The Belgariad, is a 5 book series by David Eddings. The books are narrated by Cameron Beierle.
The first book, "Pawn of the Prophecy" starts with a 20-minute prologue, which at first made me feel like I was back in Sunday school. I started to worry, that this was a mistake. But, after the prologue the reader changed the way in which they were telling the story and it became quite engaging.
It is the story about a little boy named Garion, his Aunt Pol and many, many other people. I will not spoil the story any further, except to say it has Sorcerers, Gods, Witches, Necromancers, goblins, knights, viking-esque people, dryads, and many, many more.
Narrator
For audio books, the narrator can make or break the story. Like in the Harry Potter series, that narrator (Jim Dale) brought the books to life and so does Cameron Beierle.
After the "dreadful" prologue of "Pawn of Prophecy", where Mr. Beierle actually makes you understand the history of how the world came into being - using 'Thee' and 'thou' - type language, it is quite a change once the book begins.
Side Note, when I finished the series....I was so sad I immediately started it again, and this time I thoroughly enjoyed the prologue that I dreaded in the first book. So, keep that in mind, because each book has a prologue - and they do get to be quite interesting and important.
I like a narrator that gives each character a unique personality that the author is trying to develop. Unlike the narrator, Karl Fehr - (some famous actor, who is a horrible narrator), I could barely tell when the scene changed, and was always going back to find out "HUH? when did that happen?" because he has a "running down hill reading style." Mr. Fehr destroyed any enjoyment for The Kingdom of the Elves of the Reaches - simply because of his narration.
But, I put Mr. Beierle in the same class as Mr. Dale as narrator. I have not laughed so much in an audiobook as I did in this Series. I would be driving to work, and bust out laughing on I66 from some scene - and boy did the ride go so much faster. I could picture Garion as a child with his Aunt Pol grabbing his ears so vividly because of the way Mr. Beierle narrated the scene.
Series
Here is the complete 5 book series for "The Belgariad" in reading order:
- Pawn of Prophecy
- Queen of Sorcery
- Magician's Gambit
- Castle of Wizardry
- Enchanters End Game
David Eddings paints a wonderful world, that is a mixture of many other worlds. Some of the "Sword of Shannara", a bit of Middle Earth and of course adding in Gods.
What is so fun about this is the people he creates and you get to know them intimately. Cameron Beierle makes the work all the more fun and enjoyable, I really hated getting to the end. It was not like the Harry Potter series, when it ended - I was ok with that, but this, well I wanted the world to go on and on, even with the losses.
But, I am referencing more than just the Belgariad here. There is a second series, which follows right after this one - The Malloreon. There is some debate as to which is better, I liked this even more.
I hope you like the books, I am currently trying to find the other books/series by David Eddings in audio format. I know they exist because you can get them via torrent, but have not found where they can be purchased nor if they are done by the same narrator.
The other books are:
- Belgarath the Sorcerer
- Polgara the Sorceress
The Elenium
- The Diamond Throne
- The Ruby Knight
- The Sapphire Rose
The Tamuli
- Domes of Fire
- The Shining Ones
- The Hidden City
1 comment:
I did a search on Belgariad, and stumbled onto your blog. I read the series about 10 years ago, and fell in love with the storyline. I thought about the audio version, on and off over the years, but never really followed up. Your assessment of the series, Mr. Beierle relative to Jim Dale, has convinced me that I need visit Garion and his world once again. Thank you so much for this post. I swear, you can find just about anything online.
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