I read this before, because I was starved for more about these characters and had read "The Belgariad" and "The Mallorean" several times.

Similarly, the Eddings’ have their usual attitude to war, namely that slaughtering enemies is jolly good fun unless it actually goes too far and gets really nasty. He doesn't seem to care all that much for consistency, and alters things in later books with no apparent regard for the earlier ones.This indeed is another respect in which the book succeeds well at being a prequel, putting a human face on such epic figures as Riva Irongrip, Queen Salmisra and several of the gods. You get to peek at the time before Garion and friends and even if the two books (Belgarath and Polgara) have some of the same "scenes" it only made me feel exited: "I remember this from the other book! My daughter and i still treasure these series,and every couple of years,we take them out,dust them off,and read them again.

Characters are both vivid and memorable, and readers will enjoy seeing how all those insider jokes from the Belgariad started. I really liked it because it showed where the main characters had come from and what their importance was in the series (just incase you didn't already figure it out). Oddly enough, I enjoyed Belgarath the Sorcerer rather more this time around than when I first read it as a teenager, probably I suspect because I was able to take it far less seriously.

The concept of a character that has seen humanity drag itself up from the mud, and been at the forefront of every mythical and historical event in memory, never fails to fascinate me. The book opens literally the same night that Seeress of Kell finishes with Polgara having just given birth to twins and Belgarath and Garion (later joined by Durnik and an ale barrel), sitting in Polgara’s kitchen musing about life and how things have come to where they are.

And that's charming for about a minute, and then you realize that the narrator is really kind of a self-satisfied asshole.Some other major events, such as Belgarath's becoming a father, Polgara and Beldaran's childhood, and the battle of Vo Mimbre, were also very interesting to read about. Although it is a standalone novel, the prologue is built upon events that happen at the end of the Mallorean. In 1970 the couple lost custody of both children and were each sentenced to a year in jail in separate trials after pleading guilty to 11 counts of physical child abuse.

More so than Polgara, he wasn't afraid of using his power to get someone to do what he wanted, being adept at illusion and the manipulation of the elements. The sniping Belgarath’s daughter aims at him frequently steps over the line from bickering into offensive, while I believe the Eddings’ intended to show Polgara’s attitude softening from teenage rage to adult affection I really found little difference in the way she behaved towards her father throughout most of the book, It is actually a little sad that the chief change in Polgara’s character we see from child to adult is a purely cosmetic one although again perhaps we will have more of this in Polgara’s own story later. Most of the book covers events that the reader will already have heard about – the cracking of the world, Cherek Bear-Shoulders and his sons stealing the orb, the battle of Vo Mimbre etc. Likewise, I was rather surprised how often and how easily Belgarath was able to simply pop in on enemies such as Torak’s Disciple Ctuchik for a friendly chat, though this did give something of the idea of a chess game with prescribed moves and countermoves (even if the opposition always seemed to play it very badly). This is the first of a few companion novels set in the world of The Belgariad and The Malloreon, which recounts the life of Belgarath the Sorcerer.

He was said to be stronger than his daughter, having taken the full force of her enraged will without yielding, but his style was bolder and more overt, while hers dealt mostly with the minds of others and so was not remembered.