I'm continuing to read through the series for the first time, and I'm pleased to report that this second book is significantly better than the first. The story becomes more exciting and somewhat less predictable, and there are traces of originality. I suppose it deserves at least 3.5 stars, but I still hesitate to give it 4.

The boy hero is beginning to remind me slightly of Harry Potter, another confused and rather angry adolescent. Garion predated Potter by about 15 years, but I happen to have encountered Potter first.

The trouble with a teenage hero is that he tends to go through some tiresomely awkward behaviour, lacking both the charm of a child and the general competence of an adult. This is something I could do without, but I'm willing to tolerate it if the book is good in other respects. ( )

This series is the fantasy I recommend for people who don't like fantasy. I particularly like that the characters change over time, something which happens too rarely in most high fantasy. ( )

That I made it through this mess is a testament to my OCD. I thought about writing a "Ten Things I Hate About You" list to this book, but that would take more effort than I care to give. So, I'll keep it short and simple:

1. Eddings seems to have ended his chapters on word count, rather than plot. I mean, this is almost Rocky Flintstone territory. Garion Blinked. End of chapter.
2. This orb our fearless heroes are chasing through two books now might as well be a cat toy for all I know or care about it.
3. I really have no idea what's at stake here at any given moment.
4. And then, MUD MEN! And then, EVIL MURGOS! And then, NAKED DRYADS! And then, MISERABLE SLAVES! Seriously though, I have never in my life had to suspend my believability for no reason other than the characters traveled further than a few paragraphs and something had to pop up to entertain my feeble mind.

If you're reading this. You've probably already read this as a ten year old boy and are now ashamed that I've stripped it down to sticks and stones. And if you haven't read it? For the sake of your sanity, skip this trash. ( )

Dit boek heb ik gelezen met een constante glimlach op mijn gezicht. Het blijft leuk, pretentieloos leesvoer en de humor is voorspelbaar, maar dat maakt niks uit. Eddings is een meester in het meeslepen in een verhaal. Het is echt uit voor je het weet. ( )

This will be the same review for all the books in ‘The Belgariad’ and ‘The Mallorean’.

These books changed me.
I started reading them as an 11 year old who was kind of floating around in this thing called life. I had friends at school, but no meaningful connections. This I didn’t understand until I was older. By reading these books I was drawn into an incredible world filled with characters that I knew and loved, and in some cases wanted to be (come on people, I can’t be the only kid that put a streak of white paint in their hair). The story is Garion’s ‘hero’s journey’ but I felt that the adventure belonged to me too. It was my ‘Neverending story’ if you will and it gave me the confidence to be more present in my own life. I own all the copies of both series set in this marvellous world and most of the extras too. They are a pretty tired looking collection of books because I bought them as a university student from second book shops all over Christchurch and Auckland. I love that they have been released again relatively recently with a fresh new look so that they can appeal to the younger generation. I thoroughly recommend these books for lovers of high fantasy, action, and relatable characters. It is the quintessential hero’s journey.
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{Second of 5 in the Belgariad; fantasy, quest, adventure, epic fantasy, high fantasy}(1984)

I'm really enjoying this re-read. This was one of the first fantasy series I read and I'm having a lot of fun revisiting it. Fair warning, this is the second book of an ongoing quest and there may be spoilers for the first book ahead (although I'll try and avoid them).

Garion, an ordinary farm boy from Sendaria, is travelling on a quest with his aunt Pol, Mister Wolf, an old disreputable-looking peddler (also known as the sorcerer Belgarath), and their friends Durnik, a smith from the same farm, Silk, a Drasnian merchant, and Barak, a huge Cherek warrior. They are tracking an object that has been stolen by a disciple of Torak, the maimed god of the Murgos; an object which has until now assured the safety of the countries of the west and discouraged invasion by Torak's hordes. Belgarath can sense where the object has passed and they have to try to prevent it being taken across the border between west and east. However their journey is hampered by Murgos, Grolims and Nadraks who oppose their goals and along the way they also have to stop to visit the rulers of the countries that they travel through to warn them of impending war with the east. And, as they travel, they pick up companions from different countries so that Belgarath can feel that he's covered the eventualities mentioned in an obscure version of the Prophecy which they happen to be fulfilling. However, their foes are following an opposing Prophecy which they are equally determined to fulfil.

There is a lot that Eddings tells us in the prologues to each book, narrated as legends and tales of this world, that Garion doesn't pick up on; well, would you suspect that the aunt who raised you from a baby was also a famous sorceress who is thousands of years old? But I do know how the story goes and I can't remember if some of the details I caught the first time or if I'm retro-fitting. Though I wonder about some of the things that the characters are trying to hide in plain sight; aunt Pol with her single white lock in her dark tresses isn't a long way from Polgara the sorceress, for example.

This series is fun. It's serious enough but it's not deep and dark and intensive. The interaction between the characters, especially the core characters, is a joy and I'm really enjoying this re-read.

'... I'll wear my blue gown, and you'll wear the white robe. I insist, father.
'You what? Now listen here, Polgara-'
'Be still, father,' she said absently, examining Garion's blue doublet.
Wolf's face darkened, and his eyes bulged dangerously.
'Was there something else?' she asked with a level gaze.
Mister Wolf let it drop.
'He's as wise as they say he is,' Silk observed.

(Belgarath, remember, has been revered in legend for thousands of years.) I love the banter (however 'cheesy' as another review notes). Silk is sardonic without being mean, Barak and even Hettar get in the occasional dig and aunt Polgara is always there to support Garion when he needs it. And now he's really turning into a teenager, with all the unreasonable behaviour even when he knows better (reminds me of certain aspects of my teenage boys’ behaviour).

Garion finds it difficult to come to terms with the idea that his aunt Pol is a powerful sorceress - and then discovers he has powers, however unwelcome. I think that's fair; if you've grown up believing that all magic is confined to stories and legends and then discover that your relatives are two of the most powerful of those legends, that would throw anyone. I still think Eddings has got the balance of sulky teenager without being bratty right; Garion is believable and I can still empathise with him even if I do roll my eyes a bit.

The style of writing can come across as a bit simplistic at times but it's like comfort food; it tells the story and it's very readable. There's quite a bit of violence and blood splashed around, which I'd forgotten, but somehow it's not off-putting, even though we do witness a few deaths - maybe because it's dealt with matter-of-factly. The strength of the narrative is in the seemingly irrelevant background details and little throw away incidents that create the ambiance without detracting from the narrative.

The lawn in the garden was neatly manicured. There were softly splashing fountains, and the rosebushes were all well-pruned. Fruit trees that seemed to be very old were budding, almost ready to burst into bloom in the warm sun. Sparrows bickered over nesting sites on the twisted limbs. Grinneg and the others followed Morin along a curving marble walk toward the centre of the garden.

I've always enjoyed the multinational cast of characters, especially the core group. I do remember noticing, when I read it the first time at height of the Cold War, that the countries in the west represented the 'good guys' while easterners were the 'bad guys' - but I suppose someone has to be. I've always recognised that the characters are stereotyped by country in this world but that's actually one of the things I enjoy about it; the way Sendars are considered staid and full of good sense, Chrereks are large, loud and boisterous, and Arends are the epitome of honour and chivalry - to a fault, unfortunately.

On two opposing hills parties of armored knights with bright-colored pennons on their lances watched the battle. Great siege engines lofted boulders into the air to crash down on the struggling men, killing, so far as Garion could tell, friend and foe indiscriminately. The valley was littered with the dead and the dying.
'Stupid, ' Wolf muttered darkly.
'No one I know of has ever accused Arends of brilliance,' Silk observed.

In this book, we first meet the ‘monsters’ i.e. non-humans of this universe, who also have an important role in the Prophecies. The world of this series continues to expand as we journey through its countries and meet its peoples/ creatures.

And, I have to add, I've always found the Drasnian spy language, using flickers of fingers, a fascinating concept.

I really enjoyed re-reading this; it's so much fun.

(March 2022)
4.5-5 stars ( )

Queen of Sorcery is the second book in The Belgariad by David Eddings. I enjoyed this a little more than the first book and I'm giving it a full 4 stars instead of 3.5 stars rounded up. It still had some of the same aspects I complained about in the first book, but my investment in the story and the characters continued to grow so that I wasn’t as bothered by the more irritating aspects. No doubt part of it is that I’ve gotten more used to the style.

The main character, Garion, still seems immature for his age and Aunt Pol and “Wolf” still hold back information in situations where it doesn’t make sense. For example, they failed to tell Garion not to take off the amulet he’d been given, nor did they tell him why he shouldn’t, and so of course he takes it off and suffers the consequences. If they didn’t want to tell him everything about the amulet, they could have at least told him it would protect him from further attempts at mind control and I’m sure he would have kept it on. There’s also the weird tendency to give groups of people from the same region the same personality characteristics. Some of the main characters will say, “people from Region X all do Y”, and then any characters we meet from Region X are portrayed as described with very little nuance.

It’s easier for me to explain specific issues that I find to complain about though, and harder to explain why I’m still enjoying the story enough to rate it highly. I really like the characters, including the new ones introduced in this book, and I like their interactions with each other. I’m also enjoying the story, even though I wish it were a little more complex, and I look forward to seeing what happens in the next book. ( )

Many people think David Eddings is overly formulaic which he is a bit but since I enjoy the tale he tells I do not mind reading it over again. His characters always have great humor at their core and you cannot beat a good epic tale for entertainment value. This particular book is one of my favorites by him. ( )

Book 2 in the Belgariad series. Lots of family drama going on here as Garion finds out he descends from Polgara and Belgarath and his power begins to overwhelm him. Some great new characters are introduced-I especially liked Mandorallen, he gives me good laughs.

Simple. easy to read old time fantasy. However, towards the end (which my buddy reader loved) it got a bit hokey for me. Nothing that would put me off from continuing the series though. It was, after all, written in 1982 and it was Eddings first dip into fantasy writing. ( )

The quality is already starting to slip in this second volume of The Belgariad. There's still plenty of adventure on the road, but the addition of the token females -- princess Ce'Nedra and the stereotypical sensual temptress snake woman Salmissra -- detract from the strong female character of Polgara. Garion acts like an idiot, and Belgarath runs into lots of old friends. ( )

Book two of a wonderful series. Lots of interesting characters and interplay. Advances the macro story nicely. ( )

Book two follows the same path as book one, it didn’t actually start getting interesting until the later half of part 2.

There seems to be a ton of filler information in this series, I understand traveling across the land and coming across other kingdoms but it just starts to feel bogged down when you are always dealing with a new kingdom and their problems. I understand it’s worldbuilding, but I’m at the point where I don’t know what’s suppose to be really important and what’s just passing information.

There was a bit more character development for everyone, and Garion has moved away from coming across as sassy, to just being angry and rude, but honestly I don’t blame the guy. Everyone spends more time telling him to not worry and refusing to explain anything to him, that it makes sense for him to start to get annoyed with it. Although his shyness around girls is adorable. And this extends to Durnik and his “prude” viewings of women, he is adorable when he is around an “ill” dressed woman, although if Polgara and him don’t end up together I might be upset, their interactions are so sweet.

There was also a few new characters who joined the group, but once again I sometimes feel like certain members become background characters in this group, mainly Durnik and Hetter, it’s like they are only visible when needed and it’s frustrating.

So far I feel like the story is more focused on building the world instead of building Garion. There are so many conversations that he is excluded from, and so much focuses on Belgarath and Polgara and their conversations with other Kings and queens and so fourth. Each time the story does start to focus more on Garion it’s at the end and goes by so quickly. You have to trudge through mud to get to the more interesting parts of this story.

Also it wasn’t until the end of this book that I started to understand that some of the races in this book are animal-like, which is cool, I just wish it was a bit more evident. It shouldn’t have taken me two books to understand that not every race was “human” in nature. Just a small thing that bothers me. ( )

April 2020 Reread: Continuing on my Belgariad reread is such a treat. No matter what else is going on in the world, this series can absolutely take me away from it all. It's a relaxing and pleasant read even as I cringe at how much of a brat Garion is in this one! Review from 2012 below.

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Zedar the Apostate has stolen the Orb of Aldur in hopes of awakening the evil god Torak. Belgarath and Polgara are determined to take back the Orb before this god can be awakened and hope to avert a war. Along the way the party is joined by Hettar of Algaria, a man who can speak with horses, Sir Mandorallen, a Mibrate knight, Ce'Nedra, Imperial Princess of Tolnedra, and for a short while Lelldorin, an Asturian archer.

Queen of Sorcery is the second book of The Belgariad and picks up a couple of weeks after the end of Pawn of Prophecy. The cast of characters begins to grow and each is given a bit of background and small characterization. Ce'Nedra is easily the most fleshed out of the new additions and adds quite a bit of drama to the group, as a teenage girl might. We also get to see three new areas of the world and are given a broader idea of its people.

The pacing on this book is better than the first and the story becomes more cohesive for me. It is also the first time we see a character start to arc: Garion must face the truth of his heritage and accept the powers that control the party's fate. ( )

De eerste helft van het boek viel me tegen. Het was weer meer van hetzelfde uit boek 1. [b:De Voorspelling|2947419|De Voorspelling (De Kronieken van Belgarion, #1)|David Eddings|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1369500021s/2947419.jpg|2558293]. De groep reist, komen vijanden tegen, Silk doet het een of ander, en ze komen weg... en dan weer reizen, vijanden, Silk die iets doet... enzovoort. Gelukkig heb ik de eerste helft van het boek doorgeworsteld, want de tweede helft was vele malen beter. De plot werd interessanter nu er nieuwe informatie over Garion beschikbaar kwam

Ik heb nog wel wat punten:

1) De karakter Garion lijkt weinig zelf-kennis te bezitten. Hoewel dit boek duidelijk vanuit zijn gezichtspunt is geschreven is het gebrek aan ideeën en emoties maken hem tot een vlak personage.

2) Mensen die tot een bepaalde ras of land of gebied behoren hebben allemaal dezelfde personaliteit, zwakheden etc. Misschien is dit iets wat bij Fantasy hoort, want je ziet het ook bij andere boeken, maar ook binnen dit soort groepen zou het best wel meer individualistiser kunnen.

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"Don't think about it, dear," Aunt Pol said quietly as they left the village and rode south along the highway. "It's nothing to worry about. I'll explain it all later."



This second instalment of “The Belgariad” had a lot of dialogue like the above. Our young hero, Garion, is still on the road, travelling south in pursuit of the thief of an ancient artefact with his Aunt Pol, Mister Wolf and the others.

Unfortunately, Pol tries to keep Garion ignorant for reasons partly eluding me and, for reasons completely eluding me, Garion sulks and pouts a bit about it but instead of simply refusing to move another inch till they finally tell him what’s going on, he pretty much accepts being kept in the dark. Very annoying and, at least in my experience as a father of three kids (and having been one myself!), not very truthful either.

Plus: It’s simply annoying to me as a reader because I do have a pretty good idea about what Pol and Mister Wolf are hiding from Garion but Eddings should probably have made them loosen up a bit.

The “still being on the road” part is somewhat annoying, too. It’s getting a bit formulaic at this point – the group is travelling, they’re being hunted/followed/apprehended or something similar in some city/town/village/whatever and, of course, they master it pretty much without skipping a single step... Sometimes they quickly and heroically solve a local issue while being at it anyway.

While this book is still suspenseful, at times I found myself in the position of any kid ever travelling longer than five seconds minutes and, thus, asking: Are we there yet?

And the answer to this question dreaded by every parent (because it will most likely be repeated ad infinitum!) with respect to this book? No, it’s a little longer yet – because not even at the end of “Queen of Sorcery” are we there.

Another small gripe of mine is that nobody really ever changes: I might expect and be more tolerant about this if it only applied to the older members of the party but, alas, Garion himself doesn’t change much either. Very slightly, maybe. Only at the very end of the book do we get a glance at a somewhat more reflective Garion. (Even though his childish petulance keeps coming up: “"I don't need any instruction," he protested, his tone growing sullen.”)



The worst issue, though, comes up when Garion finally grows a pair and rightly tells Aunt Pol off (I cheered!):

“Well, I'm tired of being manipulated. You and I are finished!”



Pol’s answer to that made me fume with rage:

“We will never be finished. You owe me too much for that!”



Eh, what? No, Pol, our children don’t owe us anything. We may have carried them as babies, pampered them – whatever. All of that was our very own decision. We decide to become parents in the first place (in this day and age) and we know (to some degree at least) what that means long before it actually happened.

Whatever we might sacrifice as parents, it’s our decision and does not create any kind of debt or obligation our children might have to repay.

In this case this is even more obvious since Pol actively keeps Garion in the dark about certain things about which she owes Garion a proper explanation.



Nevertheless, the richness of the story-telling and attention to amusing details ("Right now he's telling me about the day he learned to fly," Aunt Pol said. "That's a very important day for a bird.") still made me want to keep reading and ultimately kept things interesting enough.

Let’s see what book three brings...





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Listened to audio narrated well by Cameron Beierle.

This second installment on their Quest is a little richer, a lot more battles and an inability to shake their pursuers. Lots of travel, battle and running. Confronting and educating zealous nobles, spoiled young people, fighting off bad guys and warning leadership as they go. The group also adds and detracts from their number as events transpire.

I remember enjoying this story when I was a kid and that has not changed. This group seems to have enemies coming from all sides but they have strong friends and they themselves have a lot of power. We learn more about the Prophecy and watch Garion become more than he wants to be. Garion's and the princess' spoiled behavior can annoy at times but it seems she matures faster than he, often being the only voice of reason he will listen to, when he fights everyone else.

The ending is very abrupt, but if you like this story you'll want the next installment ready to read.
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second book in series. Enjoyed this, getting to know the characters more as they continue on the quest of the orb. ( )

Better than Pawn of Prophecy (The Belgariad, #1), because the characters are more established, I read Queen of Sorcery more quickly. Carry around a book called Queen of Sorcery, as an adult man, and you'll finish it quickly too, I bet. It frequently felt like an eastern story - like a Japanese Manga derivative - moving from small adventure to small adventure and building to a lot of great character evolution and a more significant set of threats than the first instillation.
The names aren't friendly to my brain for some reason, neither characters or place names, I have a strange relationship with names in fiction and for whatever reason I find these very difficult to commit to memory. It isn't a big problem, but jotting them onto a bookmark would probably be handy (for me).
I like the algroths (scaley goat apes? yes please), poisonous leeches, dryad and snake people cultures. Mister Wolf and Aunt Pol have got to be one of the most fun and notable father/daughter relationships in all of fiction.
Looking forward to book 3. Looks like I'm binging this series. Can't bring myself to rating it 5 stars, yet - but I'm getting closer ( )

Book 2 in the Belgariad finished! The story definitely picks up a bit here, and is a lot more fun. Some of the big scenes are really well done; I think what shines through more than anything is yes, much of the story is familiar, but the style of writing is quite strong and a few characters are so thoroughly fun to read that it doesn't matter to me at all. It's also important to remember that in the early 80s, many of these tropes weren't overdone, so I'm not docking any points for that.

I really enjoyed how Garion's relationship with Aunt Pol and The Wolf progressed here. It's one of the more realistic depictions of a coming of age tale in a completely unrealistic world. Garion is bratty, but not overly so. Barak, Silk and Mandorallen dominate every page they're on and I can't wait to start book 3. ( )

This is the second book of a pentology. It is important for me to note that before writing this review I have read all five books. Not all of my reviews for the five books results in 5 stars, only the first three. I gave the fourth book 4 stars and the final book only got 3. As a result, I have given the entire series only 4 stars.
Continuing from the first book, the mission continues with more peoples and characters being introduced and the journey becomes more perilous. By upping the ante, the author does a good job in a building crescendo. Like the first book, it has some not so realistic actions by characters, but not enough to detract. I enjoyed the development of the main hero, Garion, and the young girl Ce'Nadra. At this point, the Prophecy is becoming clearer and I could begin to guess at some of the outcomes. something I wish the author had kept more in the dark. Still, the intensity of the mission was growing so I found it enjoyable. ( )

This one plays with a LOT of tropes, such as: Ce'Nedra's a spoiled princess, but she's also a buff little Dryad and she gives 0.0 bothers if you don't like her being a Dryad who can hear trees. Of course she's annoying - she's the bickery love interest princess - but she takes decent care of herself. It's Garion who ends up damseled in this entry. I mean we get the complete "bathe him, stick him in a loincloth, and bring him to me" bit which is hilarious. Ce'Nedra gets to be 100% right telling him he's a dick to Polgara and NO ONE has time for his man pain. Garion: "But why must I be burdened with sorcery and also Polgara and Belgarath as family? WHAT IF I'M NOT WHO I AM? ALSO I MURDERED THE MAN WHO KILLED MY PARENTS WHO MIND-CONTROLLED ME!" Everyone: "...good because he needed killing and he was trying to take you to the evil god Torak after killing us all?" Garion: "I AM CONFLICTED! I BLAME YOU, AUNT POL!" Polgara: "You need to watch your mouth or you're going to catch these hands, Belgarion." Garion: "MAH FEELS!" Ce'Nedra: "Literally NO ONE CARES ABOUT YOUR DUMB FEELS!" Garion: "YOUR FACE CARES ABOUT FEE...oh, I'm being a prat." Karma: *bonks Garion on the head*

That's rad. Even if Nyissa is gross orientalism that is also gross takes on Egypt in a way? Like, the later series and one-offs fix that to quite a large degree, but the original version is moderately crap. Everyone is a corrupt gay eunuch on drugs who sexes too much and wears too much eye makeup and see-through clothes. I'm exaggerating only a little. And Salmissra is so weirdly Cleopatra. Like I said, redeemed a lot by the later series, but kind of a mess in the first version...

Man, I love these books anyway so I'm just gonna keep rambling.... ( )

Listening to a classic fantasy story that I head read multiple times was certainly an interesting experience. It took me some time to get used to the pronunciations used but narrator soon captured me in this world again and I might even have enjoyed this more than all the times I have read this one.

5 Stars for a great listening experience. ( )

This is always a fun read. It is not the greatest Fantasy Story ever written, but Eddings' characters interact with one another in the way that Whedon's characters do, which makes up for any pitfalls in the nature of the story itself. ( )

While not as fast paced as [b:Pawn of Prophecy|44659|Pawn of Prophecy (The Belgariad, #1)|David Eddings|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320440039s/44659.jpg|2558293], solid groundwork and very broad hints, are laid down for future books for the rest of the story.

I think being introduced to Ce'Nedra and to Mandorallen were my favorite highlights of this book. ( )

When I was younger I really enjoyed these but this was mostly because I didn't see some of the issues, I mean I did, but I was able to gloss over them much more easily. There is a certain racist element to some of the descriptions of peoples (all x do y or have this and that trait, nope, fail) this is a getting to know characters and the situation they're in and for Garion to whine a lot and to learn more about his life and meet Ce'Needra. This story doesn't do much other than introduce the characters and expand their backgrounds and show the world they're in, it's not much going on really, but a lot underneath the story.

Several pivotal things happen, Salmissra's punishment is interesting and apt, but the keeping ignorant of Garion has always grated heavily. ( )