I really really like the David Eddings books, and they were where I properly started out reading in the fantasy genre, back when I was thirteen or so. I adore them and have read them time and again. However, Queen of Sorcery is far from the strongest entry in the Belgariad, and this time during my re-read it was very hard to prevent myself seeing the many faults. I still love the whole series, but struggle with this particular book.One problem I have is the character of Garion. With all the (many, many, many) clues that are dropped we know already that he is destined for greatness. Even if it wasn't prophesied, the fact that he is distantly related to Polgara and Belgarath should mean that he is something out of the ordinary. And yet this clever boy (it is pointed out a number of times in the text that he has a great deal of intelligence) is completely oblivious to what might be coming to pass. I really struggle to comprehend how this could be.Sticking with Garion for now, Eddings (in this book) employs the tactic of "tell, don't show". We are told that Garion is seeking vengeance for the murder of his parents. And then the matter is dropped entirely until he meets said murderer and then Eddings reminds us that Garion is mightily annoyed at this person. That sense of hatred should have been carried through the novel in a better manner and shown through Garion's actions.Other than Garion, the other characters irritated me more than pleased me in this outing. Barak and Silk are very interesting and entertaining characters. Silk, in particular, is a complicated little fellow - and I could have stood to see much more character development, and motivations for their following Belgarath (apart from being told to!) Instead we are introduced to yet more characters who seem to have absolutely no reason to be on-page at all, such as Lelldorin. He turns up, he shoots a few arrows, he tells Garion about a plot to kill the king, and then he is left behind with a near-fatal injury. Why? And the trip across Arendia seemed futile, including a scene in the Arendish throne-room that felt incredibly repetitive after a *very* similar scene in book one of the series, in the Cherek throne-room.Speaking of Arendia and Cherek - isn't it useful for the reader that you can completely recognise where a character is from by their appearances and foibles? Chereks all have bristling beards, drink ale and hold grudges (dwarves, anyone?), while the Algar are all brilliant horsemen, with flowing scalp locks. And so it continues across every race of man. This just seemed far too lazy on the part of the world-builder - it makes a novel far more interesting when race is not so heavily defined.The story itself suffers somewhat from middle book syndrome - we are still gathering characters together, and discovering the overall arc of the plot. There is a lot of travelogue-style fiction - namely, wandering around from place to place and having episodic adventures.And we have the PROPHECY and the VOICE. Neither of these plot points were in Pawn of Prophecy at all (despite the title) and it feels as though Eddings felt they would be good additions to the overall story. I know this isn't so, thanks to reading The Rivan Codex, a novel where Eddings describes how long it took him to develop the world and story, but it reads as such. Suddenly we hear about the prophecy about Torak rising again, and the Tolnedran princess who will marry the returned Rivan King.As a personal preference I find prophecy to be a very tired device (maybe it wasn't when the Belgariad was written, but it just creates such innate plot problems). It takes away all freewill from the characters and is essentially one big deus ex machina if the author gets into any problems - "oh, that happened because the prophecy said it needed to..." Add to this the 'dry voice' that speaks in Garion's mind - "don't mind me, I've always been here, I can show you how to use the magic you never knew you had etc etc." Again, a very cliched manner of moving the plot along - need to explain to a dense boy what is going on? Use the mysterious internal voice that is never adequately explained....So, rather scathing all round. The thing is, this book is essential reading in the quintology that makes up The Belgariad. You can't really skip it, unless you've read these books before. And, well, it's Eddings - the prose is still smooth and very readable, the dialogue is still amusing and sometimes very touching. I LOVE Eddings. But this one, I'm afraid, was a wee bit of a struggle.
Queen of Sorcery continues the story begun in Pawn of Prophecy in two respects: the plot picks up exactly where the previous book stopped, and it also has a title that is really unrelated to the story itself. United States audiences like to lampoon modern Japanese culture for its frequent combination of two completely unrelated words to make a title, such as "Metal Gear Solid," "Fullmetal Alchemist," or "Sailor Moon," but this book's title is just as nonsensical. We do hear a little bit more about the "prophecy" suggested by the first book at the beginning of the second, but we're never really shown why the book is called Queen of Sorcery. Apparently Eddings was going for a chess theme when naming the books, which explains how the title came to be, but not how it relates to this particular book.Still, it's a good and engaging read. Eddings continues his "high fantasy with grounded-in-reality heroes" approach to good effect. Garion meets a high-spirited teen named Lelldorin, whom he befriends and only realizes belatedly is something of an idiot. Even so, Garion holds onto prejudices that Lelldorin gives him, and he meets Mandorallen, who is a Lancelot-style character of questionable parentage ("The Song of Ice and Fire's" Brienne is a spiritual descendant of Mandorallen). Garion takes an immediate dislike to him, but Mandorallen proves himself a doughty and reliable boon companion as the group continues ever south, chasing after Belgarath's fellow sorceror, Zedar, who is revealed to have stolen the Orb of Aldur (pretty much any reader of the first book who didn't skip the prologue have pieced this together long before it is revealed to Garion). They are concerned that Zedar is taking the Orb to the high priest of the Grolim, Ctuchik, so that Ctuchik can revive the slumbering mad god, Torak, and so all haste is given to the chase. The problem is that the party keeps getting waylaid by Murgo villains sent to delay their pursuit. Chief among them is Asharak and Brill, who've been keeping pace with the party since the beginnings of the first book.From what I can tell, this is the "Two Towers" of the series: it's a lot of fun, but somehow it's not quite as satisfying as what came before or after. That's not to say that nothing happens, of course: the book is very engaging with plots, counterplots, and quickly changing scenery as the protagonists move across four nations. At first, they try to warn the human nations of Arendia and Tolnedra that war is coming, speak to the Dryads in their sacred forest south of Tolnedra, and then finally are embroiled in the machinations of Salmissra, serpent queen of the swamp kingdom of Nyissa. Is Salmissra supposed to the Queen of Sorcery, though her sorcery is practically nonexistent? Is Polgara, even though she is not a queen (at least, as far as is intimated in this book)? It's vexing. Still, in each country, the heroes are involved in some plot by or against the leaders of the land, which they foil through different methods. Garion gradually begins to appreciate that he has some aptitude for sorcery himself (another reviewer complained that "suddenly Garion is throwing lightning bolts from his hands," but that doesn't happen here); his developing any aptitude with magic is slow but inevitable. What's interesting, in reflection, is how very much plot there is in this book, and yet the focus is so powerfully on the characters and their interactions that the plot if almost secondary.It's definitely not a stand-alone book - one needs to have read the previous book in order to make sense of this one, as Eddings makes none of the usual efforts to provide a "what came before" summary here - but it's definitely worth reading. Maybe that explains why most of the reviewers on here were too lazy to review each book separately, but instead begin with "this is for all of the Belgariad...and the Malloreon to boot."
What do You think about Queen Of Sorcery (1982)?
The fun continues. I only have two complaints with the series, really. 1. The emotions are pretty nonexistent. Like, Eddings mentions how someone feels, but he only mentions it once, so I forget about how characters are feeling a lot. Like I remember at one point in this book it mentioned Garion feeling consumed with hatred for his parents' murderer, and I was like, "Really? Oh yeah." And 2. Garion is really, really, really oblivious. Maybe I'm just thinking so because I knew who he really is from the start, since I've read the books before, but he's totally shocked to find out he's the Rivan king when it's been sooooooo obvious since, like, page 10 of book 1! That's the only really frustrating thing--I mean, he's a clever enough boy that he would have put it together at least by the end of this book, what with the clues that are so obvious they practically slap him in the face. But anyway, aside from that I still like the books a whole, whole lot. :)
—H
I am giving the review for the entire Belgariad as it is somewhat impossible to separate the different books from the story as a whole.This, overall is a good set of quest, fantasy stories. I read and re-read them often when I was younger. As I move from place-to-place as an adult the series is one that I continue to take with me; it is a series that I still read here and there when I am looking for 'comfort food' books.The books are what you would expect from a quest journey series - a young protagonist who starts resistant but comes into his own as he matures and understands the seriousness of the situation. I enjoyed the interplay of the characters with each other, and the way that they could fight and joke and be themselves with each other as they developed trust and friendship amongst themselves. The books also had many plot points and story lines that keep the reader's interest through their entire length. Finally, I enjoyed the strong role that the female characters generally have in the series - something fairly hard to come by at the time I started reading these books.Overall, good, satisfying read for those looking for a bit of escapism.
—Susan
tMaybe I should have discussed this topic under Pawn of Prophecy because the title of that book seems to be more conducive to that discussion than this book, however I wanted the discussion under Pawn of Prophecy to be a bit of an introduction to the series as a whole rather than focusing on something specific. I note that the first review here indicates that the first part of the book seems to be a series of 'meet the enemy, escape, Silk does some business' and that is pretty much it. I personally do not remember that part of it, but as mentioned previously, it seems to be a continuation of the tour around Edding's world.tThe series is basically about a young man named 'Garion' who is the Pawn of Prophecy that is the title of the first book. He grows up on a farm with his Aunt Pol pretty much watching his every move, however unbeknowst to him he is actually prophesied to become the High King and then go and bet up the evil god and his armies and thus usher in a new era of peace and prosperity to the land. In a sense his life has already been prophesied and in effect he pretty much has no choice in the matter.tWhile when I first read the book I really related to Garion (who would not want to be the prophesied one who will save the world) when I look back upon it I once again simply see unoriginality. The idea of a farm boy going of and saving the world is nothing new, Tolkien did it as have numerous other writers. However, the difference with Tolkien is that Frodo actually isn't a part of any prophecy, he is just a little person with a very big task, and the reason he is performing the task is because he first of all was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and secondly he pretty much has a heart of gold. Even then, when standing at the top of Mount Doom, not even he could bring himself to destroy the ring.tThe idea that a prophesied one would come and save the world is nothing new either. That concept was pretty much stolen from the bible, and in many cases the bible did it much better than any author could ever dream of doing. In books like this that rely on a prophecy it is usually only a small poem that pretty much spells out this hero's life. The entire Old Testament is the prophecy that heralds Christ's coming. In fact some have suggested that there were over 2000 prophecies in the Old Testament that pointed to Christ and the argument is that he fulfilled every single one of them. It is also noticeable that half of the prophecies he could fulfil by his conscious actions (such as riding into Jerusalem on a donkey) while the other half he had absolutely no control over (such as being born in Bethlahem).tThe other thing that I notice is that in many of the books we see that the main character is either reluctant to take up this role and has to be pushed into fufilling it by his mentor, and that they are very vulnerable, particularly when young, and his mentors must protect him and groom him. However this was never the case with Christ (depending on your interpretation of the scriptures that is, but this is my interpretation). First of all he was aware of the prophecies and who he was and he willing went about performing what needed to be done, which included willingly going to his death. Secondly he did have a protector, but it was God. He never needed to rely upon any human beings and further his parents never took the role of mentor and guide. He was the 'Son of God' and in effect no grooming was needed. Instead he spent his time on Earth preaching and teaching about God the Father, and then dying on the cross and propitiation for humanity's sins.
—David Sarkies
