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pocketbard 's review for:
Pawn of Prophecy
by David Eddings
When I first started reading this book, I almost put it down after the prologue, and that would have been a mistake. The prologue is an unfortunate beginning: the writing is stilted and archaic, full of quick-moving historical references that are sometimes hard to keep track of, and just difficult to read in general. It gives the impression of a medieval Cole's Notes for the world of the Belgariad. You need to read it to understand the story, but it's not fun.
However, once we get into the book proper, things pick up. The writing becomes much more pleasant to read, and the story has a page-turner quality that persists despite not very much actually happening. In fact, the entire book reads like nothing so much as a 250-page prologue, which is what I suppose it ultimately is. Sometimes you want to shake the main character, Garion, for doing foolish things, but that's mostly because you know from the prologue that he's the last of the Rivan Kings, a fact which has been deliberately kept from him.
The story follows Garion, who until his 14th year had been living a simple life on a farm under the care of his Aunt Pol -- actually the sorceress Polgara, who for thousands of years has been protecting his family. When Garion's enemies track him down and make their move, Garion is forced to flee with Pol, a storyteller named Old Wolf (actually the 7000-year-old sorceror Belgarath), and a few other characters who are not quite what they appear. The books follow Garion and his companions as they attempt to chase down the thief who has stolen the Orb of Aldur, the most powerful artefact in the world.
All the while, Garion remains completely in the dark about their ultimate mission, and is only able to piece part of the story together from bits of eavesdropped conversations. Like I said, at times you want to shake him for his foolishness or stubbornness, but most of the time you just want to see how the story is going to unfold. If Pawn of Prophecy is a prologue, I look forward to book two, Queen of Sorcery, when we're hopefully going to get into the meat of the plot.
However, once we get into the book proper, things pick up. The writing becomes much more pleasant to read, and the story has a page-turner quality that persists despite not very much actually happening. In fact, the entire book reads like nothing so much as a 250-page prologue, which is what I suppose it ultimately is. Sometimes you want to shake the main character, Garion, for doing foolish things, but that's mostly because you know from the prologue that he's the last of the Rivan Kings, a fact which has been deliberately kept from him.
The story follows Garion, who until his 14th year had been living a simple life on a farm under the care of his Aunt Pol -- actually the sorceress Polgara, who for thousands of years has been protecting his family. When Garion's enemies track him down and make their move, Garion is forced to flee with Pol, a storyteller named Old Wolf (actually the 7000-year-old sorceror Belgarath), and a few other characters who are not quite what they appear. The books follow Garion and his companions as they attempt to chase down the thief who has stolen the Orb of Aldur, the most powerful artefact in the world.
All the while, Garion remains completely in the dark about their ultimate mission, and is only able to piece part of the story together from bits of eavesdropped conversations. Like I said, at times you want to shake him for his foolishness or stubbornness, but most of the time you just want to see how the story is going to unfold. If Pawn of Prophecy is a prologue, I look forward to book two, Queen of Sorcery, when we're hopefully going to get into the meat of the plot.