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4.0 AVERAGE
4.0 AVERAGE
The audiobook narrator for these books is doing a bang up job. Although I do have to chuckle because once in awhile Silk's accent goes full Transylvanian.
By and large I liked this installment even though it feels like housekeeping and set up for the climax. But important things happen: Garion finds out he is the Rivan King and gets to read one of those prophecies that has been guiding his life (without him knowing it) so he goes off to take care of Business.
But there are some frustrating things in this one too: Namely, Ce'Nedra and Polgara.
First Ce'Nedra is at her brattiest, tantrumiest, mean girl, sniffing and chin lifting Princess worst. Guh . I knew I disliked this character going into this re-read and now I realize that this is probably the book that crystallized it for me. Not only is she a brat but the people around her absolutely enable her behavior, chuckling at her and calling her charming and the cute little princess. Nope. She is a little bitch. She does grow up a little in the end, but the getting there is painful to slog through.
Second is Polgara. My memories of Polgara have been very fond and I love her as a character. But this new-listen has take a bit of a shine off of her a little. I know Garion is not the sharpest knife in the drawer in some ways, but you know what... that is not his fault. Polgara raised him and kept him ignorant of everything. So here you have a farm kid who couldn't even read until a book ago, suddenly being thrust into Kinghood and political craft and being told how stupid he is, whose fault is that? Polgara had the guiding and caring for Garion all his life. She could have prepared Garion for the things he now has to do. Hell she didn't even teach him how to read. But instead she is exasperated by him and critical of him when he rightly seems confused, lonely and ill prepared for what he is. And worse she guilt trips him when he comes to her overhwelmed with the change in his circumstances: "I sacrficied 1000 years of my life getting you here." Again, not his fault. It is infuriating.
I swear the writing for the women in this book is terrible in some ways. Meanwhile Silk remains an MVP, I do like the theological discussions between Taiba and Relg (I actually enjoy how she is written). And Lledorin is great comic fodder.
By and large I liked this installment even though it feels like housekeeping and set up for the climax. But important things happen: Garion finds out he is the Rivan King and gets to read one of those prophecies that has been guiding his life (without him knowing it) so he goes off to take care of Business.
But there are some frustrating things in this one too: Namely, Ce'Nedra and Polgara.
First Ce'Nedra is at her brattiest, tantrumiest, mean girl, sniffing and chin lifting Princess worst. Guh . I knew I disliked this character going into this re-read and now I realize that this is probably the book that crystallized it for me. Not only is she a brat but the people around her absolutely enable her behavior, chuckling at her and calling her charming and the cute little princess. Nope. She is a little bitch. She does grow up a little in the end, but the getting there is painful to slog through.
Second is Polgara. My memories of Polgara have been very fond and I love her as a character. But this new-listen has take a bit of a shine off of her a little. I know Garion is not the sharpest knife in the drawer in some ways, but you know what... that is not his fault. Polgara raised him and kept him ignorant of everything. So here you have a farm kid who couldn't even read until a book ago, suddenly being thrust into Kinghood and political craft and being told how stupid he is, whose fault is that? Polgara had the guiding and caring for Garion all his life. She could have prepared Garion for the things he now has to do. Hell she didn't even teach him how to read. But instead she is exasperated by him and critical of him when he rightly seems confused, lonely and ill prepared for what he is. And worse she guilt trips him when he comes to her overhwelmed with the change in his circumstances: "I sacrficied 1000 years of my life getting you here." Again, not his fault. It is infuriating.
I swear the writing for the women in this book is terrible in some ways. Meanwhile Silk remains an MVP, I do like the theological discussions between Taiba and Relg (I actually enjoy how she is written). And Lledorin is great comic fodder.
I think this is almost my favorite book of the series. We finally meet the orb as a character and it's so cute and very scarily powerful. I also love that things are starting to fall into place and of course poor Garion finally gets let in on the prophecy and why he's been so important. I just love all the big reveals and how the aftermath plays out. I think that the orb and Ce'Nedra are probably my two favorite characters and we really get to see them shine in this installment.
J'avais déjà lu cette saga quand j'étais plus jeune, mais sans jamais la finir. Et c'est avec un grand plaisir que je retrouve l'univers de David et Leigh Eddings. Certes il s'agit de fantasy "classique" : des dieux, des héros, de la magie et une quête. Mais c'est une recette qui fonctionne et que j'aime beaucoup. Le style est très agréable, simple et fluide. L'univers est très riche, très développé et on y croit vite. Mais ce que je préfère ce sont les personnages. Garion est très attachant et on découvre le monde avec lui.
Bref une saga que je redécouvre avec un immense plaisir.
Bref une saga que je redécouvre avec un immense plaisir.
Un quatrième tome dans la lignée des précédents : agréable à lire et bien écrit. On retrouve avec plaisir les personnages, constatant leur évolution au fil des chapitres, rigolant de leurs réparties. Certaines révélations (pas trop choquantes pour les lecteurs) sont faites, et la deuxième partie du tome entame un nouveau tournant pour Garion et ses compagnons.
adventurous
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
A tricky installment to review.
The Belgariad was divided up into sections that the publisher insisted upon (by page count), and those sections had little bearing on the aesthetic starting/stopping points in the books.
For me, the series peaked around page 150 of Castle of Wizardry - introduced a new world order for a stretch of 100 pages or so, then awkwardly shifted back to what it has been all along - but with less of a rational for the organization and actions of its characters. If it had ended around page 250, I would have rated it 5 stars. I've been under the impression that it would become a series that rates 5 stars, and it arrived there, then it pretty seriously disappoints. This may be about the point where people insist upon calling it a children's series. Up until this point, I thought it was perfectly palatable for an adult reader.
I still like the characters, but I've lost some faith in the author(s). It has every appearance of never allowing for satisfying resolution, in favor of spooling the reader along using the same bag of tricks over and over.
That bag of tricks is wonderful until the repetition sets in. The dialog and character development are wonderful. It's the plotting that's giving me second thoughts now, and my lack of trust that it will ever do anything other than give half-hearted resolutions followed by prose pleading that you should really keep reading because "now's when it REALLY gets good".
Some of this is probably fatigue from reading 4 in a row - - I'll probably enjoy the 5th instillation after I've put a few books between them. The jury's out over whether I'll give the following 10ish books a chance as well.
The Belgariad was divided up into sections that the publisher insisted upon (by page count), and those sections had little bearing on the aesthetic starting/stopping points in the books.
For me, the series peaked around page 150 of Castle of Wizardry - introduced a new world order for a stretch of 100 pages or so, then awkwardly shifted back to what it has been all along - but with less of a rational for the organization and actions of its characters. If it had ended around page 250, I would have rated it 5 stars. I've been under the impression that it would become a series that rates 5 stars, and it arrived there, then it pretty seriously disappoints. This may be about the point where people insist upon calling it a children's series. Up until this point, I thought it was perfectly palatable for an adult reader.
I still like the characters, but I've lost some faith in the author(s). It has every appearance of never allowing for satisfying resolution, in favor of spooling the reader along using the same bag of tricks over and over.
That bag of tricks is wonderful until the repetition sets in. The dialog and character development are wonderful. It's the plotting that's giving me second thoughts now, and my lack of trust that it will ever do anything other than give half-hearted resolutions followed by prose pleading that you should really keep reading because "now's when it REALLY gets good".
Some of this is probably fatigue from reading 4 in a row - - I'll probably enjoy the 5th instillation after I've put a few books between them. The jury's out over whether I'll give the following 10ish books a chance as well.
Not my favorite of the series, but setting things up for what will certainly be an exciting 5th book. And I do enjoy the narrator a great deal.
