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After the seven Gods created the world, it is said that they and those races of men they had chosen dwelt together in peace and harmony.  | |
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This is the omnibus edition that contains Guardians of the West, King of the Murgos, and Demon Lord of Karanda. It is not to be combined with the first book of the Malloreon, Guardians of the West.  | |
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▾Common Knowledge (short form) | Canonical title | The Malloreon, Volume One | | Series | The Malloreon (901|Omnibus 1-3) | | People/Characters | Atesca (General), Beldin, Belgarath (the Eternal Man, Mister Wolf, Old Wolf), Brador, Ce'Nedra (Imperial Princess of Tolnedra, jewel of the House of Borune, the Queen of the World), Cyradis (Seeress of Kell) (show all 39), Durnik (the Man with Two Lives, the One with Two Lives), Eriond (Errand), Garion (Belgarion, the Child of Light), Geran, Harakan (Ulfgar), Hettar (the Horse Lord), Javelin (Margrave Khendon), Kheva (Crown Prince of Drasnia), Lelldorin of Wildantor (the Archer, the Bowman), Mandorallen (Baron of Vo Mandor, the Knight Protector), Nahaz, Naradas, Oldorin of Perivor (King of Perivor), Oskatat the Seneschal, Poledra (the Woman Who Watches), Polgara (Aunt Pol, the Duchess of Erat), Porenn (Queen of Drasnia), Prala (Princess of the House of Cthan), Sadi (the Man Who Is No Man), Eternal Salmissra, Silk (Ambar of Kotu, the Guide, the Nimble Thief, Prince Kheldar, Radek of Boktor), Tamazin (Queen Mother of Cthol Murgos), Toth (the Silent Man), Urgit (King of the Murgos), Urvon, Varana (the Duke of Anadile, Ran Borune XXIV, Emperor of Tolnedra), Vella, Velvet (the Huntress, Margravine Liselle), Yarblek, Zakath (Emperor of Mallorea, the Empty Man), Zandramas (the Child of Dark), Aldur, Algar Fleet-foot | | First words | After the seven Gods created the world, it is said that they and those races of men they had chosen dwelt together in peace and harmony. | | Last words | (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Then she laughed, shimmered back into the form of the blue wolf, and loped away, her paws seeming scarcely to touch the ground. |
▾LibraryThing members' description ▾Book descriptions Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0345483863, Paperback)
Discover the magic of The Malloreon–David Eddings’s acclaimed series, the sequel to his bestselling The Belgariad. Now the first three Malloreon books appear in a single volume, taking us on an epic quest across strange lands among gods, kings, sorcerers, and ordinary men. It is a gripping tale of two ancient warring destinies fighting a battle of good against evil. Garion has slain the evil God Torak and is now the King of Riva. The prophecy has been fulfilled–or so it seems. For there is a dire warning, as a great evil brews in the East. Now Garion once again finds himself with the fate of the world resting on his shoulders. When Garion’s infant son is kidnapped by Zandramas, the Child of Dark, a great quest begins to rescue the child. Among those on the dangerous mission are Garion and his wife, Queen Ce’Nedra, and the immortal Belgarath the Sorcerer and his daughter, Polgara. They must make their way through the foul swamps of Nyissa, then into the lands of the Murgos. Along the way, they will face grave dangers–captivity, a horde of demons, a fatal plague–while Zandramas plots to use Garion’s son in a chilling ritual that will make the Dark Prophecy supreme. . .
(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:15 -0400) ▾Open Shelves Classification The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details.
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I received The Belagariad and The Malloreon (each in two-volume sets) for Christmas, unprompted, and managed to get through the Belgariad with no problems, other than my distaste for the very strong racist themes in the book.
In the Malloreon, at least, the first three books, the racist themes are still present, but so are even more sexist themes. It doesn't matter that the party, the same cast as the Belgariad, consists of the worlds greatest sorceress, the most powerful Queen in the West, and one of the greatest female spies known, when it comes to making dinner or doing laundry or other stereotypical activities, guess who does it.
The plot is effectively a rehash of the plot of the Belgariad. Garion must travel some place, and defeat the Child of Dark. Been there, done that.
Likewise, much like its predecessor, it relies HEAVILY on this mysterious author's outline called "the Prophecy." "Why are we waiting around in this place when we're in a hurry to kill the evil dudes? Oh, prophecy." "Why did you act atypically and out of character just now? Oh, prophecy."
It's a very, very weak way to "plot" a story, I think. If prophecies exist, well, that's fine. But don't make the characters total slaves to it, and acknowledge it every other page. It makes me feel like I'm reading a fantasy novel written by John Calvin.
Additionally, the writing in the Malloreon is much weaker than that of the Belgarion. In one scene, after the Murgo King leaves his kingdom on a boat to roll with the adventures (for various reasons), once the ship comes aground, the helpful Murgo sailors decide to cease being helpful, and try to KILL the party, including their King, to whom they're LOYAL. So, I guess the king helped kill his own people, or something. Eddings wasn't clear.
On that topic, the characters were more like characters in one of those RPGs where you have roughly seven billion different playable characters, but when they're not actually DOING anything, they disappear into the main character. It felt like that. While the party went on, one character or another would emerge from the character mass, say something in character, and then disappear until they were needed again to fulfill some aspect of the prophecy.
And another thing! Eddings tries to cleverly disguise some character as another, in which a major fail-whale beaches itself from the first introduction. I imagine that nobody else was surprised to find out who the mysterious juggler was. Or maybe I'm just sharper than most Eddings' readers.
To top it off, it's more of the same Tolkienoid fantasy, with pretty much the same cast, doing pretty much the same thing.
If you've read the Belgariad, you don't REALLY need to read the Malloreon. And if you've read Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, you don't really need to read anything written by Eddings. (