The Sapphire Rose

The Sapphire Rose David Eddings Date: 23 November, 1992   —   $7.99   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Fantasy

There is much to like about this conclusion to the Elenium trilogy. There is the siege of the city. once again done in somewhat wisecracking fashion. Compare that to the siege in The Colours in the Steel by K.J. Parker; one could imagine that one is taking part of the siege in the Eddings book, but only dread the siege in Parker's. (This is not to say I didn't enjoy the description in the Parker books, only to say that it is a very different way of presenting it.) There are quips and foreshadowings and all manner of entertaining banter.

There are, however, little annoyances. Ehlana is not quite up to the level of other strong Eddings heroines; while she is presented as someone wiht a core of steel we all too often see the wilting flower instead. The dramatic confrontation at the end seems somehow detached and unreal, with the contest seeming a bit unequal in favor of the protagonists. You never get the sense that they just might lose. And the whole book gives me a sense of overcast skies— it never quite seems that there's a sunny day out there. That's not quite fun.

As a whole, however, this trilogy is not bad. It's aimed at a little older audience than the series that made Eddings famous, but not so much older that a teen could not enjoy it readily.