Sorceress of Darshiva (The Malloreon, Book 4)
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780345330055
Edition: 1st
ISBN: 0345330056
Label: Del Rey
Manufacturer: Del Rey
Number Of Pages: 406
Publication Date: November 18, 1989
Publisher: Del Rey
Release Date: November 18, 1989
Studio: Del Rey
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Editorial Review:Product Description:Troubles and delays continued to mount as Garion, Belgarath, Polgara, and the company pursued Zandramas across the known world. Possessed by the Dark Destiny, she had stolen Garion's infant son to use in a ritual that would destroy all that was fair and good.
Always the quest led onward, across and beyond the continent of Mallorea, where the Evil God Torak had once been supreme until Garion slew him. And always Zandramas was one step ahead of them. The armies she had raised, led by a Demon Lord, threatened to cut them off on one side: on the other, the forces of the Emperor Zakath were seeking to capture them.
Zandramas was taunting them and spying on them, flying over in the form of the great dragon, while the Dark Destiny changed her and etched away the last of her touches of humanity.
Somehow, as the Seeress of Kell had warned them, they had to be at the Place Which Is No More for the ritual at the same time as Zandramas, if they were to have a chance to defeat her evil schemes.
But where that might be they still had no clue.
Average Rating:
Rating:
-
Many people think David Eddings is overly formulaic which he is a bit but since I enjoy the tale he tells I do not mind reading it over again. His characters always have great humor at their core and you can't beat a good epic tale for entertainment value. This particular book is one of my favorites by him.
Rating:
-
This is the fourth book in the Malloreon (after Guardians of the West and King of the Murgos, and Demon Lord of Karanda, and Seeress of Kell).
In this volume our companions keep heading further East, as far as the island of Melcene, and start heading towards Kell where should be revealed the location of the Place Which Is No More.
Too few things of note happen in this volume. Our heroes are still tailing Zandramas and dodging various conflicts taking place around Mallorea (between Urvon's Karand army, Zandramas's Darshivans, their demons, Dals, Gandahar and their war elephants...). A couple of passages were enjoyable though: in the University of Melcene when Garion and company meet Senji, a clubfooted alchemist and untrained sorcerer who tells them more about the Sardion, and when the party is finally caught up by Zakath, the emperor of Mallorea, whom they gave the slip in the previous book.
Rating:
-
As you can readily see by the reviews posted here, there are two camps; those that absolutely cannot stand Eddings and this series, and those that love it. Now I am one of those that love this series, but possibly for different reasons than some. Yes, I admit that I have read literally hundreds upon hundreds of books in this genre and, others that, that were and are much better. No doubt about it. These are not literary masterpieces. That being said, I have to admit to having read them over and over again. For me, these books are what I call my "comfort" books. I can mindlessly read them, enjoy them, and almost always have one in the process being read constantly. I read a lot of history, biographies, etc. Some of these books are a pain and a strain to get through, even though I love reading them. I am one of those individuals that have anywhere from five to ten books going at any given time. These books by Eddings give me a break, clear my mind, and to be quite frank, tickle me.
Now if you have gotten this far in the series, you only have one book to go after this one, so you might as well suck it up and finish them off. This entire fantasy epic started with Book One: Pawn of Prophecy and went through five books in The Belgriad. You think you are finished at this point, but no....now you have The Malloreon to read through, another five books (this book being reviewed is the next to the last in The Malloreon). There are ten in all. Again, to be honest, other than the very first book of The Belgariad, none of these books has the ability to stand alone. It is almost impossible to understand the story unless you start from the beginning. That is the nature of selling a book series and making some money out of them (reference the Wheel of Time series.)
This particular work, Sorceress of Darshiva, takes our band characters (somewhat reduced from the first series) on their continuing quest to find the Place Which Is No More and their ultimate battle with the Child of Dark, Zandramas. To be honest, this book is absolutely no different than the previous books. It is quite predictable, same characters appear and reappear and the same banter takes place between the various members of the quest. I will say that this particular book, the one being reviewed here, the second series, as a whole, certainly has it's share of "fillers." This book ends, and.....well, I will let you read that for yourself.
Do not short change David Eddings and his wife, who was actually the coauthor of this and previous works, though. The author has done a pretty good job of creating a complete different world, based of course, on past civilizations in our own world. The society they build and world they create is full of Gods, Wizards, monsters and truly strange folks. There is plenty of magic, plenty of mild action (nothing too descriptive or bloody) and the story moves along quite nicely. (Sorry folks, no sex in these books although there is plenty of flirting). Eddings was one of the first in this genre to actually give women a leading role and made many of these women quite powerful. He also made most of his characters dumb as a fence posts at times, including all the leading characters. This is sort of refreshing. My wife, children and grandsons tease me about one of my habits which I indulge in while reading this series. I check it for errors. Not just nuts and bolts errors such as typos, but errors in plot, contradictions, impossibilities in the story line, etc. I actually cross reference these errors in my "about to fall apart" set of books. So far I have identified 233 of these errors and have conscientiously noted them and cross referenced them. This is a fun game within itself. No, I don't need a life, it is no worse than working a cross word or other such game. Sort of compulsive behavior disorder working here,I admit, but hey, we all have our little problems.
Recommend you read the first book in the series. If you like it, push on. If you don't like it, dump it and go on to something different as there are just too many good books out there and life is far too short to read something you do not like and enjoy.
Rating:
-
For people who enjoy reading for the purpose of getting into the story. The books written by David Eddings' are for people who get attached to characters and love to immerse themselves in reading.
If you want to read simply to get to the finish line---Eddings is not for you.
Rating:
-
I am surprised that there are still so many complaints about repetition and and slow plot by the fourth book, if you dislike this kind of writing you might have stopped at the second or third.
Eddings makes it very clear in the beginning exactly how long the quest is going to be, how many characters will die, and even whether or not the heroes will succeed (at least in reaching their destination). I've never seen another author manage to do that and still keep a grip on his readers.
There is definitely a sense of humour in how he lets things happen over and over again in opportune moments. Even those who complain about the repetition probably haven't noticed half the things in the book that ties back and forth and even across to other series. Noting some of these is really quite fun.
Thirdly, this is obviously not a book about gory battles of demons and clashing armies. All of us enjoy those books at times, but we also need something to read under lamplight just before sleep. Eddings usually keeps me awake for hours.
If there is one complaint I have to make, it is that Eddings needs to work on his olde English, it's not very convincing.
Copyright ©2003, Mark Carey.
