Pawn of Prophecy by David Eddings is the first book of the Belgariad series. It’s a great classic, epic coming-of-age fantasy book with a cool quest, a company, and an unknowing, naive hero.
Read my Pawn of Prophecy book review of the book below, or skip to the conclusion.
Genre: YA Epic Coming-of-Age Fantasy | Publisher: Del Rey
Story
The story of David Eddings’ Pawn of Prophecy revolves around Garion. He’s a boy raised on Faldor’s farm by his Aunt Pol. It’s a nice and easy life until something strange happens. Mister Wolf, the old storyteller, comes to the farm and tells Pol they need to leave. She refuses to leave Garion behind, so he suddenly finds himself leaving in a hurry with his aunt, Mr. Wolf, and the smith Durnik. Shortly after that, he meets Silk, a spy, and Barak, a huge warrior. Together they travel to find the man who stole the Orb of Aldur— a powerful magical object.
He quickly meets Silk, a spy, and Barak, a huge warrior, and together they go on a journey in search of a man who stole the Orb of Aldur.
The story has quite a slow space; a lot of time is spent on Garrion’s upbringing on the farm and the chase for the Orb’s thief. I didn’t mind, though, cause it was all still interesting and kept my attention. And it was a way to ease into the world and get to know the characters. And the ending was still great and had plenty of action.
Characters
The main character is Garion, and we view things from his perspective. This is a good choice because we learn along with him about the world and other things. He’s quite naive but kind and smart. Though he never seems to understand a quite crucial thing, even when it’s quite obvious. I’ll say that’s the only thing that annoyed me.
As far as characters go, my favorite has to be Silk. His remarks always manage to make me smile, especially when he’s bantering with Barak. Aunt Pol is also a great character and a good example that women can be both strong and caring. And she doesn’t take shit from anyone.
World-building
I loved the world-building. There was great detail to every city or village, and I could vividly imagine the different landscapes and types of people living in the countries. However, the variety of names of the different ethnicities is hard to keep apart. I think that took me about 4 books to get right, but I’m getting ahead of myself.
As far as magic goes, we don’t get a lot of explanation, but that’s mostly because Garion doesn’t really believe it yet.
Writing
The writing was excellent! It’s straightforward to read, with beautiful descriptions. It’s not really toe-curling prose, but it does the job it needs to do.
There’s a good mix of internal reflections, dialogue, and action. But what David Eddings here really excels at is humor. The characters banter, even when things appear bleak, so you’ll still be smiling. And there’s some innuendo here and then, which is not unlike seeing a Disney movie when you’re an adult. It’s not easy to pull off, and David Eddings does it very well
Conclusion
So, if you love YA coming-of-age epic adventure fantasies, you can’t go wrong with this classic. It has wonderful humor, vivid descriptions, and some great characters. I would recommend this book for sure.
Thank you for reading my Pawn of Prophecy book review. Please let me know any thoughts you might have on the books, or the review! (or both). And if you liked it, be sure to check out some other book reviews to help you find your next read.
Continue to the review of Queen of Sorcery (#2)
