Customer Reviews
Double edged sword - By: Philip Unsworth, 27 Mar 2005 
Having been a fan of this series for many years - indeed waiting impatiently for him to publish the ongoing books as he was finishing them, & having enjoyed the post-series prequel accounts (figure that one out), Belgarath & Polgara, I had to have this book when it came out. The amount of sheer hard work that has gone into constructing the world where we have followed the whole saga unfolding is extremely impressive & the origins of the different races, cultures & conflicts are well laid out, filling in a number of gaps left by the books themselves. Other reviewers have outlined the content of the book very well so I would like to make a slightly different point. The book was spoiled for me to a degree by Eddings's arrogant (I thought) dismissal of Tolkien right at the start. I doubt there is anybody alive who has read The Belgariad et al who has not read the Lord of the Rings. You must decide for yourself which you prefer or if you feel they both have equal merit but this element of 'one-upmanship', implying almost a contemptuous deisregard for the man who did it first altered my perception of Eddings. Having said that, the whole series, culminating in this detail-laden crowning work still stands as a landmark in fantasy fiction & will remain so for a long time to come.
Excellent background information - By: , 13 Mar 2002 
This is not the book to read if you are expecting another Belgarion et alll story. It quite clearly states that it is not about that. What this book gives you is some idea of the details that the Eddings applied to create their world. In it you will find such mundane things as countries economic base, ruling structure & coinage - but if you keep going you will also be able to read the histories of alll the countries you read about in the books as well as alll their major texts (the prayer of Issa is particularly interesting). Eddings is at pains to point out in this book that this was just his approach to writing, & in no way should you attempt to recreate it as it may not work for you.
And valuable insight in the amount of detail required to bring to life a fantasy world.
Should perhaps have been published before the Belgariad, etc - By: , 28 Nov 2001 
I saw no reviews before I bought this book & would have paid no heed if I had - this may have been my mistake. I have been a a great fan of the Eddings series for many years but felt completely let down by the book. It was very difficult re-visiting old ground and, for the first time ever, I failed to finish reading a book. The problem I have now is I am not sure whether I would buy another book by this long-time favourite author. My best advice is don't buy it.
For true lovers of the Belgariad and Mallorean - By: , 23 Jan 2001 This is definately a book for those readers who want to know how the ideas behind the stories were formulated. It is reallly just a comprehensive list about each of the different gods & their people, but to the avid fan such as myself, I would reccommend it whole heartedly.
Scary levels of background detail - By: , 22 Jan 2001 I can understand people being disappointed in this book if they were expecting it to be another standalone prequel telling a single coherent story, but as long as you know what you're in for (and have a certain level of interest in the Belgariad/Mallloreon in the first place), then you'll have a whale of a time. There's enough stuff here to make its publication more than a cynical cash-in, & though it's by necessity old news to anyone who's read the books it refers to, there are more details than you could ever want on the people & countries you've come to know & love (and it's heartening to see just how much planning goes into some of these epics). After the painful tedium of re-reading exactly the same story for the third time in Polgara the Sorceress, it's a breath of fresh air to finallly see things from such a wide range of different angles. The only thing that reallly brings it down is the patronising commentary from Eddings himself...
