Enchanter's End Game

The last book in the Belgariad is Enchanter's End Game. This is a very quick paced book that I finished in only a few days.

Garion, Silk, and Belgarath make their way across Gar og Nardak and to Mallorea to defeat Torak at the same time Ce'Nedra, Polgara, and the other Kings of the West march on Mishrak ac Thull to then get their boats to the Eastern Sea so they can take out Mallorean ships full of enemy soldiers. Battles commence and David Eddings' does it pretty well.

Eddings was able to have all of the many characters work well together and have sound endings and battle sequences. People they have met, even way back in Pawn of Prophecy, make appearances and have grown up/stayed the same (as needed).

Although this is the conclusion of the series, it still lets people have their bits of final growth that they need to complete their character arcs. Most of the building has happened in the previous books and so it's able to be more plot based, as opposed to the character and culture driven motives Eddings had in this world exploration--though obviously there was a wider overarching plot throughout.

Enchanter's End Game is very much based on moving armies and fighting battles, which in my opinion is fine because we have very solid characters and now he's letting them do their own thing. He's letting them finish out the story as it is needed to be.

I really like the big final battle with Torak. We know it's coming and we've known it since the beginning, pretty much. And I wasn't disappointed. Eddings set it up so then we understood the trials that Polgara would have--though the curveball that was thrown in caught me off guard the first time even though there was foreshadowing in PoP *wiggles eyebrows* --Torak's intimidation factor was brought and done well, and we got to see how most everyone was needed there. I'm still struggling with Ce'Nedra or Errand's part at the end and what important role she needed to play there... but everyone else made sense and fit well with all of the Prophecy. It was a nice bow without it being "bad." I do also like the good vs evil parallels. It was well done.

I have loved this series since I was in early high school and still very much enjoyed it. This series is a good one for beginning fantasy readers or those who are looking for a simple, light read. It is an older series, published in the 1980's and some may say that it doesn't transition well into the present. I can see why they would say that, but it is still enjoyable. Things happened throughout the series where it could be registered as a cliche or a troupe but it's not because it's from the classic season of fantasy which made the cliche before they were cliches. (I hope that makes sense.)

In the end, I've enjoyed it and am glad I got them. When reading them, keep in mind that they are from an older generation and to come at them as you would to Charles Dickens or Jane Austen or even Tolkien.