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Review: 'Pawn of Prophecy' (Belgariad #1) by David Eddings Long ago, the evil God Torak fought a war to obtain an object of immense power - the Orb of Aldur. But Torak was defeated and the Orb reclaimed by Belgarath the sorcerer. Garion, a young farm lad, loves the story when he first hears it from the old storyteller. But it has nothing to do with him. Or does it? For the stories also tell of a prophecy that must be fulfilled - a destiny handed down through the generations. And Torak is stirring again . . . I have to start by admitting that I struggle a little when reading 'classic' fantasy. The reason for this is probably my age: I've (more or less) become familiar with the genre by reading 'modern' fantasy, which is influenced heavily by the likes of Tolkien, and Gemmell, and Eddings, and the like. This means that when I read a book like Pawn of Prophecy, I can't help but read certain parts of the story (such as a huge man who transforms into a bear, a farmboy torn away from his home and forced into an adventure, a mysterious magical object, and a wise old man who is more than he first appears) and think 'oh, dear, how derivative'. When, in fact, these guys wrote about this stuff before everyone else did. They created these tropes in the first place; they made them fashionable, and it's only now that they've become, to varying extents, cliched. There is a fair bit of this book that was clearly influenced by Tolkien, but there's much more of it that seemed familiar because I've read it in more recent books. The epic journey, the motley companions, the young boy who discovers that he's actually rather special, the evil God bent on ruling the world . . . It's all traditional, classic stuff. And there's nothing wrong with that. (That is, in fact, the reason I've been enjoying Daniel Abraham's Dagger and Coin series so much recently - he draws on such traditional plot points in a nostalgic sort of way, but mixes them up just enough to keep in interesting and entertaining.) However, what is less impressive is that there isn't much of a real plot going on here. I realise it's the first book in a series, and the entire book has obviously been spent setting up for the rest of this series, but that doesn't make the constant repetition (travel to a town, stay at an inn, have some cryptic conversations; travel to a town, stay at an inn, have some cryptic conversations . . . rinse, repeat, etc.) any less of a chore to read. I think the fact that I've had to read it in small chunks hasn't helped much: there hasn't been a lot to really grip me, and I felt like I was reading the same bit again and again every time I picked up the book. However, I did rather like the characters. The main character - the boy Garion - is fairly likeable, and the author has done well with writing credibly from the point of view of a child with a nice mixture of ignorance, curiosity, and simplicity. With the current trend of multiple PoVs, it's certainly refreshing to read a tale that focuses entirely on one main character. The other character I really liked was Silk, who has more of a minor role: in fact, the author does a nice job with the entire 'supporting' cast, giving them enough personality to make us care about them and prevent them from fading into the background. It's also good to see how well Eddings has built his world: we have maps (which, while often criticised as yet another cliche of the genre, I actually feel give an extra dimension to the story), we have conflict (racial, political and gendered), we have politics, we have history, and we have economics. And, even better, it's not thrown in our faces: it's just there, giving the story a sense of reality, which is exactly how it should be. There's certainly a sense of where the overall story began, and where it's going to end. This, along with the sympathetic characters and the easy and simple (if occasionally flat) writing style, is the reason I'll probably give the second book in the series a try at some point, despite only rating this one . . . 3/5 Note: it almost got 4/5 just for having such a pretty cover.

Thanks! I've also just added a few more to the TBR myself, which I'll post when I've took a picture.

I love how well-loved your copy of Magician is! And I'm SO jealous of you owning the Midkemia book - I mope over it every time I go in Waterstones, and will buy it someday too. Empire trilogy! Empire trilogy! EMPIRE TRILOGY!

It's so tempting, isn't it? Which cover do you have? I have this one: It's not the best one out there, I'm sure you'll agree.

Gorgeous new books Devi! They're gorgeous, aren't they? I'm almost tempted to re-buy my older ones so that they all match!

Great review Tim. I'll keep all this in mind when I (eventually) have a go at trying SF!

Congratulations on your new books - they look awesome! I think if ever you did buy your own bookshop there'd be a mass immigration to Helmond.

No, it was a good answer! I do know what you mean about the prevailing image of C19 being one of smoke and dirt and poverty, and I'll be interested to hear any discoveries you might make to the contrary! I have a feeling you'll be having some great conversations with people on here (like Vodkafan and Willoyd) pretty soon.

Ooh, and maybe Anne Bronte's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall?

I second Dracula - it's ace! And I know it's about 20 years too early, but Evelina by Frances Burney is an epistolary (if I remember correctly).

I can't entirely remember . . . at least 200 pages, but maybe more. Sad day. But YAY on having the whole collection!

Ooh I look forward to your review! What a triumph to be able to say you've read them all! I know how you feel, though. I'm hoping to do 'the big Feist read/re-read' next year, and even though I'm looking forward to it, it'll definitely be sad to see it end.

Great to hear you're already brainstorming your ideas! I find it's great to have some kind of project to work on - maybe it'll help keep your mojo on a high.

Great review Steve. I really must go back and try this one again sometime.

New book acquisition: The Dragon Masters by Jack Vance. Thanks very much to Tim for sending it to me!

I like to keep it unpredictable. Thanks Gaia! It's certainly different. Thanks. I don't think there's any more, no, and it wouldn't surprise me if she just left it at that. But for me it wasn't that much of a satisfactory ending, and I hope there's another one.

You could write about either, or even both - maybe about how your autism affects your reading (for instance, how it can sometimes disrupt your concentration, or affect how quickly you read a book and how much you enjoy it, and you could always write about the way you keep track of your reading statistics in such detail and how it helps you). I think you'd probably be pleasantly surprised how many people would read it (especially if it was free!).

I just use Amazon for my wishlist - it's so easy to just click the button to add books! - and, like Michelle, I go through it from time to time (maybe every couple of weeks) and delete books I'm not all that bothered about. The only time I ever type it out is if people have asked what I'd like for my birthday or Christmas. I probably buy a book off my wishlist at least once a month. Now I'm working again I'm going to give myself £20 spending money (book money) per month. With this I'll probably get one book off my Amazon wishlist, and a couple of others from Waterstones. Even though Amazon are cheaper, I like to buy from Waterstones too (even though, after sometimes spending more than an hour browsing, I often end up buying books I've never even heard of before, let alone had on my wishlist! ).

What a shame the HP movies spoiled the books for you. I'm not a fan of Daniel Radcliffe either, but I was lucky enough to have started reading the books before they made the first film. I'm glad I did - I think if I kept hearing his voice the whole time they would probably have annoyed me too! I just remembered, a couple of other YA books I remember enjoying were The Sight and Firebringer, both by David Clement-Davies. They're from the PoV of animals (The Sight is about wolves and Firebringer is about a stag), but they're not twee or cheesy or anything (at least, I don't remember them being). Ooh, and Terry Pratchett has written a few YA books too!

Congrats on reading 12 books already this year! And it's still only January. You always say you'd like to write your own book: a 'book about books' like Sarah Nelson's sounds like the perfect sort of thing for you to write! (when you have the energy). It would be just like the sort of things you write on here, only you'd get to call it a book!

My go-to recommendation for YA is the Abhorsen chronicles (Sabriel, Lirael and Abhorsen) by Garth Nix. And you can never go wrong with a bit of Harry Potter!

I imagine being able to read in your sleep would really help with reducing the TBR . . . although I suppose it's not that helpful if you don't remember the book afterwards!

Agree about THG being overrated, Noll. I was especially disappointed with the third book in the trilogy - I didn't really like it at all, and the ending really disappointed me. I liked your review of Montezuma - I read it when I was fairly young and remember bawling my eyes out at the end, and then turning back to the beginning and reading the whole thing all over again! Have you ever read anything by Garth Nix? I really enjoyed reading the trilogy of Sabriel, Lirael and Abhorsen a while ago; maybe you'd like 'em too.

Great review Pixie! This sounds like a really fun book. (I had similar 'USA' confusion when I first read Gatsby. ).

More great advice! I love this. I'm having the same thing at the moment with books in general. When you only read in fits and starts it's so easy to forget what's been happening, and who's who, and you also lose the effect of slow-builds. Emotional moments also kind of lose their impact when you have to put the book away halfway through them!