# I Am An Idiot! (David Eddings Novel) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 15, 2007, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-an-idiot-david-eddings-novel/396032 "2007-03-15T13:58:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecae2f/32.png) [@jali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jali)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-an-idiot-david-eddings-novel/396032/1 "2007-03-15T13:58:50Z")
I bought a hardcover fantasy novel from the discount rack. It’s almost too difficult to admit - I bought, “The Dreamers”, by David and Leigh Eddings. Trying to read this HORRIBLE book is comparable to poking myself in the eye. Poking and poking and poking and poking. There was a time, long long ago when I looked forward to a David Eddings novel. I’m not sure who I should inflict this junk on since I just CAN’T throw a book away. Any takers? ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-an-idiot-david-eddings-novel/396032/2 "2007-03-15T14:12:10Z")
Re-sell it to a used bookstore? That’s what I do with the stinkers. ---
**Author:** ![One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/838e76/32.png) [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/One_And_Only_Wanderers)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-an-idiot-david-eddings-novel/396032/3 "2007-03-15T14:22:28Z")
when I was 14 the Belgariad was my favourite series of books. I had to bid a fond farewell to Mr Eddings after wading through Redemption of Althalus. I have no intention of picking up the Elder Gods series. ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-an-idiot-david-eddings-novel/396032/4 "2007-03-15T14:53:13Z")
It’s very sad. I just introduced my son (13 years) to the Belgariad, and he zoomed through all five books rather quickly. I don’t have the heart to tell him that his other stuff isn’t nearly as good. Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![TroubleAgain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@TroubleAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroubleAgain)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-an-idiot-david-eddings-novel/396032/5 "2007-03-15T14:54:40Z")
[QUOTE=One And Only Wanderers] I have no intention of picking up the Elder Gods series. [/QUOTE] Oh, dear lord. I read the first in the Elder Gods series and my intestines tried to leap up into my throat to strangle me in an attempt to escape the horror. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Elysium](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3be4f8/32.png) [@Elysium](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elysium)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-an-idiot-david-eddings-novel/396032/6 "2007-03-15T14:57:45Z")
I had that moment with Regina’s Song (or whatever it’s called). I remember how much I LOVED the Belgariad/Mallorean when I was a young teen, and how every character seemed full of life. Now it seems like caricature and heavy-handed symbolism. Once you read someone like Gene Wolfe, you can’t go back to the Eddings of the book work. So sad. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-an-idiot-david-eddings-novel/396032/7 "2007-03-15T15:07:51Z")
I like the Belgariad, the Malloreon, and the two trilogies (I forget what they’re called). I didn’t much like the Dreamers, for reasons that others have stated. ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-an-idiot-david-eddings-novel/396032/8 "2007-03-15T15:58:49Z")
I liked the Belgariad and Malloreon. I read them and Redemption of Althalus (which I enjoyed) every so often still. Usually when I’m on a nostalgia kick. Regina’s Song was okay, but forgettable. The Sparhawk books I only slogged through because I was under the impression it was the same world as Belgariad, but for whatever reason I didn’t realize that it wasn’t so until I got through the first trilogy. I started reading The Dreamer’s, but after a couple of times getting it out from the library and not getting anywhere beyond the first chapter I decided it wasn’t meant to be. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-an-idiot-david-eddings-novel/396032/9 "2007-03-15T18:06:11Z")
[QUOTE=Elysium] I remember how much I LOVED the Belgariad/Mallorean when I was a young teen, and how every character seemed full of life. Now it seems like caricature and heavy-handed symbolism. [/QUOTE] Not to mention, racist. A character’s dominent personality trait is almost always defined by what nation they come from. Everyone from country X is greedy, everyone from country Y is sneaky and devious, everyone from country Z is stupid and easily manipulated. Eddings doesn’t try to relate his fictional races to real-world races, so it’s not actually offensive, but it’s just as stupid and lazy as real-world racism. ---
**Author:** ![Scuba\_Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Scuba\_Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scuba_Ben)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-an-idiot-david-eddings-novel/396032/10 "2007-03-15T18:20:44Z")
[QUOTE=Captain Carrot] I like the Belgariad, the Malloreon, and the two trilogies (I forget what they’re called). I didn’t much like the Dreamers, for reasons that others have stated. [/QUOTE] The _Elenium_ and the _Tamuli_. I read them somewhere around 1998, and kept re-reading them every six months or so. Then I eventually realized that Eddings has **one story type** and does it to death. At least these were three-book series, unlike the _Belgariad_ which took five books to tell the same story. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-an-idiot-david-eddings-novel/396032/11 "2007-03-15T18:20:47Z")
The only thing I’d buy from Eddings these days is if they ever put the Belgariad/Mallorean on unabridged audio tape. I didn’t even particularly enjoy the two spin-off novels (who’s names escape me…the one’s about Polgara and Belgarath), though they were much better than his later tripe. -XT ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-an-idiot-david-eddings-novel/396032/12 "2007-03-15T18:41:20Z")
[QUOTE=Miller] Eddings doesn’t try to relate his fictional races to real-world races, [/QUOTE] You might want to check out The Rivan Codex. Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-an-idiot-david-eddings-novel/396032/13 "2007-03-15T18:43:19Z")
[QUOTE=xtisme] the two spin-off novels (who’s names escape me…the one’s about Polgara and Belgarath) [/QUOTE] Umm… they were called “Belgarath the Sorcerer” and “Polgara the Sorceress” 😃 Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-an-idiot-david-eddings-novel/396032/14 "2007-03-15T18:49:47Z")
Eh, I once was about 200 pages into a book when I realized I had read the thing before. Now _that_ is idiocy! ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-an-idiot-david-eddings-novel/396032/15 "2007-03-15T23:59:02Z")
Moorcock did that to me. Reading one of his fantasy books. I thought I might have read it before. By the time I finished it I still thought I might have read it before. Realizing that it didn’t matter put me off Moorcock for twenty years… ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-an-idiot-david-eddings-novel/396032/16 "2007-03-16T00:01:02Z")
[QUOTE=zev\_steinhardt] Umm… they were called “Belgarath the Sorcerer” and “Polgara the Sorceress” [/QUOTE] 😛 I know…it was a joke. -XT ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-an-idiot-david-eddings-novel/396032/17 "2007-03-16T00:07:08Z")
[QUOTE=zev\_steinhardt] You might want to check out The Rivan Codex. [/QUOTE] Pretty sure that I don’t. ---
**Author:** ![Elysian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c77e96/32.png) [@Elysian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elysian)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-an-idiot-david-eddings-novel/396032/18 "2007-03-16T00:17:06Z")
Did anyone read The Losers? I had read the Elenium directly before that, liked it, and was a bit shocked by The Losers. I’ve never read the Belgariad, should I bother? ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-an-idiot-david-eddings-novel/396032/19 "2007-03-16T00:23:22Z")
[QUOTE=Elysian] I’ve never read the Belgariad, should I bother? [/QUOTE] IMHO its one of the classics of this type of book…so I guess that would be a ‘yes, you should bother’. 😛 -XT ---
**Author:** ![Elysian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c77e96/32.png) [@Elysian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elysian)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-an-idiot-david-eddings-novel/396032/20 "2007-03-16T00:35:48Z")
But if they’re all the same plot… 😛 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-an-idiot-david-eddings-novel/396032.md?page=2)