Guardians of the West (The Malloreon) [マスマーケット]

Here begins the second of David Eddings fantasy series' - Guardians of the West. It is the follow up on his first series - The Belgariad - and uses the same characters in much the same settings (more of this series takes place in the Angarak kingdoms). Depending on your viewpoint you will find this series inventive or repetition, funny or silly, slow paced or marvelously detailed. I find it impossible to predict who will or will not like it. For the record, I feel that, while the writing has improved considerably from the first set, characterization is fairly static, and, of course, much of the plot is borrowed from the Belgariad.

It's about fourteen years after the fall of Torak, and Polgara, Durnik, Errand and the irascible Belgarath have set up housekeeping in the Vale of Aldur and are well on their way to becoming a typical family of sorcerers. All of this is interrupted when word comes that the relationship between Belgarion and C'Nedra is on the rocks AND there is no heir to the throne of Riva. Polgara comes to the rescue (or interferes mercilessly, depending on how you feel about 3000 year old aunts butting in). But repairing the damage and getting an heir on the way creates even more problems than it solves. Once again, conflicting prophecies awaken, this time with the birth of Geran, the heir to Riva, and the world teeters on the edge of disaster.

The Bear Cult goes into high gear, the Orb warns of coming evil, and Geran is kidnapped. Once again Belgarion and C'Nedra go on a quest, this time to save there child from being sacrificed to initiate the new reign of a Child of Darkness. A race is on between two opposing forces. Whoever fails to reach 'the place that is no more' on time will lose. The instructions are hidden in countless books of prophecy which Belgarath must interpret and the party is subject to manipulation from both the Seers of Kell, and Zandramas, Geran's kidnapper.

The writing is decidedly tighter in the Malloreon than it is in the Belgariad. The early tendency to intersperse little dabs of action with endless discussion and peripheral side stories is gone. However, so are some of the human touches. Guardians of the West marches forward, telling what is a very complex set of events, but for all the time that is spent on C'Nedra's pain at the theft of her child, she never gets the respectful treatment that you would thing she merits. And with so many characters crossing over to the new series, one would expect more development. Other than some growth for Belgarion and Errand and the insertion of some new characters, the personality side of these books is very static.

Even so, this series is still better than a great deal of the fantasy fiction that competes with it that it is easy to forgive it's faults. It remains a comfortable sort of good vs. evil tale, told with a great deal of gentle (and not so gentle) sarcasm. I would recommend it over many other efforts.

The Guardians of the West was a much appreciated continuation of the Belgariad series. It brought back all my favorite characters, and is also the beginning of a much better series.

While this book (and series) will never be extremely high up on my all-time greatest books list, it is extremely high on my all-time most wildly entertaining books list. Don't read this to by emotionally moved or intellectually stimulated, but read it to have a wildly fun time. The characters are somewhat flat, but make up for it with many quirks and outragous personalities. I probably laughed more reading this series than any other book, with the exception of any written by Douglas Adams.

The plot was intelligently put together, and the books read very quickly. The characters are all fun, although Ce'Nedra irritated me. She was tough and funny in the Belgariad, but she comes across as mory of a whiny wimp in this series. But aside from that the Guardians of the West, and the entire Malloreon series is Eddings' best work to date, and better than most of the fantasy's out on the market right now.

Definitely recommended for any fantasy lover.

As a Tad Williams fan who appreciates a realistic 80% mortality rate among the heroes, formidable villains, dense plotting and haunting settings, Eddings 'Mallorean' reads like a happy romp through a schoolyard on a spring day. Eddings' narrative devotes multiple pages to building up various baddies, who are then dispatched in the space of one when encountered by omnipotent heroes. Very shortly anything the villains say sounds trite and inconsequential, however threatening. The entire series should have 'Suspense Free!' stamped on it.