Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
Eddings was iconic in forming my love of fantasy and Polgara was basically goals for womanhood. I revisited it the last while, it read a little differently but overall I still enjoyed it.
adventurous
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is a great addition to the story told with Polgara's usual dry wit, cutting sarcasm and superb observations. This kind of follows/accompanies Belgarath the Sorcerer as some of the events overlap but instead of the calm laid back view of Belgarath we are treated to the more blunt to the point view of Polgara. Again it has the feel of fireside story telling, although since it is Pol it should be more of stove side story telling given her love of cooking and her need to feed people (I swear she has some Welsh blood in her!). As with Belgarath, there is plenty of action as well as the more human aspects of the story to keep things ticking over and plenty of the behind the scenes stuff that the main series has missed.
It's the story of her life up to Pawn of Prophecy by Polgara and mostly I liked the voice, except for the sexism and racism. You'd think that someone who had lived several lifetimes would have learned that there are a lot of things men and women have in common and that some women are different to others and not all women and not all [insert race here] are the same. Yes it's easy for someone who has lived a long time to become very ingrained in their thinking but she's done so much stuff and with wolves a lot of the time the female is the leader. It's lazy.
Still it was interesting to revisit my teenage years, I wonder how well the original series would live up to re-reading or would it really annoy me.
Still it was interesting to revisit my teenage years, I wonder how well the original series would live up to re-reading or would it really annoy me.
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
(Please note that this DNF explanation contains mentions of child abuse which I have not blacked out with spoiler tags.)
I have fond memories of reading this and a number of other books by these authors when I was a young teen. I bought this on Audible as I thought it might be nice to revisit the story as an adult, however, I made it less than two hours before giving up. The writing and the story (so far) are rather simple, and while I was looking for a relaxing trip down memory lane, I didn't remember this being quite so basic. There is much better fantasy out there.
For anyone thinking of giving the audio version a shot - Dina Pearlman's narration wasn't great. She uses her regular pleasant speaking voice for Polgara, but the voices she adopts for other characters are odd and often not appropriate to the character with regard to age and gender, eg. Polgara's uncle may inexplicably sound like an old crone.
But even forgetting the distracting inappropriateness of the voices she puts on, you are still left with the main problem - which is that the voices she uses for the other characters besides Polgara, are inconsistent. Within the same conversation, a particular character's voice might not be performed consistently.
So then, since you can't rely on the narrator to at least consistently portray each character, you are instead reliant on names being specified. This can be particularly confusing in this story as Polgara's twin sister is Beldaran, her father is Belgarath, and her three uncles are Beldin, Beltira, and Belkira....
I bought this audiobook five years ago, and didn't make a start on it until now. So it's safe to say I was already reluctant to begin the long slog through the full 30 hrs and 47 mins of it - even before I hit the following snag.
When doing a quick google search about an hour in, to find out the book order, I learned that the authors had both completed a stint in jail for the physical abuse of a child. The boy, Scott, was only two months old when they adopted him and according to the Eddings' agreed statement of fact, the abuse began in the fall of the same year the adoption took place, and was ongoing until Scott was four years old and they were basically caught red-handed abusing him. The things they did were inexcusable, just horrible, and I won't go into them here.
Perhaps the abuse is common knowledge now, but it was news to me. And when I attempted to continue the book I couldn't stop thinking about it. It really grinds my gears that what they did wasn't commonly known by the wider public until after their deaths. They got off easy. And despite it all being over, as they are now deceased, I still find that I don't want to give their work any more of my time.
I have fond memories of reading this and a number of other books by these authors when I was a young teen. I bought this on Audible as I thought it might be nice to revisit the story as an adult, however, I made it less than two hours before giving up. The writing and the story (so far) are rather simple, and while I was looking for a relaxing trip down memory lane, I didn't remember this being quite so basic. There is much better fantasy out there.
For anyone thinking of giving the audio version a shot - Dina Pearlman's narration wasn't great. She uses her regular pleasant speaking voice for Polgara, but the voices she adopts for other characters are odd and often not appropriate to the character with regard to age and gender, eg. Polgara's uncle may inexplicably sound like an old crone.
But even forgetting the distracting inappropriateness of the voices she puts on, you are still left with the main problem - which is that the voices she uses for the other characters besides Polgara, are inconsistent. Within the same conversation, a particular character's voice might not be performed consistently.
So then, since you can't rely on the narrator to at least consistently portray each character, you are instead reliant on names being specified. This can be particularly confusing in this story as Polgara's twin sister is Beldaran, her father is Belgarath, and her three uncles are Beldin, Beltira, and Belkira....
I bought this audiobook five years ago, and didn't make a start on it until now. So it's safe to say I was already reluctant to begin the long slog through the full 30 hrs and 47 mins of it - even before I hit the following snag.
When doing a quick google search about an hour in, to find out the book order, I learned that the authors had both completed a stint in jail for the physical abuse of a child. The boy, Scott, was only two months old when they adopted him and according to the Eddings' agreed statement of fact, the abuse began in the fall of the same year the adoption took place, and was ongoing until Scott was four years old and they were basically caught red-handed abusing him. The things they did were inexcusable, just horrible, and I won't go into them here.
Perhaps the abuse is common knowledge now, but it was news to me. And when I attempted to continue the book I couldn't stop thinking about it. It really grinds my gears that what they did wasn't commonly known by the wider public until after their deaths. They got off easy. And despite it all being over, as they are now deceased, I still find that I don't want to give their work any more of my time.