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Pawn of Prophecy

Pawn of Prophecy

List Price: $6.99
Your Price: $6.29
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Come on people!
Review: Now I've read some of these reviews and i'm just utterly disapointed. The true and origional nature of Fantasy stories is a plot which we call in the english/writing vocabulary "Journey story". Maybe that was too hard to understand for most of these people. In the many comparisons to Lord Of the Rings, I felt stupified by reading them. Garion is not set out to destroy an ancient evil, he is trying to recover it, and unlike most other books Edding's god's make it wonderful, Garion is set out to destroy a god.

Now if you seem to find cliches in that, then you need to read up better. Eddings does more then just make characters and have them on an adventure, he delves deep into each of their history and personality. This book and the whole series is not just for one age, but for all ages. After reading the first book, then going on to the next ones, you get a feeling like you have grown together with the characters in his novels because you know everything about them, and Eddings makes their personality so great.

So for all of you who think that this story was one big cliche, you're wrong. He was simply taking the forground outline of a regular fantasy novel and adding everything to it. The races are far more wide then any of the Lord Of the Rings, also he puts much about religion and gods which I have yet to find in any other book. And to put one last word for those who felt the need to critique this novel and others in such way, read at least 2-3 more novels after Pawn Of Prophecy, then you will understand what i'm telling you about, and how you're wrong.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great SERIES (not a stand alone)...
Review: Pawn of Prophesy was not meant to be a stand-alone novel. This book is the first in a 5-BOOK series...of course it's going to start off a little slow! There's too much character/plot development to go much faster. The series as a whole, however, is one I would highly recommend. Each character has their own style and flair, and the interplay between them is wonderful! OK, so anyone who has read fantasy novels might be able to predict the basic plot, but there are enough twists and turns to keep you turning pages.

I liked these books so much that I bought the Belgariad (5 books), the Mallorean (5 books), the Tamuli (3 books), and the Elenium (3 books). The first 2 (Belgariad and Mallorean) follow one set of characters, and the second 2 (Tamuli and Elenium) follow a different set. I think the first 2 were better, but they were all good. My copies are very worn from being read over and over!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: *Yawn*
Review: Sadly, I have already forgotten most of the plot of "Pawn of Prophecy". On that promising note, let me proceed to tell you, the unwary reader, that the only way you will enjoy these books is if you read them around the tender age of 8 or so and look upon them with nostalgia.

Anyone above this age, beware.

We start off in the dull farmland of somewhere or the other where our main character the farmboy leads his dull life. Soon, the Mysterious Stranger appears, and along with his aunt, the dull farmboy sets out to save the world, although we really dont know why his super-aunt and Mister Wolf can't do it, but must patiently teach this untutored farmhand. Nothing like laziness, I suppose.

Sleepy already? Wait, theres more!

With earth shattering insight, we deduce that Aunt Pol is really the superwoman "Polgara" mentioned in the prologue, and that the Mysterious Stranger is none other than "Belgarath", travelling under the acronym of Mister Wolf.

We then observe our young friend get into many ghastly battles, which I can't seem to recall but I'm sure are there, and then we arrive at some court or the other, where a plump king and his homely wife behave like a bunch of rustic farmhands, with the queen fussing over Garion like a mother hen.

Then we travel onto some frozen wasteland where the fierce barbarians live and something or the other happens, but I can't really recall. I'm sure it was important, it seemed to involve some sort of maze and some earth-shattering danger that thankfully, was resolved with no harm to precious young Garion.

Finally, near the end of the book, all I can remember is that the devastatingly complex magical system of Edding's universe was revealed to be the "Will and the Word", or say a word and wish very hard, and the harder you wish the more powerful the spell.

I was bored and stupefied by the end of this book. Its become cliched to call this book a cliche, but its true; the whole book is one giant cliche after another. Swords? Check. Spells? Check. Wise Mentor? Check. Journey to destroy some powerful artifact? Check. (for the record, I cant remember what this powerful artifact is, some globe or something- or maybe it was a wand or an orb. Needless to say, its very urgent that this must be destroyed). Fierce warrior companions? Check. Plot? Wait, I'll get back to you on that one.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Dull characters, incomplete plot.
Review: In "Pawn of Prophecy," the incomplete plot gradually introduces a set of characters, but virtually nothing happens to them. The characters are thin, as the blatant foreshadowing screams that Pol and Wolf are far more than just a simple cook and a storyteller, and Gorion will inevitably be the farm boy who rises to greatness and saves the world. The only thing more tedious than Aunt Pol's constant scolding of Gorion after he was well beyond boyhood was the glacial pace of Eddings's plot as the party traveled in a circle from city to city, looking for some nameless artifact they never could find. Eddings creates a colorful world of seven different lands, each inhabited by multiple races, but he doesn't develop most of them beyond simple caricatures and the different races become just names the reader has to remember. Eddings writes well and firmly develops his world, but without a more complete story line, "Pawn of Prophecy" is just 290 pages worth of introduction.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: (Surprisingly well done) Pawn of Cliche'
Review: In one of the earlier novels of Eddings career here we see him at the best of his game. Designing a rich, intricate world that has the tendency to be cliche at some points yet manages to catch our affection as we follow the exploits of the narrator and hero Garion.

Garion innocently and refreshingly gives the reader a third person view point. As we watch him being taken from his comfortable home upon a large farming plantation and is swept up into events beyond his control and full understanding, yet it is here that Eddings truely shines when he gives us masterful hints that Garion is more invovled with what's going on then he truely knows.

Eddings once more designs an excellent fantasy world that, although well done sometimes falls into it's own self made "cliche'd" traps by limiting otherwise well done characters to their typical roles. The hard-headed, brave yet strangely soft hearted barbarian, the dark and serious and all knowing and rather infuriating sorceress, and of course there's the always greedy yet some how manages to show us his true humanity theif.

It is these self made traps that limits the books one star down from 5-stars, but with such a poor selection of fantasy being published, one definately reccomends turning back to the old classics and fall in love with them all over again.

'Pawn of Prophecy', is one Eddings that doesn't want to be missed.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: What is wrong with you people ?!
Review: Nothing bothers me more than the ridiculous fawning that people offer up to the works of David Eddings. Over the last year or so I've made a point of reading every novel that Eddings has ever written. Looking back over it all, the only word that comes to mind is "YUCK!". Here's my summary:

The Belgariad is nothing more than a (VERY) poor man's Lord of the Rings. I actually read a review on this site in which someone claimed that it was "The Lord of the Rings with life". What the ?!

The Malloreon is the Belgariad - slightly different quest, but the idea is exactly the same. Eddings even says it himself with his "doesn't it seem like all this has happened before"'s and his constant Prophecy rubbish.

The Tamuli is the Belgariad and Malloreon stories put together with brand-new, extra-annoying characters. "Hello, neighbor!" - ARRGGGGGHHHH!

The Redemption of Althalus ? I can't even go into it - the thought of that ridiculous cat is making my stomach turn. And the "geez I'm bored with writing this book" ending. And "let's jump around in time and make everything work out better for the good guys". And OH MY GOD !!!

His male characters are flat, submissive and entirely non-heroic. His female characters are either sickly cute or infuriatingly condescending. His worlds are two-dimensional and utterly lifeless.

PLEASE, do yourselves a favor and cut the Eddings out of your lives. Believe me, there are countless fantasy novels out there that are FAR more deserving of your time.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: A Slow start
Review: The first of David Eddings' Belgariad series, Pawn of Prophey introduces the characters we will know and love in an interesting manner. The main character, Garion, is just a typical boy (seemingly), who gets thrown into fantastic events. His closest companions are his "aunt", Pol, and "grandfather", Mister Wolf. We, as the readers, know who those two people really are, but Garion doesn't.
Not too many wild things happen in this book as does the next few books in this series, but it's worth your time before you start the other books.
Though at first I wanted Pawn of Prophecy to be over quickly since it was boring at parts, near the end, it picks up and ends at an unsatisfactory place that left me wanting more.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Lost patience with Polgara
Review: Although I enjoyed the book for the most part, It didn't feel complete: you were left "hanging", just like the main character, Garion. Poor chap, no wonder he was frustrated, wouldn't you be,if you knew something was underfoot, but your aunt kept leaving you in suspense? Like Garion, I felt frustrated, and I don't care if I ever read book 2 or 3 ever again.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Superior Struggles with Gods, Cultures and Politics, with hu
Review: I found the five books of the Belgariad by David Eddings to be very fulfilling. I really couldn't put them down. His books include interesting races of men and Gods, but no elves or hobbits or dwarves. His cultures and politics are far superior to most fantasy books, and his humor is also much better than average. While I would have preferred more edge and less happily-ever-after to the plight of his characters. I found his character's relationship to their Gods superbly conceived and very interesting.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A review of one of the best fantasy books ever written.
Review: This powerful beginning of a series which follows the quest in search of a magical object with compelling characters and wonderful sorcery is the first of five that will get your heart pumping with the excitement that culminates in the following books until you no longer live on this earth, but in the amazing and mystifying world that David Eddings creates: Pawn of Prophecy, Queen of Sorcery, Magician's Gambit, Castle of Wizardry, and finally it all comes down to Enchanter's End Game. I hope you read every single book in this series, because if you don't, you will be missing out on something truly magical.


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