Pawn of Prophecy (1982)

Hands down my favorite book that I have ever read. There was something about the way Eddings wrote this, that I can't quite put my finger on, but I just adore. It was one of the first fantasy books that I have read. This book got me into my fantasy addiction, and I couldn't be more thankful for it. I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone who reads fantasy. ( )

Pawn of Prophecy is the first book in the classic Belgariad series by David Eddings. It was originally published in 1982, and it definitely shows its age, but it was a fun, quick read full of the sorts of tropes I typically enjoy.

The story is told from the third-person perspective of Garion, except for the prologue which sets up the history of the world. As is proper for an epic fantasy story, we meet him while he’s still young, living a simple life (and spending a lot of time getting underfoot in a proper epic fantasy style kitchen) but having a mysterious heritage. He gets caught up in events he doesn’t understand, and ends up having to leave his home with travel companions who are a lot more than they first appear. I think by the end of the story Garion is only 14, approaching 15. The book has a young feel to it, but not the sort that’s full of silly romance tropes. There’s very little romance in this book, which was one of the things I enjoyed about it.

Garion came across to me as immature for his age, and sometimes the internal sulking got a little tiresome. On the other hand, the adults around him could be pretty annoying too. They, especially Aunt Pol, were constantly making careless comments around him but not considering how some of the things they said would sound to Garion, and nobody would give him any satisfying answers. It wasn’t until the end that I felt like he even got any sort of satisfactory answer as to why he couldn’t have satisfying answers. But aside from the occasional annoyance, I mostly enjoyed the characters. There was a bit of humor here and there that made me smile and on rare occasions laugh out loud. My favorite line was, “Never forget the cabbages.” A motto to live by, for sure.

I did also get annoyed at times by the way the author gave information to the reader in a way that felt contrived. I felt like the author didn’t quite know how to reveal the things he wanted his readers to know while confining us to the POV of Garion who wasn’t supposed to know those things yet. I wouldn’t have minded a little more suspense myself, actually. The prologue combined with the blatant hints in the story means the reader knows a lot of stuff that Garion has no clue about, which made his thoughts boring at times when he spent too much time puzzling over something that I already had the answers to.

I’m giving this 3.5 stars and rounding up to 4 on Goodreads. I plan to continue on to the second book shortly. ( )

Many people think David Eddings is overly formulaic which he is a bit but since I enjoy the tale he tells I do not mind reading it over again. His characters always have great humor at their core and you cannott beat a good epic tale for entertainment value. This particular book is one of my favorites by him and a great start to a good series. ( )

A great beginning to what I anticipate to be a good romp into an older fantasy series.

Thousands of years ago the Gods and men warred against one lone God who wanted it all. This lone God, Torak, stole an artifact that would help him gain control. In the end of that war, he became Torak-One-Eye and lost.

The story picks up on a pleasant farm, revealing the life of a young boy. Fostered by his aunt and befriended by a traveling story-teller, it becomes obvious that this boy, Garion, will be the heart of the story.

I suppose "obvious" is the main word here-a lot of your regular fantasy story lines: Good Vs. Evil, A boy finding his destiny, things not being what they seem to be....and yet I enjoyed it immensely. The pace is quick, and the adventuring fun. I had a small problem with the writing of Garion's character, he seemed to bounce all over the place as far as maturity was concerned-I anticipate that this will not be a problem in the next books, as he physically/mentally grows.

Looking forward to the next installment. ( )

Some books don't hide the fact that they're going to be epic series. This is certainly one of those. The story barely gets started by the end of the first book, which isn't short by any means. The writing is fair with decent character development. I only had a few major pet peeves, the main one being the way the supplemental characters treat the main character.

The main boy is about 14 years old through the majority of the story, but the other characters treat him like a child of 8 or 9. He is physically washed by his aunt at one point, and he is constantly guarded and scorned for playing with sharp things.

Beyond this, some of the characters seemed a little flat, which I attribute to new-writer syndrome. As this is only the first book in the series, I'm sure the depth of these characters will grow as the story does. ( )