Rating: 
Summary: What is all this moaning about?
Review: I can't QUITE understand the points some of us are trying to get across here. Immature writng? Far from, i completely disagree, I would say the Belgariad as a whole (And this book in particular) is probably some of the best stuff i have ever written. And as for some of the other suggestions people have had, well.. Lord of the Rings had our characters spending the first 1,000 pages doing, erm, well... nothing? and how about the Wheel of Time where are *Ahem* supposed heroes spent 150 pages doing, erm, nothing? Tw's excellent MS+T series is about the only one i would agree with - this one does come close to Eddings writing. Also, George RR Martin's Game of Thrones would be another good tale. At least this book has characters you can like - with the wheel of time I hated it nearly half the time any character spoke! This is certainly some of, if not THE best fnatasy I have ever read.
Rating:
Summary: Choices'
Review: I decided to rate one of the books of Belgariad, because it was the first series published, and it was first I read. I have read all of Eddings' fantasy books, and I have to say with the exception of "The Redemption of Athalus" and the "Polgara" they are all great books. The problem lies in the fact that all of Eddings' series are the same. He had one brilliant idea back when he wrote the Belgariad, and every thing else has been the same with a little twist. If you are a die hard Eddings' fan and you think I am wrong, reread the Mallorean again, and you will see that Eddings' confesses to it thru his charater's. So if you are new to Eddings' Choose one of the series and only read that one series. If you absolutly love it and want to read it over and over again, then read his other works.
Rating: 
Summary: junkies unite
Review: i have gone like a whirlwind through all these books, reading all five of them in less than a week. i feel like a junkie; i need a new fix.the reason i love fantasy so much is because there is always a continuation. a fantasy without a sequel is truly a sordid little thing. unlike cop novels or romance, which usually follow the same formulas over and over until a hero becomes redundant at best, (clive cussler anyone?) fantasys are what remain of epic stories. read: original and culminative. i love the belgariad, but not unconditionally. i loved the characters and the emotional rollercoasters. the biggest thing Eddings has going for him is that he neither drowns his writing in flashy images void of emotion nor over syrups the emotional impact. basically: not too hard, not too soft; kind of like what goldilocks thought of baby bear's bed. i didn't like that everything wrapped up so neat. it's like, in a paragraph, we all found out the REAL struggle. i still felt that the heroes weren't ready yet, that the villians were either too distant or too easily pushed aside. basically, i thought this was rather tame. i mean, if you read some george r r martin or some robin hobb, you suffer right there with the characters, which isn't necessarily a good thing. i definately want to continue with the mallorean, but i'm not looking for a life-changing experience. but i know it will be more than just a fix to tide me over.
Rating:
Summary: Great reading
Review: I have read everything I can find by Tolkein. I have read all I can of Tad Williams. I have read hundreds of books in this genre and I can say this series is excellent. This genre is popular because it requires an imagination, and it is there for the readers to have a good time, not to make literary students of all of us. I don't give a damn for character development and plot - I want something that is going to take me away and let my imagination go on a ride. Eddings did brilliantly with this. The last few books were so fast paced, I couldn't put them down. I can't wait to begin reading the Mallorean. If a person wants to do some seriouse literary reviewing then try a different Genre.
Rating:
Summary: I couldn't put it down but I don't know why
Review: I just finished my second reading of Enchanters. Between them I read Sorceress. It is in many ways the same book. The cast is wandering around trying to get to the right place at the right time to do the right thing. The pleasure is in the journey, the little and apparently purposeless events which are fun to read about. Enchanters, unlike Sorceress, actually has a major event at the end, followed by everyone getting married like a Shakepearean comedy. What I'm saying is that I find Eddings like Wolfe. I just pick up the books and read them without worrying about the plot.
Rating:
Summary: Way Cool
Review: I love this book. The way they describe the battles - having each element of the rainbow-array army move in turn. I almost cried for the Arendish serf boy. "The song ended very suddenly, never to begin again." I of course loved the EVENT. Some of the parts were funny. "I thought you wanted to stand around and watch the world change." "Please stop groaning, Rhodar. You sound like a sick cow." "What do you want me to do? Walk around with a sign on my chest reading "spy"?" I liked it when Queen Islena finally delivered that ultimatum to Grodeg. I liked the childish way Ce'Nedra declared, "I'm invading Mishrak Ac Thull, Uncle Varana." It was sweetly sad when Morin way saying, "Sleep, Ran Bourne. You can play with your little toy soldiers again tomorrow." And of course I liked when Polgara discovered she had had her power all along. I could kind of see it coming though, when it was Errand who finally brought Durnik back. This was also the first book where I was abe to figure out that Chaldan was the god of the Arends. This is a must read. Breathe deep seek peace, Tin
Rating:
Summary: excellant!
Review: i loved the whole series. escpecially this book. I look forward to starting the next 7 books in the Mallorean series; Belgareth the Sorceror; and Polgara the Soceress!
Rating:
Summary: Very well done, pure, good , fantasy.
Review: I read the whole series in a few weeks, and I say it was great. It lacks a bit of power, but is very well written, funny, and much more entertaining with realistic insight then some overhyped fantasy. Good action, romance, human emotions, and a building zenith of events that keeps the pages turning. The only part I had a problem with was how they cut out the best part at the very end. I mean, come on Dave, you know we all wanted to know what happend AFTER Ce'Nedra and Garion got married. And I say that from a comical standpoint. But I still fail to see why fantasy, as well as socity, embelishes violence, yet shuns sex. Whats up with that? If you can write in detail about death and bloody combat you can sure write about love and sex. The joke with the orb was funny, but I think something much more funny was going on at the time ^_~ And it was also a good charcter development point, to bad it was to ''offensive'' to write about. Only other flaw was that travel got a little boaring and I would have liked to know more about the universal sceam of things, I found that very cool. Despite a few flaws ( and every writer has flaws) Eddings is great. Truely great. And if you didnt like it why did you bother reading it. I put a book down if I don't like it and, I sure don't go to a major webpage and say how it sucks. Get a life. And for people who can enjoy good fantasy, read Eddings. Or other authors, there are so many good fantasy novels, if you can stop compareing and read with an open mind, and heart.
Rating: 
Summary: Couldn't finish it.
Review: I stopped about page 150 or so. The truth of it is, this series is just a little too immature for me. The way Eddings steoreotypes his races- i.e. all Tolnedrans are greedy, all Arends are incredibly stupid, all Sendars are practical, etc.- is just way too unrealistic. I remember reading a scene where the Mimbrates and the Asturians are discussing their animosity, and finally figure out that they've been fighting thousands of years over nothing, and what's more ridiculous, they haven't realized this because they never once talked to each other about it. It's ludricrous for people who have been warring for millenia to all at once say, "Oh! Is that it? Wow, it's a good thing we finally spoke to each other, or no telling how long this would've lasted." No one's THAT stupid. Also, a good portion of the dialogue is JUST PLAIN SILLY. At first it was bearable, but after a while all the little dry comments began to grate more and more. All in all, these books are just too chldish and should be avoided by mature readers. Also, the characterization is not that great, and this makes for boring reading. I finally stopped when I got to that Arend nonsense, but honestly, this book isn't any better or worse than the other books, so if you've been enjoying this series so far you shouldn't find any problems with this one. I guess it just took me this long to finally realize what I was reading. Stupid me, I suppose.
Rating:
Summary: End Game, thankfully the end
Review: I'm not going to review each book of the series individually since they are all the same in structure, and sadly, nearly in content as well. This series has to be considered one of the most predictable, monotonous, dry fantasy series out there. Near the beginning of every book David Eddings, for some reason I simply can't understand, basically spoils the rest of the book by having characters say what they're going to do. It's like "We'll do A, then B, then C," where C is the end of the book. These summaries wouldn't be so detrimental if the author actually had some unexpected things happen along the way...but he doesn't. It happens exactly according to the summary every time. At least ninety percent of every book in the series is monotony--basically you know what's going to happen and are just waiting for it to take place. The characters are also pretty flat. They each of interesting quirks, but the author just keeps replaying them over and over again. If Aunt Pol makes one more smart-guy comment or Garion "blushes" in embarassment one more time... I tell you, someone blushing as much as him has no right to be a king of any sort. Now that the worst aspects of the series are out of the way... I must say I enjoyed the "mythology" inserted into the beginning of every book. In fact I enjoy that more than the book itself. It seems very creative, and it is very well done. Also the first book is probably 3 or 4 stars, rather than the rest of the series' 2 stars...the beginning of it is much better done. I have to conclude that life is too short to waste time on books like these. Just pass it on.
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