David Eddings (1931–2009)
Author of Pawn of Prophecy
About the Author
David Eddings was born on July 7, 1931 in Spokane, Washington. He received a B.A. in English from Reed College in Portland in 1954 and a M.A. in Middle English from the University of Washington in 1961. After serving in the U.S. Army for two years, he worked as a grocery clerk, as a sales clerk for show more the Boeing Company, and as an English teacher in a business college and a teachers' college. During his lifetime, he wrote more than 25 books, many of them with his wife Leigh Eddings. His first novel, High Hunt, was published in 1973. His other works include the Belgariad series, the Mallorean series, the Elenium series, and the Dreamers series. He died on June 2, 2009 at the age of 77. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Disambiguation Notice:
Leigh Eddings is David's wife and not the same person. Please do not combine David with Leigh, or with the various combinations of their names.
(ger) Leigh Eddings ist Davids Ehefrau und nicht die selbe Person. David und Leigh bitte nicht miteinander oder den verschiedenen Verbindungen ihrer Namen kombinieren.
Series
Works by David Eddings
The Belgariad, Volume One: Pawn of Prophecy • Queen of Sorcery • Magician's Gambit: (1982) 2,636 copies, 24 reviews
La hechicera de darshiva II 2 copies
The Diamond Throne Volume 2 of 2 2 copies
Król Murgów 1 copy
La guerra dei gemelli 1 copy
Il destino dei gemelli 1 copy
Strażnicy zachodu 1 copy
Demon, władca Karandy 1 copy
Czarodziejka z Darshivy 1 copy
Prorokini z Kell 1 copy
Gambit magów 1 copy
Ostatnia walka czarodziejów 1 copy
Wieża czarów 1 copy
The Circle 1 copy
Pawn of Proxy 1 copy
De diamanten kroon 1 copy
The Ruby Knight (Book Two of the Elenium) by David Eddings(December 1, 1991) Mass Market Paperback 1 copy
Afgørelsens time 1 copy
Set of 3 David Eddings Books (The Sapphire Rose, The Redemption of Althalus, The Diamond Throne) (2000) 1 copy
River's End 1 copy
Magic's Price 1 copy
Magic's Pawn 1 copy
La hechicera de darshiva I 1 copy
The Shining Ones, Part 2 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Eddings, David Carroll
- Birthdate
- 1931-07-07
- Date of death
- 2009-06-02
- Gender
- male
- Education
- Reed College (BA)
University of Washington (MA)
Everett Junior College (majored in speech, drama and English) - Occupations
- grocery clerk
English teacher
buyer/sales clerk
fantasy writer - Organizations
- United States Army (1954-1956)
Boeing - Relationships
- Eddings, Leigh (wife)
- Short biography
- David Carroll Eddings (July 7, 1931 – June 2, 2009 was an American fantasy writer. With his wife Leigh, he authored several best-selling epic fantasy novel series, including The Belgariad (1982–84), The Malloreon (1987–91), The Elenium (1989–91), The Tamuli (1992–94), and The Dreamers (2003–06).
Part Cherokee and born in Spokane, Washington, to George Wayne Eddings and Theone (Berge) Eddings, in 1931, Eddings grew up near Puget Sound in the City of Snohomish. After graduating from Snohomish High School in 1949, he worked for a year before majoring in speech, drama and English at junior college. Eddings displayed an early talent for drama and literature, winning a national oratorical contest, and performing the male lead in most of his drama productions. He graduated with a BA from Reed College in 1954. He wrote a novel for a thesis at Reed College before being drafted into the U.S. Army. (He had also previously served in the National Guard.) After being discharged in 1956, Eddings attended the graduate school of the University of Washington in Seattle for four years, graduating with an MA in 1961. Eddings then worked as a purchaser for Boeing, where he met his future wife. Through most of the 1960s, Eddings worked as a lecturer at Black Hills State College in South Dakota. In 1970, Eddings and his wife, Leigh, were jailed for one year for child abuse of their adopted son. - Cause of death
- dementia
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Spokane, Washington, USA
- Places of residence
- Spokane, Washington, USA
Carson City, Nevada, USA
Denver, Colorado, USA
Seattle, Washington, USA (Puget Sound area)
South Dakota Prison Service - Place of death
- Carson City, Nevada, USA
- Map Location
- Washington, USA
- Disambiguation notice
- Leigh Eddings is David's wife and not the same person. Please do not combine David with Leigh, or with the various combinations of their names.
Members
Discussions
Found: Fantasy Book from the 70's or 80's in Name that Book (February 24)
The Belgariad Group Read for 2022 in 75 Books Challenge for 2022 (March 2023)
Reviews
Finally. I’m done with “The Belgariad”. For life. And I’m so happy about it.
This epic fantasy adventure started out well with “Pawn of Prophecy”, went slightly downhill in “Queen of Sorcery” due to all the travelling, went straight into a wall when “Magician's Gambit” turned out to be a lame duck, recovered somewhat during “Castle of Wizardry” and, eventually, went down the drain with this last instalment – “Enchanters' End Game”.
In this final book of the show more Belgariad, we accompany Ce’Nedra’s army into the land of the Murgos, fighting against them and the Malloreans. Wait a second, though – Ce'Nedra’s army? No, in fact it’s been taken from her by the men around her whom Eddings obviously felt much more competent to handle matters of war:
“Once she was comfortably quartered in the Stronghold, Princess Ce'Nedra found herself even more removed from the day-to-day command of her troops.”
Sadly, Ce’Nedra herself seems quite content to fall back into her cliched role as her Garion’s mindless “tiny princess”. Whenever she actually does something, she gets put firmly back into place and is scolded by whatever man is around. She never gets a real chance to learn and grow beyond what she is.
As for the others, they travel a bit, they fight a bit, some sidekicks die, forgotten as soon as they draw their last breath. Honestly, all the travelling and the pretty much non-existent hurdles were seriously boring me by now. Reading this book mostly was a chore for me.
Even the titular endgame is boring and beyond redemption. Ultimately, Garion puts it best:
“"Then everything worked out for the best, didn't it?"
- "Yes, Garion. It's as if it had all been fated to happen. Everything feels so right, somehow."
"It's possible that it was fated," Garion mused. "I sometimes think we have very little control over our own lives - I know I don't."”
After the second book at the latest, it’s crystal clear nobody of importance is going to die or even sacrifice anything. Yes, as mentioned before, an unimportant sidekick or two die (I’ve just finished this book and already forgotten who...) but at the end of the day, there’s no way things are going to go really wrong – and this makes this entire epic fantasy saga stale and bland for me.
There’s absolutely nothing I take away with me from these books. I’ve learned nothing new, I’ve felt nothing new, I’ve not noticed any new or original idea. Not even a single quote-worthy sentence is to be found in this seemingly unending bleak desert of words whereas I thirst for something that nourishes me.
If you’re young (10 to 15 maybe?) and haven’t read much fantasy before, the Belgariad may be to your liking. It does have its moments.
If you’ve read these books when you were younger and loved them, stay clear; you will be disappointed because even if these books were what you remember them to be – you are not who you were anymore.
Anyone else, stay clear as well: A seasoned reader will pretty much know the entire story very early on and there’s nothing in these books to surprise you or keep your interest for tens of thousands of words. And this in books that are about “the Word and the Will...
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This epic fantasy adventure started out well with “Pawn of Prophecy”, went slightly downhill in “Queen of Sorcery” due to all the travelling, went straight into a wall when “Magician's Gambit” turned out to be a lame duck, recovered somewhat during “Castle of Wizardry” and, eventually, went down the drain with this last instalment – “Enchanters' End Game”.
In this final book of the show more Belgariad, we accompany Ce’Nedra’s army into the land of the Murgos, fighting against them and the Malloreans. Wait a second, though – Ce'Nedra’s army? No, in fact it’s been taken from her by the men around her whom Eddings obviously felt much more competent to handle matters of war:
“Once she was comfortably quartered in the Stronghold, Princess Ce'Nedra found herself even more removed from the day-to-day command of her troops.”
Sadly, Ce’Nedra herself seems quite content to fall back into her cliched role as her Garion’s mindless “tiny princess”. Whenever she actually does something, she gets put firmly back into place and is scolded by whatever man is around. She never gets a real chance to learn and grow beyond what she is.
As for the others, they travel a bit, they fight a bit, some sidekicks die, forgotten as soon as they draw their last breath. Honestly, all the travelling and the pretty much non-existent hurdles were seriously boring me by now. Reading this book mostly was a chore for me.
Even the titular endgame is boring and beyond redemption. Ultimately, Garion puts it best:
“"Then everything worked out for the best, didn't it?"
- "Yes, Garion. It's as if it had all been fated to happen. Everything feels so right, somehow."
"It's possible that it was fated," Garion mused. "I sometimes think we have very little control over our own lives - I know I don't."”
After the second book at the latest, it’s crystal clear nobody of importance is going to die or even sacrifice anything. Yes, as mentioned before, an unimportant sidekick or two die (I’ve just finished this book and already forgotten who...) but at the end of the day, there’s no way things are going to go really wrong – and this makes this entire epic fantasy saga stale and bland for me.
There’s absolutely nothing I take away with me from these books. I’ve learned nothing new, I’ve felt nothing new, I’ve not noticed any new or original idea. Not even a single quote-worthy sentence is to be found in this seemingly unending bleak desert of words whereas I thirst for something that nourishes me.
If you’re young (10 to 15 maybe?) and haven’t read much fantasy before, the Belgariad may be to your liking. It does have its moments.
If you’ve read these books when you were younger and loved them, stay clear; you will be disappointed because even if these books were what you remember them to be – you are not who you were anymore.
Anyone else, stay clear as well: A seasoned reader will pretty much know the entire story very early on and there’s nothing in these books to surprise you or keep your interest for tens of thousands of words. And this in books that are about “the Word and the Will...
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram show less
First: Ce'Nedra peacing out in the Hall of the Rivan King once she realizes what's up is one of the greatest moments in the whole series and also hilarious. Also that later, Polgara and Belgarath are like, "yeah, it took an actual god to get Ce'Nedra to go to Riva, you do not want to fuck with that girl" is pretty great.
Ce'Nedra does not get enough credit from anyone, though I appreciate in the next book Ran Borune is like "she gave me an epileptic fit to steal the legions! BOSS BITCH show more KWEEN". We're talking a 16 year old princess raised to believe the Prophecy is fake, who has been sleeping on the ground with the truest believers, brainwashed by a god to go to Riva, forced to marry a guy out of nowhere and be happy about it, who still has the tactical wherewithal to realize the army needs a figurehead and logical reasons why she is the best choice AND pulls off this plan with basically zero adult supervision or help. If I were the Alorn kings and my 16 year old boy figurehead ran off to be a noble idiot and took the best sorcerer and spy in the world and this 16 year old girl is like "hi, I volunteer as tribute and I understand that I'm not actually doing military planning, just being a figurehead and raising troops including the legions you desperately need and will not be able to otherwise get!" I'd be like "YAS BOSS BITCH RIVAN KWEEN!" and not 5 chapters of "but she's a GIRL!" after three thousand years of Polgara doing whatever she wanted and giving 0.0 fucks about it.
Oh, no, she can be kind of shrill and stuck-up, except in any situation where that's not called for. See also her entire reaction to Faldor's once Garion gives up Zubrette. I mean, random peasant girl too good to sleep on ground, but not the Imperial princess? I'd be miffed, too. She saves the wren for Polgara. When Layla calls Ce'Nedra on her kind of justified fit, she's like "OMG, you mean Garion and the world's gonna die unless this army works? so how do I make the army work?" and Ce'Nedra *finds the damn answer*. She even has genuine ethical dilemmas she worries over like a real person!
What I'm saying is that Ce'Nedra is the real MVP of this book and I think she's slept on as a great female fantasy character. Thus ends another one of my rambles about these books, which I love too much. show less
Ce'Nedra does not get enough credit from anyone, though I appreciate in the next book Ran Borune is like "she gave me an epileptic fit to steal the legions! BOSS BITCH show more KWEEN". We're talking a 16 year old princess raised to believe the Prophecy is fake, who has been sleeping on the ground with the truest believers, brainwashed by a god to go to Riva, forced to marry a guy out of nowhere and be happy about it, who still has the tactical wherewithal to realize the army needs a figurehead and logical reasons why she is the best choice AND pulls off this plan with basically zero adult supervision or help. If I were the Alorn kings and my 16 year old boy figurehead ran off to be a noble idiot and took the best sorcerer and spy in the world and this 16 year old girl is like "hi, I volunteer as tribute and I understand that I'm not actually doing military planning, just being a figurehead and raising troops including the legions you desperately need and will not be able to otherwise get!" I'd be like "YAS BOSS BITCH RIVAN KWEEN!" and not 5 chapters of "but she's a GIRL!" after three thousand years of Polgara doing whatever she wanted and giving 0.0 fucks about it.
Oh, no, she can be kind of shrill and stuck-up, except in any situation where that's not called for. See also her entire reaction to Faldor's once Garion gives up Zubrette. I mean, random peasant girl too good to sleep on ground, but not the Imperial princess? I'd be miffed, too. She saves the wren for Polgara. When Layla calls Ce'Nedra on her kind of justified fit, she's like "OMG, you mean Garion and the world's gonna die unless this army works? so how do I make the army work?" and Ce'Nedra *finds the damn answer*. She even has genuine ethical dilemmas she worries over like a real person!
What I'm saying is that Ce'Nedra is the real MVP of this book and I think she's slept on as a great female fantasy character. Thus ends another one of my rambles about these books, which I love too much. show less
Wikipedia defines GrimDark as something that is "particularly dystopian, amoral, or violent” and that’s pretty much the definition of what I do not like in my fantasy books.
When I read fantasy, I want the heroes to be good people at their core. I want a world that’s essentially worth saving and not a dystopia that basically deserves going down the drain anyway and while violence is nothing I abhor, it’s something that should be used sparingly and only if necessary for the story. show more
Fortunately, “Pawn of Prophecy”, the first volume of “The Belgariad” is quite the opposite of GrimDark and pretty much exactly what I outlined above:
Garion, a young farmhand, tutored by his “Aunt Pol” grows up on the farm of a modest, good-natured man who cares about his people. When strangers arrive at the farm, Pol and an elderly story-teller, “Mister Wolf”, come to the conclusion it’s time to make a move of their own and so they leave with Garion and the local blacksmith to go on a dangerous trip through the land, searching for a dangerous ancient artefact and its thief. They’re closely followed by their mysterious adversaries at each step...
A lot of this book reminded me of Tolkien and I suspect Eddings was inspired by Lord of the Rings to some extent. The story, albeit simple so far, is original enough, though, to have kept me entertained throughout the entire about 80.000 words and I was actually surprised when I hit the end of the ebook edition I was reading.
Of course, this being a somewhat simple story, there’s no philosophical depth to be expected or huge new insights into life, the universe and everything to be gleaned but even simple truths are helping me feel “at home” in a book and in this particular case, I was captured by the very first paragraph of the first chapter already:
“THE FIRST THING the boy Garion remembered was the kitchen at Faldor’s farm. For all the rest of his life he had a special warm feeling for kitchens and those peculiar sounds and smells that seemed somehow to combine into a bustling seriousness that had to do with love and food and comfort and security and, above all, home. No matter how high Garion rose in life, he never forgot that all his memories began in that kitchen.”
As everyone knows, the kitchen is the (secret) haven of any respectable home and the heart of every good party as well as the place where it starts and ends. As such, it is only fitting for any respectable book to start right there!
That and quite a bit of humour...
“My Master wanted me to move a rock,” Wolf said. “He seemed to think that it was in his way. I tried to move it, but it was too heavy. After a while I got angry, and I told it to move. It did. I was a little surprised, but my Master didn’t seem to think it so unusual.”
… are good enough for me to be happy.
Anyway, depth and insights are not required for my personal taste in fantasy anyway, though, and so I enjoyed this book for what it was – an excellent start into a work of epic fantasy that’s new to me.
That said: Please excuse me while I start devouring the next book in the series... show less
When I read fantasy, I want the heroes to be good people at their core. I want a world that’s essentially worth saving and not a dystopia that basically deserves going down the drain anyway and while violence is nothing I abhor, it’s something that should be used sparingly and only if necessary for the story. show more
Fortunately, “Pawn of Prophecy”, the first volume of “The Belgariad” is quite the opposite of GrimDark and pretty much exactly what I outlined above:
Garion, a young farmhand, tutored by his “Aunt Pol” grows up on the farm of a modest, good-natured man who cares about his people. When strangers arrive at the farm, Pol and an elderly story-teller, “Mister Wolf”, come to the conclusion it’s time to make a move of their own and so they leave with Garion and the local blacksmith to go on a dangerous trip through the land, searching for a dangerous ancient artefact and its thief. They’re closely followed by their mysterious adversaries at each step...
A lot of this book reminded me of Tolkien and I suspect Eddings was inspired by Lord of the Rings to some extent. The story, albeit simple so far, is original enough, though, to have kept me entertained throughout the entire about 80.000 words and I was actually surprised when I hit the end of the ebook edition I was reading.
Of course, this being a somewhat simple story, there’s no philosophical depth to be expected or huge new insights into life, the universe and everything to be gleaned but even simple truths are helping me feel “at home” in a book and in this particular case, I was captured by the very first paragraph of the first chapter already:
“THE FIRST THING the boy Garion remembered was the kitchen at Faldor’s farm. For all the rest of his life he had a special warm feeling for kitchens and those peculiar sounds and smells that seemed somehow to combine into a bustling seriousness that had to do with love and food and comfort and security and, above all, home. No matter how high Garion rose in life, he never forgot that all his memories began in that kitchen.”
As everyone knows, the kitchen is the (secret) haven of any respectable home and the heart of every good party as well as the place where it starts and ends. As such, it is only fitting for any respectable book to start right there!
That and quite a bit of humour...
“My Master wanted me to move a rock,” Wolf said. “He seemed to think that it was in his way. I tried to move it, but it was too heavy. After a while I got angry, and I told it to move. It did. I was a little surprised, but my Master didn’t seem to think it so unusual.”
… are good enough for me to be happy.
Anyway, depth and insights are not required for my personal taste in fantasy anyway, though, and so I enjoyed this book for what it was – an excellent start into a work of epic fantasy that’s new to me.
That said: Please excuse me while I start devouring the next book in the series... show less
This will be the same review for all the books in ‘The Belgariad’ and ‘The Mallorean’.
These books changed me.
I started reading them as an 11 year old who was kind of floating around in this thing called life. I had friends at school, but no meaningful connections. This I didn’t understand until I was older. By reading these books I was drawn into an incredible world filled with characters that I knew and loved, and in some cases wanted to be (come on people, I can’t be the only show more kid that put a streak of white paint in their hair). The story is Garion’s ‘hero’s journey’ but I felt that the adventure belonged to me too. It was my ‘Neverending story’ if you will and it gave me the confidence to be more present in my own life. I own all the copies of both series set in this marvellous world and most of the extras too. They are a pretty tired looking collection of books because I bought them as a university student from second book shops all over Christchurch and Auckland. I love that they have been released again relatively recently with a fresh new look so that they can appeal to the younger generation. I thoroughly recommend these books for lovers of high fantasy, action, and relatable characters. It is the quintessential hero’s journey. show less
These books changed me.
I started reading them as an 11 year old who was kind of floating around in this thing called life. I had friends at school, but no meaningful connections. This I didn’t understand until I was older. By reading these books I was drawn into an incredible world filled with characters that I knew and loved, and in some cases wanted to be (come on people, I can’t be the only show more kid that put a streak of white paint in their hair). The story is Garion’s ‘hero’s journey’ but I felt that the adventure belonged to me too. It was my ‘Neverending story’ if you will and it gave me the confidence to be more present in my own life. I own all the copies of both series set in this marvellous world and most of the extras too. They are a pretty tired looking collection of books because I bought them as a university student from second book shops all over Christchurch and Auckland. I love that they have been released again relatively recently with a fresh new look so that they can appeal to the younger generation. I thoroughly recommend these books for lovers of high fantasy, action, and relatable characters. It is the quintessential hero’s journey. show less
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Books Read in 2022 (16)
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Carole's List (1)
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al.vick-series (2)
Awards
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Statistics
- Works
- 117
- Members
- 123,046
- Popularity
- #61
- Rating
- 3.8
- Reviews
- 947
- ISBNs
- 1,063
- Languages
- 19
- Favorited
- 318