A review by jeninmotion
Polgara the Sorceress by David Eddings

3.0

3.5 stars. Holy god, the Vo Mimbre section is slow. There's a shocking amount of bloat here compared to Belgarath the Sorcerer, and that book is like, 100% fan service. I mean
Spoilerit really takes 3500 years for Polgara to realize she loves her father? Nonsense.
Given the two of them have legit reasons to sass each other - Belgarath abandoned her as an infant and has caused most of the most traumatic moments in her life thanks to The Prophecy --
Spoilerhaving her let Beldaran go, having her let Ontrose go, that shockingly thoughtless comment when Chamdar tracks down Geran and Ildera
-- but man, Polgara is vicious to him and spends 3500 years lying to him about
SpoilerPoledra not being even a little bit dead, even though Poledra's death is WHY he abandoned Polgara as a baby and has most of the shitty habits Polgara nags him about endlessly
- but they're both aware enough to realize that's how they handle the eons of trauma the Prophecy has put on them means their family love is not a surprising revelation.

Also, there's a lot of retcon, most of which I don't hate, but the Duchess of Erat retcon is still a leetle intense. On the other hand, without it, it is like "what exactly did Polgara do until she had to hide the Rivan King again?" It's well-done retcon, compared to so many other series, it's just a lot of it.

Also, shocked I hadn't marked this as read before considering I bought this in hardcover 20 years ago and still own it. Isn't THAT interesting? (sorry, had to go for the easy Eddings joke there)