Curiosity about the Belgariad

[RAND AL THOR]

I have found so many positive reviews about the Belgariad on this site. To me, the books were a horrible experience. I like to appreciate an author's work but I found very little to be original in the Belgariad. I dont dismiss books on the basis of 'cliche' (as you may have noticed in my thread 'Insult to RJ'). However, in the Belgariad I found the various cliches were exactly that-cliches. Not adapted in any way and not modified to the authors style.

 

I could predict the outcome of most scenes. Some scenes were just weird and unbelievable. Even worse were the places where the entire story shifts and favours the good guys.

 

I was not intrigued at all and had no curiostity whatsoever. I just read to the end because the books were easily accessible and I had nothing better to do. Also, I dislike dropping books halfway. The series had good ratings so I kept expecting something better.

 

My point is not to cure the series. That is my own view. But, I would like to know what you people find positive in that series? I seem to be in the minority but how do you actually like the series ? I am curious as to how anyone could enjoy them.

 

I would likely have enjoyed the series if they had been the first fantasy series I had read. However, they most certainly were not so I guess the fault likes somewhere there.

[Bronwyn]

I loved the Belgariad...it was probably the third or fourth fantasy series I read. I greatly enjoyed watching Garion grow up and loved the character of C'Nedra. Oh and Silk!!! Loved Silk. I did NOT like the single books (Polgara etc).

 

I can understand what your saying and can agree, that the "same stories" that have been retold over hundreds of years are "re-told" much better by Jordan, Tolkien etc. But Eddings is a great character writer.

[42Bonzo88]

    It has been a long time since I read the series and I loved it. I can't tell you specific details of what I liked except for Polgara and her father always at each other's throats. I also liked the single books but that mainly is because I like the 'behind the scenes' look to other books. For instance Ender's Shadow is retelling Ender's Game but in another persons point of view. Yes you are seeing alot of Ender's Game, but it is fresh because of the different telling.

[Imperium]

I have to admit that I dont also like the series.

 

I had already read the Sparhawk series and Redemption of Althalus and they are basically the same with different names. I would say that I prefer the Sparhawk series as well.

 

Eddings does make it very predictible and it is far to easy for the good guys, but maybe that is the charm and why people like it.

 

However also people tend to like what they read first and I did read WOT first so that has made it very hard for me to enjoy other series.

 

I agree with Bronwyn that Silk was cool but C'Nedra was annoying as hell. Every time she was mentioned my mind drifted back to Faile! Thats how much I didn't like that character

[the dude]

third-rate though he is in adult terms, i think eddings makes a good primer for the very young, like 10-12.  especially the belgariad et al, as they are slightly less gruesome than the elenium etc. 

 

i loved the series, when i was 11.  i can't bring myself to read more than a few pages now, though i don't actualy remember the last time i picked one up.  nevertheless, i've still got my old copies, ready for when the littlun gets old enough to read it (if she's interested of course).

[Werthead]

The Belgariad is a kid's series. I don't think it was originally intended or published as such, but its incredibly simplistic prose and lightweight characters do make it very Young Adult fare. I enjoyed the books when I read them when I was 10 or so, but coming back a few years later to read the sequel series, The Malloreon, I was tremendously disappointed. Eddings also repeats himself a lot. If you've read his first series, you don't need to read the others as they're all pretty similar.

 

If people have children they want to get into fantasy, I'd say that this series could appeal to them. But certainly not to adults who've already read Jordan, Erikson, Martin, Bakker etc. It'd be a huge step backwards.

[safwd]

I read the series as an adult and i enjoyed it. I think it was actually the first real series that i ever read, i was not much of a reader through my teens and very early twenties.

I am a fan of series where the main character starts out young and ignorant of his powers then grows into being a master. I also liked the characters in the book, especially silk but i liked Belgarath, Barak and Durnik. True the story was not overly complex but i found it a good read.

 

I will say that if i had read WOT before the Belgariad i would not have liked it nearly as much. It is a good intro into WOT but i would not want to go the other way with it.

[Hokus Grey]

The Belgariad is a good series for someone who requires "kid gloves" in their introduction to the Fantasy genre. I read it first as a youth and again as a young adult. It is just fun, with easy to love characters, gods to solve all the protagonists problems (like time shifting), and battles with enemies that are far from frightening. It always struck me as being very "British" if you will excuse the term. I think I mean traditional. A grat read for the 10-13 age range, but I would stick more to the Pridayne (sp?) Chronicles or The Lord of The Rings personally. Eddings is a fun writer to read though. Hmm... I wonder if I ever finished "The Elenium"?.....

[Elbar]

Tell me about it, Rand. Garion could not have botched his little mission if he tried. It was a plug-and-play fantasy series if ever there was one.

[Shamaeso]

but look at the time it was published. late 70's early 80's and not much was out there then.

[Elbar]

True. What else was really out there? Tolkien, pulp fantasy and the Thomas Covenant Chronicles?

 

Oh, and Rand, there are some other great fantasy works out there by Glen Cook. Chronicles of the Black Company series and the Tyranny of the Night series (still in progress.)

[triadruid]

I also despised the series, probably because I read it too late (early college IIRC). It was simplistic, formulaic, and predictable - like the very worst parts of TEOTW, but for 5 books (10 if you count the rehash that was the Mallorean). The dialogue/banter was its only saving grace, although the standalone books about Polgara and Belgarath are slightly better.

 

If they're YA Fantasy, I wish libraries would categorize them as such...

[Hybrid]

Unfortunately, I doubt the simplicity or predictability of the plot has an effect on where librarians categorize books.  Just look at some of the crap churned out nowadays...

[RAND AL THOR]

It's sad because 3 shelves in my local bookstore are devoted to Eddings but many more worthy books are NOT there, such as GRRM, or Malazan Book of the Fallen etc....it's irritating to see the absence of fantastic books and to instead see such predictable books. Writing is really hard and coming up with unique plots is harder still (personal experience) but the Belgariad is just one big cliche with no attempt made to uniquize the cliches used.

[Hybrid]

I agree with you on that one.  There's a lot of airport fiction and mysteries in my library (as many as 6 copies of the same book!) and not so much of more worthy books.  However, it does have WOT and GRRM and Memory, Sorrow, Thorn, so I'm not complaining.