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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
a fitting conclusion, April 23, 2004
Book 5 of the Mallorean Finally we come to the conclusion of the adventures of Garion, Belgarath, Polgara, and everyone they traveled with. While this is specifically the conclusion to the 5 book series "The Mallorean", this is really the conclusion to the story that began 10 books ago with "Pawn of Prophecy". In this book, Garion will reach the end of the road in the quest to rescue his kidnapped son and also fulful for the final time the prophecies that have been shaping his world for more than 7000 years. Garion is nearing the end of the quest and if you have read the previous nine volumes, you have an idea of what to expect. This is still lighthearted, simplistic fantasy and is fairly enjoyable to read. The Mallorean (and Belgariad) is an epic series of Good vs Evil, Light vs Darkness, and of Gods, Kings, and Men (not to mention women, but I meant humans). There is magic a plenty, an abundance of sword play, a long epic quest, humor, action, and drama. One can accuse this series (and Eddings) of telling the same story twice, as the plotlines do follow those of The Belgariad, just in a different location, but Eddings actually built that into the story so well that events are supposed to be repeating themselves. Rather than blatantly rip himself off, Eddings set up his world and the events in it such that some repetition is necessary. To be honest, if you are a fan of the Belgariad, you are likely going to have enjoyed reading through the Mallorean. The ending, though anti-climactic, is nice, pleasant, and a good way to say goodbye to the friends you have made over the course of reading 10 books set in one world dealing with the same set of characters. They may be cliché and repeat themselves and tell the same jokes, but these are characters you can come to care for and they are familiar like family. After reading nine novels set in this world, nothing anybody can say will convince you to either like or dislike this book any more than you already will. The opinion the reader will have of this novel depends entirely on his or her enjoyment of the first 9 books (if one makes it that far). This is fast reading fantasy, but is enjoyable all the same. At one time these were my favorite characters and my favorite world, and while this is no longer true, I have a certain amount of fondness for Silk, and Polgara, and Zakath and everyone else in this world. To me, this was a fitting way to conclude the series.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Game, Set, and Match, July 16, 2005
It's with a sense of relief that I can finally turn to the last volume in this series. While the Malloreon is better written than the Belgariad, Eddings overplayed his hand in telling a story which is a derivative echo of its predecessor, and then using a repetitive architecture to expand the tale to five volumes. Had this series been whittled down to four, or even three volumes it would have been easier than on the reader.
Belgarion, C'Nedra, and the rest of those one the quest for their kidnapped child must now follow the last steps in fulfilling the prophecy that will enable Cyradis, Seeress of Kell, to make the final choice between alternate futures. Two candidates exist for the God who will replace Torak - who was slain by Belgarion in the first set of books. Errand, who has been in the care of Polgara and Durnik, will stand for Belgarion, the child of light, and Geran, Belgarion's own son is Zandramas's offer. If Geran is chosen darkness will fall and Belgarion will face having to kill his own child.
They voyage first to Kell, then to Perivor, and finally to Korim where the last clashes will be fought. There is a complex set of requirements to be fulfilled before Cyradis can make her choice, and Zandramas is intent on making sure that there really is no choice. Tense times come as Belgarath solves the last puzzles just in time and the find the altar in the place that is no more.
Seeress of Kell is noticeably better paced than Sorceress of Darshiva. It doesn't really bog down at all until after the choice is made, when Eddings proceeds to take 80 pages to wind down the tale in epilogue. Again, it's not Eddings writing ability that is at fault, but his inability to know when to stop. If you go on to the Elenium you will immediately discover that when Eddings keeps to three volumes and is carefully edited he is still capable of a story compels and entertains. Again, the best thing one can say about the Malloreon is that even with flaws it is much better than many attempts at epic fantasy, which is a far more difficult genre than you might believe.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
A very disappointing conclusion to a good series., January 27, 1999
This review is from: Seeress of Kell (Paperback)
The Malloreon started off very well, with books one, two and three packed with suspense. Book four, was an average book when compared with the other three, but this one was deeply disappointing. My primary criticism would be that the ending was absolutely terrible. The book did not require nigh on a third of its contents to be devoted to a happy ending. I found that it ruined what was otherwise a great story. Secondly, there was little development of the characters in this book. We learn nearly nothing about any of them, and I found them to be mostly two dimensional, with a couple of surprises thrown in to make them appear more realistic. With the notable exceptions of Silk and Sadi, I could not gain any insight to the characters' minds, and I found this to be very disappointing. Finally, I found the book to be very repetitive, over using phrases, in the futile effort to give it some depth. Given the standard of Eddings' previous works in this series, I really feel that he should have taken a lot longer to write the book, if all he could write was something of this quality. I was also very disillusioned by his addition of characters from the previous series, in a very amateurish fashion. One can only hope that he is planning to remove the final two volumes from his list of published works, and rework them into novels worthy of their forebears. If you want a really good and enjoyable read, I would suggest that you avoid this book and buy one of Janny Wurts' excellent War of Light And Shadows series instead.
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