The Elder Gods: Book One of the Dreamers

Richly imaginative, this fantasy will take you to the brink of the end of the world as gods fight demons and monsters for the right to rule -- and their lives. While most continents float freely on the face of Mother Sea, the Land of Dhrall survives anchored by the will of the Gods. All Gods, Elder and Younger, share the people and the land of Dhrall equally. But the one place they never enter is The Wasteland: a barren and hideous wilderness ruled by the Vlagh -- a god-like creature whose young are evil spawn. Now, as the Elder Gods are about to transfer their power to the Younger Gods, the Vlagh plans to take advantage of their weakened state and neutralize them, eventually conquering the world. To do so, it is breeding a terrible force borne of monsters and demons. But one ray of hope shines through the darkness: four children called the Dreamers. They alone hold the power to change the course of history . . . and stop the Vlagh in its quest for total world domination.

Amazon.com Review

David and Leigh Eddings introduce readers to their newly minted Land of Dhrall with The Elder Gods, the first book in the four-book Dreamers Saga. Dhrall is under the gentle rule of four gods representing the four compass points. These gods are reaching the end of their terms of power when the god of the North brings four children who are destined to take over for them into his siblings' lairs. The children are dreamers and able to see the possible outcome of battles in a coming war with the evil creature that controls the wasteland at the center of Drahll's map. Thus, the gods and their young charges undertake quests to hire mercenary armies and thwart the initial invasion into their lands. The book unfolds like a children's primer. This pedantic style proves to be heavy-handed for adult readers and will quickly try their patience. If the Eddings were trying to concoct a book that would be suitable for reading aloud to fifth graders they've succeeded, but even the most die-hard fantasy fan will tire quickly of the sing-song approach and plot twists that can be sniffed out from miles away. --Jeremy Pugh

From Publishers Weekly

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.Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

The land of Dhrall faces menace in the figure of a dreadful hive-queen creature, the Vlagh, poised in the Wasteland in the middle of Dhrall's four domains with her armies of reptilian and insectoid creatures. The Elder Gods cannot kill to defend the domains, so they strive to enlist human allies among the seafaring, even piratical Maags and their longstanding enemies in the Trogite empire. That effort means work for the Elders most on view: Narasan, who talks to dolphins, and Veltan, who rides a pet thunderbolt. Each god has a dreamer, who, though apparently a child, is an incarnation of one of the next generation of gods and has no scruples about killing with floods or volcanoes. The tale's merely human cast is full of interesting members, such as Rabbit, the undersized Maag blacksmith, and Narasan, the Trogite general brought back from beggary to a command in the war against the Vlagh. Rather a departure for Team Eddings, this light but not lightweight, understated and ardonic series-opener bodes well for its successors. Roland GreenCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

David and Leigh Eddings live in Carson City, Nevada.

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