Pawn of Prophecy / David Eddings

Pawn of Prophecy

category: fantasy, young adult, author:

David Eddings

book 1 of The Belgariad
original copyright 1982,
read in August 2011

Agamedes' opinion: 6 out of 10

Perhaps this book is worth more than six out of ten. Perhaps I was influenced by having just read a much better book. I had just read Jim Butcher's Furies of Calderon -- and found Pawn to be very weak in comparison.

Pawn of Prophecy is a much older book. It targets a younger audience. The lucky coincidences and holes in the plot are even larger than in Furies... But does all this matter?

The two worst parts of Pawn are at the beginning...

Right there on the cover is printed, "A classic coming-of-age epic". A quote attributed to Christopher Paolini. Paolini?! What would Paolini know about a good book?!

Oh well. To be fair, perhaps Paolini could be a fair judge of juvenile fantasy rubbish. With a blind spot for plot holes and logical stupidities. His first book was full of such nonsense. And Pawn is nowhere near as bad as Eragon.

Second, Pawn begins with a nine page Prologue. Providing a complex pre-history of the gods. Boring -- and complicated. Is the reader really expected to follow and remember all that boring background material?

Then the story begins. With a golden glowing youth in the idyllic country-side... Which is -- finally -- interrupted for an adventure. Shades of thirteen dwarfs and a hobbit, running off without even a hat. Except that in Pawn, "the boy" is only there because his "aunt" will not leave him behind.

And so, a mixed bag of fantasy stereotypes sets off for adventure. And finally, the story starts to move along.

From now on it's easy reading. Not great, but entertaining. I don't appreciate the author's attempts at maintaining suspense, with older characters telling "the boy", We know what it's all about but we won't tell you. Weak as water!

But readable.

For a children's book written in 1982, it's not bad. It's a single story-line but with sufficient variation to maintain the reader's interest. Every second character seems to be a king or prince or super-sorcerer in disguise. What the heck...

It's a readable book with a difficult start. Read it to pass the time. You may enjoy it.

..o0o..

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