stillhq.com : Mikal, a geek from Canberra living in Silicon Valley (no blather posts)

Polgara the Sorceress

Wed, 24 Dec 2008 18:32:00 GMT

ISBN: 0345422554
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This is the final continuation of the Belgariad and the Malloreon series, following on from the Belgarath the Sorcerer continuation. The two continuation books are really just the same stories told from other perspectives, yet Belgarath the Sorcerer managed to be a really interesting read. It probably helped that Belgarath's story predates the Belgariad by thousands of years. On the other hand, most of the territory covered in this book is not new.

This book started well, but the tone quickly became annoying for me. I think it was the several hundred pages of Arendish history that ruined it for me -- its just not that interesting where Polgara's bathroom is located, and who won a particular jousting match. There are also these really annoy asides littered throughout the text. The same element appeared in Belgarath, but seemed less annoying there for some reason. It annoyed me that there would be a passage of prose, broken in the middle with supposedly witty comment, which invariably fell flat.

The other problem with this book is that Polgara herself comes across as a bit of a sociopath. She's always sure of herself, and lacks depth as a character because of it. I've got kids, and I find a character who is dumped into raising an orphan at zero notice being so self assured all the time. Surely she made mistakes and learnt something along the way? You wouldn't know it from the book though -- all of that is glossed over.

On the other hand, the book is ok apart from the long middle bit in Arendia. This would have been a better book if that had been omitted.

Tags for this post: book() David_Eddings()

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Belgarath the Sorcerer

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 22:52:00 GMT

ISBN: 0345403959
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This book is a follow on from The Belgariad and The Malloreon written from the perspective of one of the protagonists in those two series -- Belgarath the Sorcerer. This book has quite a different style from the others. It is written in the first person as Belgarath's personal memoir. The book is really long at over 700 pages, and covers a 6,000 year (ish) period. That means that the book tends to skip around and over some things at a very high level. That's probably a good thing, as it stops you from getting bogged down in boring detail you don't care about.

One problem with this book is that to people who have read the previous series, this is all old territory. You totally know what is about to happen, and that makes it a lot less fun to read. I'm also not sure I'm a big fan of the first person style either. However, I did enjoy this book more than some of the others I have read recently, despite it not being Eddings' best work.

Tags for this post: book() David_Eddings()

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The Malloreon

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 20:34:00 GMT

This is the followup series to the Belgariad. Its mostly a sequel series, but is quite readable and worth the effort.

Year	Title
1988	Guardians of the West
1989	King of the Murgos
1989	Demon Lord of Karanda
1990	Sorceress of Darshiva
1992	Seeress of Kell

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The Seeress of Kell

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 20:20:00 GMT

ISBN: 0345377591
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The conclusion to the Malloreon. Quite a good read, although the plot twists are predictable.

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Sorceress of Darshiva

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 19:55:00 GMT

ISBN: 0345369351
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This is book four of the Malloreon. It feels like not much happens in this book, although there is plot development happening. I guess it more feels like this book is a connector between the book before and the book after, and not much more. On the other hand, it was an engaging read.

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Demon Lord of Karanda

Sun, 28 Sep 2008 18:00:00 GMT

ISBN: 0345363310
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I needed something to cheer me up after the previous sucky book. This one did the trick. Again its pretty standard Fantasy stuff, and there were no surprises, but its fun to read.

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King of the Murgos

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 15:44:00 GMT

ISBN: 0345358805
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This is book two of the Malloreon, the sequel series to the Belgariad. Some people complain that this series is just a repeat of the previous series with some of the names changed, and I certainly used to think that myself. Now that I've read this book again I think that's unfair -- the story line is actually quite different, and the characters are generally older and wiser (which makes them feel more developed). I enjoyed this book, probably more than I did Guardians of the West.

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Guardians of the West

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 13:35:00 GMT

ISBN: 0345352661
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I read this book as a child, and must admit I didn't like it. That's interesting to me, because it quite liked it this time. Its not the greatest literature ever written, but it is a good read. You need to have read the Belgariad first though, because this book (the first of the Mallorean) reuses the characters without spending a lot of time introducing them to you. I think I prefer it that way because it would be annoying to have to go through all that character development again as someone who has read the first series.

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The Belgariad

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 19:36:00 GMT

The Belgariad is a fantasy series by David Eddings. There are five books in the series, although there is also a follow series called the Mallorean, as well as three tie in books. The series follows a small farm boy as he grows up, discovering along the way that his relatives are famous, he's important to the history of the world, and that he has to defeat an ancient evil. The five books in the main series are:

Year	Title
1982	Pawn of Prophecy
1982	Queen of Sorcery
1983	Magician's Gambit
1984	Castle of Wizardry
1984	Enchanters' End Game

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Enchanters End Game

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 19:29:00 GMT

ISBN: 0345338715
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This is the final book in the Belgariad. Its a good one, although knowing there is another series involving these characters makes it feel a little less final to me. I enjoyed it though.

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Castle Of Wizardry

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 21:55:00 GMT

ISBN: 0345300807
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This is book four in the Belgariad, and was as good as the others. This one only took a day to read, but that was helped a lot by the two hours I spent commuting to and from San Francisco today. This book is a little different than the others because it starts just as the quest for the Orb ends. Yet it turns out that the overall prophecy that the Belgariad describes is still incomplete, so the story continues.

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Magician's Gambit

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 16:40:00 GMT

ISBN: 0345335457
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This is the third book in the Belgariad (Book 1 and Book 2). This book like the others was an enjoyable quick and easy read. I am starting to rethink my comments about these books being good for young readers -- it just occurred to me that a lot of people die in these books. They're all bad guys, and the violence isn't all that graphic, but I guess it might worry some parents.

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Queen of Sorcery

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 19:10:00 GMT

ISBN: 0345335651
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This is book two of the Belgariad (following on from Pawn of Prophecy). This book was a good quick read, and I think they'd be a good mid level reading book for a child. I liked it.

Tags for this post: book() David_Eddings()

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Pawn of Prophecy

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 17:34:00 GMT

ISBN: 0552148075
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The Belgariad is a pretty formula fantasy epic, with striking similarities to things like stories of King Arthur. The series is written in a style which is very accessible to younger readers, which might explain why I loved these books as a kid. Its also a pretty "safe" story, in that nothing truly bad is allowed to happen to the main character, who is a child who grows up during the books. That might be why I loved these books so much as a child, and read them many times.

As an adult, this is a pretty easy read, and quite entertaining. I imagine its a lot like the Harry Potter series in its accessibility, although I haven't actually read Harry Potter as its not my kind of thing.

I quite like this book, and would recommend it to young readers interested in fantasy books.

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