Date: 14 April 2011, 03:20
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Volume three of the Belgariad brings the first story arc, the quest for the orb, to closure. It also complete the grand tour of the West that Eddings has been taking the reader through. With Nyissan interference out of the way, Belgarath and Silk rejoin the rest of the party and reveal that the Orb has fallen into Murgo hands. Ctuchik, an old enemy of Belgarath is guarding the Orb in Cthol Murgos, and the wizard is willing to let him have for the moment. There are more important things to do before fetching it back. Taking a shortcut through Maragor, where a lonely god weeps for his lost people, the party heads for the Vale, where Belgarath first learned to be a wizard, and Polgara grew up. It's time for Belgarion to meet Aldur and even experiment with his new found (and uncomfortable) powers. It's also time to start developing C'Nedra into something other than a very spoiled and dubious imperial princess. The next stop is the land (make that caves) of the Ulgos. When gods were choosing out peoples, the Ulgos got left out. After what is probably the world's most effective guilt trip they managed to get Ulgo to be their god. As a result, they have become a very serious people about their religion - in a good way. Belgarath is looking for a special Ulgo guide who can deal with solid stone walls, and he's quite willing to interfere in a religious rebellion to get what he needs. C'Nedra is left safely behind, and the trek to Cthol Murgos to retrieve the orb is under way. In Magician's Gambit, Eddings' style crystallizes. He will spend a lot of time on side adventures, details, and character interaction, only advancing the plot when he has to do so. Later this will become the characteristic that will cause some people to become great fans and others to lose interest. Because I like Eddings' sarcastic style, I enjoy the periods where almost nothing happens just as much as those times when the action really picks up. It's a pleasant break from the high speed novels of modern fantasy. Eddings has created a very large world. So large that two more volumes and another whole series will fit into it. This interesting environment and the characters that people it make Eddings' work into the equivalent of literary comfort food for me. If you've made it this far, you will want to read on.
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