Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

The Belgariad is Eddings' first and best fantasy series. First published in the mid-1980s, the Belgariad differed from other fantasy fiction because: (1) it was not based on the elf-dwarf-human creature structure like Lord of the Rings and its various copycats (Terry Brooks, Weis/Hickman, Dennis McKeirnan, etc.); (2) it had mature and defined political systems (including a country that popularly elected its king), international relations and ethnic patterns, unlike even the more mature fantasy offerings of Donaldson (Thomas Covenant) and LeGuin (Earthsea); (3) it had a unique formulation of magic -- the will and the word; and (4) it inverted the purpose of the fantasy quest -- the EVIL ONE sleeps and the heroes seek to prevent his awakening BEFORE he begins his attempt to take over the world (again). Eddings narrative is sly and occasionally slick -- the characters balance seriousness with humor and the dialogue is often very funny. His world is believable because the political and religious interactions make sense. The best feature of the Belgariad is its relative tonal change -- from reflecting the innocent wide-eyed view of young Garion (the hero, farmboy, of course) in Pawn of Prophecy, the next two books become darker and more serious as Garion begins to realize who he is and what is at stake, and he comes to grips with who his "Aunt Pol" and his "Grandfather" really are. Eddings' books are also something of a quest story with a travelogue in the world he created -- in the Belgariad he leaves no country untouched in the western continent; in the Mallorean the characters go to every major district in "boundless Mallorea" and his other series (Tamuli, Elenium) are similar. If they sound repetitive, that's because they are -- Eddings repeats the same formula with some variations in his other series and the various wisecracking and irreverent humor that is refreshing in the first Eddings series you read becomes tiresome and predictable thereafter. That said, the Belgariad is the first, the most original and probably the best farmboy-saves-the-world quest of the genre.