Post by Rincewind on Dec 30, 2007 7:14:31 GMT -5
Well, despite the board saying to discuss great literature here, I'll talk about these books anyway.
The Dreamers is a 4-part series by David and Leah Eddings. So they say. I've read Eddings books before, and most of this could have been done better by the average Harry Potter gay erotic fanfic writer, but I digress. It begins with "The Elder Gods" and ends with "The Younger Gods."
The first book, the Elder Gods, starts out well, with its story about 4 deities of the land who trade off with their alternate 4 deities every 25,000 years, so that one set is asleep and the other is awake at all times. These gods are limited in that they cannot kill, so when this insect-like monster at the center of their subcontinent begins sending out bug-soldiers to conquer the land, they hire outlanders (people from neighboring continents) to come and fight the creature's servants. The theory is that their rather peaceful villagers couldn't hold off the thousands or millions of insectoid soldiers themselves, so they need mercenaries, and the gods tend to keep the mercenaries in line so that they don't end up just killing the villagers instead.
The title, The Dreamers, gets its name from the younger gods. Because the Vlagh, the insectoid queen, has been planning this invasion for some time, it has chosen the time when the elder gods are weary and ready for sleep to attack. This way, when their alternates wake up, they will be unprepared for the invasion. To get around this, the lead god reincarnates their replacements as unknowing children, whose dreams can shape reality. Main advantage: The children's dreams don't seem fettered by the whole "do not kill" law the adults have to follow. So they tend to kill lots of bugs with natural disasters.
So, with such powerful beings, you might wonder why most of the books are focused on all the people in the armies they have hired. They're very interesting characters, who have some interesting plot development for most of them, but particularly as the 2nd book goes on, you begin to realize that the people, any and all people, are pretty irrelevant and unnecessary, since some of these unfettered gods can just get the job done by themselves. But the books still focus primarily on the humans, even showing you the exact same scene you read five pages ago from the viewpoint of a second person there to show you how they feel and deal with it. The books do this a lot, so be prepared to re-read stuff you've already read VERY frequently. I guess it keeps the old page count up. The uselessness of the humans shows, particularly when another uninhibited deity or two show up. Still, neat seeing how the people deal with things, right?
Well, don't worry, the last book will take care of that one. "The Younger Gods" wraps up the series with a definite conclusion in which (surprise) the deities do all the actual work at no risk to themselves, although much of the focus is on the useless humans. And just to drive the point home, the conclusion to the book completely and utterly screws up the entire rest of the series, giving one main character a happy ending at the expense of.... well, the entire series, really.
This has the worst piece of crap ending I have ever read, and I've read thousands upon thousands of books. It's easily beating the ending of another famous series where they'd have been better off the whole time sitting at home doing nothing. As much as that bugged me, it was easily a more valid and understandable ending than what they've tacked onto the Dreamers. It makes everything in every book irrelevant, basically, except for the deities because they seem to be immune to paradox. You will sit for hours complaining about this ending and how much it sucks and how little sense it makes.
Do not buy these books. Do not borrow these books. Do not allow them to touch your bare skin. Avoid them like the plague and you will be much happier for it, rather than reading 1600 pages, putting the last book down, and saying "I wasted HOW much time reading THAT festering pile of dog snot??" I am not kidding.
The Dreamers is a 4-part series by David and Leah Eddings. So they say. I've read Eddings books before, and most of this could have been done better by the average Harry Potter gay erotic fanfic writer, but I digress. It begins with "The Elder Gods" and ends with "The Younger Gods."
The first book, the Elder Gods, starts out well, with its story about 4 deities of the land who trade off with their alternate 4 deities every 25,000 years, so that one set is asleep and the other is awake at all times. These gods are limited in that they cannot kill, so when this insect-like monster at the center of their subcontinent begins sending out bug-soldiers to conquer the land, they hire outlanders (people from neighboring continents) to come and fight the creature's servants. The theory is that their rather peaceful villagers couldn't hold off the thousands or millions of insectoid soldiers themselves, so they need mercenaries, and the gods tend to keep the mercenaries in line so that they don't end up just killing the villagers instead.
The title, The Dreamers, gets its name from the younger gods. Because the Vlagh, the insectoid queen, has been planning this invasion for some time, it has chosen the time when the elder gods are weary and ready for sleep to attack. This way, when their alternates wake up, they will be unprepared for the invasion. To get around this, the lead god reincarnates their replacements as unknowing children, whose dreams can shape reality. Main advantage: The children's dreams don't seem fettered by the whole "do not kill" law the adults have to follow. So they tend to kill lots of bugs with natural disasters.
So, with such powerful beings, you might wonder why most of the books are focused on all the people in the armies they have hired. They're very interesting characters, who have some interesting plot development for most of them, but particularly as the 2nd book goes on, you begin to realize that the people, any and all people, are pretty irrelevant and unnecessary, since some of these unfettered gods can just get the job done by themselves. But the books still focus primarily on the humans, even showing you the exact same scene you read five pages ago from the viewpoint of a second person there to show you how they feel and deal with it. The books do this a lot, so be prepared to re-read stuff you've already read VERY frequently. I guess it keeps the old page count up. The uselessness of the humans shows, particularly when another uninhibited deity or two show up. Still, neat seeing how the people deal with things, right?
Well, don't worry, the last book will take care of that one. "The Younger Gods" wraps up the series with a definite conclusion in which (surprise) the deities do all the actual work at no risk to themselves, although much of the focus is on the useless humans. And just to drive the point home, the conclusion to the book completely and utterly screws up the entire rest of the series, giving one main character a happy ending at the expense of.... well, the entire series, really.
This has the worst piece of crap ending I have ever read, and I've read thousands upon thousands of books. It's easily beating the ending of another famous series where they'd have been better off the whole time sitting at home doing nothing. As much as that bugged me, it was easily a more valid and understandable ending than what they've tacked onto the Dreamers. It makes everything in every book irrelevant, basically, except for the deities because they seem to be immune to paradox. You will sit for hours complaining about this ending and how much it sucks and how little sense it makes.
Do not buy these books. Do not borrow these books. Do not allow them to touch your bare skin. Avoid them like the plague and you will be much happier for it, rather than reading 1600 pages, putting the last book down, and saying "I wasted HOW much time reading THAT festering pile of dog snot??" I am not kidding.