One thing you will notice if you read my blog is that I love, love, love talking about the books I’m reading. Since I’ve challenged myself to read 60 books this year, I figured listing them here would be a good way to keep track of the books I liked and the books I didn’t.

(Although, to be fair, there are very few books I actually dislike. I’ll stick with almost anything, and usually can find at least one thing positive to say about them.)

Anyway, the first book I read for 2012 is The Sapphire Rose by David Eddings. This is the third and final book of the Elenium trilogy, although the story continues for another three books in the Tamuli trilogy, which I will be reading soon. I’ve read them before, but it’s been a really, really long time. There were a lot of things I had completely forgotten, including just how good these books are.

The one thing that I really appreciate about the Elenium, or in fact all of Eddings’ books, is his skill at creating a brilliant story world. As a fantasy writer who is struggling to make sure that her story world makes any sense at all, I can appreciate just how difficult a task this is. This series features one of the most interesting religious constructions I’ve ever seen. The main character is Sparhawk. He is a knight, more specifically, a Church Knight. The Church of the Elenes has four militant orders, who swear oaths to defend the church and the people of the Elene kingdoms. I love this concept! Through their adventures, they have to work magic (yes, the Knights are trained in magic – that just makes them all the more awesome) in order to defeat an evil foreign god and his followers from taking over.

Religious ferver. Magic. Chivalry. All things that can make a very good fantasy novel. David Eddings was the first fantasy author I ever read and as such, he will always be one of my favorites.