Finally, the cracktastic Belgariad/Mallorean rehash has come to an end! (For those of you really paying attention, I do in fact own the Rivan Codex, but I will not be dragging that out, as I don’t consider world building to be required reading. Mind you, I like the world building, I just have to be in the right mood to read it.)
I don’t even think I was a chapter into this book when I realized that this was actually the only book of this entire saga that I had never reread before. I suppose that makes sense, as by the time it came out, I was out of my regular rereading phase, but it was still surprising. Because of that, I spent more time reading this book, rather than the all in one night marathons I did for most of the others.
This book actually has a rather different tone than the others. I suspect it’s partially because of the emphasis on the fact that Polgara is a woman, and therefore does and even thinks about things differently than the other disciples of Aldur. I also wonder if Leigh has a larger hand in shaping this book (I often wonder exactly what role she plays in the books her name is on, but that’s a side issue.)
This is a good end to the series, and manages to fill in a number of gaps. (Revisionism at its best 😉 I’m a little sorry the cracktasic tour is at its end.