Customer Reviews

Polgara the Sorceress (Voyager)

5 star:		(115)
4 star:		(37)
3 star:		(20)
2 star:		(21)
1 star:		(29)

 

 

If you haven't read the Belgariad (mostly) or the Malloreon, then don't even bother picking this up because you probably aren't going to know what the heck is going on. David Eddings seems to polarize people even more than say, Robert Jordan, there are people like me who have read the Belgariad a million times (and I generally don't read books more than once) and there are folks who spit in his general direction upon hearing the name Eddings. So I'm biased. Who isn't? Like the similiarily gigantic Belgarath, this is basically the three thousand year history of Eddings' world told from the point of view of the woman who wound up guarding the line of Rivan kings for about a thousand years or so. Polgara is an engaging narrator and even though she's going events that we know a lot about already, her perspective is both different from the omniscient narrator of the series and Belgarath's from the other book. The thing I most liked about the Eddings' books (at least initially) was they had a bit of a gentle, homespun quality. There may have been high sorcery and world shattering events going on around everyone but you got a sense of wonder and a feeling that these are regular people being thrust into something that's been going on forever that they have little conception of. Of course that's Eddings' best and worst trait as a writer. He's pretty much incapable of detailing complex emotions in any way shape or form and over the course of seven hundred pages it can get tedious, it's never less than entertaining but you may want to take short breaks from the book before going back to it. It's also very slow moving, because being immortal is mostly sitting around and waiting for stuff to happen. With Polgara being three thousand years old, it takes a while to get anywhere and there's a lot of repetition in events, heck, even the Rivan king names start repeating after a while. Also, for some reason, every fantasy writer except for Tolkein decides that he has to give his or her personal view of male/female relationships, Jordan is notorious for this and it never really bothered me in Eddings until now, perhaps because of said repetition. All the woman are manipulative, but tender and sensitive, the men are gruffy ineffectual, needing a woman to guide them and nobody is ever complete until they are married, and just about everyone falls apart completely when his or her spouse dies. Polgara winds up restating the same point several times, which isn't uncommon in a long, somewhat ramblinh narrative but still jarring nonetheless. Still, there is lots to recommend to fans, Polgara's accounts of how she became a duchess and basically created Sendaria are pure Eddings and the Vo Mimbre section of the book alone is worth the price of admission, if only because it's the only really epic action packed thing there (it was the last clash of Light and Dark before the Belgariad). Definitely a kind and gentle way to say goodbye to a series that has thrilled me more times than I can remember and it was great revisiting all those great characters and events one last time. If you've grown up on Eddings, you owe it to yourself to get this, if you're new, get the Belgariad first and see if you like that, then come back here. It'll be waiting. Or something.

The Belgeriad and Mallorean series are my favorite pieces of fantasy literature - I've read them a couple times, and they are always super enjoyable, and always force me to stay up late reading them because I can't stop, even though I know what's going to happen.

This book (and Belgarath) is a wonderful cap to the whole series, going all way back in time. Although much of it is a repeat of what was in the other books, this is wonderful reading since it is all from the perspective of Polgara, daughter of Belgarath, alive the last 5,000 years. Polgara offers many, many new insights to the events of the books. It's fascinating: construct a whole series with the omniscient narrator, and then write two more books going over the whole thing again, but from the point of views of two characters in the series. Surprisingly, it not only works, it works well, and it's quite compelling reading. And Eddings writes convincingly enough to make one think it really *is* Polgara who has written this.

Absolutely excellent reading, but of course, you really do have to read the first ten books first. And I can't recommend this series enough. Certainly the best multi-volume fantasy series that has come out (and yes, I am apostate by regarding this higher than Lord of the Rings, but so be it).

Finally, the saga is complete and this book doesn't disappoint at all. It is, off course, very similar to "Belgarath the Sorcerer". People who read the other books by David & Leigh Eddings will love it, for everyone else, let me warn you: The book takes its time to get into high gear and many things that Pol writes about are hard to understand for people who haven't read the other books. So, for those of you, you can subtract two stars from my rating. For Eddings-fans, this is a must-read: We finally learn how Polgara guarded the Rivan line and it is a fascinating concept that someone has to take care for a blood-line for 15(!) centuries, staying with that family for so long, always seeing people get born, grow up and die. Very sad, but a fascinating idea. For everyone who has read "Belgarath the Sorcerer" here's a valuable hint: Have the Belgarath-book close by when you read Polgara's story. It is absolutely fascinating to read the same events from two perspectives. A hint to the publisher: How about putting those two books together in one single (very thick) volume in a cross-cut style switching always from Belgarath to Polgara and back?

I loved this book because you really feel like you know the characters. It has magic, humor, and a touch of romance. I couldn't put it down. when the character cries, you feel like crying with her, when she speaks, you feel like you are actually listening to her.

After having read the Belgariad and Mallorean series twice each, Belgarath the Sorcerer and Polgara the Sorceress were necessary follow-ups that added depth to two excellent sagas. But while Belgarath's "biography" was a great source of missing information and at the same time very funny, Polgara's story fell a little short of the mark. It was a great idea to get a woman's perspective for the sagas, and certainly Polgara was a woman to be reckoned with, but she was portrayed in her own book as being arrogant and conceited at times, and this was very unsettling. Her early childhood story was predictable, since Belgarath had explained a great deal and the two previous chronicles had also dealt with that time quite a bit, and at times I wished that I were there so that I could smack her. Her petulance and childishness diminished her character in my eyes. The description of the bond she shared with her sister was interesting, but this did not offset her bad manners. Her arrogance during her time at court was cute for the first few pages but also grew old quickly. Her attraction to Ontros was a mystery to me, but admittedly I am a man and don't pretend to understodd the female mind. I really liked Killane, and thought he was one of the best characters in the book. Her role as peacemaker in Arendia was nicely done, and of course her role at the Battle of Vo Mimbre. The last section of the book was largely a rehash of Belgarath's explanation of the family line leading to Belgarion, and the smart-aleck comments of the characters, which were supposed to be droll humor, grew quite annoying. These conversations were cute through the Belgariad, became tiring through the Mallorean, and were overdone with the last two books. All in all, the book did offer a new perspective on this incredible epic, but the point was belabored far longer than these fascinating characters deserved.

As I scan the current reviews of Polgara the Sorceress, I notice the same complaints cropping up again and again. It's repititious...we've seen it before...it isn't original. Well, I would like to see how Eddings' could have written this work and NOT have used the old storyline. The premise of this book was to discuss the previous events from a differing viewpoint. I believe that fans of the series will only enjoy learning the inner workings of Polgara's mind during the trials and crisises that crop up during her 3000+ years before the start of the Belgariad. This book makes an excellent companion piece to Belgareth the Sorceror, and a wonderful close to an epic and immensely enjoyable series. It is not, however, a stand alone read...but let's all be rational; it was NEVER intended to be one. The magic of the Belgariad and the Mallorean was special, and finding that type of suspense and mystery this far along is nigh impossible. So, I cannot give this book a higher rating. But, unlike many of the reviews, I found the Arendia plot, the time in the Vale, the love of Ontrose...all of these were excellently done, and elevate the worth of this read. In closing, Eddings' fans should definately add this to their collection. And if you are like me, silently grieve a little knowing that the series is definately over. A good run, Mr. Eddings.

In this book, Polgara goes back in time and speaks about her life before The Belgariad. It fills in many gaps left by Belgarath the Sorcerer. In Belgarath the Sorcerer I felt as though Belgarath was an onlooker, involved but not feeling. In Polgara the Sorceress, I got a better glimpse into who she really was. I read into her regrets, her triumphs, and who she was. During the Belgariad and the Mallorean, Polgara is this all-powerful, scolding figure whom Garion thinks cannot be broken down. Personally, I did not need to read the Belgariad or the Mallorean to understand it, but I do think that some of Polgara jokes, areas where she talks directly out to her readers, are better understandable when one has read the Belgariad and the Mallorean. What I found interesting was the two very different outlooks Belgarath and Polgara saw in a situation. Although Polgara is considered to be "the responsible one," in many ways she is more of the party person than Belgarath. I enjoyed this book immensely, and I would recommend it to most.

I greatly enjoyed the Belgariad with its variety of characters and intriguing plot line; and for the most part, I found the same to be true of the Mallorean. And even Belgarath the Sorcerer was good, though hardly up to par with the others. But Polgara the Sorceress was just plain awful. Her snide, childish attitude painted her in a completely different light compared to her portrayal in the other novels. She constantly complains about her father's meddling, but it seems from the storyline that Belgarath had been content to leave her to her own devices fince before she was born. And he intruded once every so many centuries only when she'd summon him for some emergency; and he'd arrive only to be repulsed by an arrogant, churlish bully.

Another problem that this latest installment in the Eddings' series failed to solve was this question: "Why is everyone afraid of Belgarath, and esp. Polgara?" Aside from a few parlor tricks and the occasional allusion! to some "nasty deed," Belgarath and Polgara never really seem to make use of their "talent." Yet, esp. in Polgara the Sorceress, Polgara enters royal courts and battlefields swinging her name around like a bludgeon -- and everyone acquiesces. And the role of Necessity -- and Polgara's tight association with it, as newly revealed by her autobiography -- ruined the enjoyment and suspense of the other novels: Belgarath and the others were seemingly responsible for following assorted prophecies, but anytime a clinch decision needed to be made, a God, or Poledra, or Necessity, or someone, stepped in and ensured that nobody blundered, making Belgarath and the others rather redundant.

But worst of all were the little asides and pokes made in Belgarath's direction. I very well might have burned the text had a comment along the lines of "Got you there, didn't I, Old Wolf," been inserted into the story one more time. The dry humor and sarcastic bante! r that played well in the other novels was overdone in this! monologue -- and I felt as though the Eddings were adding those tedious comments in the text to ensure that the reader knows that the sarcasm is intended to be funny -- a most undesirable literary device.

One high point of the book that added depth to Polgara's character was her realtionship to Ontrose; I wish that situation and other formative events would have received more focus. Instead, reams of paper were devoted to listing the succession of Arendish kings and the geneology of the Godslayer, most of whose trivial ancestors seemed to have been named Geran anyway. (By the way, whatever happened to the other descendants -- daughters, etc. Presumably, Polgara would have wanted to keep tabs on the other branches of the family tree in case Asharak the Murgo had indeed succeeded in killing the heir-apparent to Riva's throne, right?)

Perhaps the Belgariad/Mallorean series is out of steam, especially since, the Necessity of the Universe having been repaired, there isn't ! enough evil left in the world to occupy the main characters. But I sincerely hope that the Eddings write at least one more installment to redeem this weak link of the Belgariad/Mallorean chain.

And if anyone who's had the tenacty to read it thinks what I've written is utter bullocks, I'd be happy to hear from you.

To start with I would like to say that the Eddings are one of the finest fantasy writers I have ever read. When I picked up this book I was just looking for a new writer to branch into. what I got instead was hooked, and I could not put this book down untill I had read it all it.Which was two days plus rest.Now if you are the type of reader who wants nothing but hack and slash, plus a few fire balls but with no findable or sane plot.(which I am not one of) Put this book down and get lost. But if you like a wonderfull tale that that takes your mind wondering where it may not come back from, then this book is what is definitly for you. I would say this had everything, but that would sound corny.(which it is not) But it is amazingly witty with out making it comic,as it is tragic in places.But as all good fantasy books should,it has that spark of underlying romance and adventure that gets the heart pounding,and the pulse racing.That drives you on and on,and makes you read it again and again. That only the great authors like the Eddings can give and make happen so beautifully.So read this book, and enjoy.

I was a big fan of the Belgariad and the Malloreon and I did enjoy Belgarath the Sorceror, but I have never read a more boring fantasy book then this one. My wife teased me that I would never finish it, so I read it when I had nothing else to read. This was a major disappointment. I am now reading the Redemption of Althatus (sp) and I'm happy to see that the Eddings are still capable of writing a good story. At some point in the fantasy genre especially, the sequels have to end.