Book Review
This week's topic is The Belgariad by David Eddings.
I think words from the author himself are good to start this review off, particularly those in the preface of the 20th anniversary trade paperback edition of the set, done in two volumes (the preface is the same in both).
"The story itself is fairly elemental - Good vs. Evil, Nice Guys vs. Nasty Guys, (or Them vs. Us). It has the usual Quest, the Magic (or Holy) Thingamajig, the Mighty Sorcerer, the Innocent Hero, and the Not Quite So Innocent Heroine - along with a widely varied group of Mighty Warriors with assorted character faults. It wanders around for five books until it finally climaxes with the traditional duel between "Our Hero" and the "Bad Guy." (Would it spoil anything for you if I tell you that our side wins?)"
The Mighty Hero he mentions above is Garion, a simple farmboy from Sendaria (yep, it's that kind of story). He's very skeptical of the idea of magic in the beginning. The Quest involves getting back the stolen Orb of Aldur (aforementioned Holy Thingamajig), an artifact created by a god. Nationality has a lot to do with the story as the different peoples were created by the different gods; Sendars from Sendaria tend to be very practical minded, where Arends are full of thees and thous and act the part of the typical medieval knight for example.
The difference with Edding's work, in my opinion, is that his archetypes aren't always archetypal. For example, Belgarath (the Mighty Sorcerer he mentioned above) is something of a liar, a cheat, a thief and a drunkard. Not the usual idea for someone with the cosmic forces of the universe at his command. He named the series "The Belgariad" in the style of the old Greek epics such as the Aeneid, but unlike those old tales this is an epic for a modern era. In some places, the archetypes almost make fun of themselves (and they definitely make fun of each other), which I found very entertaining.
If you like epic high fantasy, you should enjoy this. Even if you're not into the whole Lord of the Rings epic thing, you should enjoy this on a simpler level, that of a boy trying to do what's right. There's a lot of coming of age stuff in there. It consists of 5 volumes:
- Pawn of Prophecy
- Queen of Sorcery
- Magician's Gambit
- Castle of Wizardry
- Enchanter's End Game
Truly curious sorts can find some links regarding Eddings (and other Del Rey authors) works at http://www.randomhouse.com/delrey/sf_links_authors.html but he has no official website that I could find.
And that's that.
I think words from the author himself are good to start this review off, particularly those in the preface of the 20th anniversary trade paperback edition of the set, done in two volumes (the preface is the same in both).
"The story itself is fairly elemental - Good vs. Evil, Nice Guys vs. Nasty Guys, (or Them vs. Us). It has the usual Quest, the Magic (or Holy) Thingamajig, the Mighty Sorcerer, the Innocent Hero, and the Not Quite So Innocent Heroine - along with a widely varied group of Mighty Warriors with assorted character faults. It wanders around for five books until it finally climaxes with the traditional duel between "Our Hero" and the "Bad Guy." (Would it spoil anything for you if I tell you that our side wins?)"
The Mighty Hero he mentions above is Garion, a simple farmboy from Sendaria (yep, it's that kind of story). He's very skeptical of the idea of magic in the beginning. The Quest involves getting back the stolen Orb of Aldur (aforementioned Holy Thingamajig), an artifact created by a god. Nationality has a lot to do with the story as the different peoples were created by the different gods; Sendars from Sendaria tend to be very practical minded, where Arends are full of thees and thous and act the part of the typical medieval knight for example.
The difference with Edding's work, in my opinion, is that his archetypes aren't always archetypal. For example, Belgarath (the Mighty Sorcerer he mentioned above) is something of a liar, a cheat, a thief and a drunkard. Not the usual idea for someone with the cosmic forces of the universe at his command. He named the series "The Belgariad" in the style of the old Greek epics such as the Aeneid, but unlike those old tales this is an epic for a modern era. In some places, the archetypes almost make fun of themselves (and they definitely make fun of each other), which I found very entertaining.
If you like epic high fantasy, you should enjoy this. Even if you're not into the whole Lord of the Rings epic thing, you should enjoy this on a simpler level, that of a boy trying to do what's right. There's a lot of coming of age stuff in there. It consists of 5 volumes:
- Pawn of Prophecy
- Queen of Sorcery
- Magician's Gambit
- Castle of Wizardry
- Enchanter's End Game
Truly curious sorts can find some links regarding Eddings (and other Del Rey authors) works at http://www.randomhouse.com/delrey/sf_links_authors.html but he has no official website that I could find.
And that's that.