Belgarath the Sorcerer

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Belgarath (the book), I'm afraid, has all of the weaknesses of both series drawn out over an almost interminable 700-plus pages. In the serieses, it’s sort of glossed over as a big battle, but this shows how long the campaign was (almost two decades by my campaign. This would make Grolim sorcery inexplicable in Cherek, Tolnedra, Sendaria, Arendia, Nyissa unless there are Torak worshipers in the West. Belgarath is not just a usual first-person account of events, but a first-person account very much directed at others in the series.

Belgarath is a particularly dense example of this, and the result is that the reader either has to either take it as canon and assume the narration of the original series is unreliable, or throw it out as barely-true blather. The main bulk of the story therefore comprises Belgarath’s account (delivered apparently under much protest), an account of a life spanning close to seven and a half thousand years, littered with battles, politics and a rather unusual amount of snark. I really enjoyed it at first, I loved Belgarath in the other books and so seeing his life was great. This is possibly also why Beldaran at least was slightly short changed as a character though to what extent this was a lack of attention and to what extent simply the recognition that Polgara would be closer to her twin sister than her mostly absent father I don’t know. Oddly enough, I enjoyed Belgarath the Sorcerer rather more this time around than when I first read it as a teenager, probably I suspect because I was able to take it far less seriously.In short, Belgarath the Sorcerer provides a solid background on not just Belgarath's past, but some of the other characters' as well (most notably, of course, his fellow disciples of Aldur, including Polgara). Belgarath is fundamentally interesting, deeply flawed and certainly a petty thief and vagabond he is also principled, viscous and loveable.

It is, however, possible that he was surprised that Garion came to the same conclusion, and although Belgarath says he has never thought about it that way before, he may still be reffering to his relationship with Garion, as opposed to his ancestors. It's a brutal life that Belgarath has lead, even if the book itself is fairly light-hearted and snarky in its telling. Belgarath was stated by many to be the greatest sorcerer ever to have lived, having lived 7,000 years as well as being known and feared across the world. For any older and more serious fantasy reader, the lack of depth and reality make this book an insult to any and all fantasy, as the world is paper thin, the characters are lifeless overused cliches and the overall story plain boring.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. On the other hand, the light-hearted style, the fact that Belgarath is close to omnipotent and rarely himself takes events seriously, and the fact that this is of course a prequel so we already know how most events turned out often made the book feel a little too frivolous. This is the first of a few companion novels set in the world of The Belgariad and The Malloreon, which recounts the life of Belgarath the Sorcerer. He was said to be stronger than his daughter, having taken the full force of her enraged will without yielding, but his style was bolder and more overt, while hers dealt mostly with the minds of others and so was not remembered.