Pawn Of Prophecy: Book One Of The Belgariad (The Belgariad (TW)) [Paperback] Eddings, David

Read this series years ago and loved it. Great worldbuilding, enjoyable characters, and good plot. This book got me into fantasy.

Pawn of Prophecy by the late David Eddings is a watershed book in the fantasy pantheon. It is the opening book in a 5-book series ultimately called The Belgariad. First published in 1982, I have read five paperback copies of this book to death.Many times I see authors try to force an exact, detailed picture of their world on the reader, and it ruins the story for me. An author doesn't have to beat me over the head with minute detail; that sort of thing bores me. David Eddings never fell into that trap. Eddings had the ability to convey a sense of place in a few well-chosen words.The book opens in the kitchen of a farmhouse with Garion's memories of playing under the table in a kitchen as small child. He, is being raised by his Aunt Pol who works as the cook on a prosperous farm in a place called Sendaria. Garion has friends, and as time progresses he even has a wistful almost-romance with one of the girls there. But all is not as it appears, and Garion knows nothing of the reality of his family or the world he lives in.He has other friends; Durnik the smith who is in love with Garion's Aunt Pol, and a strange old traveling storyteller, Mr. Wolf whom his aunt seems to know well and whom she grudgingly tolerates despite his strange attire and love of ale.News arrives at the farm that causes Aunt Pol to abruptly leave, embarking with Garion on a journey of far more than merely a week or two, and he suffers a long period of doubt and depression. Fifteen-year-old Garion is poised on the edge of manhood--half child, and half adult. Obviously they are on the run, and he is fearful and angry at being kept in the dark--and not knowing the truth, be begins to believe his life to that point was nothing but a lie.In this first book, he doesn't discover who he is, but knowing who he is not is important. This is a vivid book, written from the heart. What David Eddings does in the first chapters of this book is truly magical. He immediately drew me in and within two paragraphs I was immersed in this world--I could smell the smell scents of the kitchen and visualize the people who worked there so companionably in the generous employ of Farmer Faldor. I felt I knew them, and I felt I knew that farm.If you have never read the Belgariad, try the the first book, and you will be swept away. Be prepared to sit down and read, because this book is a truly great, immersive read.

Brilliant book. Delighted to see it in Kindle format. A great introduction into the life of Garion and his family line! Magic, intrigue and mystery combine to provide a great Fantasy read.

After struggling with recent novels that moved so slowly and became tediously confusing, a return to re reading David Eddings was such a relief. Fast pace, fascinating storyline and great character development without over doing it. One of the best sword and sorcery story tellers of the 20th century. Loving the series.

I first encountered The Belgariad during my senior year of high school. Without giving away my age in specifics, let me just say that was a very long time ago. I was hooked a few chapters into the first book, and I happily remain so today. Typically, I read through the entire Belgariad and Mallorean series every few years. To each his or her own of course, but personally I adore Eddings' writing style, and his ability to create believable, multi-dimensional characters is beyond outstanding. I heartily give a full five stars to these magnificent books.Unfortunately, I need to revoke a few of those stars for the Kindle version. I'm not sure who's in charge of editing and proofreading these things, but for heaven's sake someone has to do a better job. I encountered numerous typos in both Pawn of Prophecy and Queen of Sorcery. To be fair, I haven't yet got into Magician's Gambit so I cannot speak for that book. One particularly glaring example is the mistaken use of the word "throe" in place of what most likely should have been "thy." The problem is, it doesn't just show up once; it happens numerous times in both Pawn and Queen. Obviously someone majorly messed up a "find and replace" function during the editing process. Another error that happens more than once (although not nearly as much as the "throe" debacle) is the number 1 being tacked onto the character Durnik's name. So what should be "Durnik" is instead "Durnik1". Okay, maybe it's just me but I actually laughed at that one because I couldn't help but imagine Durnik having a Yahoo screen name or some such.In the end, the typos aren't nearly enough to ruin the experience of being able to bring these books along with you in one convenient, easy to read format. But it definitely is something I hope the publisher takes care of soon.Lastly, I certainly hope the final two books of the series are eventually added to Kindle. It would really be annoying to have to switch out to my old paperbacks after being able to take the first of these old classics in on my shiny new Paperwhite.