h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I'm just wondering where you got your nickname...I'm assuming you're making a reference to Silk in Eddings. It scared me for a moment, because I've got a friend who uses Kheldar whenever possible as and SN...the would've been weird.

Don't be scared. Me thinks there's no reason for that .
You assumed right, however. Ever since I've read the Belgariad, I've used Kheldar as my nickname (which has been quite a long time).
Can you ever forgive me ?

Don't worry, I'm not really scared. It's just rather eerie....

Yes. My friend who also uses Kheldar was the one who introduced me to Eddings. I read the Belgariad and Mallorean straight through without reading anything else then. I decided to take some time off then though. I still haven't gotten around to Belgarath the Sorcerer or Polgara.

Those are pretty good books as well. It gives you a nice insight as to what the whole series was actually about.
The Sparhawk series are prety good as well. Have you read those?

No...after about 11 books of Eddings at 2 or 3 hours a day, I needed a break. It's been 6 months or so now, I think I could go back to it. Unfortunately, I have to find other libraries that have more of his books because mine only has the first few volumes of the Belgariad.

That's too bad .
I can understand about the break though. After I read the two series...

It takes a lot out of you. And one of my friends started saying I was C'nedra.(is that the right spelling?)

I think that the Eddings books are viral. I read both the Belgariad and the Mallorean together in about twelve days total. I love those books. The Sparhawk series is good as well, but it is kind of a re-hash of the B/M books. Too many paralells. IMHO of course.

I'm not sure about that. I think it's quite different from the B/M series (except for the style, of course). And if it wasn't for Kheldar, Aphrael would definately be my fav character from the Eddings series

I guess I'll have to start reading again. I think I'll wait 'til the summer though...or at least 'til finals. I don't study, so I have losts of time to read then.

Don't get me wrong. I loved the series, but lay out the two stories side by side and you will see a lot of the same themes and ideas. The "rules" of the two universes are different, but there are a lot of paralells.

That happens a lot. Authors do run out of ideas. However, there are the classic story formats - have you notices that starwars, wizard of oz, and many greek myths have comprable plotlines?

It's a classical story. There's a hero who has no idea of his 'destiny', he starts learning his powers, goes through a crisis of some sort, and with the help of his comrades, he is victorious in the end. Not very complicated, but very nice to read .
If you compare that to the Jordan books, for instance...

Exactly. A lot of things are the same story. YOu just have to realize this and look beyond it if you're still gonna read the book/story/watch the movie.

Well I still love the eddings stories. I have avoided Jordan out of sheer bloodymindedness. I do not want to get into a series that will take me more than a week to read. Well that and I am waiting for the next PTerry book...

Aren't we all waiting for the next PTerry book? As for Jordan, the wheel of time is absolutely brilliant. The only thing is, when you finish the last one, you have to wait for over a year for the next one to appear .

I guess I'm just weird, but I STILL haven't been able to finish the first Wheel of Time book, and I started it months last april(1999). I lost it temporarily while Matt and Rand were going to Caelman(sp?) and wasn't especially compelled to start again. I really should finish it. I've heard that it gets more interesting...but they are LOOOONG.

It gets more interesting from the moment they arrive in Caemlyn ( ). From there on there's more action, and all of the partymembers will be together again. The only thing I was worried about was part 8 in the series. Something needs to happen very soon, cause part 8 was not that interesting...

I've been lucky, in that I haven't had time to get sick of either Jordan or Eddings. When I first read Eddings, I was given all 5 books of the Belgariad as a birthday gift. I read them all in 6 days (Pawn of Prophecy took two days... I guess I was slow getting into it ). The Mallorean was not yet out, though, so I had a good long break, and ever since, I've read what he has written shortly after publishing. I even read High Hunt and The Losers, which have absolutely nothing to do with fantasy, but I recommend them highly.

As for Jordan, I got onto the Wheel of Time bandwagon early, too. Now I wish I hadn't. Dude is spending something like two years per book now, and working on other projects in between. He's no spring chicken, either, and it is clear the story won't be over for at least a few more volumes. I'm beginning to wonder if even he knows where the thing is headed...

I've read an interview with him once, where he stated that the ending scene of the story is the only thing he knows for sure. All he's doing now is thinking of everything that needs to be done before the ending scene. And as we all know by now, that could take him quite a lot of time...