The Tamuli

David Eddings presents another adventure about Pandion Knight Sir Sparhawk and his friends.

I love every minute of it. I think what captivated me were the characters. Sparhawk and his friends are quite a mixture of mixed nuts. Most of them have quick tempers and smart mouths. Each comment is witty but funny.

In the Elinium Trilogy, Sir Sparhawk is summoned from his exile in Rendor to find the queen encased in Diamond. Queen Ehlana is poisoned and the diamond encasement is the only thing keeping her alive. There is no worldly cure so Sparhawk must seek something not of this world. He travels to the land of the trolls and acquires the legendary Bhelliom, the sapphire rose of pure power. With Bhelliom, he cures Ehlana. But there are other threats like the party who poisoned Ehlana and the god Azash who desires Bhelliom. The Church of Chyrellos orders The Church Knights and Sparhawk to defeat the Zemochs and Azash. All seems well for the humans but for the gods, it is chaotic. Sparhawk turns out to be Anakha, the one without a destiny. The gods fear him for two reasons, one he possesses Bhelliom and two, they cannot see his fate.

Following the Events of the Elinium, Sir Sparhawk also Known as Anakha to the gods, is investigating trouble for the Church of Chyrellos. It seems trouble at home and trouble in the next empire are related. Sir Sparhawk is asked to journey to Tamuli in order to help Emperor Sarabian and his Tamul kingdom. They are invaded by ghouls, demons and other impossible things. Sparhawk and his friends must get to the bottom of things.

They reach Matherion, the domed city. Every corner of the palace speaks treason and all are ready for an uprising. Ehlana takes it upon herself to teach Sarabian the ruthless art of politics.

In the Second book, The Shining Ones, Sparhawk receives more friends as he encounters the Shining Ones or the Delphae race. Their god Edeamus granted them with unspeakable gifts and they offer their services to Anakha for a price. Of course, they encounter the Trolls and their gods and they too become allies. They find out that the god of the Cyrgai, Cyrgon desires Bhelliom. At the end of the book, Ehlana is kidnapped by the slippery Krager.

The last book, the Hidden City, is about the rescue and the war. Sparhawk brings the rest of the Church Knight from Chyrellos into the Tamuli empire. The god Cyrgon calls forth not ancients soldiers anymore but a force that equals Bhelliom itself, Kleal. Kleal is Bhelliom's brother and opposite. Kleal brings in soldiers from different worlds which levels the church knights and the Atans in almost half! Meanwhile Sparhawk and most of his friends attempt subterfuge and try to find Ehlana.

The other gods intervene and helps Divine Aphrael with Anakha. The gods of the Styrics, Edeamus god of the Delphae, The troll gods and the god of the Atans help Sparhawk and his army as they converge on the hidden city and battle the Cyrgai. Sparhawk battles Cyrgon who becomes Kleal's slave.

Everyone gets their adventure of a lifetime. All who fought in the battle has their lives changed. Even the trolls.

The conversations in the books makes you want to laugh or think. There are the usual witty comments that never seems to cease and there are philosophical and theological questions that makes you ponder on god, nature and church doctrine. All in all, the book is a very good read. I highly recommend it.