David Eddings RIP
Passed away on the 02/06/2009.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts_and_culture/8085289.stm (the jounalist who wrote this should be shot BTW for the inaccuracies in the second paragraph)
One of the major fantasy authors of the last 30 years, he leaves a lasting legacy with his very enjoyable novels. His magnum-opus for me was Belgarath The Sorceror (1995) which looked back on the life of his best created character introduced in his first fantasy series, The Belgariad (1982), and continued in The Mallorean (1987). Belgarath The Sorceror and Polgara The Sorceress (1997) gave a massive back story on the rich history of the two characters from both the five book series, and I strongly recommend any fantasy fan to read them all for a damn fine read.
IMO his latter books never reached the dizzy heights of those aforementioned and rather (nay, totally) succumbed to the formula he introduced in The Belgariad, but nevertheless they were all still enjoyable reads.
Special mention must go to his wife, Leigh, who was co-author on every book but was not credited until Belgarath, upon which both names were listed on every subsequent novel. She produced the strong female characters for which they were famous, and that many fantasy novels lack. Sadly she passed away in 2007. Apparently they were utterly inseparable and David fell into ill health after her passing.
So yet another of my child icons has passed away in the last 6 weeks or so (Farah Fawcett, Michael Jackson, Graeme Kidd). I feel like several pieces of my childhood have been chipped away over the last few weeks - feeling rather melancholy about it all if I'm honest.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts_and_culture/8085289.stm (the jounalist who wrote this should be shot BTW for the inaccuracies in the second paragraph)
One of the major fantasy authors of the last 30 years, he leaves a lasting legacy with his very enjoyable novels. His magnum-opus for me was Belgarath The Sorceror (1995) which looked back on the life of his best created character introduced in his first fantasy series, The Belgariad (1982), and continued in The Mallorean (1987). Belgarath The Sorceror and Polgara The Sorceress (1997) gave a massive back story on the rich history of the two characters from both the five book series, and I strongly recommend any fantasy fan to read them all for a damn fine read.
IMO his latter books never reached the dizzy heights of those aforementioned and rather (nay, totally) succumbed to the formula he introduced in The Belgariad, but nevertheless they were all still enjoyable reads.
Special mention must go to his wife, Leigh, who was co-author on every book but was not credited until Belgarath, upon which both names were listed on every subsequent novel. She produced the strong female characters for which they were famous, and that many fantasy novels lack. Sadly she passed away in 2007. Apparently they were utterly inseparable and David fell into ill health after her passing.
So yet another of my child icons has passed away in the last 6 weeks or so (Farah Fawcett, Michael Jackson, Graeme Kidd). I feel like several pieces of my childhood have been chipped away over the last few weeks - feeling rather melancholy about it all if I'm honest.