The Belgariad / The Mallorean

As I mentioned in the overview for my Wheel of Time Retrospective, the very first fantasy series I ever read was The Belgariad (1982-1984), a five book series by David Eddings. I was in seventh grade when...

This was the first "true" fantasy book that I read. I suppose I was bored - I don't remember the exact reason why I started reading it - I just remember taking the book from my older brother's room when...

I had all the books in this series on hand when I first started it back in 1990. So unlike some other long-running series of late, I didn't have to wait at all. I was thoroughly hooked on the series...

In this third volume of The Belgariad, the party continues their quest for the Orb of Aldur, eventually journeying into the mountainous waste of Cthol Murgos to retrieve it. This book is pretty good, because we explore more of Garion's...

I like to call this book the "Book of Alorn". That's because it's completely centered on the Kingdoms of Aloria and it's current purpose in the world (protection of the Orb and the West). We visit three of the four...

The final book of The Belgariad, we bring the two main storylines to conclusion. Garion is still skulking his way across the Angarak kingdoms towards Cthol Mishrak to confront the god Torak, and Ce'Nedra and company are leading the armies...

After a three year break, David Eddings returned with a sequel to The Belgariad, another five volume series entitled The Malloreon. It picks up a number of years after the death of Torak, and follows our heroes as prophecy forces...

History continues to repeat itself as The Malloreon continues with Book 2, King of the Murgos. Our party treads familiar ground as the true quest for Zandramas gets underway (after a bunch of distractions in Book 1, which boiled down...

Now we get to the meat of the quest in The Malloreon. In this volume, we finally move on to the eastern continent, Mallorea, and explore new lands, beginning a whirlwind tour of it over the next 3 books, visiting...

I was in new territory when I first read this book, because I had to wait for it. It had only been released in hardbook once I finished the previous entry, Demon Lord of Karanda, and as an 8th grader...

So finally we come to it. The culmination of thousands of years of dueling prophecies, good vs. evil, light vs. dark... it all comes down to this. Like the previous volume, I had to wait for this one to come...

After Eddings finished The Malloreon, he took a break and did The Tamuli, a trilogy that is the sequel series to The Elenium (which he wrote at the same time as The Malloreon). Those two trilogies are fairly decent, though...

Eddings followed up his first fake autobiography, Belgarath the Sorcerer, with a second one, told by Belgarath's daughter, Polgara. Just like her father's, it clocks in at over 700 pages and drags in places. Sometimes there's no need to...

Finally, the last volume in the Belgariad / Malloreon saga (I wish there were an overarching name for the entire thing, but alas). This is a somewhat unique book, as it's a mix of reference material and essays on the...