных мехах с выгравированным на подсолнечной стороне хостел-готическим шрифтом “SPOHKan”. Give those bastards a few years, and ninety percent of the people in the United States will be social workers. They’ll have to start branching out then – spread the joy to other species. Eventually they’ll probably have to start exhuming the dead just to have enough customers to keep them all working.
Разве насущные, заоконные, сплошь-бульварные, избранные демократическим путём и со швахчеловеческим усердием обороняемые, аналоги не могут ошеломить никого, хотя бы в той мере, какая позволит отказаться от сотрудничества и участия?
Every rented room in the world painted green.
После неожиданного раскрытия некоторых биографических, мягко говоря, нелицеприятных деталей, зенка сознательно не спешит обнаруживать связующие «Неудачников» с семейным опытом автора элементы. Детки Вэлфэр-Спок не менее и не более кошмарны, чем дети Кукурузы. Пренебрежительного отношения к представительницам противоположного (гендерно на тот момент чуть менее нейтрального) пола не идентифицировано более, чем это было бы примечательно, к примеру, у Бернарда Шоу или Максима Горького. Репетативность смыслов и образов составляет, в случае «Неудачников», подразумевающийся концепт, а примитивность онтологически оправдана самим наименованием.
Однако: именно эта повесть могла бы позволить, при наличии прижизненного желания, мистеру Эддингсу преследовать [присвоенных] читателей - не столько в роли таланта, заслуживающего преклонения, сколько в качестве призрака личностной реализации, несвоевременно свернувшей с проторенной тропы рядового фэнтезийного сочинительства. Дэвид, не кривя душой, признаю – подобен шоколадным монеткам, оригинал которых посвящён был замыкающей, увы №2, свои двери Ческе-Будеёвицкой Ложей [неповторимому, но претворимому] Густаву Майринку.
September 17, 2023
This is a very odd book. Its about a guy who goes off to college, rooming with a delinquent rich guy and ends up losing a leg in a car crash, then moving away and living in a very depressing neighbourhood and spending his time observing all the losers in said neighbourhood. And how evil social workers are.
But it’s still written by Eddings. And that means it’s extremely easy to read. His writing style is expressive and gives good context. He also has a lot of dialogue which is always easy to read. The cast of characters are all quite distinctive. There are occasional hints of his characters from his other books but thankfully not often. For once his female characters don’t just sound like Polgara or Ce’Nedra.
Interesting facts. The college in the book is Reed college in Washington state, where Steve Jobs went and also where all of Eddings manuscripts reside. Most of the book is set in Spokane where Eddings grew up. And this was largely written in the 1970s soon after Eddings had served jail time and probably had to deal with social workers. Write what you know I guess.
Ultimately, it’s kind of about the triumph of someone taking control of their life and helping others do the same. Without the help of social workers. While others crash and burn. I don’t think I’ve ever felt more meh about a book than this one. I got to the end and felt… of all the books I’ve read, this was one of them.
It wasn’t terrible, it just wasn’t the height of excitement.
But it’s still written by Eddings. And that means it’s extremely easy to read. His writing style is expressive and gives good context. He also has a lot of dialogue which is always easy to read. The cast of characters are all quite distinctive. There are occasional hints of his characters from his other books but thankfully not often. For once his female characters don’t just sound like Polgara or Ce’Nedra.
Interesting facts. The college in the book is Reed college in Washington state, where Steve Jobs went and also where all of Eddings manuscripts reside. Most of the book is set in Spokane where Eddings grew up. And this was largely written in the 1970s soon after Eddings had served jail time and probably had to deal with social workers. Write what you know I guess.
Ultimately, it’s kind of about the triumph of someone taking control of their life and helping others do the same. Without the help of social workers. While others crash and burn. I don’t think I’ve ever felt more meh about a book than this one. I got to the end and felt… of all the books I’ve read, this was one of them.
It wasn’t terrible, it just wasn’t the height of excitement.
November 11, 2021
This one is quite different from what I usually read. It is a deeply philosophical and hard look at society and how it deals with the underprivileged and mental illness.
Mr. Eddings story mixes drama and thriller genres to tell the story of Rafael Taylor and his friend, Jake Flood. Their friendship and all the twists and turns involved in all the relationships of the novel are deeply intriguing.
Keep your thinking hat on for this one and enjoy.
Mr. Eddings story mixes drama and thriller genres to tell the story of Rafael Taylor and his friend, Jake Flood. Their friendship and all the twists and turns involved in all the relationships of the novel are deeply intriguing.
Keep your thinking hat on for this one and enjoy.
June 3, 2020
If this was to be published now it wouldn't be.
December 29, 2016
Like most, I came into this book without any idea of what to expect. In some ways, that might have lessened my enjoyment of this one, as this might be one of those rare books for which it would be better to read some reviews BEFORE the book, so that you would know what you're getting into. Instead of the expected fantasy or urban adventure novel, THE LOSERS turns out to be a sharp social commentary full of Eddings' philosophical views about life and society. No magic and not much action, this book has disappointed many fans of the Belgariad and Malloreon, and that is too bad, because taken for what it is, this book is actually quite good. The biting condemnation of the welfare system and those who become dependent on it will ring true to most readers, even as neither Eddings nor the reader will likely come up with great alternatives. The lessons within THE LOSERS about living with what life throws your way, and not turning into just another number, are powerful. While many have criticized Eddings' condemnation of social programs as being overly negative, verging on unfeeling and bigoted, his overall point here is a positive one. Society should realize the dangers of our fellow human beings falling into the trap of living from one welfare check to the next, which really cannot be considered much of a life, but which may be extremely hard to escape from once ensnared. Eddings' character Raphael is not as much disdainful of his "Loser" neighbors as that he feels sorry for them, and feels drawn to prevent others from becoming "Losers". In all, its not the people on welfare Eddings is condemning here, but the system as a whole. A system that treats people as numbers, or as helpless to help themselves, or as if simply being able to afford the next loaf of bread and the next pack of cigarettes could enable someone to live a meaningful life.
In some ways reminiscent of Ayn Rand's powerful fiction in Atlas Shrugged or The Fountainhead, this is a book about the ugly aspects of our society that, while unpleasant, should not be ignored. Also like Ayn Rand, Eddings' strong Individualist philosophy has been misinterpreted as uncaring and cold by some readers. Actually, I'm sure Eddings believes that a greater emphasis on Individualism would lead to the best life for the most people, and is therefore the most compassionate social philosophy.
In the end, this is an enjoyable book when approached with the right expectations. It may also challenge some people's beliefs about what a compassionate and caring society should do to help the less fortunate, and what the end results of that help might really look like. Recommended.
In some ways reminiscent of Ayn Rand's powerful fiction in Atlas Shrugged or The Fountainhead, this is a book about the ugly aspects of our society that, while unpleasant, should not be ignored. Also like Ayn Rand, Eddings' strong Individualist philosophy has been misinterpreted as uncaring and cold by some readers. Actually, I'm sure Eddings believes that a greater emphasis on Individualism would lead to the best life for the most people, and is therefore the most compassionate social philosophy.
In the end, this is an enjoyable book when approached with the right expectations. It may also challenge some people's beliefs about what a compassionate and caring society should do to help the less fortunate, and what the end results of that help might really look like. Recommended.
November 5, 2012
Originally published on my blog here in April 2001.
Apart from his debut novel, thriller High Hunt, The Losers is Eddings' only attempt at something outside the fantasy genre. Interestingly, it has aspects in common with the much earlier novel, including the Washington state setting (though that is where Eddings lives) and a plot incorporating ideas about sibling rivalry (less literally here).
Raphael Taylor is bright, good-looking and athletic - a high school American football hero. When he goes to university, he meets the strange but fascinating Damon Flood, and is basically led astray. A drunken driving accident leads to the loss of a leg, and Raphael has to face up to life as a cripple.
Unable to face his friends, Raphael moves to a poor area of Spokane to begin his convalescence, only to become fascinated by the lives of those around him (in a Rear Windows kind of way). These people, living on the edge of crisis, unwillingly dependent on an institutionalised social services, are the losers of the novel's title.
The losers are really what the novel is about, and there are lengthy debates about what drives them and if (and how) they can be helped. A lot of what is said is criticism of the American social services, which, in Taylor's (and presumably Eddings') opinion, fails because it regards these people as a catalogue of problems to be matched against programs, rather than as individuals. It is, of course, an easy criticism to make of any enterprise of a large scale, and it is much more difficult to suggest anything which can
be done about it.
As a novel, The Losers is more interesting than successful, with the traces of arch humour characteristic of Eddings' fantasy novels seeming distinctly out of place. (This is particularly the case as some jokes are repeated word for word.) Raphael is not believable enough to hang the novel on; the loss of his leg has remarkably few psychological effects, and this combines with his role as observer to make him seem too detached from reality. Charles Dickens would have made wonderful characters out of the losers, and Eddings is no Dickens. The Losers is probably Eddings' most ambitious and least successful novel.
Apart from his debut novel, thriller High Hunt, The Losers is Eddings' only attempt at something outside the fantasy genre. Interestingly, it has aspects in common with the much earlier novel, including the Washington state setting (though that is where Eddings lives) and a plot incorporating ideas about sibling rivalry (less literally here).
Raphael Taylor is bright, good-looking and athletic - a high school American football hero. When he goes to university, he meets the strange but fascinating Damon Flood, and is basically led astray. A drunken driving accident leads to the loss of a leg, and Raphael has to face up to life as a cripple.
Unable to face his friends, Raphael moves to a poor area of Spokane to begin his convalescence, only to become fascinated by the lives of those around him (in a Rear Windows kind of way). These people, living on the edge of crisis, unwillingly dependent on an institutionalised social services, are the losers of the novel's title.
The losers are really what the novel is about, and there are lengthy debates about what drives them and if (and how) they can be helped. A lot of what is said is criticism of the American social services, which, in Taylor's (and presumably Eddings') opinion, fails because it regards these people as a catalogue of problems to be matched against programs, rather than as individuals. It is, of course, an easy criticism to make of any enterprise of a large scale, and it is much more difficult to suggest anything which can
be done about it.
As a novel, The Losers is more interesting than successful, with the traces of arch humour characteristic of Eddings' fantasy novels seeming distinctly out of place. (This is particularly the case as some jokes are repeated word for word.) Raphael is not believable enough to hang the novel on; the loss of his leg has remarkably few psychological effects, and this combines with his role as observer to make him seem too detached from reality. Charles Dickens would have made wonderful characters out of the losers, and Eddings is no Dickens. The Losers is probably Eddings' most ambitious and least successful novel.
November 4, 2012
The various blurbs floating around are accurate enough in terms of describing the plot without spoilers. In terms of theme, however, there are two things perhaps worth knowing about this book before jumping in.
The bulk of the story is set against a background of chronic poverty: the incidental characters are the sort of folk one sees in virtually every episode of the old reality-TV show Cops. The view of them through the eyes of the principle characters is not flattering.
The principle theme, however, seems to me to be a polemic against the social work system, the portrayal of which is more unflattering still. It is, in fact, deeply cynical. This didn't bother me, but it might bother some, especially social workers. For example:
Overall, though, I found the book enjoyable enough, though entirely unlike the author's more well-known fantasy work. No magic here, at all.
The bulk of the story is set against a background of chronic poverty: the incidental characters are the sort of folk one sees in virtually every episode of the old reality-TV show Cops. The view of them through the eyes of the principle characters is not flattering.
The principle theme, however, seems to me to be a polemic against the social work system, the portrayal of which is more unflattering still. It is, in fact, deeply cynical. This didn't bother me, but it might bother some, especially social workers. For example:
Social workers are almost all women, and women talk about problems. They don't do things about them. If John and Marsha's house catches fire, John wants to put the fire out. Marsha wants to sit down and discuss it—to find out why the fire feels hostility toward them.
Overall, though, I found the book enjoyable enough, though entirely unlike the author's more well-known fantasy work. No magic here, at all.
Read
March 13, 2011Crippled American 'golden boy' comes to terms with injury: The star suffers from a horrific car accident, leaving him unable to walk without crutches. He retreats to small town America to come to terms with his injury, and gets in to the habit of watching the local 'losers' from his roof top retreat. Becomes more involved with them over time, comes to terms with new life etc. etc.. Actually quite a disturbing book - some of the images really stay with you, and the accident is dealt with without sentimentality or preaching about being a 'good little patient' - the impact is left largely to your own imagination, and is all the more powerful because of this. Well worth reading - not a book you'll forget in a hurry.
January 9, 2012
This was a hard book to enjoy. Eddings is very well-written and it shows here. This is much better written then either his Belgariad or Malloreon series, which while I enjoyed immensely, always seemed to parallel the Lord of the Rings just a little too much. With the Losers we are presented with a lot of drudgery. It's well-crafted but its a very dark and depressing book. Its that much more of a depressing read, because I'm a Spokane native where this book is primarily set. While Eddings does a fine job of thorougly trashing the city, I can also see why he feels the way he does, despite my feelngs to the contrary.
July 28, 2021
Brilliant social tale based on real life from David Eddings.
This book is eloquently written and is compelling to read. This is another example of David Eddings superior and magnificient ability to tell a story and weave a great narrative. From first page to the last page the prose was written so well and the plot was kept at an engaging pace keeping the reader hooked. The story played out in such an interesting manner and was a fine piece of social commentary. This was a superb work. I recommend this book to be read as well as all of David Eddings' fantasy novels.
This book is eloquently written and is compelling to read. This is another example of David Eddings superior and magnificient ability to tell a story and weave a great narrative. From first page to the last page the prose was written so well and the plot was kept at an engaging pace keeping the reader hooked. The story played out in such an interesting manner and was a fine piece of social commentary. This was a superb work. I recommend this book to be read as well as all of David Eddings' fantasy novels.
February 17, 2022
I wonder how much David—and his uncredited wife Leigh—Edding's treatise on that greatest of all evils Social Work, the laziness and willful helplessness of welfare leeches, and the malicious ineptitude of women was influenced by being written in the years after having their adopted children taken away and going to jail for child abuse.
September 10, 2017
I enjoyed this book more than I had thought I would. I first bought it when I was a teen, more than twenty and probably nearing thirty years ago. I don't have that copy anymore, and I didn't read it. This one was fresh.
It's hard to separate a book by Eddings from his other works, so this one keeps wandering near to fantasy without ever reaching it. We as readers have all the temptations to think of it in fantasy terms, as an urban fantasy about to shimmer into unreality, but it stays stubbornly in the real world right through to the end – but that's also probably the point. It's obviously an allegory, so by taunting the reader for a couple hundred pages and more about turning the corner into urban fantasy, the point seems to be less "why wasn't the 'Indian' secretly an Elf" like so many clichés but rather "it's just as much an allegory if it's fantastical or realistic." I actually liked that part of the novel a lot. My expectations were manipulated, extremely well, despite the "plain" style of the writing for this genre and a few consequently "lumpy" passages here and there.
I'm also deeply biased. I read through Eddings' manuscripts and lecture notes from being a tenured professor (he was) and his struggles with social workers, all of which are held at the Reed College library's special collections. So I couldn't help but feel the author behind the text (Reed and social workers figure prominently here). That was actually quite touching as a reader.
The surface "morale" of the story is self-reliance, and in this it's a classic bildungsroman showing the protagonist growing from child to "man." But like the allegory that doesn't care if you're worried about it breaking into a fantasy novel's confrontation between God and Satan or Good and Evil (Eddings would also humanize the evil and humble the good in his fantasy novels, to some degree), that surface level "morale" isn't really the main point. People grow up – meh… Meh. Novels have said that for a long time now… Self-reliance is also lovely, but we all need help, and we're all part of a community. Etc… What actually caught my attention and sympathy as a reader was the unspoken simple sympathy for those who suffer.
For me, it came in a simple juxtaposition in scenes (spoilers). The protagonist has a conflict with the final love interest (eschewing both "Love Story" and "The Freshman" as campus novel influences), after which she tells him to leave – fine, no surprise. Who wouldn't expect that? But with only a sentence gap, suddenly the same protagonist runs into an elderly alcoholic neighbour who expresses precisely the same sentiments of abandonment (and defense mechanisms to avoid the pain from it as the protagonist) when his dying "buddy" tells him not to come back again. The book is written as a pulp novel for a mainstream readership, but Eddings worked hard as a student to write *"literature"*. The words are simply and bumpy, but the juxtaposition is telling. Set aside the grand narrative of heroic daring do with maidens fair, and maybe a sympathetic eye can see their loving plight as awfully close to alcoholic bums taking care of each other in old age. That was terribly affective.
The ending wraps up quickly, and there's a superficial victory over the forces of evil, but it's also glib. If we take the closing scene and its specific language to task, then that whole story of defeating the forces of evil was hardly the point of the book. It's not Milton, but it's clever, and well read, so there's lots of Milton & Hemingway jumbled up with their religious struggles blurred and blended. It's the sort of popular pulp in which you can smell the hints at something more and a definite plan of what that something more would be, yet the refusal to get into it since that might break the bounds of the genre and its audience.
I enjoyed this book more than I had thought I would.
It's hard to separate a book by Eddings from his other works, so this one keeps wandering near to fantasy without ever reaching it. We as readers have all the temptations to think of it in fantasy terms, as an urban fantasy about to shimmer into unreality, but it stays stubbornly in the real world right through to the end – but that's also probably the point. It's obviously an allegory, so by taunting the reader for a couple hundred pages and more about turning the corner into urban fantasy, the point seems to be less "why wasn't the 'Indian' secretly an Elf" like so many clichés but rather "it's just as much an allegory if it's fantastical or realistic." I actually liked that part of the novel a lot. My expectations were manipulated, extremely well, despite the "plain" style of the writing for this genre and a few consequently "lumpy" passages here and there.
I'm also deeply biased. I read through Eddings' manuscripts and lecture notes from being a tenured professor (he was) and his struggles with social workers, all of which are held at the Reed College library's special collections. So I couldn't help but feel the author behind the text (Reed and social workers figure prominently here). That was actually quite touching as a reader.
The surface "morale" of the story is self-reliance, and in this it's a classic bildungsroman showing the protagonist growing from child to "man." But like the allegory that doesn't care if you're worried about it breaking into a fantasy novel's confrontation between God and Satan or Good and Evil (Eddings would also humanize the evil and humble the good in his fantasy novels, to some degree), that surface level "morale" isn't really the main point. People grow up – meh… Meh. Novels have said that for a long time now… Self-reliance is also lovely, but we all need help, and we're all part of a community. Etc… What actually caught my attention and sympathy as a reader was the unspoken simple sympathy for those who suffer.
For me, it came in a simple juxtaposition in scenes (spoilers). The protagonist has a conflict with the final love interest (eschewing both "Love Story" and "The Freshman" as campus novel influences), after which she tells him to leave – fine, no surprise. Who wouldn't expect that? But with only a sentence gap, suddenly the same protagonist runs into an elderly alcoholic neighbour who expresses precisely the same sentiments of abandonment (and defense mechanisms to avoid the pain from it as the protagonist) when his dying "buddy" tells him not to come back again. The book is written as a pulp novel for a mainstream readership, but Eddings worked hard as a student to write *"literature"*. The words are simply and bumpy, but the juxtaposition is telling. Set aside the grand narrative of heroic daring do with maidens fair, and maybe a sympathetic eye can see their loving plight as awfully close to alcoholic bums taking care of each other in old age. That was terribly affective.
The ending wraps up quickly, and there's a superficial victory over the forces of evil, but it's also glib. If we take the closing scene and its specific language to task, then that whole story of defeating the forces of evil was hardly the point of the book. It's not Milton, but it's clever, and well read, so there's lots of Milton & Hemingway jumbled up with their religious struggles blurred and blended. It's the sort of popular pulp in which you can smell the hints at something more and a definite plan of what that something more would be, yet the refusal to get into it since that might break the bounds of the genre and its audience.
I enjoyed this book more than I had thought I would.
December 29, 2025
It gets a second star for being competently written. Otherwise....
I'll be honest, I hate read the last 100 pages of this. So many reasons why this book is abysmal. First, we could go with the comically dated everything. Even if you assume it was a trunk book that he wrote in the 70s that got published in 92 (although this book makes a great case for just leaving things in the trunk). We have bikers having 50s teen movie rumbles, we have everyone in the "hood" on welfare. And then we have the lack of self awareness, a main character who lives in moderate comfort after screwing his whole life up while drunk driving whose financial woes are non existent due to of a combination of a large settlement his uncle got him, his daddy's life insurance policy and working at a charity organization as a person with a disability who spends all day every day looking down his nose for the whole book and calling other people "losers." So he sits on his roof and looks down on others who didn't have the charity he lives off of to start their lives with for having the audacity to take welfare. His view of social workers is frankly revolting. I grew up poor and dealt with social workers growing up, they were not these hyper controlling, evil harpies; they were usually well-meaning people who had to fight with an underfunded system to try and save kids. A social workers greatest joy and greatest success is to get someone self sufficient enough to not need the system not to demand people bow to their power.
When you combine that with the knowledge that he had just gotten out of jail for child abuse when he wrote this, it reads as "And I would have gotten away with it too, if it wasn't for you meddling kids."
Maybe the Eddings who wrote the Mallorean is still the person he grew into, but it does raise the question, why in the hell didn't he just leave this abomination in the trunk where it belonged?
I'll be honest, I hate read the last 100 pages of this. So many reasons why this book is abysmal. First, we could go with the comically dated everything. Even if you assume it was a trunk book that he wrote in the 70s that got published in 92 (although this book makes a great case for just leaving things in the trunk). We have bikers having 50s teen movie rumbles, we have everyone in the "hood" on welfare. And then we have the lack of self awareness, a main character who lives in moderate comfort after screwing his whole life up while drunk driving whose financial woes are non existent due to of a combination of a large settlement his uncle got him, his daddy's life insurance policy and working at a charity organization as a person with a disability who spends all day every day looking down his nose for the whole book and calling other people "losers." So he sits on his roof and looks down on others who didn't have the charity he lives off of to start their lives with for having the audacity to take welfare. His view of social workers is frankly revolting. I grew up poor and dealt with social workers growing up, they were not these hyper controlling, evil harpies; they were usually well-meaning people who had to fight with an underfunded system to try and save kids. A social workers greatest joy and greatest success is to get someone self sufficient enough to not need the system not to demand people bow to their power.
When you combine that with the knowledge that he had just gotten out of jail for child abuse when he wrote this, it reads as "And I would have gotten away with it too, if it wasn't for you meddling kids."
Maybe the Eddings who wrote the Mallorean is still the person he grew into, but it does raise the question, why in the hell didn't he just leave this abomination in the trunk where it belonged?
November 3, 2017
By far the best of Eddings' three non genre offers, The Losers eschews High Hunt's 'who has the biggest bollocks?' machismo and Regina's Song's twee, whimsical femme-horror for a sharp, satirical look at America's welfare system. The titular losers are a collective of the impoverished, down-on-their luck, disabled or addicted left behind when social services no longer cares to deal with them. Protagonist Gabriel makes for an intriguing lead, after losing his leg and genitals in a drunken car accident he finds himself settling down among his seedier, less privileged peers and sets out to discover why life has thrown them such endless curveballs. Plus, he gives everyone in his town a weird nick-name, and who hasn't done that to all the oddballs on their street at some point? The stetting is Spokane, once Eddings' own home town, grimly sketched with enduring, grimy detail. The end reveal is brutal, albeit a bit bogged down in court-room drama (bizarrely, he made exactly the same mistake in Regina's Song), the plotting strong, and the characters well-rounded. Sadly, The Losers misses the five star mark thanks to the sheer, rampant sexism displayed by all its male characters. I know Eddings has always had a thing for 'ripe figured, plump armed' women (at one point he mentions how plump a woman's arms are twice in a single paragraph) but here he takes his objectification to extremes. Not to mention Gabriel's favourite method of getting round his social worker is to threaten her with rape, at one point going so far as to physically assault her. Bad form, Eddings old boy!
July 13, 2019
Great novel - with two exceptions
The Losers is not a fantasy novel. It’s not a tale of action or adventure. And yet I would say that it’s by far and away Eddings best work. I won’t summarise the plot, there are many other reviews that do that extremely well. However I will say that despite enjoying the story immensely there are two issues I’d like to highlight to potential readers. One, it refers to several characters with physical and learning disabilities using terms that most of us would find entirely unacceptable in today’s society. And two, the copy I purchased from Amazon Kindle contained dozens of typos. It looks like the text was scanned from a hard copy and never proofed. It’s probably the worst case of text errors I have ever encountered in a kindle book, (shame on you Amazon).
The Losers is not a fantasy novel. It’s not a tale of action or adventure. And yet I would say that it’s by far and away Eddings best work. I won’t summarise the plot, there are many other reviews that do that extremely well. However I will say that despite enjoying the story immensely there are two issues I’d like to highlight to potential readers. One, it refers to several characters with physical and learning disabilities using terms that most of us would find entirely unacceptable in today’s society. And two, the copy I purchased from Amazon Kindle contained dozens of typos. It looks like the text was scanned from a hard copy and never proofed. It’s probably the worst case of text errors I have ever encountered in a kindle book, (shame on you Amazon).
September 22, 2020
Pretty dark theme for Mr. Eddings, but I liked it.
Definitely expressed his opinion about Welfare society and social workers.
“Once a social worker gets her hooks into you, you never get well, because you’re a renewable resource.” “They never let you get free, because someday they might want to squeeze some more money out of you or out of your insurance company.”
Pretty grim view of people on the fringes of society—held there by the system more than their own choices.
I’d like to think the system has been reformed since this was written, but I don’t have enough exposure to the system to know.
It was definitely a thought provoking book.
Definitely expressed his opinion about Welfare society and social workers.
“Once a social worker gets her hooks into you, you never get well, because you’re a renewable resource.” “They never let you get free, because someday they might want to squeeze some more money out of you or out of your insurance company.”
Pretty grim view of people on the fringes of society—held there by the system more than their own choices.
I’d like to think the system has been reformed since this was written, but I don’t have enough exposure to the system to know.
It was definitely a thought provoking book.
December 13, 2020
It shows its age in terms of language, etc., but it's also otherwise difficult to review this book.
Yes, there is a monstrous cycle of the system of poverty ... but it's not a one-all. People are human, which this book seems to want to emphasize. And yet these humans here are characters only, generalizations.
And WTF with the last chunk? It was so odd and felt like a three-page rushed explanation of everything. It also was incredibly sanctimonious, a feature throughout the book but especially emphasized at the end.
Yes, there is a monstrous cycle of the system of poverty ... but it's not a one-all. People are human, which this book seems to want to emphasize. And yet these humans here are characters only, generalizations.
And WTF with the last chunk? It was so odd and felt like a three-page rushed explanation of everything. It also was incredibly sanctimonious, a feature throughout the book but especially emphasized at the end.
May 24, 2022
Michael has had a charmed life. He has succeeded in every aspect of his life. Another way of looking at things is that he had never been tested, he had never had to struggle against something. The struggle would come in the form of an accident that would maim him, everyone who he thought was his friend, his lover, and his partner would drift away and he would no longer be the special one. This is the story of a fallen man for the first time bringing forth his true internal greatness.
October 22, 2024
If you forget this was written by Eddings, it's an interesting book with some obvious and some unexpected turns. It's an easy read after the first chapter. The characters are easy to connect with as well. As an Eddings book, it's a very very different read from his normal fantasy which was nice to read
April 19, 2019
Fascinating little book.
An authors view of lower social economic society and their involvement with social workers as a theme which relates to the main characters sympathetic views and another characters final downfall.
An interesting read.
An authors view of lower social economic society and their involvement with social workers as a theme which relates to the main characters sympathetic views and another characters final downfall.
An interesting read.
October 27, 2022
This is quite a big departure for Eddings in terms of style. Set in modern times, it's a bit of a poke at the american social system and the culture of beneficiaries; also a story about humanity, friendships and love. There's a religious theme too that speaks to good and evil.
October 27, 2018
I love this book
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