Very sad news just coming out via the SF Crowsnest, which reports that international bestselling author David Eddings passed away last night at the age of 77. David, usually co-writing with his wife Leigh, has penned some of the most popular fantasy novels in the modern genre, with earlier works like the Belgariad and Malloreon sagas still being picked up by new readers today, no mean feat to have that continuing hold on readers considering Pawn of Prophecy dates back to the very early 1980s. The Nest’s Stephen Hunt, himself now a successful fantasy author, pays tribute: “I was in my early teens when I discovered these books, and they opened my eyes to the fact that not all fantasy had to be the ‘Ye Olde Speake’ variety favoured by Tolkien – they were fantasy, but they carried a modern feel to the dialogue and characterisation, while still being firmly placed in a deeply believable fantasy world. It’s a feel that influenced a whole swathe of media, and not just books – you can see David Eddings’ influence running through Xena and Hercules too, albeit taken too extremes with their, ‘Hey, dragon dude!’ dialogue.”
Like just about any SF&F reader who was around in the 80s and 90s I thoroughly enjoyed the Eddings’ series. I’d second what Stephen says about taking fantasy and pushing the genre into a much more modern, much more accessible form, which was doubtless part of the reason the books attracted such a huge international following. Very sad to see another author who I’ve read since my teens leaving us, it always feels a bit like a little part of your long gone youth goes with them when that happens, but at least we still have the books.
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