Just when they though it was all over. (Mallorean Series - David Eddings)

Member Name: John Rickard

Product:	Mallorean Series - David Eddings
Date:	11/03/01 (77 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Feels like meeting old friends

Disadvantages: Starts to get a little too comfortable

The Belgariad is one of the best fantasy series of recent years. In it, we followed Garion from his childhood as on a farm, to the discovery of his heritage as the heir to a throne, and the final battle with the evil god Torak. However, at the end of the last book of the series, hints are made that the story is not over, and sure enough this second series of five soon followed.

This time we start with Errand, who played a relatively minor part in the first series, and his growing up with Polgara and Durnik. The first book moves you into the story very gently, and it takes most of the book before the story really starts. The Dark prophecy that was behind Torak has found a new representative, who as part of her overall plot kidnaps Garion and Ce-Nedra's infant son, triggering the chase. In the course of these five books our heros travel across just about the entire world, eventually (as the series title implies) ending up in Mallorea, the eastern continent only visited in the first series, moving on to a final confrontation that will decide the fate of the world for all time.

This is a very entertaining series. We already know the characters, and the world they move in, so there is no need to build up slowly, and the interaction between the main characters is as entertaining as ever. Indeed, it is a large part of the appeal of the book - the characters come across as people we would like to know, and make a convincing group of friends.

This book actually has a rather better set of villains than the Belgariad, which lacked a constant villain dogging our heros. This time the mysterious Zandramas threatens almost from page one, to the end of the last book, and gives the villains a better feel.


The main flaw with this series is that things start to get a little too comfortable by the end. The characters are so very familiar (which is one of the advantages), and any real sense of suspense soon disappears. Most enemies turn into
allies by the end of the book - you can almost visualise the rainbow everyone rides off towards at the end. These are really rather minor quibbles, but they do come more the fore in the Tamuli and Eleni series that David Eddings wrote next.

This is a very entertaining series, and a welcome return to the world of the Belgariad. Buy it, and enjoy.

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