A pleasurable visit of various landscapes.
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This is the third book in the Belgariad (after Pawn of Prophecy and Queen of Sorcery, and before Castle of Wizardry and Enchanter's End Game).
In this volume we follow our heroes as they try to catch up with the Grolim Ctuchik, who's bringing the Orb to Torak, while Garion learns more about his powers and about the dry voice in his head.
They start by going through Maragor and meeting the mourning, inconsolable god Mara whose people became extinct following a Tolnedran gold rush. They are then summoned to the Vale of Aldur, where Belgarath grew up and became a sorcerer. There Garion visits his grandfather's tower and is taught how to use the magic. The party then makes for Ulgoland and its troglodyte people. They are joined by the zealot priest Relg, who has the ability to find secret underground passageways and can travel through solid rock. He will help them penetrate the Murgo capital of Rak Cthol, where Ctuchik awaits their arrival.
What I enjoyed in this volume was watching Ce'Nedra becoming more and more infatuated with Garion, but also and mostly the variety of landscapes visited by the protagonists: the haunted land of Maragor and its terrifying ghosts, the peaceful and bucolic Vale of Aldur, the snowy peaks and claustrophobic caverns of Ulgoland, and the black sands of the Wasteland of Murgos.
The monsters that are naturally sprinkled along the way are a little dangerouser and tougher than in the previous volumes, and Silk even gets captured, but thanks to the group's assortment of strengths, they always manage to come out unscathed.
Again, this is a light and fast read, but very pleasant as well.
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Eat your heart out Tolkein
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This book forms part of a terrific series beginning with `Belgareth the Sorcerer'. I don't read much of this genre (fantasy) but like The Hobbit/ Lord of the Rings this will appeal to a large audience.
Following Belgareth the Sorcerer there are two series of 5 books, `The Belgariad' and `The Mallorean' and it is advisable to read them in order, and if you can read `Belgareth' first (although you could save it and read it afterwards like a prequel).
I raced through the series. The Eddings' (the books were written by a couple) create a Tolkein-esque world with our hero Belgareth learning powers known as `the will and the word' through centuries of study under a benevolent God (the gods that created this world still live on it in physical form). This study elevates him to the status of a sorcerer and elongates his life span - he becomes a legend and a force for good in the world. However, another disciple of his benevolent master rebels and steals the holy `Orb' stone, following a more sinister God. In the later series the Gods have left the planet in fear that their battle will destroy the world but their peoples continue to war - following the Prophecies left to them by the Gods. The two series follow the course of events as Belgareth leads the hunt for the traitor and the stone. It's very cleverly written and characters and events reappear as we become familiar with the history of this fictional world through the course of the books.
Really good fun and a definite recommendation if you want a light hearted escape that will keep you reading late into the night.
This is the order of the books:
The Belgariad
1. Pawn of Prophecy
2. Queen of Sorcery
3. Magician's Gambit
4. Castle of Wizardry
5. Enchanters' End Game
The Malloreon
1. Guardians of the West
2. King of the Murgos
3. Demon Lord of Karanda
4. Sorceress of Darshiva
5. The Seeress of Kell
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The FSFH Book Review says:
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The third book of The Belgariad. In this book, the somewhat nebulous quest of the first two becomes far more focused. Also the author begins to introduce wider issues than simply what dangers face the characters on the road. I enjoyed reading Garion's reactions to the three gods he encounters here and we begin to get a deeper sense of the practicalities of sorcery. I like that Eddings examines sorcery from a cause-and-effect point of view as it means his characters have to give surprisingly deep thought to their actions, unlike some other fantasy stories where magic is all lighning bolts from the fingers with no explanation. This book resolves the quest for the Orb of Aldur too, meaning it is a much more rounded story than any of the previous ones.
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Magician's Gambit
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Garion and his group still hunt for the Orb. In their hunt they are joined by the Ulgo Relg. Ce'Nedra is left behind with the Ulgo (as recommended by the god Ul). While this group hunts for the Orb, they are still hunted by the Murgos and the Grolims. Everyone is out to get Garion it seems. While he is beginning (slowly) to get an idea of the purpose of his mission, he is still a long way off realizing his importance to the fulfillment of old prophecy. Belgarath and Polgara are still involved in their thousands years old quest to make certain that Garion is where he needs to be at the right time. Inevitably, Garion and Ce'Nedra become more and more aware of each other. As Ce'Nedra is to meet in the hall of the Rivan king at her 16th birthday and Garion seems to be this missing Rivan king (though he does not know this) this is a fortunate development. I still enjoy this series. The bother about long series is that the books are seldom stand alone books. New books answer questions that the older books left open and at the same time create questions that need to be tied off in a later tome. This series is certainly one that I would recommend to others.
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Surprise wearing off
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Once again I am shocked by yet another amazing book in The Belgariad series. My expectations for these books were extremely low before I started reading them, but over and over again I am surprised as I get caught up in the plot and in the amazing characters. However, by now my surprise is wearing off and I'm becoming more and more scepticle of the overall quallity of the writing. The plot is simple: a boy called Garion has started a quest into perilous lands to recover the Orb of Aldur, a very powerful magical item which was stolen by a thief. With the Orb, the thief could awaken the evil god Torak and then mount a campaign to attack and defeat the western civilizations, all of which are eternal enemies of Torak. Garion is traveling with his aunt Polgara, his grandfather Belgarath (both of which are sorcerors), and several other interesting characters as he chases down the thief to recover the Orb. All the while Garion is discovering a strange power which he has, and things are revealed about a mysterious other awareness which inhabits his thoughts occasionally. That was just the basic plot-as basic as it gets. That was simple, but the details and twists in the book pulled me in from the first pages, and constantly I found myself caught up in it, turning the pages as fast as I could to finish and find out what happens. The thing about the plot is that it's exactly what I started reading fantasy books for in the first place. The Belgariad captures your imagination and curiosity better than so many other series, and it inevitably led to me sitting around, reading a few hundred pages a day because I just couldn't put it down. Then, there are the characters. I can say that the characters took no small part in getting me caught up in Magician's Gambit. I found that I cared about the characters quite a bit. I really wanted to see how they'd change over time, with their general actions and actions toward each other. I was very pleased as I found that, like in the first two books, the developement of the characters was natural and believable. However, my initial shock of how amazing the plot and characters are began to wear off as I got into the book as I found more and more ways to criticize the writing. The quality of the writing really isn't anything special. There are parts which should be shortened, parts which should be lengthened, and parts which just simply need work. I have read some really amazing books before by really amazing authors, and the quality of the writing really isn't anything special. In the end, though, I had to give this four stars. I can't say something's terrible if I was so caught up in it and read it in just a day or two. I'd reccomend it-it's easy, enjoyable, and a very good example of a fantasy book...
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