Rating: 
Summary: Flawed but Who Cares!
Review: Pawn and Prophecy was a terrific book! When I first started the book, I found the dialogue to be unrealistic, even for fantasy, but as I read on the unique way the characters interacted added to the allure.
Although Pawn and Prophecy has the "typical fantasy plot" (throw a motley crew together to save the world)the characters are unique and loveable. Because Eddings writes in such a unique way the plot remains unpredictable.
I would highly recommend this book, it is like no other, and the story line only gets better throughout the series!
Rating:
Summary: Great Series with a great start
Review: A Must Read for any fantasy or non-fantasy fan. The book moves along fantastically. It is not overly detailed, and therefor moves along at a great pace.The story centers around Garion and his mysterious Aunt Pol. The story starts on the farm that Garion grew up in, raised by his Aunt Pol. A few events quickly take place and we are gathered into the story as it moves from place to place in an exciting, but unpredictable journey. A wide range of characters makes this story great. Check it out, you wont regret it.
Rating:
Summary: A Good Book/Series For Adolescents & Kids.
Review: I hate to go against the grain here, but if I had not been raised on J. R. R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Ring Trilogy," and if I had not read tales of faeries and mythology omnivorously as a child, I would be kinder when reviewing David Edding's "Pawn of Prophecy." Tolkien, however, and superb folk and fairy stories are difficult acts to follow. I think it is important to mention, if it is not obvious with my first sentence, that I came to this book, and series, as an adult. Children and adolescents should take to it much more enthusiastically than I. I also have little patience with cliches. And David Eddings begins Volume I, Book I of the Belgariad with a biggie - the battle between Good and Evil, fought by the most obvious of opponents. There are few shades of gray; one is either a supporter of one destiny or another.
The Prologue provides the reader with the mythology of the Gods, and the history of the tremendous war amongst them which triggers major changes in the face of the earth, all its Kingdoms, its peoples and their alliances. There is a Great Lord of Evil, Torek One-Eye, who steals a most powerful Artifact through which one can wield mighty power. The Lords/Gods of Good, must regain possession of the Orb or the Dark Power will reign supreme. Humans are used as avatars to do the Gods' bidding. A company of humans, heroes all, must go on a dangerous quest to wrest the precious jewel back from the Dark One's clutches. Sound familiar? And there is a young boy, (a "child of destiny" ), who leads them - an orphan -a seemingly normal child, who is being raised in the hinterlands as a household servant by his aunt, the cook. The boy, Garion, is the heir to the most noble of lines, and has a great purpose in this series. Substitute Tolkien's Ring, or Arthur's Sword for the Orb, and Gandalf or Merlin for Aunt Pol and one basically has the storyline. Now, I never expected author Eddings to reinvent the wheel, but he could have made his plot more subtle, more of a challenge. I was a third of the way through Book One when I had things pretty much figured out.
I will say, in spite of overdoing the tried and true, the book has definite merit. I enjoyed many of the Belgariad characters. It is difficult not to like Garion, or be at once fascinated and delighted by Aunt Pol. Eddings has a definite flair for creating vivid characters, so alive they come right off the page. However, none of them are quite tested to their limits. Again, I think the novel, and the series, lack edge. The humor is terrific at times, as is the dialogue. The "evil ones," however, are not anywhere near as scary as they could be, and as a veteran of some rather frightening books peopled by some terrifying beings, this was a disappointment. Again, this "flaw" turns into a plus for a younger audience.
Overall, "Pawn of Prophecy" is well written and moves along at a good pace. I would definitely recommend this for teens interested in fantasy, and I think reading this aloud to a child would be a fun experience.
JANA
Rating: 
Summary: Let's face it.
Review: Let's face it. David Eddings' storyline sucks. Period. There are so many plot holes and contradictions, I can think of a dozen off the top of my head. But does it matter? Not in the least. Eddings is unique. The way he writes his books is extraordinary. After a few pages, I got totally hooked(hooked enough to buy every single book in both series, 2nd hand of course). I sort of glossed over the story in my mind, and just enjoyed what was being written. Read it, and you'll see what I mean.
Rating: 
Summary: Round and Round.
Review: Maybe I missed something. I don't know. I bought this book after the reading some of the great reviews of David Eddings. This was the first book I have read by Eddings and so far I am not very impressed. I found this book to be a bit pointless. There was not any great plot. A boy trying to figure out who he is. Nobody telling him much. So he gets angry constantly at his Aunt and others. This plot just went over and over. And even by the end of the book he still does not know much. I had to force myself to finish the book. I just can't figure out why this book got so many great reviews. Instead I would recommend George R.R. Martin for anyone looking to start a fantasy series
Rating:
Summary: Nice story...but...pretty.......slow
Review: Pawn of Prophecy is the starting point for David Eddings' five book set called the Belgariad. Like any first book in a series, the first book lays the foundation and builds the characters and plot. The Belgariad fits the pattern of most fantasies, young bratty kid's gotta step up or the world is doomed. Fortunately he has prophecy, birthmarks, and powerful old wizard's on his side. Now the only question is which lowly position will this child have to fit the formula: woodsman, goatherder, paperboy. If you guessed hanging out in the kitchen cleanin' stuff you get a smiley face sticker.
The dull life is about to end though as danger comes to town in the forms of mysterious strangers, dangerous farmhands, and sinister visions. The more our kitchen kid discovers, the more he finds out he has no idea who he is or where he came from.
Soon he is wisked away with the old and quirky wizards out of town. They meet up with some other friends and you got your basic adventuring group (wizards, fighters, thieves, kitchen kids). Now Eddings does a remarkable job of building characters' personalities and wonderfully witty dialogue. I love it.
The book is really pretty simple. George R.R. Martin and Terry Goodkind have really taken the fantasy genre to a more realistic, gritty, and adult-oriented place (and those are wonderful books as well). But David Eddings is more of a throwback to the old school days of fantasy. You won't find descriptive torture or vivid sex scenes. But you do get a wonderful story with delightfully unique characters.
The reason I mention this book as being slow is because most of the time they're just traveling from place to place. A pattern forms at each stop and it feels like nothing new is happening. However, through it all Eddings is building the characters' relationships and he does eventually start to pull it together. It's worth the slow parts. Stay with it.
Rating:
Summary: Started my fantasy life...
Review: The Belgariad, and specifically Pawn of Prophecy, were solely responsible for turning me on to fantasy.
A friend of mine recommended this series to me when I worked at a book store with him. I was able to procure the first book, and finished it in one night! The plot is the foundation for many fantasy series that followed, just different variations on the theme.
Eddings created a very rich world for his characters to wander through, with colorful characters that the reader can really care about and get to know. Sure they may seem simple now, but at the time, I was enthralled.
If you have even a passing interest in the fantasy world, I whole-heartedly recommend this book and the many that follow. Maybe it will change your life like it did mine!
Rating:
Summary: Good, solid fantasy. Not magical, but better than most.
Review: The Belgariad, by Dave Eddings, may not be the high-handed, serious fantasy fiction that many readers crave--but then neither is most of the fantasy fiction these readers raise up as examples of greatness.
The Belgariad (and the rest of the books by Eddings) are 'solid' fictional landscapes designed to explore themes and tropes commonly found in fantasy fiction. Eddings accomplishes this feat with simplicity and a natural skill for narrative that makes his world at least believable, if not entirely 'magical'. While this series may not advance the fantasy genre in any significant way, it does show that good, well-written fantasy can endure in spite of the absurd expectations so often invoked by the fantasy-reading public. At least Eddings is able to write with clarity, a skill that appears to have been forgotten by many of the so-called writers in the genre.
Many of the reviewers for these books have invoked the names of Robert Jordan, Tolkien, Le Guin, et. al., as though each of these writers have written nothing but books that are flawless and unblemished. Nothing, of course, is farther from the truth. Each of these writers has his or her own literary failings, many of which far outshine any failing exhibited by Eddings.
With Jordan, we gain a complex world of mythical proportion, replete with mysteries, madness and mayhem. But we also lose so much in the way of realism with his bland characterizations, rough, arhythmic writing style, and his constant need to muddy plot-lines with self-indulgent meandering. Jordan, it has often been said, could use a good editor.
With Tolkien, we are endeared to a world composed of living history, language, mythology and medievalism. But this comes at the expense of building a narrative almost devoid of any real action or any characters who are not merely allegorical representatives of a greater ideal. As with Jordan's WoT, the LoTR trilogy also suffers from many seemingly needless deviations in plot, the end result being the creation of several unbalanced books that read more like Greek mythology or folklore, rather than a cohesive narartive. Tolkien, though arguably the progenitor of the genre, still had his flaws.
With Le Guin, we gain lyricism and a large amount of moral posturing. But we lose depth of characterization, clarity of plot, and are often sunk in too many layers of stilted (but beautiful) prose-poetry that we are ultimately distanced from caring about the story we're reading. How a person can fault Eddings' use of plot, but laud the absurd, wandering "plot" of, say, The Wizard of Earthsea, defies basic logic.
To say that Eddings, who writes plainly, strongly, and aptly--using fantasy conventions in exactly the same way as his contemporaries, but without all of the needless trappings of self-involvement--has written only a mediocre series does a great disservice to his contribution to the genre.
Rating:
Summary: This Book was wonderful!
Review: This book, the beginning of David Eddings series the Belgariad, is the best work of fantasy, and possibly literature, that I have ever read. The characters are delightful and human, the plot creative and intriguing, and all absolutely original. Garion has spent the first 7 years of his life on a farm in the land of Sendaria, living with his Aunt Pol, the cook. Suddenly an old man he has known his whole life as a vagabond storyteller persuades his Aunt to bring him along on a journey, that he suspects is a whole lot more important than it seems, maybe so important that the fate of the whole world hinges on it's outcome. And does it have anything to do with the magic and sorcery of the many myths the storyteller relates to him? Thus begins the Belgariad. Should you read this book, you'll find yourself savoring every word, chapter and moment spent in this fantasy world so much different, yet strikingly similar to ours. I have read this entire series, The Belgariad, The Mallorean, Belgarath the Sorcerer, and Polgara the Sorceress twice, and fully intend to read them again. What else can I say?
Rating:
Summary: ABSOLUTELY DELIGHTFUL
Review: This Edding series is one of the best. The story is pleasant, fast moving and just plan fun to read, worts and all. The books must be read in order, i.e. The Belgraid, in order to follow the complete and almost never ending story. As far as this particular genre go, these are simple books, with a good strong story line which is very readable and easy to follow. Many people I know, myself included, have read and reread this entire series several times. Highly recommend!
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