Pawn of Prophecy (Book 1 of The Belgariad)

One of the best books out there if you give it a chance! This book is a little slow to start as you are being introduced to a new world with an abundance of characters coming later in this book and even more in the next ones. This is the start of a series that will span 13 books over 2 series, 2 majorly awesome character novels, and 1 book that gives you access like you have NEVER had into the mind of the authors and what it took to just create this series! Best of all is that when you’re finally done with them all, David and Leigh (She is uncredited for some of their works) Eddings have written a number of other great books to delve into, with new characters and world’s to explore!

We are going way back to my childhood and perhaps one of the first fantasy series I consumed like candy. Thankfully, there were plenty of these books to keep me occupied. Pawn of Prophecy starts a five-book quintology and is followed up by another five-book series, The Malloreon, which is not to be confused with the Mandalorian—like at all. There are also two standalone novels.

What’s interesting is at the time of writing David Eddings didn’t really want to write fantasy. He’d been writing adventure and thriller books when he noticed how many times the Lord of the Rings had been reprinted and decided that maybe there was something to this whole fantasy genre. And the rest is history.

The Story
Garion starts his story as many fantasy heroes do, as an orphan boy living on a farm. He’s awkward, charming, and has a strange dry voice in his head separate from his own consciousness. His Aunt Pol watches over him as he does all the typical teenage boy stuff, like getting into trouble and being shy about a girl he likes.

As with any good fantasy story, there is a traveling storyteller, nicknamed Wolf, who is not what he seems. Wolf arrives with the news that a precious object has been stolen and he must recover it, with the help of Aunt Pol, who is also not what she seems. The merry band follows a trail of clues and collects quite a few interesting characters along the way, including my personal favorite, a man named Silk or Kheldar, depending on who’s asking, who just happens to be a Drasnian prince/spy/thief.

When the group is arrested, Garion spots a mysterious individual in a green cloak who he suspects might be behind their difficulties. This figure is later exposed and in the process, Garion barely escapes capture. He learns later that Aunt Pol is actually a powerful sorceress, and Wolf his grandfather who is also a wizard of sorts.

My Review
I remember these books as being a delightful adventure with plenty of interesting history and dark characters lurking around every corner. Whether or not they’d hold up to my withering scrutiny now is up for debate. I’d rather not risk it. One of the elements that I appreciate in Edding’s books, this one included, is that he doesn’t shy away from hurting the main character or give them too many good skills while everyone else just has to follow along. He also makes amazingly interesting characters with a lot of personality and heart.

As this book sets up the world, there is a rather lengthy prologue that gives some much-needed context to why recovering the lost object is so important. The Belgariad is an exercise in worldbuilding, where the history of the world itself, and the creation of its gods is where the original problem starts. This adds quite a bit of complexity to the story, and I’ll admit as a young teen I couldn’t really keep the history straight. All you really need to know is that Asharak is the bad buy.

Recommendations
Again, I remember these to be excellent and I loved them as a young teen. I don’t recall there being any objectional material and the adventure and sense of peril elements come through the strongest. That said, at the time I was pretty naive myself so if there was any innuendo, I probably missed it entirely.

However, for the time period this was written, most fantasy novels tended to be very clean, so I’m fairly confident in recommending this to readers 10 and up.

I give Pawn of Prophecy 5/5 for making my childhood magical.

This was the series that really started me on fantasy. I admit the start is a bit slow–this was during an era when epic fantasy had a slow start–but stick with it. Get past that fifty page mark. You’ll not regret it.

I devoured this whole series in about a month the first time I read it, which was…way too many years ago now. The series is epic fantasy and great characters and a fun ride without wandering through the territory of rape/foul language/unnecessary torture scenes. Which my 13 year old self appreciated when I first found it.

Ten stars would recommend.

I first started reading David Eddings books 32 years ago when my son was just 2. We moved to Germany as Civilians with the Army and I traveled all over Germany collecting all the books from the Military bases in the first Series the Belgariad. I loved the characters and Books so much that I wore the first series out. When my son was in middle school, I introduced the series to him to try and get him to start reading better. We read the first one together and after that there was no stopping him. We read the covers off all the books several times over the years and probably bought all of them 5 or 6 times. I now have the books on Amazon and can read over and over. I strongly recommend that if you have a middle school reader give this a try. You will love it as much as you student does!

I first read this book and series in High School so my adult self sees a lot more of the continuity mistakes than my high school self. For example, the world building is simplistic and tends to suffer from the all or nothing problem meaning all people from X country are basically the same with the same, look, mentality etc. All people from X Kingdom are not very smart etc. But, the characters are phenomenal and have inspired a lot of my own characterizations. Even the relationship between characters are great. Most of the plot is great too. I recommend the series to young to middle adults. 15 to about 25 years old. Older adults will still enjoy the series but might see through some of the plot issues and find them distracting.

I read this series about once a year. It’s my favorite of David Eddings series, with a diverse group of whimsical, sly, funny, and heart-warming characters set in a challenging, expansive, and fascinating fantasy world.

I love Eddings’ writing!

This first book of The Belgariad sets out the premise for the series to come.

I love the wonderful characters we’re introduced to in this book. They each have their individuality and quirks. There aren’t any stereotypes in this story!

The settings are vivid and the conflicts real enough without getting too absurd.

And the humour is great!

The Belgariad series is an all-time favorite of mine. Pawn of Prophecy really sets the stage perfectly. You get to meet and really know the characters on this wonderful journey filled with danger, laughter, tears, and heroic deeds. This isn’t your ordinary good vs. evil tale. This is a masterpiece of fantasy.
David Eddings has created a world of intrigue, danger, love, and magic. True loyalty to friends and a cause that has the entire world hanging in the balance. The wit and wisecracks by many of the characters will have you laughing out loud.
This is a story that rivals The Lord of The Rings.

Love, Love, Love it!

One of the fantastic writers during my childhood, who helped me to set my sights on writing fantasy.