The Belgariad - David Eddings

    The Belgariad, by David Eddings, is a series of five fantasy novels, published between 1982 and 1984 - Pawn of Prophecy, Queen of Sorcery, Magician’s Gambit, Castle of Wizardry, and Enchanter’s Endgame. A note to the reader: Some spoilers ahead. Proceed with caution.

When I was a kid, like 10 or 11, I absolutely LOVED the Hobbit, and movies like The Princess Bride, Willow, Beastmaster, Conan the Barbarian, and Krull. It was fairly obvious that I would be drawn to swords, magic, and Dragons, but we didn’t really know it yet. Or at least I didn’t. I seem to remember reading a few DragonLance books in middle school too. I was (and am) a musician, so I had little time for foolish pursuits like reading in high school and through my first time in college. (That’s a very long story.) By the time I was 22, I was in Culinary school in Baltimore City, just a few blocks from an ENORMOUS Barnes and Noble. The one in the inner harbor. It’s not there anymore, which is sad, but it was a refuge for me for a long time. 

Anyway, one particular semester, I had a class at 7am, and my next one wasn’t til 10:30 or 11, so I had time to kill. I would walk over to B&N and see what was what. On a whim, I went to the fantasy section and looked for something that wasn’t TOO cheesy looking, but still met my admittedly low standards for what I wanted to read. Enter “Pawn of Prophecy.” It was short, so I knew it couldn’t be too dense (I WAS just looking for something to pass time), and it didn’t have some of the tropes on the cover that turned me off. Things like the majestic dragon, the scantily clad girl, in a forest; tropes I’ve come to love, but remember, I was still new to all this. So, I bought it, and set down to read. 

I devoured that book in a day. So the next day, I went back and bought the second in the series. And so on. I read each of them in a day or a day and a half. They’re not particularly long or dense, as I said, so that wasn’t really any sort of amazing feat. However, it became something of a joke amongst my classmates that I read a new book every day. For several weeks they weren’t far off. 

I absolutely LOVED this series. It’s predictable, it’s not dark or complex. It’s not even CLOSE to “edgy”, but it was so charming and provided me exactly the escape I needed. To put it another way, The Belgariad found me exactly when I needed it to. 

Eddings was inspired to write it when he saw a copy of Lord of the Rings at his local library and thought “this old turkey is still around?” I’m not kidding. Those are his words as related in “The Rivan Codex,” which I’ll get to later. There’s nothing very surprising about this story; it’s 100% predictable from about Chapter 2. I’m not sure if it’s considered YA, but it should be. There’s almost no gore, no bad language whatsoever, and only a few hints at anything even remotely sexual. All in all, it’s somewhat bland by modern standards.

What it DOES have is charm for days. Mr. Eddings spent a good long while developing his world and its history before sitting down to write. As such, the world feels well fleshed out, and the people in it feel real enough. There are some very broad generalizations between societies, but that’s ok because he’s able to write it with enough charm that you sort of look past it. Some of the smaller, bit parts are interchangeable, because they don’t need to be anything more. 

Pawn of Prophecy begins with a prologue that explains some of the ancient history of the world of The Belgariad. Mention is made of Belgarath the Sorcerer, and his daughter Polgara the Sorceress, and the war of the Gods that basically sets up the plot of the whole series.

The Belgariad follows a young farm boy named Garion as he and his band of companions set off across the world to recover the mystical Orb of Aldur, all in order to prevent the return of the Dark God, Torak. Along the way, Garion discovers truths about himself and his friends that challenge his perception of the world. By the end of the series, he finally comes into his birthright and his world will never be the same. 

    Queen of Sorcery follows Garion and his merry band of companions farther on their journey to recover the Orb of Aldur. They add a few companions to the group, and chase the antagonist across the kingdoms of the west, eventually on to Nyissa, where Garion will face parts of himself he's not quite ready to know about.

    Magician's Gambit sees our company split, as some go on to recover Aldur's orb, and others go to prepare their people for the coming conflict. Garion learns more about his power, and we see Belgarath at the peak of his own power. It's exciting and a very quick read.

    Castle of Wizardry begins where the last book left off. Garion and his friends believe their journey has come to an end, but Belgarath and Polgara know it's only just beginning. Garion learns still more about himself and his destiny, and he heads off to confront it. All the while, Ce'Nedra begins assembling an army to help Garion in any way she can.

    Enchanter's Endgame finally sees Garion confront Torak in a contest that will decide the fate of the world. Ce'Nedra's army marches to his aid, and all our heroes are drawn back together through events they can't control. It's a wonderfully written conclusion to a lovely little series.

    This series has all the tropes you’d expect from a classic fantasy novel: Magic, swords, battles, romance, humor, prophecy, fate, and many others. I’m not sure if this is marketed as a YA series, but I’m sure it would be today.

    The cast of characters that populate Garion's world are charming and loveable, and you can't help but root for them. Mr. Wolf, Aunt Pol, Silk, Durnick, Barak, Lelldorin, Mandorallen, Hettar, Ce'Nedra and the rest all feel like completely real people (if a little one dimensional) with distinct personalities. Each has his or her own sense of humor, and voice. It's truly a joy to read.

So let’s rate this thing, shall we? 

First up, Story and Conflict: I’ve mentioned a couple times that this is not a very complex story. We’re not treading new ground here. It’s predictable and safe. That said, it’s a well conceived tale and stakes feel appropriately high. As the books progress, some fairly glaring plot holes arise. That’s not great. If I have any real complaints, it’s that the story follows just one character. I mean, there are several main players, but for the bulk of the series, until the last book, really, we’re with just one POV. It may have been nice to spread the love a little. I’ll give it B+ for story. It’s not inventive, and there isn’t as much variation in POV as I might like.

Pacing: Every story has some slow spots. That’s fine. We need a breather sometimes. This book is no different. However, generally things move apace. There’s always something going on. We don’t linger on the color of the trees, or the feel of the wind in our hair. I don’t necessarily have a problem with either of those things if they’re handled correctly, to be clear. So, the pacing of this series is quite good, in my opinion. I’ll give it an A.

Characters: This is going to be hard for me to rate, because I love these characters for what they are, despite their weaknesses. And I don’t mean that like a character flaw, I mean it like the weaknesses of the writing. I guess the real problem is that, with the exception of Garion, they’re all sort of one note. None of them really grow or change over the course of the book. But then, it’s the first in a series. Since all those characters sort of support Garion, I guess that’s ok. But it would likely be a better story if the other characters had some skin in the game, as it were. 

Each of them does have one sort of touch point where they change a certain aspect of their personality, but those happen relatively quickly, and without much build up. Just, BAM…new character trait! 

There ARE a handful of strong female characters, which is always nice to see. One of them, Ce’Nedra, is sort of one note like most of the others, but Pol and Adara have some interesting stuff happening.

There is one exception to what I just said. That is the character of Relg. I think I can say this without giving too much away, but there may be some light spoilers here. Relg is a religious zealot with a nearly crippling fear of open spaces. Watching him overcome that fear, and deal with a world that is not nearly as black and white as he’s come to believe is fun. He’s annoying when he first appears, but rapidly became one of my favorite characters. I would love to have had some chapters from his POV. Alas, it was not to be.

Ce’Nedra is also interesting. She’s probably my least favorite character in the series, but she does grow a little by the end. But just when you think she’s going to actually change for the better, she goes back on her old ways . Maybe that’s done on purpose, thought I doubt it. 

I will say that the motivations of one of the primary antagonists, Zedar, are in my opinion, very well done. A sympathetic villain is always good to see. He’s not really a “villain” per se, it’s a little more grey than that. Probably the only grey thing in the whole series. The evil God is evil, as he should be. His motivations are somewhat pedestrian, but they’re serviceable. All the Gods speak in “high style” - what Eddings describes as “Thees, thous, and foreasmuches.” That formality and precision of speech do make him sound suitably ominous and threatening. The real “bad guys” in the story are the Murgos, who are based on the Mongol Hordes of Asia. They’re a good enemy for a story such as this. You love to hate them.

The character work Mr. Eddings does doesn’t break any new ground. Nothing in this series does, as I’ve mentioned many times. But it is effective. Seeing the world almost exclusively through Garion’s eyes provides an interesting perspective and a great way to learn about the world. And HIS perspective on that world changes in interesting ways. I’ll give character a B for this book. It’s good. Even though I love these characters dearly, I’m able to divorce myself from that and realize that it’s not PARTICULARLY well done.

World Building: This is what drew me into The Belgariad in the first place. The world Mr. Eddings built is just wonderful. The colors feel vivid, and the world feels lived in. For one thing, it has several thousand years of history. Much of it is glossed over, but the fact remains that the parts that need to stand out are thoroughly designed and feel real. There are 7 or 8 Kingdoms in the west (why is it always the west), and each of them has its own society and quirks. The problem here is that each of these is one note; People from this country all share this trait, and people from that country all wear this style of clothing, etc. It works well enough in context, I suppose, but it felt a little like a cop out at some points. 

The lore of the world here is great. There are 7 gods and each has his own backstory. They had alliances with each other and bickered over stuff, and all of that is described in varying levels of detail. I wish there had been a GodESS or two, but it is what it is at this point. I really hate the phrase “It was a different time,” but in 1982, diversity and inclusivity weren’t so much a thing. So maybe that was it. Each of the gods took a different people as their chosen, and each of those societies is based (some loosely, some not) on medieval or ancient Earth cultures. It’s an interesting, if obvious, take on things and I really enjoy it. Perhaps that’s where the broad generalizations I was talking about stem from.

Whatever the case, I love the little things, like the fact that all the little villages the party passes through have a name. I love that all the people are, by and large, treated as important enough to have a backstory. This world is fully fleshed out, and well researched (if that’s a term I can use for something made up from whole cloth). The tensions and alliances between nations seem real. I just can’t get enough of it. It’s perfectly simple. World Building gets A+ from me. I should probably deduct a few points for the one-noted-ness of certain aspects, but I just don’t care. It works.

Magic System - There’s a really good take on the magic system in these books, and we see it labeled, “The Will and the Word.” Meaning, you put your will to a thing and speak the word and it happens. I think it’s an interesting way to buck the trend of spells and wands and whatever else. It’s a fun system, and Eddings goes out of his way to state that you’re really only limited by your imagination, which is why he and his brothers spend so much time studying and learning. To expand their power. I kind of like that. It’s literally “you can do anything if you put your mind to it.” Using the will and the word is tiring and takes its toll on the user, and there are certain things that are forbidden. It’s not the hardest magic system I’ve ever seen, but it’s well defined for what it is. I’m going with a B+.

Writing Style: The prose style is fine. It’s no better or worse than that. It’s essentially a YA story, so it can’t be too dense. It’s no Tad Williams, or Robert Jordan, that’s for sure. In general, it’s got a fairly sarcastic bent to it. There are a few phrases that made me think and got slightly purple, such as “His predations were broadly ecumenical.” But far more often, the prose is sort of work-a-day. I didn’t love it, or hate it. B. 

FINAL THOUGHTS:

The world is rich and well developed, the relationships between the characters feels real enough, and the story is well executed. The conflict feels large enough. The Audiobooks, read by Cameron Bierle, are really great. Each character get’s a distinct voice, though some of the accents are a bit…racist. The characters are one note, the cultures are one note. There are some plot holes big enough to drive a truck through. The writing style is nothing special. It’s a predictable plot. I am able, now, to realize that, as a literary work, The Belgariad is not especially good. It’s basic, it’s predictable. If it wasn’t originally marketed as YA (I’m not sure it was a thing in 1982), it certainly should be. I think, if I think about it, I can say that The Belgariad is a middling series, perhaps a product of the time in which it was written, as there is nothing even remotely edgy about it. All the stuff I just said doesn’t matter a jot, because I absolutely adore this series. I read it just about once every year. Sometimes, if I’ve just finished something heavy or dark, I’ll go back to this as a palate cleanser. With the following series, The Malloreon, and the two supplementary novels (Belgarath the Sorcerer, and Polgara the Sorceress) included, I can buzz through it in about three weeks if I take my time. 

The Belgariad gets 75 points out of a possible 90. That’s about 83%, or a strong B-. I definitely think that’s a fair assessment. It has some high points, but in general, despite my love for it, it’s just an average novel. 

Thanks so much for listening. I hope you’ve enjoyed our discussion, and I hope you enjoyed The Belgariad. Next time, we’ll tackle the sequel series, The Malloreon. Until then, keep reading.