Reviews for Enchanters' End Game (Belgariad Series #5)

The average rating for Enchanters' End Game (Belgariad Series #5) based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2013-02-22 00:00:00 Yahya Dai Turns out ENCHANTERS' END GAME has all kinds of POVs in it, mostly, in fact, of women. Well, no, not mostly: mostly it's Garion. But every other POV is a female, because Eddings dips in around the West and visits the queens who are holding the thrones while their husbands are off fighting the big war. Re-reading as an adult, I found that interesting for two reasons: one, it means every POV in the Belgariad that is not Garion's is female, which--from the adult perspective--is fairly awesome. One wonders if that was his wife Leigh's (whose name went on the much later Eddings books) doing, or if--well, honestly, it does simply make the most sense. Ce'Nedra's a fairly obvious viewpoint character, since she's the most important of them whose storyline doesn't follow the same physical path as Garion's, and the kings' activities can be related through her gaze, since she's with them. The queens, however, are entirely out of either Garion or Ce'Nedra's line of sight, and they're doing important things, so bringing them in as viewpoint characters makes sense. Two, it means that Eddings presented a totally different series of points of view in the final book, which is, like, Not Allowed. Readers have certain expectations, dammit! You can't go around messing with them! ...except apparently you can. So that's kind of cool from a writer's POV, 'cause hey, look, perhaps one can get away with that kind of thing. I also realized on this re-read that although my youthful perception was that this story was done, upon reflection it's clear Eddings never intended The Belgariad to be the whole story. He always intended The Malloreon to follow it. All the threads are in place, and while I, like many others, might object to the fact that he wrote the same story again (and again, and again; Eddings is an excellent demonstration of Robin McKinley's theory that perhaps at the heart of it we all only have one story to tell), there is the fact that he wrote that same story many times to huge success. His books, and that story, with its faintly different trappings, were and are immensely popular. There may be a lesson there, for those of us who do this for a living. Lastly, my reaction to the whole series is: my goodness, those are straight-forward books. I'd forgotten how much of them is about Collecting Each Token (a character from each race), Visiting Each King, etc. There's nothing really devious about any of it, though this is not meant as a slight: I spent a little while imagining these books as written today, GRRM-style, and while you could *do* it... ...well, you wouldn't have the Belgariad when you were done, and that would be a shame, because despite their flaws, these are still entertaining, delightful reads that I would not hesitate to recommend to any fantasy reader.

Review # 2 was written on 2013-11-01 00:00:00 Gina Wooten For me, this was the most enjoyable book of the whole Belgariad series, and that despite all of the "happily-ever-afters" that occur by book's end. Those of you who know me, know that I much prefer "Lady or the Tiger?" type endings that leave things more to my imagination. Garion finally comes into his own during this installment and his elders and the Prophecy actually help him. He and Ce'Nedra start communicating, instead of guessing what the other is thinking or feeling. And even Hettar, the implacable horse-lord, finds a mate and mellows a bit, although it takes an altercation for that to happen (it kind of reminded me of Zane Grey's The Last Trail, where Lou Wetzel meets his match). Garion naturally approaches his prophesied mission with trepidation'how does a mere mortal battle a god like Torak? The answer is a bit slick, but believable in the world that Eddings has created. There are still a couple of bad guys left, but that's for other series. By the end of End Game, one has the feeling that the party is over'the leftover food has been put away, the dishes have been washed, the floor swept and everything has been returned to its place. Life is short and the number of books I want to read is huge, so I don't know that I will pursue any more of Eddings' writing, but I did enjoy this series. Book 192 of my Science Fiction & Fantasy Reading Project.