He was profoundly unfond of work except when there was a true crisis, and then his reserves of energy and dedication were seemingly inexhaustible. More so than Polgara, he wasn't afraid of using his power to get someone to do what he wanted, being adept at illusion and the manipulation of the elements. Then I found this book (Belgarath the sorcerer) and was eager to read it, it's sort of an 'autobiography' which explains in detail his early life and the events which led up to The Belgariad. He admitted that he had to distance himself from people as they grow older, because endless grief was not a condition the human mind could endure, and he, despite millennia of life, was still human. The most major problem I had with the book however was the repeated use of the prophecy as part of the plot.

Feist's Riftwar Saga all helped turn reading for me to something I had to do to something I enjoyed doing back in my high school days. Indeed, according to Belgarath the Sorcerer quite literally the whole world gets set up the way it does (largely by Belgarath and Polgara), because “the prophecy needed it this way”.Then again, since Eddings mostly has these gender differences employed in comical ways and usually not to the detriment of his characters (fortunately there are no damsels here), I found myself able to overlook the more irritating parts reasonably well, and take the comments mostly in the spirit in which they were meant, i. Indeed, it surprised me given how many countries in the real world have been turbulently formed from warring smaller kingdoms or splitting up of larger ones, how comparatively easily everyone except the Angarak’s actually got along, indeed most of the political conflicts in the book usually get resolved by Belgarath bullying the monarchs into doing what is best for the prophecy.

Set in the same universe as the Eddings' The Belgariad and The Malloreon, it is a prequel to the other series, although the framework story is set after the events of The Malloreon. The cyclical, tightly predetermined nature of this universe was beginning to annoy me in The Mallorean, but told here from the first-person perspective, it gets even more frustrating. Belgarath the Sorcerer" is the story of one man's love--for his god, for his wife, for his "brothers", for his daughters, and for people. The sad truth of the matter is that David and Leigh Eddings had been stretching my patience for a while. Belgarath the Sorcerer is another one of those Del Rey series-padding specials - there were a whole bunch of these in the early 90s, where authors rewrote their successful work from the point of view of another character.

It's not edge-of-your seat reading, because you already know where this story will end (it's a prequel as well as being THAT story. Belgarath began life as a young orphaned thief two thousand years before the cracking of the world, in a village named Gara.

I will say some reviews I have seen criticise the amount of political and economic commentary in the book, though as I am generally a fan of books detailing the background of my fantasy worlds I didn’t myself have an issue with this, particularly given the light-hearted tone in which such sweeping international changes are explained. Instead, he must keep to a plodding narrative account of his very, very long life (seven thousand years and counting! It is a nice read for fans of the series, but I would not recommend it to others due to its many details and relatively slow pace, as well as the fact that most of my own enjoyment of this book came from recognising parts of it from the Belgariad and Malloreon and being able to puzzle things together.

The sheer scale of his millennia long tale is breathtaking with unbelievably sad moments interspersed within the adventure and general mucking about. The story of Belgarath, the great sorcerer learned in the Will and the Word on whom the fate of the world depends. Characters are both vivid and memorable, and readers will enjoy seeing how all those insider jokes from the Belgariad started.

After some time of continually springing surprising new forms on him, she eventually told him she was leaving.

Although getting a closer look at certain events was interesting, it is a very long story that tended to get dreary every now and then. Belgarath admits that he tends to take a fairly long view of history and is thus able to take the loss of others (with the exception of his wife), in stride, thus making him naturally a rather static character. The characters brought to life in that initial set of novels were bright, sparky creations with whom I was delighted to spend any amount of time - particularly the near-mythic figures of the hallowed Immortal Man, Belgarath, and his enchanting sorceress daughter Polgara. It is important to remember I read David's books as a young man, and my ratings all reflect how the books made me feel back then, 20 years ago, and not today. If you like epic fantasies that live and breath, "Belgarath" and other works by David and Leigh Eddings are right for you!