| Date: 14 April 2011, 03:20
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It's summer, I have a habit of keeping books forever, and thus it is time to take a retrospective ramble through some of my favorite books. Like many people, pawn of prophecy was my introduction to David Eddings and I became fascinated with what first appears to be a coming of age story of Garion, a young boy in an old world, who grows up on a farm only to discover that there was quite a bit more to him than he expected. This volume only drops vague hints about Garion's personal history, so I'm going to keep a bit mum about it. Suffice it to say that, if he is important enough to have the two oldest sorcerers in the world watching over him, then he is very important indeed.
The sorcerers in question are Belgarath and his daughter Polgara. Both are fiercely determined and wield sarcasm even better than they do spells. Danger threatens and a priceless artifact is stolen. They take Garion on the road with them and the boy of 14 going on fifteen gets a whirlwind tour of his world as Belgarath and Polgara first chase the artifact and then confront the council of the Alorn kings. While this is hardly children's fiction it spends the time to visit Garion's all too human confusion and fears. His guardians are slow to explain things to him and like any adolescent of that age; Garion deeply resents being treated like a child and craves more attention than anyone has time to give him. But he copes, and we gradually will come to understand that he is more than just a frustrated whiner.
Eddings' strength is his talent for character building and sharp dialog. The basic plot isn't all that original, but the characters make everything come to life. You won't find extended paroxysms of ornate prose here. Eddings' people are irascible with the whole slew of human foibles and good points. The writer dotes on them, and despite the complex plot. There are long periods of small gestures and political nuance.
This particular series, the Belgariad, is probably the best of Eddings' work. As time goes on he does recycle bits and character types. But any writer who counts 20 large volumes as output will do this, and I've seen far worse work done with much more fanfare. If you like pointed dialog and narrative in a book that frequently forgets to take itself seriously you will find this series will quickly steal both your interest and your heart. David Eddings may not be the next Tolkien, but is the next David Eddings, and that's quite good enough.
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