Meet Sparhawk. He is a Church Knight, although in this world “church” definitely does not mean dull, especially that the Knights treat the church doctrines with a certain…flexibility of interpretation. Slightly ill-tempered, broken-nosed seasoned fighter who fells his enemies with his sword and his friends with sarcastic remarks both quite pointy.
Loyal to his king, he has been driven into exile for many years by political scheming at court and at the beginning of the first book (The Diamond Throne) we see him come back to the royal city; the old king is dead and the throne has passed to his daughter, Elana. It so happens that when she was a few years old Sparhawk was her bodyguard/nanny, and with the determination only women can understand she decided back then that Sparhawk is the one for her, never mind the 20 years of age difference. And now he’s back, and she’s definitely not a child anymore, and Sparhawk may have finally met someone who can outmaneuver him and make his life…interesting.
Actually, the Sparhawk/Elana story is only a small part of the story which unfolds in two consecutive trilogies, The Elenium and The Tamuli. The story is full of adventure, the action fast paced, the magic original, but all this pales compared to the colourful characters Eddings has created. You can read these books for the great epic fantasy they are, I read it for…the dialogues. No-one, and I’ll say it again, no-one has ever created dialogues which are sharper, more dynamic, ironic and sarcastic, while at the same time fitting so well with the action and the characters. More than that – painted on the canvas of evil enemies, scheming, fights, castles, magic spells, international politics at its craziest and characters with colourful and diversified cultural backgrounds (which, admittedly, do clash sometimes) is a picture of female-male relationships which is not only amusing but also quite…eye-opening. I think this is where you see the contribution David’s wife made to the books – Edding’s female characters are emancipation and creativity at their best, endearing selves.