I like this book. It's a painful admission to make, but there it is. Yes, the authors use stock characters. No, their plots aren't overly original. But dagnabbit, The Redemption of Althalus is a campy, schmoozy, fun ride from beginning to end.

Serious readers, I implore you to find something else. Eddings fans: be prepared to see people you've seen before, doing and saying things you've seen before, on a quest that, well, we haven't quite seen before.

The title character, Althalus, is a rogue and a thief. He delights in swindling people and lives from one scam to the next. Eddings readers will find him a cross between Belgarath and Silk. When he runs into a man named Ghend, however, his life changes forever--and it's a lot longer life than he ever thought it would be. Althalus's latest job is to recover a Book from The House at the End of the World. There he encounters a strange talking cat who turns out to be the goddess Dweia (a cross between Flute and Sephrenia). She has a task to complete, and Althalus is just the man for the job. Once he learns to read, that is.

The plot unfolds in standard Eddings fashion. Althalus goes out to round up the good guys who will be needed to battle Daeva, Dweia's brother, and his minions. Each good guy (and girl) has a counterpart on the evil team whom they must face in order to defeat Daeva. I would say more, but part of the fun is watching Althalus discover just who his teammates are. The magic trick the authors created to keep this story the length of one book instead of three or five, per their usual, is interesting and fun--especially the different uses the good guys find for it. On the other hand, it eliminates some of the on-the-road conversations and antics that I've most enjoyed in their other works.

The Redemption of Althalus has nothing superfluous, no side trips, no lengthy examinations of various peoples and cultures. I understand the authors' desire to prove they really could write a one-volume fantasy, but I found that I missed much of the "filler" material that The Belgariad, The Malloreon, The Elenium and The Tamuli are chock full of. The characters in Redemption are more obviously revealed as amalgamations of those who have come before, partially because there is nothing else to distract the reader. The trademark sarcastic wit is still there, along with the happy-fuzzy family feelings it hides, but without as much window-dressing, the dialog just isn't enough to carry the story.

Still, this is an Eddings book--one of my guilty pleasures. I'm already looking forward to the next one, but I hope it's a series; their stories are better over the long haul.

Recommended: Yes