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Belgarath the Sorcerer

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This indeed is another respect in which the book succeeds well at being a prequel, putting a human face on such epic figures as Riva Irongrip, Queen Salmisra and several of the gods. Following the all powerful and rarely ruffled Belgarath however, for the most part the possibility that anything bad could happen is not even on the map. The first person also fully bring Belgarath’s voice to life, and there’s quite a dry undercurrent to it that I enjoyed. Then I found this book (Belgarath the sorcerer) and was eager to read it, it's sort of an 'autobiography' which explains in detail his early life and the events which led up to The Belgariad.

This strange mix of disciple and drunk, sorcerer and (occasional) lecher, irritated the young Polgara to no end, until Poledra, her mother, told her Belgarath could be serious when he has to be, but plays when he didn't need to be. Even narrator himself doesn't really want to be telling this story, why should I be interested in reading it? Some other major events, such as Belgarath's becoming a father, Polgara and Beldaran's childhood, and the battle of Vo Mimbre, were also very interesting to read about. However, by the time I got around to reading the Eddings' attempt to retcon the Belgariad with the follow-up series, The Mallorean, I was already chafing a little bit from impatience with the repetitiveness of the narrative - actually a plot point in and of itself, if you can believe that!Some of these I found mildly adorable in a rather chivalrous way, such as Belgarath’s wonderfully naïve misunderstanding of why his wife would want him to tell her he loved her, or Garion’s continual surprise at how tiny and fragile Ce’Nedra seems given how large she looms in his affections, a view I definitely share with regards to my lady who is also tiny. Sometimes, a couple of (long) chapters were spent on describing certain events that, in my opinion, could have been explored much less thoroughly; while at other times, decades or centuries were skipped in the space of only a few pages. This is possibly also why Beldaran at least was slightly short changed as a character though to what extent this was a lack of attention and to what extent simply the recognition that Polgara would be closer to her twin sister than her mostly absent father I don’t know. As was the case with Polgara the Sorceress, it was very interesting to get a look at the life of such a major character from the Belgariad series, especially one who has lived for so long. Belgarath is fundamentally interesting, deeply flawed and certainly a petty thief and vagabond he is also principled, viscous and loveable.

It should be noted that in Polgara the Sorceress, there is an entire section named after Geran, so it would appear that "Gared" has been, perhaps unintentionally, retconned to "Geran". Belgarath admits that he tends to take a fairly long view of history and is thus able to take the loss of others (with the exception of his wife), in stride, thus making him naturally a rather static character. This is the first of a few companion novels set in the world of The Belgariad and The Malloreon, which recounts the life of Belgarath the Sorcerer.Here is the full epic story of Belgarath, the great sorcerer learned in the Will and the Word on whom the fate of the world depends. This makes it almost as much a commentary upon Garion’s adventures as a prequel, and therefore something which should only be read after them despite the events it details mostly taking place beforehand. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. On the plus side, the interaction between Belgarath and his various brother sorcerers is extremely fun to read, especially the spiky, good hearted dwarf Beldin, and while we don’t learn any shocking insights about Belgarath or the other sorcerers, it does lead to some extremely amusing moments, such as a no holds barred brawl between Belgarath and Beldin following Belgarath’s years of grief after the death of his wife, probably the closest thing to a major conflict Belgarath has in the book. The core of the book is in the form of Belgarath's memoirs starting with his becoming an outcast from his village and becoming first disciple of the god Aldur and ending with the birth of Belgarion—a span of about seven thousand years.

Feist's Riftwar Saga all helped turn reading for me to something I had to do to something I enjoyed doing back in my high school days. For it's unique insights, for it's fascinating and novel character, and for the smoothness of the writing, this book remains an old friend that I find myself coming back to over and over again. The characters brought to life in that initial set of novels were bright, sparky creations with whom I was delighted to spend any amount of time - particularly the near-mythic figures of the hallowed Immortal Man, Belgarath, and his enchanting sorceress daughter Polgara. Similarly, the Eddings’ have their usual attitude to war, namely that slaughtering enemies is jolly good fun unless it actually goes too far and gets really nasty.It’s definitely something that existing fans of the serieses will get far more out of than someone new to the world, because it’s about spending more time in the world and filling in blanks. It is the story of duty and responsibility (and a sense of humor) that persists in spite of decade-long diversions, centuries-long sidetracks, and millennia-long grief. Thus began the extraordinary adventures that would mold that youthful vagabond into a man, and the man into the finely honed instrument of Prophecy known to all the world as Belgarath the Sorcerer. In fairness I will confess Polgara was never a favourite character of mine although I suspect her story will be interesting reading when I get to it. Eddings' trademark humour has always been particularly strong in the character of Belgarath, and this book reveals another, very human and vulnerable side to the Eternal Man that was seemlingly undefeatable, always in control and never very serious.

He was said to be stronger than his daughter, having taken the full force of her enraged will without yielding, but his style was bolder and more overt, while hers dealt mostly with the minds of others and so was not remembered. It helped set this one apart from the main serieses (Sorry, it is a horrible word, but what’s the plural? Belgarath the Sorcerer is a companion book to Polgara the Sorceress which form the memoirs of Belgarath's elder daughter, Polgara. Then came the dark day when the Dark God Torak split the world asunder, and the God Aldur and his disciples began their monumental labor to set Destiny aright. I know it is fantasy but the characters feel very much alive and real in the stories this couple wrote over the years.In short, Belgarath the Sorcerer provides a solid background on not just Belgarath's past, but some of the other characters' as well (most notably, of course, his fellow disciples of Aldur, including Polgara). Often throughout the book when I found my attention flagging at yet another rather self-important sermon by Belgarath on how stupid his opponents were, I found myself caught by a sudden character moment, an odd insight or a small touch of description, like the tragic history and motive of the Nyissan queen who was behind the assassination of the Rivan king’s family. David and Leight Eddings have an amazing talent of telling a deep story with lovable characters even with a timeline of thousands of years. The sheer scale of his millennia long tale is breathtaking with unbelievably sad moments interspersed within the adventure and general mucking about. The cyclical, tightly predetermined nature of this universe was beginning to annoy me in The Mallorean, but told here from the first-person perspective, it gets even more frustrating.

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