Belgarath the Sorcerer by David & Leigh Eddings – 4 Star Review!

Story Rating: ****
Cover Rating: A

So, this book is a companion to The Belgariad and The Malloreon series, to which Belgarath the Sorcerer plays a vital role. It’s essentially a biography, really, but includes quite a bit of adventures of it’s own – independent of the ones going on in the other two series.

The book, which is quite long, carefully and (I believe) accurately describes the life of a man who is thousands of years old. It is realistic, stays true to the character, and is a great read for anyone either obsessed with the Belgariad/Malloreon series or who enjoy a deeper look into dynamic characters.

The cover is eye-catching and offers a highly accurate idea of what the reader will find inside it’s pages.

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Polgara the Sorceress by David & Leigh Eddings – 5 Star Review!

Story Rating: *****
Cover Rating: A

Polgara was always one of my favorite characters, and I just loved this book depicting her life. It’s amazing since during the Belgariad and Malloreon series, you only gets hints at what “Aunt Pol” had gone through or done. This lengthy book fleshes out those hints and gives the full story.

You end up feeling bad for Polgara at many points, but she also gets an HEA of her own after suffering for the cause/prophecy for so many centuries. Also, can I just say that Polgara is a kick butt woman who can do everything herself while somehow maintaining her feminine charm? She really is quite amazing.

The cover is eye-catching and gives an accurate representation of what the reader will find inside the pages.

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The Seeress of Kell by David Eddings (The Malloreon, #5) – 5 Star Review!

Story Rating: *****
Cover Rating: C

This is the final volume in The Malloreon series, and the big culminating fight scene finally occurs. It’s full of action, adventure, trials, and a lot of unexpected, last-moment character development to help wrap up our main adventuring party’s own stories.

There are happy endings for most involved, and one happy ending in particular has me going “yes!” I won’t see which, of course, but you’ll know it when you read it.

The cover is slightly eye-catching but I don’t feel it’s quite representative of the story readers should expect. (Note: The cover I am reviewing is for the mass  market paperback version I own. There are other formats with other covers.)

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Sorceress of Darshiva by David Eddings (The Malloreon, #4) – 4 Star Review!

Story Rating: ****
Cover Rating: B

In this book, we go back to hating Zaketh a little bit more while also totally feeling bad for him. Zandramas continues to be a jerk, and harries our main adventuring party mercilessly. Our main adventure party continues to be true to their personalities, which is something I find Eddings to be a master at. I’m big on characters, and I hate it when characters suddenly lose themselves in the middle of the story (unless it’s purposeful, of course).

The adventure keeps moving on and the reader knows to get geared up for a big fighting scene at some point in the fifth book. This fourth volume has you anxiously anticipating it, as they still have no idea where that final place really is.

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Demon Lord of Karanda by David Eddings (The Malloreon, #3) – 5 Star Review!

Story Rating: *****
Cover Rating: C

Can I just start out by saying that I’m in love with Zaketh, the bad guy in this series? He’s an incredibly diverse character. David Eddings is an incredibly talented writer to make me both hate the bad guy, and totally sympathize with him – plus, I feel that he’s the only “crush-worthy” character outside of Silk (but maybe I have an odd taste).

The Seeress of Kell is also a dynamic character who has multiple faucets to her personality, although they appear very slowly versus the immediate, obvious duplicity of Zaketh. Our beloved main characters are as lovable and true to themselves as ever, and the story is packed full of action. Once again, the urgency to reach their destination mounts in this third volume, and the reader is given the sense of time passing much too quickly for the characters.

The cover isn’t particularly eye-catching and it gives only a moderately good idea of what the readers might find inside the story. (Please note: the cover rated is the mass market paperback cover that I own. There are other formats with other covers available.)

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King of the Murgos by David Eddings (The Malloreon, #2) – 4 Star Review

Story Rating: ****
Cover Rating: B

In the second volume of The Malloreon, we see a greater sense of urgency to fulfill the prophecy, which is relayed perfectly. Eddings has written the story so that steadily, it becomes evident all the characters slowly begin panicking they won’t make it on time as the series continues – and it offers small bits of information on that prophecy throughout the book.

The story is action-packed, although I found The Malloreon to be a little less amazing than The Belgariad in general (which is the series coming before this one). The characters, however, are still true to the personality we’ve come to love, although we’re slowly seeing dynamic shifts in that personality (which I love).

The cover is moderately eye-catching and gives an accurate depiction of what readers should expect from the story. (Note: The cover being reviewed is from the mass market paperback version I own. There are other covers and other formats available.)

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Guardians of the West by David Eddings (The Malloreon, #1) – 4 Star Review!

Story Rating: ****
Cover Rating: B

This book picks up a number of years after the end of The Belgariad series, and the only reason is receives four stars instead of five is because the start of this book was incredibly dull in comparison to what I’d come to expect from Eddings. After the first bit, however, Eddings definitely delivered.

The book includes an update on all of our favorite characters and introduces new ones. We also get a chance to see how altered our first primary cast was after such a long break in time. After a low start, the book is full of action, intrigue, romance, and heartache.

The cover is moderately eye-catching and gives the reader a good idea of what they should expect from the story. (Please note: The cover being reviewed is the mass market paperback edition I own. There are other covers on other editions.)

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Enchanters’ End Game by David Eddings (The Belgariad, #5) – 5 Star Review!

Story Rating: *****
Cover Rating: B

Eddings wraps up this series beautifully in Enchanter’s End Game (and simultaneously sets the scene for the following series, The Mallorean). It is another action-packed book that intricately works the internal workings/struggles of his characters into the overlying plot. The book keeps the reader turning the page to find out what happens next, and wraps up the story with no loose endings. Somehow, however, Eddings manages to leave openings in the plot (without it being loose ends) that allow the reader to still be intrigued to follow-up with The Mallorean.

The cover is moderately eye-catching and gives an accurate depiction of what readers should expect from the story. (Please note: The cover I am reviewing is the mass market paperback cover I own. There are other covers for other editions of this book.)

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Castle of Wizardry by David Eddings (the Belgariad, #4) – 5 Star Review!

Story Rating: *****
Cover Rating: B

This is the part where all the loose ends start to add up, and they do so amidst pages filled with non-stop action. Where the previous books were action-packed but focused more on character development, this fourth volume shows fully-developed characters thrown into the midst of one treacherous situation after another. Yet still, even four books into the series, Eddings has quite a few surprises in store for readers.

The cover is moderately eye-catching and offers an accurate description of what readers should expect from the story. (Please note: the cover being rated is the mass market paperback version that I own. There are numerous other editions with their own unique covers.)

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Magician’s Gambit by David Eddings (The Belgariad, #3) – 5 Star Review!

Story Rating: *****
Cover Rating: C

In this book, we get much further inside Ce’Nedra’s head. She’s a feisty, spoiled little thing with a heart of gold and her BIG flaws make her a highly realistic character, despite her powerful status. It’s also a testament to Polgara (my favorite character ever, of course) that she can keep the little imp in line – but then, everyone always listens to “Aunt Pol.”

Belgareth is crankier than ever, Garion is undergoing big changes, and are side cast (who prove to have their own moments taking center stage) are all slowly fleshing out at an appropriate time without overwhelming the reader. The action ramps up in this third installment, so you can’t put the book down and MUST *immediately* pick up the fourth.

The cover is okay. It gives a fairly accurate depiction of what the reader might imagine the pages contain, and is moderately eye-catching. (Note: The cover reviewed is for the mass market paperback edition I own. There are numerous other cover designs available on numerous other formats.)

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