The Ruby Knight

The Elenium, Book 2

By: David Eddings

Narrated by: Greg Abby

Length: 13 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

Ehlana, Queen of Elenia, had been poisoned. A deep enchantment sustained her life, but only while the Knights aiding it still lived - and, already, they were dying, one each month. Then Sparhawk, the knight and Queen's Champion, learned that the cure for the poison was Bhelliom, the great jewel lost when Sarak of Thalesia died in battle 500 years before.

Sparhawk and his companions set forth to find King Sarak's grave by raising ghosts of those who had perished in that ancient battle. The Seeker, an insectile monster spawned of the evil god Azash, hounded their every step. Still, Sparhawk pressed on, driven by desperate need. They had to find Bhelliom before his Queen perished. They must not fail!

Listen to another gem in David Edding's Elenium series.

©1990 David Eddings (P)2008 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Eddings's strength lies in his ability to create thoroughly likable heroes with personalities that transcend the formulaic fantasy genre." ( Library Journal)

If you liked the first book get this one too,

This is the second novel in the series and is as good as the first. I actually prefer the Elenium and Tamuli to the Belgariad and Mallorean. The guy basically wrote the same stories over and again, but that's ok because he is really good at it. I didn't have any trouble with the nararrator and my daughter and I both liked it and were able to listen to this as a family. This is not just good parent bonding but equals quiet during a long road trip. Defnitiely worth a credit in my opinion.

Couldn't wait

I listened to The Diamond Throne and couldn't wait to listen to the The Ruby Knight. I listened to it in two days and I am looking forward to The Sapphire Rose. Again I would recommend this series to anyone looking for a good read or listen.

a cure is found

Eddings with his wife have just left us off with the knowledge that the Bhelliom is the only way to cure the queen.

he continues the quest with his nine companions, and yet more of Azash's evil creatures are hunting.

David eddings has a great way to sum up the first book in his prolog without loosing the quality of the story. Greg abby does a great job of picking the right voice for each of the ten party members. well everyone except Flute.

A great continuation of a fantastic series

The series continues

At the end of The Diamond Throne, Sparhawk learned from the guilt-wracked ghost of King ALdreas that Queen Ehlana's illness, revealed to have been the result of a poisoning, could only be cured by the Bhelliom, a mysterious jewel of such incalculable power that even many of the gods fear it. Though adamantly opposed to the idea of such an undertaking, the Styric sorceress Sephrenia, tutor to the Pandion order for generations, reluctantly agrees on the condition that once Ehlana is cured Sparhawk will destroy the jewel to prevent its ever falling into evil hands or working its own mischief. So he and his companions set out for the ancient battlefield where five-hundred years before the Knights of the Church barely managed to push back a Zemoch invasion. Their hope is that the ghost of King Sarak of Thalesia, the last man known to possess the Bhelliom (he in fact had it set into his crown), will be able to tell them what became of the crown after the battle and by extention, the jewel. All the while, however, the companions are hounded by the Seeker, an insectile demon sent by the evil god Azash, god of the Zemoch people, who has long covetted the jewel. With the Seeker always on their trail and pursued by its mindless slaves, the companions also must contend with Guerig, the maimed Troll who long ago carved the Bhelliom and seeks to reclaim it for himself. An excellent tale read by a good narrator. I really enjoyed it.

you will be on the edge of your seat

Can the finally finish this trip? will they find the one thing that will save the queen. Don't be fooled with the name it is everything that fantasy novel should be. Too bad we will have to continue to wonder the way it will go........

what about the narrator?

if you know David eddings then you know this book, and you'll love it. I have no idea how many times I've read it. I work 3rd shift and I'm allowed to have one ear phone in so I listen to books on tape. when I saw this one listed I didn't hesitate but pick it up. however once I started listening I was amazed at the narrator. that it was possible to mispronounce almost all of the characters names besides Sparhawk, was impressive. I especially like how he pronounced Platime like splat'em. Of course these are all fantasy names and places so you could almost forgive that. maybe we were all read them differently. but then he mispronounces common words. he also had like three characters he did throughout the whole thing. every character was kind of a variation on those main three. one kind of sounded like any young person on a Hanna-Barbera cartoon, the other sounded like that guy that always always in westerns called Cookie. I forget his name but look it up, sounds just like that dude. and then some sort of half British half-american my Lord crap. Vanion sounded like a woman. I mean I'm sure he would be fine and narrating straight up novels without characters. maybe like how to instructional stuff if he could figure out how to pronounce the words. but this is too much for him. probably reflected in the price. the diamond throne was only $5. so I always recommend David eddings and it's worth slogging it through with the narrator, but man.. you just want a vent a little after that.

Great read/listen.

My first reading of David Eddings was this series and it is my favorite. Once you start one book of any of his series you have to read the whole series, but they are all worth it.

Disappointed with this

Struggled through book 1 even really struggled to engage with the narrator again in this 1. Not every sentence has to exciting!

Read these books a long time ago think I had rosè colored glasses looking back at it. Got book 3 but can't listen to it

Improved performance, padded story

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Despite it's lack of action and less than perfect editing (too much padding) this was still an entertaining enough book to listen to for relaxation.

If you’ve listened to books by David Eddings before, how does this one compare?

As mentioned, The Elenium as a series is not up to the standard of The Belgariad and The Mallorean. There is less character development, less entertaining dialogue and rather a lot of descriptive padding, much of which could have been omitted from the story.

What about Greg Abby’s performance did you like?

Fairly easy to know which character was talking based on the narrator's voice.

Could you see The Ruby Knight being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

No.

Any additional comments?

I think Eddings fell into the same trap as many other authors of high fantasy have done. He wrote more, producing ever larger volumes for each successive book, but the actual interesting content of the stories decreased.

Great story, reader needs work.

David Eddings is always the author who keeps on giving. Unfortunately the reader didn't take the time to familiarize himself with the books he would be reading. It took a while to get over his painful reading style. I still had to own all three though. Just a shame the purchase isn't completely a happy one.

another good fantacy

If you could sum up The Ruby Knight in three words, what would they be?

intriguing, historical and humorous

What other book might you compare The Ruby Knight to, and why?

The Diamond throne

Have you listened to any of Greg Abby’s other performances? How does this one compare?

no

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I love the humour

Any additional comments?

I like the theme that is in these books by the same author.

brilliant storytelling

David Eddings is amazing, compelling characters and an exiting story. edge of your seat suspense.

Offensive

Knights go around being prudish, robbing from deformed trolls and killing or tricking everyone. Some of David Eddings books are good, but these are purile crap. Also the narrator really needs to learn how to pronounce words. wish I hadn't wasted my money on this.

critism

still think should've used a female voice for the female voices especially flute & Sephrenia

The Adventure Continues

A great ebook, the quest of the Pandion Knight Sparhawk continues, with surprises aplenty, including an big revelation.

worst narrator ever

I thought Kate Reading was bad but this knobchops really takes the biscuit. he is awful

Again with the awful narration.

The narration just gets more mystifying in this audiobook. Chyrellos changing to Krelos was bad enough but how does Ramshorn become ram shorn???
They were talking about a piece of rams horn for crying out loud!

Of Gods and Men...

... or rather Goddess and Men.

A very engaging continuation of the search for a cure to an incurable poison.

Good story and well read

Would you consider the audio edition of The Ruby Knight to be better than the print version?

I would rate them the same. Took a while in the first book to adjust to the reader but no problem after that.

Perfect Eddings

David Eddings at his best, there’s something intangible about the perfect pacing of this story that leads the reader from one event to another, there’s no jumping between characters just a straight forward follow the main characters on their adventure from start to finish, and although the ending is obvious the route to get there is interesting and at time surprising.