Torak's Wife

So, it took me a bit logner to get through Polgara the Sorceress than previous volumes in the David Eddings series, but she's also a longer read and I was on vacation for five days in there. (DC. There were Pandas.)

As Ce'Nedra complained at the end of Belgarath, the preseries story was unfinished, since Polgara has a story of her own. The Riven Queen and Garion go east to the vale and enlist Poledra to get Polgara to write out her story. Which she does eventually.

Much like Belgarath, Polgara tends to litter her narrative with the occasional aside poking fun at fictional readers of her manuscript. Which helps to lighten up the occasionally dark narrative.

By far the biggest change with Pol is that Polgara is aware that Poledra lived past her birth, as Poledra remains in contact with her throughout her life. Polgara, being a twin, loses her other half at 16 when Beldara marries Riva. Beldara manages to get Polgara out of her awkward and unkempt stage prior to marriage, although Beldaran's eventual death marks the start of deaths that will haunt her through the narrative.

We see much of her learning through her eyes and get the other half of the story told in her father's book, including that her mother was also instructing her. Until she eventually winds up in war torn Arendia to end the civil war, however temporarily. Mind you, she more or less bullies the three Duchies into behaving themselves and gets given her own Duchy, Erat, as a reward. Vo Wacune falls and so does her almost lover Ontrose with it. While Ontrose's death is very hard on her, it doesn't stop her from her duty as Duchess, helping the refugee Wacites settle in to Erat as it becomes Sendaria and destroying the Asturian raiders. She convinces one of the Tonedran Emporers to get a king in Sendaria, and thus her land becomes an independent nation.

After that adventure, she becomes the guardian of the Rivan line, as she fishes the heir, Geran, out of the bay and takes him back to her estate in Sendaria. We hear of her moving around with the heirs and making them vanish into obscurity until Torak's invasion of the West. The heir at the time goes into hiding in Algaria, while Pol and Belgarath get the forces running at Vo Mimbre. We hear of how she and Poledra combine into one particular owl to spy on Torak and Zedar during the siege. And how it was Poledra who helped her resist Torak's proposal on the third day.

We hear of the heir's mental subjugation to Chamdar and subsequent exposure to Chamdar's thoughts, and the later move into Cherek. Finally, the century of the Godslayer arrives and Polgara can finally move back to Sendaria. Which is probably the saddest chapter in the entire book as we learn of the fates of Garion's grandparents and the eventual fire that takes out his parents. And we hear of the move to Faldor's farm and Polgara's eventual acknowledgement of her love for her father.

Polgara is quite a bit more intimate than Belgarath. This is likely because Polgara is younger than Belgarath, and she's much more involved in the day to day history of the world than Belgarath is. It's a wonderful ending to the series, and a reminder of sacrifices made to bring about the changes we need in the world.

Torak's Teeth

As I had stated previously, I came back and finished Belgarath the Sorcerer by David Eddings, having had a small break in the TBR pile.

We start with a very short prologue picking up right after The Seeress of Kell, with the Gods leaving after Polgara's motherhood became official. A conversation between Garion, Durnik, and Belgarath begins a plot to get Belgarath to write down his story, which covers most of the history of the world until Garion's birth.

And what a story it is. This volume clocks in longer than any of the other installments in the series, but it also covers a heck of a lot of ground. We hear about Torak taking Aldur's Orb, then using it to crack the world and the punishment he gets for using it so. We hear of the journey to Mallorea to retrieve the orb, and the split that turns Aloria into Cherek, Drasnia, Algaria, and Riva. We hear of Belgarath's descent into grief and madness following the supposed death of Poledra while he was getting the Orb and setting up Riva.

We have the birth of Polgara and Beldaran, and Pol's hatred of her father. We see Beldaran get married to Riva and start the line that would produce Garion in time. Then comes the writing of the prophecies.

Along the way, we find Belgarath getting directions from his Necessity and Polgara getting her own instruction and usually not telling Belgarath. Eventually Pol winds up in Arendia and gains a Duchy in Vo Wacune. Her father gets quite annoyed with her. Eventually Vo Wacune falls and Pol spends a few centuries being annoyed with her father. Then comes the murder of the Riven King, and Polgara's caretaking of the Riven line.

That falls apart a few times, although none so long as when Torak wakes up and invades Drasnia on his was to the Battle of Vo Mimbre, leaving the Heir at the Algarian Stronghold while Torak invades and decimates the West. That eventually gets settled by Brand exposing Torak to the Orb and poking a stick through his eye....

And then we wait for the birth of the Godslayer, and the sadness that is the deaths of Garion's Grandparents and parents.

We see the companions in their early years, and we end with Ce'Nedra deciding she needs to hear Polgara's story. Which will be later, since I had a few books show up.

It's a good, if involved read, filling in many of the gaps from the first two pentads.

We're on the island of Mimbrate Knights....

As I said with my last update, I'm finishing up David Eddings's The Mallorean, which means we're now discussing the penultimate volume, The Seeress of Kell. 

Now, we basically spend most of our time here in 3 different locations leading up to the climax. We start (eventually) in Kell, home of the Dals. It is here where Cyradis does finally join the party.

It's also in Kell where Belgarath at last learns their final destination is Korim, what used to be mountains before Torak cracked the world in antiquity. Zandramas gets this information via mind control of Ce'Nedra. However, Zandramas has to deal with the arrival of Agachak from Cthol Murgos, who's Agnarak king of choice in the boy king of Mishrak ac Thull.

Anyway, the next stop on the grand tour is Perivor, inhabited by shipwrecked Arends from Vo Mimbre who've long since interbred with the Dals. Zandramas's second, Naradas, is already there and controlling the king. He keeps delaying the party, but ends up getting some bad soup.

And then it's off to the Turim Reef, where the final choice is made after a bunch of fighting and revealing all the missing pieces.

Whne the choice is made, we're treated to an epilogue not quite as long as the one in Stephen King's The Stand when Stu and Tom head back to Boulder. Since all parties (and people left behind earlier) all wind up on Perivor, everyone gets to discuss peace with almost all the world's leaders present and a new God of Agnarak presiding.

Everyone ends up getting a happy ending of sorts, Ce'Nedra has another baby, and Polgara has twins.

In the meantime, there are a few plot holes you can drive a truck through. The biggest one is that Beldin, who's not supposed to be one in the final choosing, is allowed to go because Zandramas used a being from outside this universe. However, when confronting said outsider, Cyradis mentions that the confrontation makes sense of a prophecy of the Dals. Second, Cyradis makes a comment on the way to Korim that suggests Zandrmas's fate is going to be the same regardless of the choice, yet after the choice, it's told to Garion that had the choice gone the other way, his would have been that new fate.

Plot holes and a bunch of misogyny aside (because Eddings can't keep his mouth shut when discussing pregnancy), the book does wind up being a fairly solid ending to the series, even if two subsequent prequels end up trying harder to fix the plot holes from both series.

So yeah. Good fantasy series, even with the flaws.

Travel by map, it's faster

Rather than starting the one off I still have from the library, I'm going to push through and finish The Mallorean before taking care of other business.

Which brings us to Sorceress of Darshiva.

We find out early on that I was wrong about Cyradis joining the party this early. Seems she was a heretofore never seen mostly solid projection, something Poledra does later in the book.

Mostly though, we spend the book in far eastern Mallorea, in the Melcene Empire area. Which leads Belgarath to find an unadulterated copy of the Ashabine Oracles, a sorcerer without training, and a relative of Zakath whom Zandramas crowns as an Emperor of Mallorea.We also find out that only in Kell can the party find out where the Place That Is No More is.

In the mean time, Urvon and Zandramas and their respective Demon Lords are fighting their way across Darshiva and Peldane, with Zandramas utilizing elephant cavalry. Zakath catches up with the party and winds up joining after some interference from Cyradis.

At this point in the series, one can't help but feel like the author is using the old Indiana Jones method of using an arrow on a map to move people along, with mosquito stops everyone on the map.

What we know at the end:

-The companions from the original quintet are plotting to join the new party, even as the Alorn negotiate with Urgit to distract Zakath's forces.

- Zandramas has one more Agnarak to defeat before she's unopposed in her quest to be the Child of Dark with the new God of Agnarak.

-Poledra and Zandramas are destined to have a meeting at some point that won't end well.

Three books in and we finally hit the titled continent.

It's snowing, and lying in bed finishing book 3 of The Mallorean sounded like a great idea this morning. Mind you, I should be shoveling the front walk instead of dealing with Demon Lord of Karanda, but...

Any rate, we pick up right where we left off, with the current party being captured by the Mallorean Army and being taken to Zakath.

Who turns out not to be a bad sort, if you like mildly tyrannical rulers with a human side.

Seems his entire motivation for being in Cthol Murgos is to wipe the line of Taur Urgas from the face of the planet. Given Urgit, the current king, is only half Murgo, and Urgas was not the father, this complicates Zakath's plans a bit. However, the Mallorean Gromlims are in revolt and raising demons in the middle eastern part of the continent, Zakath is forced to return to Mal Zeth to try to retain control of the Empire. Which is composed of the Mallorean Agnaraks, the Melcene Empire, the Dals, and the Karands. The Melcenes are bureaucrats, the Karands are converted demon worshipers, the Dals are mystics, and the Agnaraks are Agnaraks.

Anyway.

Zandramas tries to possess Ce'Nedra, and that doesn't end well. Someone tries to poison Zakath, and they save him. Zakath won't let the party leave until his army returns, prompting an escape amidst a plague that overtakes Mal Zeth.

From there, it's off to Ashaba with the jester Feldegast joining the procession. We find out the identity of the demon lord Mengha, who's actually an old friend of the party. We find out what role Margravine Liselle (aka Velvet) is to play in the proceedings.

We also find out more about who Nahaz is, why he's protecting Urvon, and why he wants the Sardion. And then the voyage East, where we leave off with the discovery of an underwater grotto where the Sardion once rested.

As silly and drawn out as the first two books were, this one gets the plot rolling quickly and gets us headed faster to The Place That Is No More.

What we know at the end:

-Nahaz the Demon Lord is driving the Disciple Urvon insane so he can be the bearer of the Sardion and Master of the Universe.

-Velvet hasn't been quite honest in why she joined up with the party, regardless of the role of prophecy.

-Beldin the dwarf likes resurrecting antique dialects just to annoy Belgarath.

-Cyradis the seer now travels in the flesh with the party.

-Poledra is evidently a bigger part of this.

Two books in and we're still on the same continent

So, I managed to finish David Eddings's King of the Murgos before taking mom to see Star Wars this evening.

Now as I mentioned in the review of book 1, this series has a darker tone than the original, as well as a few moments wherein Ce'Nedra, the girl who raised an army and invaded Mishrak ac Thull, turns into a bigger ninny than Laurana in Dragons of the Spring Dawning. Which is to say, grief excuses so much. Letting her become a shrinking violet is not among them.

We jump in not long after the end of the first book, with Garion, Belgarath, Polgara, Ce'Nedra, Errand, and Silk heading south towards Nyssia on the trail of Zandramas, with a stop in Proglu to meet with UL. UL reveals Errand's real name is Eriond. Literally, this is the only reason they stopped in Ulgoland.

A stop in Tolnedra reveals Bethra, a mercenary spy currently working for Drasnian intelligence is found murdered. This sends Silk a little over the edge and gets Velvet into the party.

In Nyssia, they gain Sadi, the former Chief Eunuch of Salmissra, who;s currently on the outs with the serpent queen. Sadi disguises everyone as slavers to cross into Cthol Murgos. They get hired by the Dagashi to escort an assassin to kill off Kal Zakath. And wine up in palace intrigue with the current king of the Murgos, Urgit, as well as Asharak, the head of the western church of Torak.

Any rate, by the end of the book, we're still not to Mallorea.

What we know by the end:
-Eriond is a lot more than he seems, although we still don't know the extent of it.
-Zandramas's next stop is Torak's house in Ashaba.
-The Dals end up betraying the party to the Malloreans.
-It would seem Silk's father had kids no one knew about.

Gah. I know the last 3 books are more fun, but I'd forgotten how badly the first two drag.

To there and back again

I hadn't intended on starting David Eddings's The Mallorean quite so soon, but at the end of the last book, I grabbed Guardians of the West off the shelf as insurance of having something to read at work.

Any rate, it's done begun now, and I'll have to work in the subsequent volumes around the stuff I have from the library.

So, we begin not long after the ending of Enchanter's End Game with Belgarath, Polgara, Durnik, and Errand returning to Aldur's Vale to begin life anew after the death of Torak. We find that Errand is a bit more than he appears, although we really don't get clues beyond his seeming omniscience about some things. Much like Garion as a child, he gets to meet projections of people who will later on become important in the story. In this case, Cyradis, the Seeress of Kell; and Zandramas, the new Child of Dark.

Then we return to Garion, adjusting to life as King of Riva. Which is really dull for a while, even with the Deus ex machina plot hook tucked in here, wherein Errand and Garion wake in the night and walk in to th ethrone room to see the Orb of Aldur turn red and a voice cry out "Beware Zandramas!"

Followed by another hundred pages of nothing happening beyond an overly long epilogue  to the first series.

Finally, though, C'Nedra gets knocked up, has an heir, and then the plot actually starts moving. Let's see, we have someone trying to get Ce'Nedra to kill Prince Geran while she's asleep. Which brings Poledra back in the picture, even if she's not really there. Then we have the killing of the Rivan Warder, which almost starts a war between Cherek and Riva. While they mop up that, Geran gets kidnapped, leading to another cleaning up of the Alorn Bear Cult, this time in North Eastern Drasnia. Garion finds out how to read a hidden passage in the Mrin Codex, and hey, we're questing again.

By far, the fact that nothing of major interest happening for a few hundred pages is the biggest problem with this introduction. Once it gets going, it takes on a much darker tone than the Belgariad, which hopefully bodes well for the rest of the series. (It does, although we'll return to issues present in The Mallorean as we get through the next volumes eventually.)

So, What we know so far:

-Garion is now a man, and so are his old compatriots.
-Dryads have strange reproductive practices.
-One of Torak's old Acolytes is still alive and living in Mallorea somewhere.
-One of the companions in this series will die by the end.