Promotional Information

Key title New series, new world, and a glorious story destined to reach the biggest audience yet. A glorious new mythic adventure from Voyager's biggest-selling authors. The Elder Gods was a Sunday Times hardback bestseller, selling over 20,000 copies. The series will push Eddings sales to new heights as this is Eddings on his biggest scale. New series, new world, accessble to non-fantasy readers, and packaged to recruit a whole new general audience. Viral and internet campaign on publication to recruit new readers. Competition: Feist, Jordan, Goodkind, Hobb

About the Author

David Eddings was born in Washington State in 1931 and grew up near Seattle. He graduated from the University of Washington and went on to serve in the US Army. Subsequently, he worked as a buyer for the Boeing Aircraft Company and taught college-level English. His career as a fantasy writer, with his wife Leigh, has been spectacular.

Reviews

‘All the verve and pace we’ve come to expect.’
The Dark Side

'All the verve and pace we've come to expect.'
The Dark Side

Only die-hard fans of the bestselling Eddings duo (The Belgariad series) will enjoy this slow-moving, low-tension epic fantasy, the first in a projected four-book series. The Land of Dhrall dwells under the stewardship of four gods, each oriented with one of the four compass directions. Dahlaine and his brother, Veltan, rule the North and South, while their sisters, Zelana and Aracia, rule the West and the East, respectively. Dhrall's center is a wasteland under the control of That-Called-the-Vlagh, a dark, inhuman thing of vast patience, power and ambition. Prophesy speaks of the Dreamers, children whose dreams will defeat the Vlagh by controlling the natural forces of Mother Sea and Father Earth. Dahlaine and his siblings each raise a baby Dreamer; only after the precocious children start to dream does he reveal that they are actually fellow gods in the world's life cycle, reborn with no memory of their previous lives. Dahlaine and his siblings hire human mercenaries, who eventually meet the Vlagh's forces in battle, but the dark armies prove unexpectedly resourceful. Despite a variety of characters (pirates, gods, aboriginals, soldiers, etc.), all speak in the same unlikely, bland manner, and dialogue generally replaces action. The authors will have to pick up the pace in the next volume to keep readers interested. (One-day laydown Oct. 14) Forecast: The inaugural volume of the authors' first new series in a decade, the book will hit bestseller lists initially but may have little staying power. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.