Book Review: Guardians of the West

Guardians of the West by David Eddings

Publisher: Corgi

Category: Fantasy

Synopsis: We once again meet Garion, Ce’Nedra, Polgara, Belgarath and all the others from The Belgariad. This time Garion is older and starting to settle in as a king when events once again draw him into the shadowy battles between the two Prophesies

My Thoughts: The previous books in this series have focused primarily on the character Garion, with the stories being told from his point of view. The books have only deviated from this perspective on a few occasions, when they focus on Ce’Nedra. Growing up I really liked this because I was of a similar age with the characters at the time and I really felt that I could relate to them. This book goes back to a younger narrator at first focusing on the “thief” Errand and his life with Polgara and Durnik in the Vale. This makes for a very clam and slow start to the series, if I hadn’t been emotionally invested in these characters I might not have continued reading, but as it is, if you get to this book you probably will be emotionally involved, it is like getting back in touch with old friends.

The second part of the book goes back to focus on Garion and his life with Ce’Nedra. Again this book feels quite slow and episodic. Timewise it jumps in leaps and bounds. But again meeting old friends is always nice.

It is in the final part of the book where the action is heightened with the murder of a character and the ensuing battles it causes (it is a fantasy book about kings and queens and magic, of course a murder leads to battles :D). It is also here that the intrigue that has been hinted on in some of the previous episodes starts to take on a more substantial form. You start to see where it is leading to.

As I mentioned above for me reading this book is like meeting up with old friends. Good friends whom I have missed. I chose to read the books now because school is really stressing me out and I felt that I needed something that was familiar and comforting and for me these books are all that. The books hold that feeling for me not just because I have read them several times but also because the story lines are familiar and the characters funny in a way I appreciate. There is a certain dry humour in them that I really appreciate. You do need to have read the books in The Belgariad before you read this book to really appreciate them but all the books in the series are so comforting I have to recommend them :D

Purchase The Guardians of the West from BookDepository

Copyright ©2010 Zee from Notes from the North. This post was originally posted by Zee from Notes from the North. It should not be reproduced without express written permission.