David Eddings
Jun. 3rd, 2009 09:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
marinessVarious internet sites are reporting this morning that fantasy writer David Eddings has died.
I've critiqued Eddings elsewhere for the general predictability of his later books, for his shades of racism (something he did attempt to deal with, to his credit, in The Mallorean), and for his habit of reusing the same plots over and over, to the point where his own characters would comment on this.
But Eddings got a 12 year old kid utterly hooked on fantasy, utterly hooked on the continuing story, utterly hooked on what might happen to Garion and the gang next. I laughed at the banter between characters; hoped hoped for happy endings (which Eddings excelled at); and grew to appreciate his solid pacing.
And we can give Eddings a lot of credit for the continuing popularity of the fantasy genre and epic series – a popularity that has allowed publishers to buy more and different fantasy works since. I'm not sure that the uneven Wheel of Time series or A Song of Ice and Fire or insert series here would have been possible without the Shannara series and the Eddings books – yes, we still would have had Tolkien, but from a financial point of view, The Lord of the Rings would have been an anomaly.
So here's a glass of fine ale to you, Mr. Eddings. And thanks for all of the tales.
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In unrelated news, starting to feel sick again, so may be quiet again for a bit. Not enjoying this.
I've critiqued Eddings elsewhere for the general predictability of his later books, for his shades of racism (something he did attempt to deal with, to his credit, in The Mallorean), and for his habit of reusing the same plots over and over, to the point where his own characters would comment on this.
But Eddings got a 12 year old kid utterly hooked on fantasy, utterly hooked on the continuing story, utterly hooked on what might happen to Garion and the gang next. I laughed at the banter between characters; hoped hoped for happy endings (which Eddings excelled at); and grew to appreciate his solid pacing.
And we can give Eddings a lot of credit for the continuing popularity of the fantasy genre and epic series – a popularity that has allowed publishers to buy more and different fantasy works since. I'm not sure that the uneven Wheel of Time series or A Song of Ice and Fire or insert series here would have been possible without the Shannara series and the Eddings books – yes, we still would have had Tolkien, but from a financial point of view, The Lord of the Rings would have been an anomaly.
So here's a glass of fine ale to you, Mr. Eddings. And thanks for all of the tales.
***********
In unrelated news, starting to feel sick again, so may be quiet again for a bit. Not enjoying this.