The Wheel of Time [14] A Memory of Light (2013) - Part 1

And now... it all comes to an end.  Earlier this year, in January, the 14th and final book of The Wheel of Time, entitled A Memory of Light, was released.  After more than 20 years of waiting, I could finally read the end.  I took the day off work as usual, though it still took me 3 days to finish, reading it any free chance I got and neglecting more important responsibilities.

The post for this book ended up a bit longer than all the others, so much like the last "planned" book of WoT was split into 3 books, I'm splitting this into 2 posts.  It took me quite a while to put together, mainly since I took a break and eventually re-read the book once it was released as an eBook in April.  I thought about leaving it as one single post - which would be fitting, considering how long and epic the last book is - but in order to make it easier for me to review and the reader to digest, I split it.  The second half will be along soon.

In this post I'll talk about the first half of the book - everything prior to the Last Battle - along with the Sanderson signing I attended.  The second post will feature the Last Battle and character-specific musings.

I'll also be going back and updating previous posts in this Retrospective to address any conjectures I made about the final book, now that I know how to it all ends.  So recheck the previous posts to see those, if you like.

Before you continue:

• This is part 16 of my The Wheel of Time retrospective
• See this blog post for an overview of the retrospective
• These blogs are most effective with your own re-read of the series
• Warning: CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE ENTIRE SERIES

A Memory of Bookstores

During this Retrospective I've touched on how the bookstore landscape has changed over the years... well this time I went online to look for the closest place to get this book, as I moved to San Jose, CA after the release of Towers of Midnight, and most books I buy now are from Amazon.  I only bought 13 brand-new physical books in 2012 (stats brought to you by my handy media database).  Only one was bought at an actual bookstore - all the rest were ordered online.

Anyway, since I had bought that one book, I knew there was a Barnes & Noble around 20 minutes or so away across town, but figured in a city like San Jose, with a population of 1 million, there would be a closer "large" bookstore, one that was guaranteed to have the book.  Nope.  I had to drive out to that one.  All the Borders have been closed.  There are no Books-A-Million in California.  All those other big chain bookstores that existed when I started reading this series - B. Dalton, Waldenbooks, Little Professor - all gone.  Now there's only Barnes & Noble, and even they are starting to close some locations down.

So all I have left are online outlets, which have the best price anyway, though publishers and authors have lamented that fact for a while now (most noticeably L.E. Modesitt, Jr, one of the few authors I follow regularly; his blog posts are usually good reads).  Today, most books I order from Amazon or occasionally buy at a used book store.

My go-to bookstore now...

The Future of Books

And so we have eBooks, which I'm starting to prefer, as after so many years of tracking my reading habits, I've discovered about 90% of the books I buy I only read once.  They then collect dust on bookshelves and make moving a pain in the ass.  So I only buy physical books for authors I like, or for specific series I know I want to re-read eventually or show off to visitors.

Speaking of eBooks, there was a big hubbub on Amazon when this book was released.  Even though it had been announced nearly 8 months prior, and had happened for the last couple volumes as well, everyone got all upset that the eBook version would not be released until April 2013.  So everyone freaked out and bitched about it and posted a number of 1-star ratings on Amazon (look at the early 1-star reviews) - which I think is completely unfair to the author and the content of the work.

Our on-demand internet-enabled world has definitely spoiled us.  We are not entitled to an eBook version on day of release if the publisher doesn't want to release it.  It's like a movie... if you want to see it when it comes out, you go to the overpriced theater.  How many times do you see people complain and rate a movie poorly because they didn't release the DVD edition the same day it came out in the theater?  Never.

Regardless, it's been an interesting journey, watching the rise and fall of book retailers over the course of this series.  Publishers can complain about it or try to fight it, but the real solution is to adapt to the changing book market.  It's never going to be like it was before.  Not with the advent of the internet and eBooks.

The Cover

I'm not going to go in-depth on the cover, as I already covered that when it was released back in Apr/May 2012.  Suffice to say, I like the cover, but honestly would have been fine with either version.  Yes, I actually like the Sweet cover for once.  It would have cool to use it... the unfinished cover for Jordan's unfinished novel...

Anyway, here is the official, final cover (by Michael Whelan) with the text and stuff.  I was so excited to get it, I even posted this on Facebook, to prove that the book was in my actual hands.

More Forsaken

So you thought we were done with new Forsaken and their continuous rebirths, eh?  Well, if you were one of those that liked how the Forsaken kept coming back, you'll like the beginning of this book, when the surviving Forsaken (or Chosen, as they refer to themselves) meet up for one last pow wow before the Last Battle.  At this point, the only ones left are Moridin (Ishamael), Demandred, Moghedien, Cyndane (Lanfear) and two new ones...

First, we have Hessalam, which means "without forgiveness" in the Old Tongue.  This is actually Graendal, after being "punished" by Shaidar Haran at the end of the previous book, Towers of Midnight.  This new body of Hessalam is quite ugly, something that highly irritates the vain Graendal.

Second, we have M'Hael, whom we all know and love by a more familiar name, Mazrim Taim.  In this early meeting, the theory of Demandred = Taim (which is hard not to subscribe to) is finally tossed down the drain as both are present at the same time.  They just happened to look like each other and entered the story around the same time (Book 6, Lord of Chaos).  Demandred did recruit Taim, though, and the Asha'man is elevated to the Chosen because of his success with recruiting Dreadlords (the Black Tower).

Side note: I don't know about you, but I've been rather disappointed in the new names for the Forsaken.  The original names are all badass.  The only cool new name is Cyndane... the others are weak and uninspired.

The "rebirth" of Graendal (I assume she was killed and cast into a new body) was not surprising, though if you've been reading these blogs you should know I'm not thrilled with the constant rebirth of Forsaken.  However... there's a nice explanation later in this book, I believe by Demandred, where he thinks about how the Dark One doesn't discard useful tools just because they've failed once.  Which makes sense.  The Dark One has no time to train and find new Forsaken, as he's lost so many now.

Graendal... no longer hot.
Courtesy of
Dabel Brothers / Dynamite Publishing

The Black Tower

This storyline essentially wraps up before the Last Battle proper.  The Black Tower has been neglected quite a bit since Rand set it up in Book 6, Lord of Chaos.  We visit it here and there over the second half of the series, and though details are scarce, we realize that something's very wrong.

There's a division in the ranks, between the erstwhile false Dragons Logain Ablar and Mazrim Taim.  We figured Taim was a Darkfriend of some sort. All signs pointed to it.  We learn here that he's been forcibly Turning "good" Asha'man (those that follow Logain) to the Shadow.  Logain has been a prisoner, resisting the Turning so far... but he's close to breaking.

Side note: I wonder why Jordan chose to call Logain by his first name in the narrative, while Taim went by his last name.  An intentional hint of the division to come?  Or simply because Logain sounds better than Ablar?

Anyway, the "problem" of the Black Tower is quickly resolved early in the book.  Sanderson takes Androl Genhald and develops him into the savior of the Tower.  Androl's only appearance during the Jordan books is a brief one in the Prologue of Book 9, Winter's Heart.  Sanderson said he wanted a character that Jordan hadn't really touched that he could develop on his own.  Team Jordan suggested Androl and he ran with him.

Side note: Some readers didn't like how much screen time Androl got (we don't need new characters at this point!), but it didn't bother me at all; I enjoyed it quite thoroughly.  He's the only character that has a complete arc in this book, which helps give it more depth and make it more than just the "final book."

So Androl rescues Logain (with some timely, convenient help from Perrin, who removes the dreamspike at the Black Tower).  And instead of them being pissed at Rand for abandoning them, they realize it was a good thing: they were able to fend for themselves, which they'll need to do after the Last Battle anyway, since Rand will be gone.

Taim and his new Dreadlords flee to prep for the Last Battle.  It's also hinted that Taim has the remaining Seals to the Dark One's prison - something Rand and Egwene are not aware of.  And Androl has plenty more to do during the Last Battle... we'll get to that in the next post.

On the Uses of Gateways

Speaking of Androl... many seem to feel that the new ways in which gateways were used in this last book reeks of fan fiction.  Sanderson has confirmed that they are entirely his own creation.  I think it's cool and agree with his reasoning on it. Instead of inventing new kinds of weaves, extrapolate on existing ones.  This happens throughout the series and things are discovered and then used in new, interesting ways (like the rediscovery of creating cuendillar, which is then used to turn the harbor chains in Tar Valon to cuendillar to block the harbors during the siege).

Jordan essentially opened Pandora's Box when he introduced gateways; they can be used in almost limitless ways.  He already proved that with Deathgates in Book 11, Knife of Dreams.  Who knows what else he planned on doing?  Sanderson picked up on that and I didn't feel any of the new uses were out of place; they fit the story perfectly.  The characters have had plenty of time to get used to this new weave and now should be able to invent clever ways to use them.

It's kind of like the game Portal...

First, we have Androl.  Since his Talent is anything gateways, despite his weakness in the One Power, he has to find efficient ways to use them.  Thus we get things like small gateways to swallow rays of balefire, or to get hot water for tea from a hot spring, or opening a gateway within a volcano so the lava can be unleashed on others in battle to devastating effect.  Pretty much anything he did with gateways was awesome, and he turned into one of my favorite characters in this book.

Second, we have Gareth Bryne, who gets one of the Aes Sedai to create a horizontal gateway high in the air to give him an overhead view of battle.  This was probably my favorite new use of gateways.  Who knows if Jordan would have done something like this, but along with Androl's clever uses it adds a new layer to the Last Battle, making it even more interesting and exciting.

Magic Limitations

However... the concept of gateways does seem flawed and almost a plot hole when you step back and think about the way Sanderson started using them.  Jordan was very reserved and restrictive when it came to them, as if the people in the current age were scared to try anything new.  There has to be limits on that sort of magic, which he did have in place - until Sanderson gave Androl the Talent of gateways.  I can see how Team Jordan was concerned about getting too crazy with them, because you then start wondering why they didn't do this stuff before.

Sanderson has written about a few "Laws" for magic systems that he uses when creating them (magic is his favorite thing to toy with in his writing).  The second one states that Limitations should be greater than Powers.  The paradox here is that the One Power already has limitations built into it, as Sanderson mentions in the essay.  But when you give someone a Talent like gateways, and coupled with the fact that the taint has been cleansed from saidin (a limitation for male channelers in WoT), that virtually cancels those limitations when it comes to Androl, as his strength in the One Power doesn't matter to the Talent.  Sanderson kind of breaks his own law when you really think about it...

Many others on forums brought up similar concerns, too.  If Androl and his ideas with gateways were so efficient, why not take it further, as discussed here?  Open a gateway to a river and let it wash the Shadowspawn into another gateway (which would kill them immediately, since only gholam can safely pass through a gateway).  I suppose it would be tough because if they started doing that, Androl would be targeted almost exclusively and be killed... but still.  Things that make you go hmmmm.

Four Battlefronts, One General

I was hoping these early battles weren't going to be the Last Battle, as they weren't even close to what I'd imagined.  But they get underway a bit early, and since there's a huge chapter called "The Last Battle" much later in the book, I quickly realized they were more of a prelude.  This is a decent section, yet it pales in comparison to the meat of the Last Battle.

What these early battles really did, was make things look bleak for the forces of Light and set the stage for Mat to command their armies in the Last Battle, something we all knew was coming since roughly Book 4.  He secured the Seanchan by marrying Tuon (I suppose I should say Fortuona now, may she live forever), but obviously the others wouldn't just hand over command, not with the four great Captains (shouldn't it be Generals?... it's kind of used interchangeably at times) still around: Davram Bashere, Gareth Bryne, Rodel Ituralde and Agelmar Jagad.

Instead, command falls into Mat's lap after Hessalam uses Compulsion on the four Captains, sabotaging each of the four fronts.  Since Mat has the foxhead medallion that prevents all channeling against him... the choice is clear.  It's set up rather neatly, though I doubt many expected it to turn out that way.

Once again, it's clear that Jordan was a master at planting seeds and hiding the sprouts... then suddenly a half-dozen books later there's a tree before you and you wonder how you could have missed it this whole time (like the secret of Mat's ashandarei).

The Last Signing

The Last Battle will be in the next blog, as it takes up an entire entry in itself.  To end this one, I'll skip ahead to the Last Signing.

For the last time, I attended a Wheel of Time book signing.  This one was 45 minutes away, in San Francisco, CA, at Borderlands Books in the Mission District.  I had never been to this bookstore, so did not know what to expect.  It's a pretty awesome store, though, specializing in new and used fantasy and science fiction.  You can even check out the interior on Google Street View.  If it weren't out of the way for me, I'd go there regularly.

Although we didn't have to purchase anything to get books signed (marking the first signing I've been to like that), I got there early and bought Sanderson's The Alloy of Law.  I always like to get something from the bookstore since they have expenses that come with signings.  Borderlands probably didn't have an issue with that, though... they have a side cafe (where the signing took place) and lots of people were getting coffee, etc.

The signing featured Sanderson and Harriet Rigney (Jordan's widow).  An interesting tidbit of information is that Borderlands was about the only place that wanted Sanderson to come sign after he released his first novel, Elantris.  Everyone else rejected him.  Sanderson drove all the way from Utah for this one signing, signed and drove back the next day.  So now, when Sanderson wants to come to SF for a signing, who gets it?  Not a big store like Barnes & Noble, but Borderlands, who have supported him from the beginning.

Another thing I found interesting was that during the Q&A most of the questions from the audience were not about WoT, but about Sanderson's own work.  And many people seemed to be there for Sanderson, not WoT, which is quite different from the signings I attended for The Gathering Storm and Towers of Midnight.  Sanderson spoke about some of his future works, and he has some interesting things planned for the future.

The one that intrigued me the most is that he's doing two more trilogies in the Mistborn world, one in the present, another in the future, where the first trilogy has turned into the myth of the present and the future features space travel.  This is somewhat annoying because I've had similar ideas brewing for some of my works - a lot of what I focus on now (in Bonebearer and my upcoming trilogy, The Hope of Memory) is how events affect others over time and how they are perceived later.

Anyway, I got my books signed by Sanderson and Harriet.  I only asked him about Padan Fain, and his response will be covered in the Padan Fain section of Part 2 of this blog entry.  I even got my picture taken with them.  I figured I might as well, the "Memory Keepers" (helpers chosen by Dragonmount.com) were offering to do it and it was the last WoT signing, after all.

Oh, and someone took a video of the Q&A as well.  I'm the guy in the bottom left wearing the gray hoodie and red hat (as you can tell from the picture above).  It won't let me embed it for some reason, so just click the link to watch it on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1YwYJpjcfc

So thanks to the person who filmed that.  :)


Next:

Book 14 – A Memory of Light – Part 2

Previous:

The Wheel of Time is Complete
Reference – The Big White Book
Prequel – New Spring
Book 13 – Towers of Midnight
Book 12 – The Gathering Storm
Book 11 – Knife of Dreams
Book 10 – Crossroads of Twilight
Book 9 – Winter's Heart
Book 8 – The Path of Daggers
Book 7 – A Crown of Swords
Book 6 – Lord of Chaos
Book 5 – The Fires of Heaven
Book 4 – The Shadow Rising
Book 3 – The Dragon Reborn
Book 2 – The Great Hunt
Book 1 – The Eye of the World
Retrospective Overview

The Hope of Memory [Update 13] Spring Cleaning

Haven't posted on my trilogy-in-progress since April, so wanted to write up a quick update for any who might actually be paying attention.  If you are, there will be a test later, so read carefully...

I finished my slow and brutal line edit of The Distant, aka The Fourth Draft, earlier this month and whittled it down from 186K words to 168K.  Most of that was simply from removing text that simply didn't need to be there.

Redundancies

For example, you might say something like "He lifted his arm up."  Well, that's  obviously redundant.  You can simply say "He lifted his arm."  You don't lift something down, so there's no need to specify direction.

So things like that, though not something as prosaic as the example above.  Anyway, I noticed some scattered throughout my text and made sure to clean them out.  It makes your prose flow much more gracefully.

Repetitions

I also noticed that I used certain phrases or words more often than others, so much so that they abruptly stood out when the text had been streamlined down to the 168K words (the shortest the novel has been yet).

The most glaring one is the use of "but."  So and so did this, but...  He thought he might go there, but...  When I write longhand, that's what happens, as I don't go back and revise while writing.  I'm just writing as the story comes to me and will worry about it later, during revisions.

Honorable mentions go to the following:

- really
- just
- pretty "something"
- a bit
- began / begun to
- a little

When you're editing your own material, always look for words / phrases like these.  I found that I used them a lot.

I Take the Fifth

Oh, and did I mention I also completed a fifth draft, as well?  I did that one over the last two weeks, essentially reading the text straight through and making more adjustments as I noticed them.  It wasn't a line edit, but I did reduce the word count by around 400 words.  So it's now down to 167,663, to be exact.

I'm not finished, though I'm very close.  I'm currently also creating a more detailed outline of Book 3, Rom Tar, and am changing a few details in The Distant to reflect that content.  Once that outline is done I'll be working on the sixth draft of The Distant, which will involve any final tightening of prose and keeping details consistent.  It has been quite hard getting this novel down - I even have to use a timeline to make sure events between characters (and novels) line up properly.

The Malloreon [5] The Seeress of Kell (1991)

So finally we come to it.  The culmination of thousands of years of dueling prophecies, good vs. evil, light vs. dark... it all comes down to this.  Like the previous volume, I had to wait for this one to come out in paperback.  As a teenager, I would sadly look at the hardback in my local B. Dalton or Waldenbooks, resist opening it to read it bit by bit on each visit to the store. I'm pretty sure I bought the paperback at Southroads Mall in Bellevue, NE, when I was in the 10th grade (not long before I first started The Wheel of Time).

Apparently that mall is long dead; we used to go to movies there a lot, but I personally stopped going after high school, stores closed and half of it was empty by that point.  I find empty malls to be disconcerting and a bit scary.  Makes me think of all the properties they've built in China, which sit empty, like ghost towns.

Man, was that really 22 years ago?

Also of note, as far as I know, The Seeress of Kell was Eddings's first and only #1 NY Times Bestseller.

Before you continue:

• This is part 10 of my The Belgariad and The Malloreon retrospective
• See this blog post for an overview of the retrospective
• These blogs are most effective with your own re-read of both series
• Warning: CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR BOTH SERIES

The Cover

This time, I actually have something to say about the cover: I don't like it.  Of all the things they could portray on the final cover of an epic 10-book sequence... they show two knights jousting?  Really?

I mean, I get that it reflects the dual nature of the Prophecies, and how they constantly meet and "battle" throughout time, but this cover is quite underwhelming.  The Perivor section of the book is not bad (more on that later), but there are so many better things they could have put on the cover.

The party approaching Kell, its giant mountain in the background.  Garion and Zakath fighting the dragon on Perivor.  Arriving at the Place Which is No More.  The party in the presence of the Sardion.  And on and on... they could have done so much better with this cover.

If you've read my blogs on The Wheel of Time, you've probably noticed that I'm not impressed by most covers, because most covers suck.  These days I generally prefer some kind of landscape or abstract imagery - no characters.  Because artists rarely draw characters properly.

However, take a gander at the alternate covers for The Seeress of Kell on the David Eddings Wikia.  Some are definitely better, probably the most amusing is the French one (shown farther down in this post).

Poledra

And so we finally learn the truth.  Poledra did not die giving birth to Polgara and Beldaran all those thousands of years ago.  She was visited by UL and told that she would need to make a sacrifice in order for the prophecy to take the right course and Belgarath and Polgara to fulfill their individual destinies.

I would say this was not exactly a shock to me, but it was a pleasant surprise.  It's also quite brutal to think about what she gave up for all this to come about.  She essentially had to walk away from her family for 4,000 years.  That's a long time, if you haven't noticed.  It's almost impossible to imagine what living that long is like; you'd think these people would go insane or be bored out of their minds living that long.

Anyway, Poledra is back for reals, she's the final addition to our party (The Woman Who Watches), joining them as the injured she-wolf at the beginning of the novel, revealing herself later on.  Belgarath will finally have to change his vagabond ways.  It's an interesting parallel to the way the world has been stuck in the same state, with very little change since Torak cracked the world.  Belgarath and his family can get on with their real lives, much like the world can get on with progressing once the two prophecies end.

Poledra just kickin' it, waiting for Belgarath

Beldin's Place in Prophecy

One thing that bothered me when I first read these last few books was how Beldin kept hanging around the party.  He was not mentioned by Cyradis in the first book as a necessary member of the group.  Yet from Book 3 onward, he's with the party every step of the way.  Usually the Prophecy is pretty strict about those things.  What gives?

Well... we learn why in this final book.  It seems that Zandramas cheats by trying to kill Garion's friends here and there.  And since the Prophecy lets that go, they allow Beldin to tag along on the Light side, when normally something would happen to keep him away.  How convenient.

Chaldan... or Chamdar?

I only mention this because it's one of the most notable printing errors I've ever seen in a book, and I shake my head every time I read it.  In The Seeress of Kell, the god Chaldan (patron god of the Arends) is referred to numerous times as Chamdar.  Which, if you remember, is the Grolim who killed Garion's parents, and who Garion killed way back in Book 2 of The Belgariad, Queen of Sorcery.

I don't know if this error was in the hardback version, or something unique to the paperback version.  I'm also assuming it has since been corrected.  I honestly have never checked current versions in stores today.  But either way, someone failed miserably when prepping this novel for publication.  A book goes through many hands and is reviewed many, many times.  How could they all have missed this?

Kell

Onto the locations for this volume.  Kell is somewhat shrouded in mystery, due to its remoteness, reclusive inhabitants and the fact that any Grolims that come near it are instantly struck blind.  But our party has the blessing of Cyradis, the eponymous character of this book, and considering they are not Grolims, they are allowed to approach Kell.

And for once, our party is in the lead.  Yay!  They've passed Zandramas, who being a Grolim, cannot go to Kell.  So she must wait for them to leave and follow them for a change.  Belgarath and Beldin are quite happy about this, though Garion seethes as usual, as he only wants his son back.

Anyway, Kell sits in the shadow of a massive mountain, the tallest in the world, one which no one has ever climbed.  Zakath is surprised at how advanced the place is.  He thought he knew everything about Mallorea... he is the Emperor, after all.  The people are rather dull, though.  Our party is here only briefly, to pick up Cyradis and for Belgarath to look at the only true copy of the Mallorean Gospels, which will tell him the location of the Place Which is No More.

They also learn that Seers have the knowledge of all the other Seers before them - they've been making choices at each meeting of Light and Dark ever since it began, and have existed for that sole purpose.  I've always found it odd that people like Polgara and Belgarath know very little about his.  They've lived for thousands of years.  Not once did they explore Kell?  Of course, you can always explain it away with Prophecy.  It didn't want them to go there, so any time they tried, something else happened to keep them away.  How convenient.

Perivor

It almost feels like Eddings finally ran out of interesting cultures to toss into his world, so instead of trying to create something new for Perivor, he simply reused Arendia.  Perivor is populated by descendants of shipwrecked Mimbrate Arends, so it's very medieval and formal, lots of theeing and thouing, knights and chivalry, things like that.

Cyradis tells our party they must go to Perivor to learn specifics regarding the location of the Place Which is No More.  Once there, Garion and Zakath have to keep their identities hidden by wearing their full armor at all times.  That sounds like it sucks.  They fight another dragon (a real one, not Zandramas) and have a final run-in with Naradas, Zandramas's top cohort, who managed to become the King of Perivor's most trusted councilor and advisor in a matter of days, just before our party gets there.  How convenient.  It's the archetypal evil-sycophant-influences-a-good-king storyline that you find all throughout fantasy and plays out as expected (Naradas dies, the King realizes he's been duped and now helps, Garion and Zakath can reveal their identities).

So after much foul treachery and flowery language, our heroes journey posthaste to the last major location of the story...

The High Places of Korim

Eddings has teased us about this location the entire series, but finally, in the first section of this book, when our party stops in Kell, we learn that the Place Which is No More is the High Places of Korim.

This is a location that I believe is referenced back in The Belgariad, when the tale of how Torak cracked the world is told.  The High Places of Korim is where he went to do the deed, creating the Sea of the East and splitting the world into the two major continents.  So it's only fitting that this would be the place where the Prophecies come together and all is mended.

In current times, instead of a mountain top, this is a reef in the ocean called the Turim Reef.  I think they messed up the map, though, since it says Korim Reef, despite everyone referring to it as Turim Reef.  Anyway, there's a cave where the Sardion has resided for centuries and it is here that the final meeting of Childs Light and Dark takes place.

No much else to say about Korim.  It's not a land or a kingdom, but since it has a section in the book, I'm obligated to cover it.

The Last Sacrifice

Good guys rarely die in fantasy stories, it seems.  At least not those in the 80's and 90's.  Eddings did kill someone in The Belgariad - only to bring him back to life a chapter later.  That would be Durnik.  This time, however, it's a permanent death.  Gasp!  Apparently each meeting of Light and Dark involves a sacrifice of some kind.  Foreshadowed since the end of Book 1, Guardians of the West, we knew it was coming.

Unsurprisingly, Toth is one who dies.  Toth, who is fairly invisible and one-dimensional (though not as bad as Eriond, who goes chapters without being mentioned or speaking).  It's also completely given away when they start talking about their tasks and Ce'Nedra thinks she is going to die because  she hasn't done hers yet (though she has; she told Zandramas where the Meeting is).  You think about the other characters and realize they all had specific tasks that were called out as completed (even the little snake Zith)... except Toth and Eriond.  Since you know what's in store for Eriond, that only leaves our mute giant.

When I get to his death, I'm actually more sad that Durnik has lost his friend than the fact that Toth is dead.  He was a gentle and nice man, but not a very prominent character that I really cared about.  He was just kind of there, fishing with Durnik, providing some muscle here and there.

Toth on the cover of the French
edition.  I always imagined him
with a bit more clothes on...

The Choices We Make

It seems rather odd that after all this time, after thousands of years of dual prophecies and constant crafting of events, that it all comes down to Cyradis simply choosing between two people, Geran and Eriond.  That's it.  She just picks one and that's the winner.  How convenient.

Well... what did you expect?  Another sword battle?  That's probably the worst way to chose a victor.  Trial by combat isn't about right or wrong, or what's just, it's simply who is stronger or more clever than someone else.  Thinking about what you're choosing, considering it from all sides and then making the choice - logically - that's a better way to decide between Light and Dark, yes?

Of course, this makes for a rather dull climax.  Cyradis wrings her hands a bit and she's supposed to just make a choice without thinking about it... but you know she has been influenced by the Light side while travelling with them.  How could you not choose the Light in her position?

Speaking of choices, the fact that Garion isn't sure at first who to choose for the new Child of Light makes me wonder how dumb he really is.  He regards his companions and wonders who he should choose, and hopes he doesn't screw it up.  Really?  This isn't the first time he's been portrayed as an idiot.  Remember the birds and the bees in Guardians of the West?  The way he acted when Ce'Nedra was giving birth?  Enough said.

The Places We Didn't Go

In The Belgariad, Eddings cleverly crafted a story that took us to every country and kingdom in the western continent, and had our main characters meet every monarch in the process (Garion met them all in person, except for King Gethell of Mishrak ac Thull... but then no one cares about the Thulls, so it doesn't matter).

In The Malloreon, Eddings did something similar, but there are some distinct places he missed.  Though our party set foot in each major "kingdom" (Ancient Mallorea, Karanda, Melcene Empire, Dalasian Protectorates), large sections were never explored.  The biggest omission is Gandahar, a jungle-like part of Melcene which I've always imagined as analogous to India.  In Sorceress of Darshiva, the armies of Zandramas and Urvon feature elephants, which come from Gandahar.  It's mentioned many times, but our party skips it.

Most of the Dalasian Protectorates are ignored as well.  We go to Kell, of course, but aside from that, only a few ports are visited briefly in this last volume. Given how unremarkable most of the cultures on this continent have been (compared to The Belgariad and its melting pot of anachronistic cultures), it's not a big surprise.  That and the fact that Eddings only had 3 books to tell the entire journey over Mallorea (compared to the 5 in The Belgariad), as we didn't reach Mallorea until partway through Book 3.

A Fond Farewell

As I've mentioned before, occasionally Eddings would jump back to the characters we left behind, providing a usually boring update on what the rest of the world is doing while our party is questing.  And at the end of the day, Barak and Co. just happen to arrive at Korim after the Meeting, to give our party a lift back to Perivor and ultimately home in the western continent.  How convenient.

Turns out, this gathering of at least one person that could represent each sovereign nation in the world provides an excuse to create a new peace treaty, called the Accords of Dal Perivor, the most obvious sign of the new age that has just begun.  Now that Eriond is god of the Angaraks, peace shall reign in the world, and this is the first step.

This also sets up a - again, convenient - way of saying goodbye to virtually every character that we've come to know and love over the course of 10 volumes.  One by one we drop them off over the next few chapters, saying one last goodbye to everyone.  It's actually very nicely done, and a great way to close the saga.  So Eddings is forgiven for working Barak and Co. back into the story when they were supposed to be absent.

And then there's the Epilogue, giving us a quick look at Garion and family a year or so after the Meeting...

But Wait, There's More!

Twins?!  Polgara had twins?  Yes, she did.  Finally, Polgara becomes a mother, an indication that the stasis her and some others (like Belgarath, and progress in the world in general) have been in has come to an end.  We have entered a new age, everyone is happy and there's really no more adventures to tell of, not when our enemies have changed for good (Angaraks moving from evil Torak to benevolent Eriond).

Of course, Eddings and Lester Del Rey thought otherwise.  Not content to let the saga end after this, riding the popularity of the series, Eddings wrote 3 more books in this world - two character biographies that function as a mix of prequel and history lesson, and one reference text - all co-authored with his wife, Leigh.

The character biographies are for Belgarath and Polgara, unsurprisingly.  Who else would get an entire novel to themselves?  The books are entitled Belgarath the Sorcerer and Polgara the Sorceress.  I've only read them once, back when they came out.  So it will be fun to finally read them again, almost for the first time.

The reference book is The Rivan Codex, which I have not read.  It mostly concerns background material for the series, along with some essays by Eddings on fantasy.  I have no idea what to expect, but it will be a good one to end this retrospective on, since it's Eddings's own look back on his series.

Stay tuned for blogs on for those.


Next:

Related Works
Novel - Belgarath the Sorcerer

Previous:
The Malloreon
Book 4 - Sorceress of Darshiva
Book 3 - Demon Lord of Karanda
Book 2 - King of the Murgos
Book 1 - Guardians of the West

The Belgariad
Book 5 - Enchanter's End Game
Book 4 - Castle of Wizardry
Book 3 - Magician's Gambit
Book 2 - Queen of Sorcery
Book 1 - Pawn of Prophecy

All maps by Shelly Shapiro