Elenium (2) - The Ruby Knight by David Eddings
And now to The Ruby Knight (in German Ritter vom Rubin, in French Le chevalier des rubis) the funny and extra-ordinary sequel of The Elenium by David Eddings, i read it in English where it contained 372 pages. Originally published in 1991.
Sparhawk finally knows what can save his beloved Ehlana: The Bhelliom, an ancient magical stone that has been lost for centuries. Together with friends, his mentor and the mysterious little girl, Flute, he starts the desperate search for the most powerful object that ever existed on earth... But he's not the only one who is interested in the Sapphire Rose. On their race against time, the friends stumble across one plot after the other. And even though Ehlana is their first priority, Martel mustn't succeed...
As I already said before, in the first part of the series, the world and the characters are really unique. In the first book, some of them – namely Bevier, Berit, Ulath and Tynian – were only introduced. Now they develop, especially Berit. I'm kinda sorry for him. Kurik seems to be on the first glance exchangeable. But now, at the latest, you begin to truly value him. His characters as much as the skills. My love for Flute grows with every passing pages. That girl's so, so very well done! At first all sweet and innocent, with just the slightest glint of mischief in her eyes and now, just after she started speaking... he he. The whole picture changes! And these Elenians really are slow, aren't they? Well, good thing she's nothing special. Just a little girl with grass strains on her feet.
Eddings' descriptions are so well done, you can even feel the cold and wetness of the weather slip into your bones. Or maybe that's just me, that's a possibility, too. However. Kalten is funny, as is basically the whole rest of the crew. But, in contrast to the others, he doesn't want to be.
I'm sorry for Sparhawk. He has to go back and forth so many times! I can imagine it's maddening. And I'm sorry for Sephrenia, too, the load on her shoulders just gets higher and higher. And the poor, poor brother. Well, that teaches you to never ever trust people who say they can restore your youth...
Apart from that, there are always new ideas and new jokes to make. I really, really love this series. You should try and find out, why.
I give this book therefore a star for content, characters, ideas, style and the last one for the intrigues. And SoGH.