Customer Reviews

Enchanters' End Game

5 star:		(37)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I have read everything I can find by Tolkein. I have read all I can of Tad Williams. I have read hundreds of books in this genre and I can say this series is excellent. This genre is popular because it requires an imagination, and it is there for the readers to have a good time, not to make literary students of all of us. I don't give a damn for character development and plot - I want something that is going to take me away and let my imagination go on a ride. Eddings did brilliantly with this. The last few books were so fast paced, I couldn't put them down. I can't wait to begin reading the Mallorean. If a person wants to do some seriouse literary reviewing then try a different Genre.

Enchanters' End Game chronicles the climax to Garion's long quest to bring two conflicting prophecies back into synch. As Child of Light, he and his friends have wandered across the Alorn kingdoms, ventured into Tolnedra and Nyissa, and now Garion, Belgarath, and Silk are in the Angarak side of the continent heading for the final confrontation with Torak.

Pacing Garion is C'Nedra, who has rallied the armies of the West to provide what amounts to a distraction so that Garion, thousands of miles away can slip into Cthol Mishrak without the entire Murgo population trying to put an end to them. For all the sarcasm and wit that the characters display, this is a grim struggle, and C'Nedra's forces will be caught between the massive armies of the Mallorean Emperor Zakath and Taur Urgas the insane king of the Murgos. Levity or not many will die in the confrontation.

Of the two story arcs, C'nedra's is the more interestingly told. Garion's adventures are mostly hiding and running at a very forced pace. His challenge is to keep his fear in check as he prepared for a duel that will kill one of the participants. On the other hand, the Alorn kings and many friends surround C'nedra. The preparations for the final battle are extensive, and many of the characters show unexpected sides.

In retrospect, once this series slows down in Castle of Wizardry, it never quite regains its pace. Eddings hadn't quite learned to control his efforts in this series, and his early rush left him lacking a bit of plot in the fourth volume of this series. Enchanters' End Game recovers (nothing like a massive battle to perk things up) but Edding's will always be noted more for characterization and detail than for action. But his next series, the Malloreon is more evenly written, so the pacing is much smoother.

I tend to view these stories as comfort food for fantasy addicts. While they lack something in the way of fast paced action and emotional range, they are genuinely entertaining. I've reread them all several times and they always seem to bear up. I wish everything I read was at least this well done.

I'm probably one of the very few people that actually admit reading David and Leigh Edding's novels now. Especially since Tolkien has come back into fashion in a big way. But I've always been a great admirer of Eddings novels - their plots are EXACTLY the same as Tolkien's literary classic, right down to the location names ("Cthol Mishrak", anyone?). Despite all that, there are two things that keep drawing me back to their novels.

The first strength is how strongly their characters are written. It's so easy to believe that these characters COULD exist in real life, because they're so flawed...and yet so noble and heroic.

A good example is "Belgarath the Sorcerer" - Belgarath is DEFINITELY not a Gandalf clone. He's a thief, a liar, a cheat, and loves keeping the company of woman of questionable reputation. Despite all that, he's still one of the most adept masters of "The Will and the Word", and can perform heroic deeds when called upon.

The Edding's other strength is their narrative. The plotline IS a rip-off of Lord of the Rings, but it moves along at such a good pace, and is so well written, that you totally ignore that issue as soon as you read the first page. The only conclusion I can come to is that although the main plotlines are similar, their execution is totally different.

Now...onto the book review. Of all five books in the Belgariad, this is my favourite. And a large portion of that is due to the battle at Thull Mardu. The plotline in this book revolves around this single event - we see the lead-up (gathering the troops), the battle itself (which is realistically written), and the aftermath. In the lead-up, we get a much better look at some of the protaganists - especially the Alorn Kings. We're also introduced to General Varana, a character who will return in the Mallorean. All of them are very well written, and each of them has a character quirk that endears them to us. We start to care about what happens to them.

The battle itself is quite realistically written. The Edding's strength in this area isn't the body count - we don't seem to get a real idea of how many people die. It's their portrayal of individual events that make it so powerful. There's one quite affecting scene involving a young boy playing a flute on top of a hill that is very well written - and is also used to portray the stupidity and waste of war. It's also important to point out that the good guys are actually outnumbered in this battle, and very nearly don't win. My only complaint about this section of the book is that the Edding's don't provide a really good explanation of exactly how the good guys escape in the end. It just seems to reach a particular point, and then, seemingly satisfied that things will turn out alright, we immediately switch to the battle between Garion and Torak.

As for the battle between Garion and Torak? It was every bit as interesting as I thought it would be. I would love to see this scene portrayed in a movie. The one aspect that really surprised me was HOW Garion defeated Torak - anybody who's read the book knows what I'm talking about. In the end, it wasn't through Garion's skill with a sword, instead it was through taking advantage of a certain aspect of godhood. In retrospect, this makes sense. After all, a god is totally infallible but does have one obvious weakness.

In conclusion, I enjoyed the battle at Thull Mardu far more than the final battle between Garion and Torak. Both were equally powerful events, it's just that one had more time devoted to it than the other. I actually read the Mallorean novels before I read the Belgariad, so it was interesting seeing the events that lead up to the second set of books. I can certainly see why so many people like the Belgariad more than the Mallorean. As for me, I enjoy both saga's equally, although I have a soft spot for the Mallorean because I read it first.

Enjoyed this one as much as the others in the series. This ends the Belgariad series and sets up for the Malloreon. All in all these are good reads. Most of the folks I know have read this series and The Malloreon several times...they are sort of habit forming. If read for what they were written for, light books which should be enjoyed and ones to have fun with, then you will like them. If on the other hand you just graduated from Jr. High and are much, much too mature for them, then you should probably wait until you reach your dotage so that you can appreciate them again. Yes, they are flawed and yes there are endless contradictions (some 233 by my last count), but that is part of the charm of this work. Hey, go out to a oak tree in the woods or in your park, kick back, read and enjoy. Recommend highly.

This book is David Eddings worst, but it's still absolutely amazing! I've lost track of how many times I've read it.

Garion finally faces his fear, and gets rid of it, saving the world, universe, and all of that at the same time.

This book shows and end holding a new beginning, something I really like in a book. This book also has the characters shown from a new point of view, especially Ce'Nedra. She is amazingly more mature in this book.

The characters in this book are realistic and enjoyable, as is the rest of the story. I stronly suggest this book to anyone out there who enjoys an easy, advanced read.

First, everyone is a critic, few get paid to do so.

Any work had rave reviews and negative reviews. Take a chance and read it for yourself to be the final judge.

Well, Unlike most reviews, I'm not going to 'book report' it and summize what happened. The story continues nicely, and now the overall climax of the previous 4 books comes to a head. The fate of the universe lays in the balance, and it depends not only on Garion, but also his friends, Polgara, Durnik, Errand and his future wife, to decide what happpens.

Very well written. I like the climax and the gradual wind down to the end (whereas many books have the climax and end shortly thereafter leaving you asking. 'what about?').

All of the lose ends concerning everyone get tied up. Wow. I am glad I bought the first book on a whim recalling a good review here on Amazon.

I look forward to the Malloreon!

I would recommend! A very enjoyable read!

A+

More, more, more! This is such a great series! The ends of all of these books leave you hanging for more. The Malloreon is just as good. Right up there with Harry Potter and The Secret of Platform 13!

I'm not going to review each book of the series individually since they are all the same in structure, and sadly, nearly in content as well. This series has to be considered one of the most predictable, monotonous, dry fantasy series out there. Near the beginning of every book David Eddings, for some reason I simply can't understand, basically spoils the rest of the book by having characters say what they're going to do. It's like "We'll do A, then B, then C," where C is the end of the book. These summaries wouldn't be so detrimental if the author actually had some unexpected things happen along the way...but he doesn't. It happens exactly according to the summary every time. At least ninety percent of every book in the series is monotony--basically you know what's going to happen and are just waiting for it to take place.

The characters are also pretty flat. They each of interesting quirks, but the author just keeps replaying them over and over again. If Aunt Pol makes one more smart-guy comment or Garion "blushes" in embarassment one more time... I tell you, someone blushing as much as him has no right to be a king of any sort.

Now that the worst aspects of the series are out of the way...

I must say I enjoyed the "mythology" inserted into the beginning of every book. In fact I enjoy that more than the book itself. It seems very creative, and it is very well done. Also the first book is probably 3 or 4 stars, rather than the rest of the series' 2 stars...the beginning of it is much better done.

I have to conclude that life is too short to waste time on books like these. Just pass it on.

I read the whole series in a few weeks, and I say it was great. It lacks a bit of power, but is very well written, funny, and much more entertaining with realistic insight then some overhyped fantasy.

Good action, romance, human emotions, and a building zenith of events that keeps the pages turning. The only part I had a problem with was how they cut out the best part at the very end. I mean, come on Dave, you know we all wanted to know what happend AFTER Ce'Nedra and Garion got married. And I say that from a comical standpoint. But I still fail to see why fantasy, as well as socity, embelishes violence, yet shuns sex. Whats up with that? If you can write in detail about death and bloody combat you can sure write about love and sex. The joke with the orb was funny, but I think something much more funny was going on at the time ^_~ And it was also a good charcter development point, to bad it was to ''offensive'' to write about. Only other flaw was that travel got a little boaring and I would have liked to know more about the universal sceam of things, I found that very cool. Despite a few flaws ( and every writer has flaws) Eddings is great. Truely great.

And if you didnt like it why did you bother reading it. I put a book down if I don't like it and, I sure don't go to a major webpage and say how it sucks. Get a life. And for people who can enjoy good fantasy, read Eddings. Or other authors, there are so many good fantasy novels, if you can stop compareing and read with an open mind, and heart.

There are some very good things about this book, and then some really glaring flaws. Despite all, this series is the best Eddings wrote. His characters are actually likeable. In later ones his writing style goes clunky and he tries to make every other sentance a deadpan joke. In "The Dreamers", the style of writing is so 'talk about important things in a silly way' that the series falls flat. Sorry to rant about that, but really, if you want to read Eddings read the Belgariad. (If you're curious, the Mallorean is about the same characters and has some of hte Belgariad's charm, but not all. The Elenium and the Tamali, both about a two-demensional knight named Sparhawk, are okay but really not at all interesting. "The Redemption of Athaelus" is one book about a thief and a goddess; completely funny, but it would be a disaster if it weren't a single book. "The Dreamers" is just aweful. STay away from it.)

However, I'm talking about Enchanter's End Game. Moreover I am writing to amuse myself, not whoever reads this. So: Things I like. I adore the way the queens left behind to rule while their husbands go off and fight handle things. Silar of Algeria, Porenn of Drasnia, and even the flakey Islena of Cherek spend their time defeating hte plots of the Bear-Cult, a bunch of conspiratorially minded religious extremists. Silar sends them off to conduct a survey of all the foals and calves in her kingdom; Islena (assisted by the formidable Lady Merel and the sneaky Queen Porenn) ships them all off to war; and Porenn herself manages to clean them out of her spy service and send them to the worst duty posts she and her spymaster can think of. On the side, Porenn negociates with the supposedly enemy kingdom of Gar og Nadrak so that hte Nadraks end up switching sides in the middle of a battle. The queen of Arendia, Mayaserana, manages (in heavily embroidered language) to stop her country's civil war, which was supposed to have ended centuries ago but stayed because of a formality. Something regardant on which of her titles half of the country owed fealty to. You have to read it to understand- honestly, the Arends are the silliest people in teh series. And finally, Layla of Sendaria, a rather stay at home mother, defeats a scheming ambasador by pretending to be incredibly absent-minded and enlisting hte help of her three youngest children to interupt him. The queens all get away with huge things because people expect them to be stupid, and they aren't. Except maybe Islena, and she has the good sense to pick good advisors. The situation parellels the way ladies took over ruling and fighting at home when their husbands were off on the Crusades in teh middle ages.

The humor in this book hasn't gotten so crazy and omnipresent. It's there, but in later books Eddigns feels that his undoubted funniness gives him the right to ignore characters, setting... in fact, the later books are made up of humor, battles, some sex/romance, and in some cases a little-girl goddess. Bad form. Fortunately he hasn't done that yet here. This one's still okay.

The bad things: Eddings tends to make every person in one of his countries as one of a 'type'. Sendars are practical and decent. Period. Arends are passionate and not too bright and taken up with nobility to the point of idiocy; if they are Mimbrates tehy talk in high style (Thee, thou, prithee, et cetera, sentances that last forever.) Chereks are semi-pirates. Drasnians are sneaky. You get hte picture. THat's the chief flaw.