The Belgariad & The Mallorean

 

First of all, a hearty apology that I have been remiss in my reviewing for so long. Life, as it has a way of doing, got in the way of literature for a while. In November I completed National Novel Writing Month, which although is a tremendous flurry of words and excitement leaves very little room for actual reading. That being said, I have a new sort of review for y’all today, one that has been in the works since the middle of September. I have decided to review not only two books, but two entire series at the same time, since they fit wonderfully together and have a few quirks that cannot be noticed without talking about both. Therefore, I present to you, The Belgariad and The Mallorean, by David Eddings.

            I first read both series when I was in middle school. That is not to say that they are geared specifically towards children in any way, but more a testament to storytelling that is broad enough to hold the attention of multiple audiences. I found that re-reading as an adult allowed me to pick up tons of things that had simply gone over my head at the age of eleven, the most obvious being the sarcastic humor these novels are practically saturated in. Eddings has truly mastered snarky characters and clever dialogue, which raises these two series up out of the typical magical adventure plot to something a lot more fun.

            Now then, to business. The Belgariad is the first series, comprised of five novels: Pawn of Prophecy, Queen of Sorcery, Magician’s Gambit, Castle of Wizardry and Enchanter’s Endgame. They follow the story of Garion, a young boy who lives on a farm with his Aunt Pol and an old storyteller Garion calls Mister Wolf. One night Aunt Pol wakes Garion, telling him they must leave the farm, and they, along with Mister Wolf, set out on an unknown adventure. They are soon joined by a host of other companions as they journey throughout the continent, meeting royalty of diverse nations on a quest to reclaim the mysterious Orb of Aldur that has been stolen by a devious disciple of the sleeping dark god Torak. Already I can see questions rising in the readers mind. Who is Torak? What is the Orb? How are these farm hands qualified to visit royalty and get the Orb back? At this point I’m going to throw out a huge SPOILER ALERT! Proceed with caution.

            At the beginning of Pawn of Prophecy, and every subsequent novel, Eddings includes a prologue that has been taken from some sort of prophecy or in book scholarship. The first is describing how the gods made the earth and chose particular nations as followers. Among these gods were Aldur and Torak. Aldur is a benevolent god, choosing no one as followers and instead teaching a handful of those talented in the art of sorcery. Torak is an arrogant and power hungry god, ruler of the Angaraks and evil at his core. When Aldur creates a stone more perfect that anything else in the world and filled with power that cannot be matched, Torak is overwhelmed with desire and steals the so called Orb. Warriors set out to steal the orb, the world is cracked by Torak in an effort to keep his prize, and yet good ultimately wins out, with the people of the West reclaiming the Orb and forcing Torak into an enchanted sleep, his body ruined but his mind merely subdued for the time being.

            Aunt Pol is really Polgara the Sorceress, famed daughter of Mister Wolf, better known to the world as Belgarath the Sorcerer. They have been tasked with hiding an ancient bloodline of kings who the world thinks is wiped out. This particular bloodline, of Riva, is the only one who can touch the Orb without suffering immediate maiming and death.

As we pick back up with the books, Polgara and Belgarath lead their company across the continents of the West in search of the Orb, with Garion in tow. Garion realizes slowly who his family actually is, and by the middle of the series, realizes he is the heir to the bloodline so carefully protected by Polgara and Belgarath. He is the only one who can touch the Orb and bring it back to Riva where Garion will take his rightful place as King. As one can imagine, this is a bit much for a boy who starts this journey at the age of fourteen. However, part of the beauty of the series is watching Garion grow into his true identity as a sorcerer, eventual king and the only person who can defeat Torak in an ultimate battle of good and evil. Eddings plays with the idea of fate and destiny, making use of prophecy to drive his characters toward the climactic battle in the last book. Through some useful digging around on Wikipedia, I found that Eddings intentionally titled his books with chess piece names and fantasy twist, to further emphasize the game aspect of things.

 Garion is the Child of Light, guided by one prophecy, and Torak the Child of Dark, guided by another and only one of them may survive, to decide the fate of the world. By the time this final battle takes place, the company has recovered the Orb; Garion has claimed his throne and true name, Belgarion, sorcerer and protector of the Orb and has matured into his role of savior.

            Now this whole series would be horribly tedious if it weren’t for the characters that make up Garion’s traveling companions. Eddings chooses to bring levity to many situations that would simply flounder in overwhelming darkness otherwise, and for that I thank him. If not for Silk, a clever merchant-prince, and Barak, a huge warrior with a quick mouth, I probably would have not finished the series. It is their banter with each other and Belgarath, and Polgara’s staunch disapproval that makes The Belgariad more than just a typical fantasy series.

            I know this is getting long, so allow me to move onto The Mallorean. Again, the series is comprised of five books: Guardians of the West, King of the Murgos, Demon Lord of Karanda, Sorceress of Darshiva and The Seeress of Kell.

 In this series we again follow Garion, along with Polgara and Belgarath and a host of characters, new and old, on another quest for something that has been stolen. In this case that stolen thing is Garion’s son, the heir to the Rivan throne. The new Child of Dark has kidnapped the baby and it comes to light that the battle between Torak and Garion was no in fact the final battle of good and evil. It seems that this time when the Child of Dark and the Child of Light come together everything will be decided. I can already hear you all going “huh?” Yes, this does seem like a complete rehashing of the plot of the first series and in a way it completely is. Yes, there are new characters, who I must say are even funnier than the last bunch, and new countries, but in the end the plot is nearly identical. Instead of plowing onwards and pretending the parallels aren’t there, Eddings makes use of them. In a wonderful moment of meta-literary awareness, Garion points out to Belgarath that events feel like they have all happened before. Instead of being held back by reusing the same plot, Eddings has made The Mallorean hinge upon that repetition. I will refrain from going in depth with the plot of The Mallorean, but I will say that I prefer this second series to the first.

            Part of why I am drawn to The Mallorean over The Belgariad is Garion’s character development. In the second series he is a full-fledged adult. He has become a well-liked and successful ruler, and has even managed to pick up on some of that sarcastic wit he was surrounded with during his adolescence. In short, Garion is funny as all hell and holds together a second series that otherwise wouldn’t really have any business existing.

            Eddings not only does humor well, but he has a gift for imagining new worlds and creating them for his reader with vivid detail. Every new setting the characters wander into was perfectly clear in my mind. He on occasion waxes poetic as he describes something, but for the most part the language serves as means of introduction to yet another new place. To have so many fully realized countries and races of people is a triumph when done well, and Eddings certainly has. I would put Eddings in the same realm of authors like Tolkien, G.R.R. Martin, Patrick Rothfuss and Robert Jordan. He might not have the same poetic command of language that Rothfuss and Tolkien share, but he has managed to create a world I am willing to revisit and a cast of memorable characters that I encourage you, my readers, to discover.