Now that Belgarath, Polgara, Garion and their companions have destroyed Rak Cthol and escaped with the Orb, they must flee the enraged army of Murgos, who seek to reclaim the Orb. Garion learns more about his strange powers and discovers that the Orb is communicating with him. The Orb is delivered to the Hall of the Rivan King for safe keeping, and the predestined marriage of Garion to the proud … the proud Princess Ce’Nedra is announced.
But the evil god Torak is awakening and will stop at nothing to recapture the Orb. Belgarath knows from the prophesies that the future of the world hinges on a final battle between Garion and Torak. Without alerting Polgara or anyone else at the castle, Belgarath, along with Garion and their friend Silk, sneak out of Rivan castle to face this final battle.
With the future of the world in danger, Princess Ce’Nedra finds the strength to raise an army, intent on helping Garion combat Torak and his forces. The fourth book in the 5-part bestselling Belgariad series.
“Eddings’ BELGARIAD is exactly the kind of fantasy I like. It has magic, adventure, humor, mystery, and a certain delightful human insight.”
– Piers Anthony on PAWN OF PROPHECY
“Absorbing. Touches all the right Fantasy bases. Warring gods, political intrigues, supernatural creatures, and appealingly human magicians.”
– Publishers Weekly on QUEEN OF SORCERY
“A graceful, fluid style of storytelling rare in fantasy writing.”
– Publishers Weekly
about the author:
David Eddings published his first novel, HIGH HUNT, in 1973, before turning to the field of fantasy with The Belgariad, which hit the New York Times bestseller lists, as did his Malloreon series, The Elenium and The Tamuli series. Born in Spokane, Washington, he served in the United States Army and taught college English. His wife Leigh Eddings collaborated with her husband for more than a dozen years on numerous bestsellers.
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We are four weeks into exploring the Belgariad and are now diving into the fourth book, Castle Wizardry by David Eddings. True to the hero’s journey, now that we’ve passed the halfway mark in this five-book series, the main character Garion must take charge of his destiny and start making decisions that matter.
The Story
Our noble party has finally recovered the Orb at the end of the previous book, Magician’s Gambit. Yay! Their goal is to now deliver it safely back to its rightful place and ensure it remains in the right hands. Garion finally gets to lead the party, mostly because Pol and Belgarath both were incapacitated, as they work their way closer to the mythical Isle of the Winds.
Common to many long-form stories, the Belgariad has a number of prophecies running about the edges that bring extra significance to events. In Castle of Wizardry, we see the culmination of a handful of these prophecies, namely, what Garion is destined to become. There was a reason he’d been brought up by a sorceress who pretended she was his aunt – he needed protection because of his bloodline.
Also, in another twist, the same prophecy that reveals who Garion really is also spelled out who he is meant to marry – someone who just happens to be traveling with them. She’s understandably enraged.
And because all good things come in threes, there is a third prophecy that Garion deciphers after the betrothal that says if he is “the special one” then he must also kill the Really Bad Guy or die himself. The story ends with Garion heading off toward his destiny to die or kill the bad guy, while his betrothed borrows a page from Tolkien and raises an army to distract the bad guy’s army and allow Garion’s safe passage.
My Review
It’s at this point in any long story where the reader can fully get behind the main character and what they are setting out to accomplish. All along the way, we’d collected breadcrumbs and clues so when the prophecies started being fulfilled the resulting reveals didn’t come across as a huge surprise.
There is one super charming element I neglected to mention earlier, and that’s the character of Errand – a small boy who, through his absolute innocence, can handle the Orb of Aldur safely. Up to this point, the ensemble cast has been killing themselves to first find this Orb, then restore it to its rightful place. When they finally get it, they must take Errand as well, as none of them can handle it safely. Errand spends the entire book trying to give the Orb to anyone who will take it despite the cast’s efforts to tie, lock, and seal the Orb into its carrying pouch to keep him from doing it. In a story of good vs evil and light vs dark, it was nice to have this darling little boy keeping things from becoming too grim.
Where the past three books were spent exploring the nature of magic, Garion’s coming of age, as well as most of the map, it’s in Castle of Wizardry where we see a culmination of a whole lot of promises. We finally understand Garion’s role in the world and what he’s meant to do. In fact, if it were not for the fact that he had yet to beat the bad guy, it would have been a great ending to the series to finish here.
Recommendations
This is a series. Start at the beginning and work your way to this point. No, really. The weight of all the stuff that happens in this book relies on the reader understanding everything it took to get there.
For you parents out there trying to decide if this is an appropriate read – it’s clean as is the rest of the series. I’d recommend it for ages 12 and up for the complexity and the intensity of some of the fight scenes.
I rate Castle of Wizardry 4/5 for being a solid fantasy that should have probably been limited to a four-book series.
This was the first book by David Eddings I ever read and it hooked me!
Now, reading it in sequence with the other books of The Belgariad, it makes more sense, but it stands by itself all the same.
Garion’s destiny is finally revealed! He has no choice but to accomplish what the prophecy has deemed he must do.
As usual, lots of lovely humorous touches and wonderful characters!
See my review of Pawn of Prophecy regarding the Belgariad Series.
The Belgariad is David Eddings best series in my opinion, definitely recommend this book!