The Rivan Codex: Ancient Texts of the Belgariad and the Malloreon (1998)

The Rivan Codex is actually quite entertaining, for what it is - a collection of notes and reference materials used in the creation of the Garion books, bookended by Eddings's firmly-stated opinions about how to go about writing a fantasy series. This was pure 'nip to me when I was a teenager - I am fascinated by the process of worldbuilding, and while large chunks of this are fairly dry, they're interesting, at least to me. (And the bits that aren't purely notes are largely written in the more formal style that I think Eddings does reasonably well - the prose ends up being tighter and less digressive, and actually has some rhythm. Compare the origin of Belgarath here with the version in his eponymous book.)

It was a little ironic that I felt this held up fairly well, when one of my big complaints of all of Eddings's work that I've bothered to reread is the sloppiness and shallowness of the worldbuilding. I think he did too much of the wrong kind of worldbuilding to lead to the sort of books I like - there's too much history and geography, and not enough character of any kind. So, for example, when we meet a secondary character, he ends up being a shallow collection of racial characteristics, because Eddings had a nice detailed list of what all the races were like - but no particular thought seems to have been given as to what individual people were like, outside of the main characters. And so we end up with a world that feels very shallow overall. And there are all sorts of minor bits of worldbuilding that end up getting retconned, because they were invented separately from the needs of the actual story.

This is actually a book I would recommend to aspiring fantasists who are familiar with the Garion books, because I think it highlights many of the series's strengths and weaknesses. I don't necessarily think Eddings's advice should be followed without question, but that's true of all writing advice. ( )

I really liked the Belgariad & the Mallorean was OK, but this is taking it too far for me. I really liked the original Star Trek, but never had any interest in learning Klingon. If you did or do, maybe this book is for you. ( )